record player - any recommendations?

googler

TensandUnits wrote: »

At the moment I just have a little Sony hi-fi which has an input socket round the back so I suppose I could plug a lead into it and play through those speakers.

In which case, you will need either a Phono Stage / Phono Amp to go between TT and this input, or a TT with a built-in phono amp.

Or, save up to get the TT AND a replacement for the Sony which has a phono input for the TT. You could keep the Sony speakers and get an amplifier to replace the core of it

Consider eBay. There's oodles of vintage amps out there with phono stages. Or check your local Gumtree/Shpock etc. Or your local pawn shop.

As was said, you can get these all-in-one retro things, but the engineering quality will be akin to dragging a piece of wet spaghetti across your records....

Buy quality. It never goes out of style.

50Twuncle

I threw out all of my old HiFi just before Christmas - including a Dual CS505 turntable and a NAD 3020 Amp - It was just gathering dust and hadn't been used for 10 years + - took it to the tip !!

Pikeyp

Your joking?? , you could have got £200 plus for those on the bay!! (on a good day of course!)

another_casualty

I used to have a nad 3020 and a dual,turntable also:)
I won't elaborate on that .
However , to the o p I recommend browsing richer sounds website .
They do lots of sales always . Open box etc .
Reason I say richer sounds: new equipment / brilliant customer service and they will have your best interest at heart for your budget. You could just give them a call.
Ebay is good , but for the price the o p is considering they are better off buying new imho.

On a slight tangent , are you watching your t v through a soundbar or Bluetooth Speaker ?? Are you using your computer through speakers of any kind ? You may be able to buy a connection to put your eventual turntable in there . Just a thought . I'm probably overthinking now..:rotfl:

macman

I don't get this current nostalgia for an obsolete audio format which was easily damaged, of low quality and bulky to transport around. Anyone remember this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXDK3x5lAYI

another_casualty

macman wrote: »

I don't get this current nostalgia for an obsolete audio format which was easily damaged, of low quality and bulky to transport around. Anyone remember this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXDK3x5lAYI

That is brilliant . Thanks for that:rotfl: Forgot about that.

In my sutuation I reduced my vinyl over the years due to cds etc.
I have about a quarter of the vunyl I used to have . Most of that hasn't been re released and I'm too lazy to convert to MP3.
I have a cabinet that makes all of my stuff compact so the turntable looks pretty cool on there and not out of place . I still buy CDs and occasional MP3 's . I put those straight onto iTunes .

googler

macman wrote: »

I don't get this current nostalgia for an obsolete audio format which was easily damaged, of low quality and bulky to transport around.

People are nostalgic for all manner of things; vintage analogue watches (who needs those, when we all have smartphones?), vintage cars (they're so unreliable, compared with modern ones), etc etc

If someone wants to play their vinyl, that's up to them.

There's lots out there on vinyl which is not available in other formats, so that's the only way to play it.

We'll leave the discussion of original vinyl vs. remastered CDs from poor mastering sources for another day.....

prowla

I haven't used my record player for 20 years; it's somewhere in the loft and I keep meaning to get it out and give it a whirl some time. I think my hi-fi hasn't got a phono stage though, so that'd be a few quid and it'll also need a service.

As to the quality, a good vinyl system can sound better than most and anybody who says otherwise is just ignorant.

As per a couple of other posts, I'd recommend checking out what Richer Sounds has to offer for the given budget.

EssexExile

googler wrote: »

There's lots out there on vinyl which is not available in other formats, so that's the only way to play it.

I copied all my vinyl onto the computer, then onto my phone.

googler

EssexExile wrote: »

I copied all my vinyl onto the computer, then onto my phone.

Good for you, but you needed a turntable to do this, didn't you.... because it was the only way to play it.