Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Turntable Recommendations?

I'm thinking of adding a turntable to the mix as I have access to a boatload of awesome vinyl from the 70's and 80's. Any recommendations as to what to look for in a decent unit? Any particular brands better than others? Direct drive versus belt driven? Thanks in advance.

i think the durable and precise and one of the best ones considering quality/price ratio would be the Technics SL-1200

I agree.

Is that the one that's used for DJing?

Bear in mind that the SL1200 is no longer in production. Getting harder to find new.

WOW, I have to change my mind on that recommendation. Them damn things are priced crazy.

Anyone have any experience with this model?


http://www.amazon.com/Stanton-Direct-Drive-Turntable-Cartridge-Pre-Mounted/dp/B001JY9MB4

I have a Denon DP23F turntable with a Shure V15 MARK IV cartridge. Yes they are older products but they have served me well and seem to bring out the best in my vinyl. I am unsure however how the technology has improved since the 80's when I bought this gear. They still make the replacement stylus for the Shure so I imagine many folks are still using the V15 in its various incarnations. I was so very impressed with the sound of this cartridge as compared to the few I had previously, i.e. other Shure cartridges, Audio Technica, Grado & Stanton. This turntable is very gentle and has a very fine balancing mechanism. One can easily isolate the player to prevent feedback and resonant noise. The drawback is that it is very light and could benefit from a heavier base. It has a hinged clear plastic dust cover that will allow paying with the cover closed. Easy to clean as well. In any case I am very much satisfied with these products and have used them in reproducing digital vinyl recordings to great effect.

they do seem to be in production as you can see here:
http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/technics_dj/prod_default_analog.asp

i don't remember exactly, but those turntables have been on the market since the 1980's, and it's not for nothing that they're still in production.
lots of DJ's use them too.

I have read some good reviews on this model but I have not heard it myself:

Pro-ject Turntable

David, I was just looking for a link on those as well. Denon still makes this one which gets good reviews.

Music Hall may also be worth a look, as well as Rega.

FWIW, I have a Technics SL1200MKII for transferring customer's LPs to CD and, much as I love the "commercial, built-like-a-tank" quality, I DON'T love that it's fully manual. I've started an LP, picked up a phone call near the end of the LP side, and just have it running on the .... (shoot, can't remember the term)...."lead out" groove at the end for 20 minutes.

I thought it would be a reasonable purchase expense for the business to offer the service, but we've done very few for customers. I thought I would enjoy it on a personal level, but to be frank, the sepia-toned nostalgia has turned into a reality of surface noise and inconvenience.

I still like the fact that I can purchase cheap, used LPs and convert them, but I've had this thing for about two years and haven't done that for more than four albums.

Maybe someday if I have more time...... But I guess I can say that I have NOT fallen back in love with LPs.

Hi 1sweetspot,

If you're using a subwoofer in your system, I'd recommend you get a direct-drive, as the rumble frequencies are inherently below audibility and below the range of the majority of subwoofers (around 12 to 13 Hz).

Belt-drive turntables use a faster-rotating motor and a belt link to the platter that is subject to greater potential fast speed variations (flutter) than direct drive. And the faster -rotating motor produces residual rumble frequencies in the 20 to 30 Hz region, resulting in "pumping" of a subwoofer driver. If any of the high-end tweaks bothered to do proper tests on turntables, they would know this.

Given the fact that some vinyl discs contain recorded rumbled caused by the cutting lathe, I'd recommend either using a switchable rumble filter (hard to find) or getting a direct-drive model so the playback device--the turntable--doesn't contribute rumble of its own.

I gave a Stanton direct-drive to my son and it's been very reliable. The supplied cartridge is OK, but not great. I'd replace it with a Shure M97, which is very smooth and linear and close in performance to the Shure V15, and it uses the damped brush that allows the cartridge to track small and large warped LPs much more effectively. It also reduces "warp wow".

It's true that the Technics SL-1200 has ceased production and used ones are very expensive. They do last forever.

Regards,
Alan

The Project, Music Hall and Regas are all good belt-drive units. One advantage of those is they often come with less "massy" more sophisticated tonearms, so you can mount higher-quality phono cartridges that track at lower stylus pressures.

Also, some of those brands are supplied with mediocre Ortofon cartridges, which do not track as well as the top Shures, Grados and Stantons. US manufacturers still build the most linear, best-tracking cartridges (Shure, Grado, Stanton).

I recommended the Denon direct-drives for years back when I was editor of Sound & Vision magazine in Canada.

Regards,
Alan

Woo-Hoo! You - ESSS - Aaaaaa! You - ESSS - Aaaaaa!

Please substitute your picture of Ultraman for one of yourself in a Nascar shirt and a beer helmet if you are going to shout that.

Just kidding of course!
Don't nuke me Bro.

Thanks for all your input. I'll keep my eyes open for a direct drive, preferrably USB capable unit with a decent cartridge.

NUKE THE MURPH! NUKE THE MURPH!

I would have said go with the Technics 1200 or whatever number. I have an SL-1700, from the 70's..still works perfectly. But i saw the prices on them. I would pick up a used one, as they just never break, or a Rega. depends on how much you want to spend.

I just purchased a used Rega P3 Planar with from friend and mounted a Dynavector 10X5 MC cartridge and it sounds amazing .

if you don't yet, you'll probably have to use a HPF (high pass filter) so your sub will stay clean sounding. warped records, however small the warp, are not good for the health of a sub that goes as low as the pc-12+

i got the same sub and love it. :-)

Thanks for the heads up on the HPF, I wouldn't have thought of that. The system I'm planning to run it with is the Axiom/Velodyne in my living room. The Velodyne cuts off around 25 hz-would you recommend an HPF for it?

PTPlayers, if you don't mind my asking, how much did you snag that Rega P3 for?

i sure don't know about the particulars of this combination; you should ask more knowledgeable people than me.
maybe you could try some tests;
play a disc on your turntable at low vol. levels, and see if the driver moves in accordance with the speed of the disc and see if the movement stops when you lift the tonearm.
if that happens, then no need to try at higher vol. levels, you definitely need a HPF, because more warped and/or playing louder will make matters worse.
warped records can drive subwoofers to their max excursion and you will not hear it nor feel it.

Correction: i should have written: play a disc that has a low average recording level...

Well, I tracked down Stanton t.90 USB in perfect condition with a new Stanton 505.v3 cartridge. Bringing on the "vynil!"