A decent turntable which doesn't break the bank...

fizzylizzy_2

Hi
I posted last week as I am trying to get a present for my boyfriend which will allow him to play his vinyl and tapes and put them on the PC so he can listen to them again! I've now discounted the idea of a special USB turntable but will need to get him a turntable and a tape player as we currently don't have either! Most of our music is on CDs and we don't have a hi-fi system as we use the iPod with a docking station.
I am therefore hoping that someone far more knowledgeable than me might be able to help point me in the direction of a decent turntable. I've looked at this Project one which seems to have had some good reviews but I don't know if what the quality of it is like or whether I would need a pre-amp if I wanted to connect it properly to our laptop?
Could anyone recommend a decent turntable which doesn't break the bank? He would probably be an irregular player of vinyl once they were stored electronically, maybe a couple of times a month. As for sorting out the tape side of things - am I right in thinking that I could even get a walkman and connect it up to the laptop with a 3.5mm jack?
Thanks in advance for your help!!

isofa

That's a decent turntable for the price. There was a comparative review in the Sunday Times InGear section recently of turntables, not sure I still have it, someone else might... Technics always make good decks too, the preserve of DJs, although I'm not a DJ, and I have one!

You may well need a pre-amp to send a decent signal to the computer, depends what sort of sound card you have, it may have that facility, but if it's just a standard one/on board sound then it won't.

You'll get some good advice from a local hi-fi specialist shop such as Richer Sounds or Sevenoaks, if you have either of those stores near you. Also check out the hi-fi mags in the newsagents too.

You could definitely hook up a Walkman in that way, I've done it before with excellent results.

You could also look on eBay for some bargain decent hi-fi kit for the vinyl, as it's out of fashion, there'll be lots of people clearing out systems that once cost thousands.

fizzylizzy_2

isofa wrote: »

That's a decent turntable for the price. There was a comparative review in the Sunday Times InGear section recently of turntables, not sure I still have it, someone else might... Technics always make good decks too, the preserve of DJs, although I'm not a DJ, and I have one!

You may well need a pre-amp to send a decent signal to the computer, depends what sort of sound card you have, it may have that facility, but if it's just a standard one/on board sound then it won't.

You'll get some good advice from a local hi-fi specialist shop such as Richer Sounds or Sevenoaks, if you have either of those stores near you. Also check out the hi-fi mags in the newsagents too.

You could definitely hook up a Walkman in that way, I've done it before with excellent results.

You could also look on eBay for some bargain decent hi-fi kit for the vinyl, as it's out of fashion, there'll be lots of people clearing out systems that once cost thousands.

Thanks - I'll have a look now. I found that Sunday Times review and they also mentioned the Numark PT01 which has a built in pre-amp and speaker so I am having a look at that as well.

isofa

If that's got a preamp too and it's a good price (and gets a good review) then that'll save buying more boxes and add-ons for a basic turntable.

It might be worth calculating just home many records you have to digitise, as you may find it cheaper to either buy the whole set of CDs (many old recordings can be purchased on CD from specialist dealers, some run shops on eBay), or just downloading the music from MP3 outlets such as iTunes, or your preferred music store - rather than buying all the specialist gear to digitise the vinyl in the first place.