Looking for a good turntable for new vinyl collection!

[Bassdragoon]

Hey all, I'm looking for a good turntable for my vinyl collection, I've got jazz, rock, classical, electronic, etc. So far I've ordered this:

http://www.amazon.com/Technica-AT-PL.../dp/B002GYTPAE

Should I stay with this turntable and maybe purchase an upgraded stylus or is there a better turntable for me? My price range is anywhere up to 400 for just a starting turntable. Thanks!

[MD]

I'm not a gearhead, but I can say without a doubt; yes, there are better TT's out there. If your vinyl is in mint condition, don't skimp.
Some reading sources....
http://www.needledoctor.com/
http://forums.audioreview.com/
http://www.audioreview.com/reviewscrx.aspx
http://www.avsforum.com/

[COBRARI]

This is what I did...
My 2000+ vinyl collection is taking up to much real estate, so I decided to get a decent turntable that would digitize my
collection.
I picked up a brand new USB turntable (TTUSB) that comes with all the software needed to convert.
I like the hisses and pops of good 'ol vinyl as much as anybody
but all things come to past eventually.
It has the line level RCA outputs with a switchable built in
pre-amp.
Adjustable anti-skating control.
You need a PC running at least Windows XP or Vista. MAC
0S9 or higher.
You might not like the idea of an inexpensive unit playing your
treasured collection but it didn't hurt my records and they are
now on CDs.
Good luck. E-bay has tons of them and under $100.00.

[drasticDUB]

cant go wrong with the Technics 1200~

[SurferJoe46]

Originally Posted by COBRARI

This is what I did...
My 2000+ vinyl collection is taking up to much real estate, so I decided to get a decent turntable that would digitize my
collection.
I picked up a brand new USB turntable (TTUSB) that comes with all the software needed to convert.
I like the hisses and pops of good 'ol vinyl as much as anybody
but all things come to past eventually.
It has the line level RCA outputs with a switchable built in
pre-amp.
Adjustable anti-skating control.
You need a PC running at least Windows XP or Vista. MAC
0S9 or higher.
You might not like the idea of an inexpensive unit playing your
treasured collection but it didn't hurt my records and they are
now on CDs.
Good luck. E-bay has tons of them and under $100.00.

Just remember that CDs are NOT forever - they deteriorate.

What I do is convert them at a very high bitrate (over 900Kbps) and then send them to several places on the internet.

I created several Gmail accounts and can store many gigs on each one - and they say the Ethernet will never collapse - and even if it does I also have double hdd back-ups but NOT in the same machine!

You can archive MP3 files or WMAs to your e-mail addresses, and just let them stay there for as long as you live if you like.

For my personal playing in cars and such, I create MP3s with lower bitrates under 128Kbps and they are my disposable copies and I don't worry about scratches on them or loss as I have all of my 14,000+ audio files in my 8TB hdds anyway.

In a car you cannot hear any losses at that bitrate so it doesn't matter, and I can get over 40 songs per disc too!.

Then create your CDs from that higher bitrate and you'll be golden.

Anyway - that's what I do - and I've lost more music than I currently have so these are lessons I've learned from being dumb.

BTW: Use Audacity to convert music files into the format you want - free, VERY powerful and easy to use. And don't forget to get LAME for MP3 conversions.

It is also a free (GNU) utility that you MUST use with Audacity to MP3 convert the audio files - just be sure to download it first and put it where you can drill down to it the first time you use Audacity - it can find it from then on.

Audacity is a killer app!

[acubass]

Go vintage. An old restored 1200 will be cheaper than a new one. My favorite are the old Marantz tables. The 6200, 6250, 6300 models rock. The 6350's are my favorite but are hard to find. To me pitch control and a strobe are essential. The weight of records and the way They are made differently really play a role in the speed of your table. It is unacceptable to me to listen to a record when I can hear the tempo and pitch are off. Just a pet peeve I guess.

[krafty]

For quality listening go for direct-drive over belt-drive. Direct-drive will keep the record spinning at the correct RPM all the time, offer easy pitch-adjustment and you won't need to change belts. DD turntables also allow you to "scratch" if your heart so desires (yech!) and allow you to queue records like we did in the golden age or radio. Adjustable tone-arm weights help reduce wear-and-tear on records (or help reduce skipping in loud environments)

The Technics 1200 line is probably the benchmark for most of us - except the Audiophile gearheads with way too much money on their hands.

[xray]

Get a linear tracking turntable on the used market: beogram or sansui. The new stuff is pure junk for people trying to be a vj.

[SurferJoe46]

Originally Posted by xray

Get a linear tracking turntable on the used market: beogram or sansui. The new stuff is pure junk for people trying to be a vj.

Don't get me wrong - linear is good, but for this collection if it has anything older than about 1970, then they are mastered with a non-linear arm pattern that swung on an arc, and a linear tracking system will create extra hiss when the pickup goes against the outer sides of the grooves closer to the center of the records.

It's not that they cannot be used, but you are putting a lot of extra pressure on the walls of the grooves if the record itself is not linear mastered.

If you use a modern linear tracking device, then you will cut the number of times the record will play since it is being worn in areas that should not be getting such pressure.

Sound deterioration will happen much quicker and I'll bet that's not what you want to do to a collectible record!

Stick with the arc-arm for arc-mastered records and leave the linears for modern vinyl or re-issues.

I cut studio masters for RCA at KRLA in Los Angeles for a few months (with my father-in-law who was their sound engineer) until I joined the Navy - and this was a surprise to me too. They always used the arc-arm for them and it pays to know the system vintage used by the engineers at the time your record was made.

[drasticDUB]

yes...Used or broken technics 1200 is the way I went.

Got a free broken one and put $90 into repairing it. Parts are very common for that deck, as it is the standard DJ table!

Do it!

[MisterV619]

Get a Techniques or similar dj style turntable (Denon, Vestax, Numark) with a removable headshell. Not all stylus are created equally, so be sure to upgrade the stylus to one rated with the broadest frequency range. Ortofon makes the best stylus:
http://www.pssl.com/Phono-Cartridge-Styli?s=h
http://www.pssl.com/Standard-Phono-Cartridges?s=h
http://www.pssl.com/Headshells
You can also get an integrated headshell/cartridge/stylus:
http://www.pssl.com/Integrated-Phono-Cartridges?s=h

I wouldn't recommend going integrated though. You're better off with a seperate headshell and cartridge/stylus of choice.

Even with the tonearm counterweight adjusted to max downward pressure, if the record is old with a lot of scratches you'll still get some skipping. One way around that is to put some extra weight on the headshell to prevent the stylus from skipping out of the groove on a scratched record. It's as simple as adding a quarter or two on top of the headshell to prevent skipping. That's why it's better going with a seperate standard headshell instead of integrated. You can't add weight to an integrated other than the tonearm couterweight adjustment.