I'm thinking about getting back into vinyl collecting and listening (of course) ever since I got my little M50s (such great speakers for the $!) and I was wondering if anyone could recommend a nice sounding, reliable turntable for a reasonable price (define "reasonable"? under $500

I have seen glowing reviews of the Rega P1, the Music Hall MMF 2.2 and Pro-Ject Xpression III (which is slightly high priced for me but there are SO many good reviews).

If anyone has some input it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I think all would be fine. Pro-Ject makes the turntables for Music Hall ( I think) , not sure if they make the Rega's too.

You are starting down an expensive slippery slope! The turntable is just the beginning. The cartridge, the phono amp can be expensive too.

Sounds kinda like building a HT room. Expensive slippery slope, that is.

Look at Audiogon for used.

I just found out that the Pro-Ject Debut is pretty much as good as the Xpression III and about half the cost (around $360). Many people are saying that even the included, moving magnet cartridge on the Debut is just great. Lots of recommendations to get the Speedbox to switch speeds easily and keep it consistent (via microprocessor control). Which is another $150 heh...

I've seen cartridges for $300+ and TTs for up to $40k so I know what you guys mean by slippery/expensive slope lol

In other news, I picked up a factory sealed Kind of Blue 180 gram LP off Ebay yesterday for $33 shipping included! Woohoo! Pretty much my favorite jazz album so far (I do have a lot more listening to do still but that one has my vote so far).

I bought a Technics 1200 a few years ago for business needs. It's more of a DJ-style TT as opposed to a audio-enthusiast-style TT, but I figured as long as it had good isolation and a good cartridge (Shure M97xe) it would do well.

Heard lots of great stuff about them but always in the context of DJing. Seems they are built very, very solid but the output (regardless of components) is more "thumpy" then balanced, which is ideal for the club scene but unfortunately not so great for listening to classic jazz recordings in my living room. Thanks for the suggestion though

Excellent set up.

Wow! That cart is $140! Then again... I have seen others for over $300 (which is probably what I will spend on the TT itself)

The cartridge is what makes the sound. The turntable only has to rotate the record while isolating it from external vibrations. The tonearm only has to track said cartridge with as little mass as possible.

Going with a cheap cartridge on a nice turntable is like hooking up a $2000 Denon receiver to $75 Radio Shack speakers.

Wait.

Better yet, let me offer a car analogy.....

STAB STAB STAB STAB

Ouch! Wasn't Axiom a OEM for radio shack speakers at one point?

I think some RS stores in Canada offered Axiom speakers (maybe when they were under the Merak(sp?) name), but I don't think Axiom made RS or Realistic-branded speakers....

Yes, Dr. H, Axiom made the Merak line of speakers which they sold through Radio Shack Canada. They used either Axiom's horn tweeter or the same 3/4" titanium tweeter Axiom previously used in the M0, M1 and M2 speakers. (A great tweeter, BTW.)

I grabbed a bunch of Merak center channel speakers (MC6...) because they used a stout trapezoid shaped cabinet (like the Axiom centers) and a 6.5" driver with either the 3/4" Ti Tweeter or the Horn. These were great center channel speakers.

I modded all my Merak centers by swapping the Merak 6.5" out and Axiom 6.5" aluminum drivers in their place. I swapped the TiTweeter from one with the tweeter from a de capo mm and its resistor/capacitor and the 6.5"s with the Axiom aluminum drivers.

Sound is ridiculously good.

Awesome! So I will try that Shure cart on the Pro-ject Debut and it will probably sound fantastic

Thanks Mark!