Advice needed in purchasing turntable

Milouka

New Member
Hello everyone,
I have a big problem deciding what turntable to buy for my husband's upcoming birthday. He always wanted one just to listen some records. I picked up some models but really have no clue which one is better. So your help will be highly appreciated! Here's the list:
Audio-Technica Professional Stereo Turntable (AT-LP120-USB)
Marantz Belt Drive Turntable (TT42) or TT42P
Pioneer Turntable (PL-30-K)

Thanks in advance
 
Hello everyone,
I have a big problem deciding what turntable to buy for my husband's upcoming birthday. He always wanted one just to listen some records. I picked up some models but really have no clue which one is better. So your help will be highly appreciated! Here's the list:
Audio-Technica Professional Stereo Turntable (AT-LP120-USB)
Marantz Belt Drive Turntable (TT42) or TT42P
Pioneer Turntable (PL-30-K)

Thanks in advance



"just for listening to some records" is rather vague, to be honest. That suggests that any would do, because quality doesn't matter.

However I know the AT got a rather bad review from buyers in spite of looking like a very high quality table. Frankly all three of these new tables seem pretty cheap. Maybe someone knows more. Vintage tables require some effort but almost always out perform the new ones, especially in the "budget"category.

Good luck, maybe others will chime in.
 
Pioneer plx-1000 is a more reasonable option. Of cause vintage in $500 range will be even better, but requires some knowledge of WHAT one is really buying.
 
The ones I picked up range from $400- $500. That's pretty cheap?! I thought you can buy a decent unit for that price lol
 
The ones I picked up range from $400- $500. That's pretty cheap?! I thought you can buy a decent unit for that price lol

Many people of a certain age remember being able to buy a nice turntable for $150 about 40 years ago. However, that would be the equivalent of $600 today, and turntables are no longer a mass-market item. That means tooling and corporate overhead has to be spread over many fewer units.

So nowadays, about $400 is the bottom for a usable new turntable. Paying for a cartridge and a phono preamp will increase your costs, although there are packages offered by many dealers.

If you go to a site like Music Direct or Elusive Disc, select turntables, and sort by price low to high, you will get a rough idea of what is available in the current market.
 
Everybody needs a wife like her. Even comes here to check on her decision.
What else does he have for a system? Most tables will need a phono preamp but some systems have one built in already. List the components he has already for us.

BillWojo
 
The ones I picked up range from $400- $500. That's pretty cheap?! I thought you can buy a decent unit for that price lol

You can. Actually, the turntables you mentioned are less than the price range you quoted. The Marantz can be had for around $220.00 online, the Pioneer is available for a little under $300.00 and the Audio Technica for about $250.00. Of the three, the Marantz seems to have the best specs and, being made in Germany, has a chance to be better than the other two which are Chinese.

There are other choices, of course. The Pioneer PLX-1000 mentioned previously seems a good turntable, though it's aimed at the DJ market. It also costs $700.00 so is probably more than you want to spend.

There's the Onkyo CP-1050. It costs $400.00 and has specs in the range of the three you asked about.

Also the Denon DP-300F. It's about $330.00.

There are others too, like the U-Turn Orbit, made here in the US by a group of young enthusiasts, "Kick Starter babies". They start with a basic design at $179.00 and option it up to a maximum of around $350.00.

Then there are entry level offerings from "audiophile" companies like Pro-Ject and Rega. These might start to push your budget a little and they have faults, like speed instability and motor noise, that I find unforgivable in a turntable with audiophile pretensions.

One thing you should probably be thinking about is features, particularly the level of automation. It seems these days that turntables are made either as fully automatic (push a button to start, returns at the end of play and shuts off automatically) or fully manual (set the needle down by hand and pick it up at the end). There used to be an auto return option where you began the record manually but it stopped automatically. Nobody seems to do that any more.

You have some of each in your list. The ones I added are all manual except for the Denon DP-300F.

So, you might want to do a little more homework and a little thinking a bout features. Rest assured, though, that there are decent turntables out there in your price range. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.

John
 
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Have you considered used? For your $500 budget the options are plentiful. Here's one example well within your budget.

kenwood_kd_770_d-3.jpg
 
I personally always go with used but I'm not sure it's such a good idea for a gift, especially from someone who wouldn't be able to work through any issues with it before presenting the gift. I've always had phenomenal luck with vintage turntables but I can't think of one offhand that didn't need some attention.

John
 
You can. Actually, the turntables you mentioned are less than the price range you quoted. The Marantz can be had for around $220.00 online, the Pioneer is available for a little under $300.00 and the Audio Technica for about $250.00. Of the three, the Marantz seems to have the best specs and, being made in Germany, has a chance to be better than the other two which are Chinese.

There are other choices, of course. The Pioneer PLx-1000 mentioned previously seems a good tuentable, though it's aimed at the DJ market. It also costs $700.00 so is probably more than you want to spend.

There's the Onkyo CP-1050. It costs $400.00 and has specs in the range of the three you asked about.

Also the Denon DP-300F. It's about $330.00.

There are others too, like the U-Turn Orbit, made here in the US by a group of young enthusiasts, "Kick Starter babies". They start with a basic design at $179.00 and option it up to a maximum of around $350.00.

Then there are entry level offerings from "audiophile" companies like Pro-Ject and Rega. These might start to push your budget a little and they have faults, like speed instability and motor noise, that I find unforgivable in a turntable with audiophile pretensions.

One thing you should probably be thinking about is features, particularly the level of automation. It seems these days that turntables are made either as fully automatic (push a button to start, returns at the end of play and shuts off automatically) or fully manual (set the needle down by hand and pick it up at the end). There used to be an auto return option whee you began the record manually but it stopped automatically. Nobody seems to do that any more.

You have some of each in your list. The ones I added are all manual except for the Denon DP-300F.

So, you might want to do a little more homework and a little thinking a bout features. Rest assured, though, that there are decent turntables out there in your price range. If you have any moe questions, don't hesitate to ask.

John

Your post should help her out a lot John:thmbsp:
 
Do you have a 'bricks and mortar' audio shop locally? Often they would have trade-ins or consignment equipment. For example, I have a store locally and I know (since I was there last week) that I could purchase a not-so-old Rega RP3 turntable with new cartridge, new belt and a good-quality (NAD) phono pre-amp for about $500.
 
Do you have a 'bricks and mortar' audio shop locally? Often they would have trade-ins or consignment equipment. For example, I have a store locally and I know (since I was there last week) that I could purchase a not-so-old Rega RP3 turntable with new cartridge, new belt and a good-quality (NAD) phono pre-amp for about $500.

You said it right there. We might need to get her to confirm that the stereo they have has a Phono-In, otherwise a pre-amp becomes part of the equation.

EDIT: NVM, I see that was already mentioned above now.
 
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Wow - you have one very lucky husband for you to join AK and seek the advice of experts. Several here have provided sound advice. You may elect to seek out a local dealer so that you may see and hear some of these machines in person.
 
The Pioneer PL-30-K is pretty much the same turntable as the Denon DP-300F.

If you making a list of new turntables at that price point, would be hard to leave off the Teac TN-300, unless you just want to ignore it :)
 
Hmmmm, just so happens I'm waiting on one I purchased for considerably less, so much so I'm also purchasing a new Clearaudio Concept cart and still leaving change to spare. Mint condition but for the plexiglass cover which I should be able to bring back with a little elbow grease.

This table ran on eBay until the listing ended, the seller had to reduce the price and relist, no super garage sale score. With the KD-500 / great arm combos selling for under four bills I don't see the KD-770D selling for long green any time soon.

Another thread recently started here a member's boss gifted him a prime example of this table.

I'm only suggesting not to rule out used, there's a site offering fully restored Thorens tables within her budget, I'll see about listing a link if someone else doesn't first. Personally I would much rather have a mint like new TD -166MKII than any of the new tables mentioned.
 
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