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[mberan42]

I've been thinking about this for a while, but the Hipster CD thread finally prompted me:

I have a bit of vinyl. Mostly older stuff (lot of Floyd, Zeppelin, Beatles), but some newer things I've picked up on the cheap. I had a little Fisher Price Restoration Hardware record-player-in-a-box that I used, but I wore down the needle and lost the order form for replacement needles. Thus, I'm in the market for a new record player.

My normal stereo is a bookshelf Aiwa thing that I bought in 1998; I don't want to buy a completely new sound system and speakers, but I'm willing to buy both a record player (are they only called turntables when used by DJs in the club?) and an amplifier (or whatever the piece of equipment is called).

I know that a few of you are pretty big audiophiles (Tommy, Frank, Johnny, etc.). I'm not looking to spend more than $250, maybe $300 total, but am willing to go up to $500 if it'll last me 20 years. (Again, I have no idea on appropriate prices - maybe I'm overestimating, maybe I'm lowballing it.) Do you folks (anybody, really) have any advice? Any websites I should check out?

Thanks in advance.

[Spinless]

ebay! I don't know what makes a great record player, but you can find plenty on ebay. At least they look like they have a lot of personality, even if they're not particularly good.

plus, I saw one for about 7p. convert that to american currency and you could maybe buy 10 whole record players!

[a pack of wolves]

You'd only need to pay $500 if you wanted some serious audiophile equipment. I have a belt drive turntable that costs about £75 new (I think that's around the $150 mark) with a built-in pre-amp so all you need is to attach the phono leads to your stereo's aux input and you're away. I'd only recommend spending more if you're the kind of person who can really hear the difference and you have good enough speakers to compliment a quality turntable and amp. Oh, and you needn't bother with direct drive models, you only really need that if you're DJ'ing.

[a pack of wolves]

Those Bush players are very good for the money. And it's reminded me that the one I have is a Bush too, just one step up from that into a full size turntable and I too have it hooked into a Sony micro system. I don't have the ears to warrant anything better, it all sounds great to me. The sound quality isn't all that much better either from those mini ones, I probably would have got the same one you have if it wasn't for the fact that I got an über cheap deal on mine and only paid about £30.

[mberan42]

Thanks for the advice. While that MMF-5 looks (and probably sounds) amazing, there's no way I can afford the MSRP $600 sticker price. I really dove into it, looking at numerous reviews, price quotes and the like. I found one for $530 with tax and shipping, opened a new tab to my checking and credit card accounts, thought for 3 minutes on how I can shift funds, then came to a realization: "there's no fucking way I can afford that. Damnit, Tommy!"

I'll keep investigating, though.

[ScrambledGregs]

I have one of those old fashioned looking all-in-one stereo units. Cost me like $100 at Target. Not the best sound, I'm sure, but I'm not an audiophile and I could give a fuck less.

[ALoveSupreme]

Thrift stores?  Usually if you search about 5 you'll find one good one.  And they're never more than $20, in my experience.  I'd say searching through thrift store shelves for an afternoon is much more entertaining than sitting around on ebay or walking into target and paying $100(not to put down any of those activities, I just enjoy the concept better personally)

[Ocarina654]

Thrift stores?  Usually if you search about 5 you'll find one good one.  And they're never more than $20, in my experience.  I'd say searching through thrift store shelves for an afternoon is much more entertaining than sitting around on ebay or walking into target and paying $100(not to put down any of those activities, I just enjoy the concept better personally)

Hit up five last night and found not one good one.  Found three, none good.
One was too small to play full-size records (dunno the terminology).
Two was completely inoperable.
Three had no needle (and though you can get replacement ones I didn't want to have to buy the thing, order a new needle, wait for it to arrive, and then find out the thing didn't work anyway).

But, after my long and arduous search, I came across the fact that my dad had a record player in his new store that he opened up.  Somehow he didn't know I was in the market.
The thing is gigantic.  It's not just a player, but a cabinet with the player and stereos somewhere inside.  Sound quality is actually quite good considering the thing is pretty old.  My dad also had hundreds of records he's supposed to sell at this store, that now reside in my living room.  I am to go through them and catalog what we have.  As payment, keep what I want.
Sound quality is actually not bad, depending on the record (but that'll happen with anything, no doubt).  Better than I thought it would be, though not perfect.

To stay more on topic: Personally, I would suggest finding an old, cheap one to start out with.  I hope to upgrade sometime soon, but for now this does me quite well.

[FreakyEmu]

Heya,
I listen to quite a lot of music, and a lot of that is on vinyl, so i feel like im at least a little qualified on this topic.
Firstly, my setup - not expensive, second hand bought all separately (apart from the speakers), but sounds great! Rega Planar 2 (w/plate glass platter), into a Cyrus one Amp, that powers a pair of Mission argonaut loudspeakers.
Now, my advice.
1) Buy all the bits separatly, this means you can select what you want from each of the componants.
2) Speakers - Make sure that you dont buy something way too big / small for the space you are filling.
3) Amp - Dont get caught up in techno-garb about the amp, most modern ones will do the trick. Also, forget the rated number of watts as this means nothing in real terms, the only thing to worry about is impedance matching for the loudspeakers. It may pay to read up on the 'tronics of this stage.
4) Turntable - DONT GO FOR A RADIAL ARM PLAYER (when they break inside it KILLS your records  ), most cheapo things will do the job for most ppl. Upgrading cartridges can be kind to the player / vinyl / listener.

And last but not least - enjoy the music - it's the best bit of the experiance

[Johnny C]

I wish I could help but I know nothing about buying turntables. The one I own is basically just a novelty that happens to play records.

[Johnny C]

At least no-one can call your turntable a liar.

[mberan42]

It may not be a liar, but it's awful at proper punctuation. "Little Boys Bottoms" reminds me of "Two Weeks Notice".

[öde]

"Little Boys Bottoms" "Two Weeks Notice"

Would I see these bands? I might see those bands.

[C Patrick Carolan]

Two Weeks Notice would be a great name for one of those shitty pop punk bands I would never waste my time listening to.