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Recommend me a ~$150 turntable!

prism

Senior member
I just got a bunch of old records from some friends who are moving, and I'm completely new to turntables. Can anyone recommend me a good turntable for around $150 or lower? I want something that'll sound good, and if I end up liking this whole vinyl shtick I may splurge for something nicer down the road 🙂
 
I just got a bunch of old records from some friends who are moving, and I'm completely new to turntables. Can anyone recommend me a good turntable for around $150 or lower? I want something that'll sound good, and if I end up liking this whole vinyl shtick I may splurge for something nicer down the road 🙂

I can't recommend one, but most turntables you can easily buy today is going to be in that price range and have pretty much the same feature set. A USB turnable with integrated pre-amp including RIAA equalization. That last part is crucial if you want to hook it up to a receiver without a phono input.
 
For that price, you will probably need to find a used one. Craiglist is a good source, Ebay not so much because TTs need careful packing to ship well, and most people don't know or care how to do this correctly. The main choice is direct-drive quartz (Technics, Denon) versus belt drive (Thorens, Rega, Dual). Folks swear by one, and swear at the other. You will also need a new cartridge - lots of choices. I scored a nice vintage Technics 1650 Mk2 off the 'bay for $100, and got a Grado cart for $50. Hard to do it for less. Keep you eye on your local Craiglist, and post here if you think you found something worthwhile.
 
I've seen used but pretty good condition Technics 1210 mk2 in classifieds for that. These days there are alot of better featured turntables out there but 1210s are nice because you can abuse the hell out of them. 20 years later, they are missing an eye, most of their teeth and one of their arms but dammit they are still standing. Besides being pretty much indestructible, its also direct drive and has pretty high torque so it holds pitch well.

Avoid eBay shills who try to sell a mk5 for over a grand because its discontinued. Like anyone gives a damn, seeing as how they made like, a billion of them. More importantly, don't look at all the high prices on eBay and think that you can't get these things cheap. You really can, so camp classifieds, in particular music production/DJ classifieds and look for one thats local. Theres alot of bedroom DJs who are selling up their decks at pretty stonking discounts because vinyl mixing has always been an expensive habit and the whole industry has more or less transitioned to stuff like Serato anyway.

Theres a couple of 1210s on adverts.ie in Ireland right now for 150 euros but for folks in the US, I can't see the industry tracking in the opposite direction. As much as I liked my crates of vinyl, at 7 euros a 12", you just can't stay current unless you are filthy unbelievably rich. They had to go.
 
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The quality of the sound depends almost entirely on the sound quality of the cartridge you use. The table and arm just hold it in the correct position and spin the record at the correct speed.

Put your money into a good cartridge.

Note that cartridge brands and models, just like speaker brands and models, all have their own particular "sound". For example, mixing a cartridge that accentuates the high notes with a speaker that does the same = failure.

My particular favorite, low cost cartridge is the Sure M91E, but, alas, I think it's beyond your budget.
 
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