Recommendations for a good turntable?

mschostok

I'm looking into buying a new, quality turntable. The one I currently have is garbage and want something of good quality. Not looking to spend more than $300.

2-feign-reluctance

I have the AT-LP120 & love it 4 years and running. Put a decent cartridge/stylus on it, run it through good speakers. Your system is only as good as your speakers IMHO. I turn off the pre-amp on the turntable too.

mschostok

2-feign-reluctance said:

I have the AT-LP120 & love it 4 years and running. Put a decent cartridge/stylus on it, run it through good speakers. Your system is only as good as your speakers IMHO. I turn off the pre-amp on the turntable too.

Awesome, thanks for the response!

PJ_ROCKS

2-feign-reluctance said:

I have the AT-LP120 & love it 4 years and running. Put a decent cartridge/stylus on it, run it through good speakers. Your system is only as good as your speakers IMHO. I turn off the pre-amp on the turntable too.

i am also looking for a new turntable, think im going with the AT-LP120-USB. Now i see this comes with the upgraded cartridge AT-95E, is that what you went with ? What would you reccomend.

For those looking at the AT-LP60 is cheaper, but much lighter and is a belt drive compared to direct drive, and it does not have the ability to be able to change just the cartridge.

2-feign-reluctance

PJ_ROCKS said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

I have the AT-LP120 & love it 4 years and running. Put a decent cartridge/stylus on it, run it through good speakers. Your system is only as good as your speakers IMHO. I turn off the pre-amp on the turntable too.

i am also looking for a new turntable, think im going with the AT-LP120-USB. Now i see this comes with the upgraded cartridge AT-95E, is that what you went with ? What would you reccomend.

For those looking at the AT-LP60 is cheaper, but much lighter and is a belt drive compared to direct drive, and it does not have the ability to be able to change just the cartridge.

I use whatever came with it. It plays great IMO!

2-feign-reluctance

Its also heavy and very sturdy. I like that about it besides it playing well.

PJ_ROCKS

2-feign-reluctance said:

Its also heavy and very sturdy. I like that about it besides it playing well.

i purchased it yesterday. now just waiting for it to arrive!

2-feign-reluctance

What kind of speakers are you going to use? Amplifier?

PJ_ROCKS

2-feign-reluctance said:

What kind of speakers are you going to use? Amplifier?

should arrive today....

I have a Teac AG-V6200 receiver, yes it's really old...lol

Cerwin-Vega tower speakers VE12. these are probably under powered by the receiver that puts out 100 watts per channel, where the speakers can handle 300 watts per channel peak power, which is about 150 watts i believe.

i will say, this set up sounds crisp and clean with a lot of bass...

PJ_ROCKS

sounds really good.....

2-feign-reluctance

PJ_ROCKS said:

sounds really good.....

Awesome!!

PJ_ROCKS

fitting that i picked this one as my first one to spin...

mccreadyisgod

PJ_ROCKS said:

fitting that i picked this one as my first one to spin...

I'll have to swing by and verify the sound quality, since we live in the same state.

2-feign-reluctance

PJ_ROCKS said:

fitting that i picked this one as my first one to spin...

Looking good! Enjoy!

dudeman

PJ_ROCKS said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

What kind of speakers are you going to use? Amplifier?

should arrive today....

I have a Teac AG-V6200 receiver, yes it's really old...lol

Cerwin-Vega tower speakers VE12. these are probably under powered by the receiver that puts out 100 watts per channel, where the speakers can handle 300 watts per channel peak power, which is about 150 watts i believe.

i will say, this set up sounds crisp and clean with a lot of bass...

Love me some Cerwin-Vega's! Mine have been flawless and can shake things off of the walls with only 45 watts per channel. They are very efficient.

How do you like your new turntable now that you've had it awhile?

PJ_ROCKS

dudeman said:

PJ_ROCKS said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

What kind of speakers are you going to use? Amplifier?

should arrive today....

I have a Teac AG-V6200 receiver, yes it's really old...lol

Cerwin-Vega tower speakers VE12. these are probably under powered by the receiver that puts out 100 watts per channel, where the speakers can handle 300 watts per channel peak power, which is about 150 watts i believe.

i will say, this set up sounds crisp and clean with a lot of bass...

Love me some Cerwin-Vega's! Mine have been flawless and can shake things off of the walls with only 45 watts per channel. They are very efficient.

How do you like your new turntable now that you've had it awhile?

i really do like it, and like i said, it sounds so good. well worth the money!

Zod

I bought a Denon DP-300F w/ Ortofon Red Cartrdige. I was going through all the reviews online and this one got really good review except the cartridge it comes with isn't very good. I bought a combo set of this player with the Ortofon Red Cartridge.

I've been really happy with it. It's an entry level Audiophile player but it's fully automatic I loathe manual players

PJ_Soul

Zod said:

I bought a Denon DP-300F w/ Ortofon Red Cartrdige. I was going through all the reviews online and this one got really good review except the cartridge it comes with isn't very good. I bought a combo set of this player with the Ortofon Red Cartridge.

I've been really happy with it. It's an entry level Audiophile player but it's fully automatic I loathe manual players

I've got the same set up, and am also very happy with it - I also loathe manual players! It is very frustrating to me that hardly any TTs are automatic, so those of us who consider it a requirement, as I do, are kind of pigeon holed into buying what we might not necessarily buy otherwise. I have read that the justification is that automatics don't have as steady a tone arm because of the extra mechanism involved. That seems like a massive cop out to me. This day and age, they are more than capable of making an auto TT with a nice solid tonearm, I mean come on.

dudeman

PJ_Soul said:

Zod said:

I bought a Denon DP-300F w/ Ortofon Red Cartrdige. I was going through all the reviews online and this one got really good review except the cartridge it comes with isn't very good. I bought a combo set of this player with the Ortofon Red Cartridge.

I've been really happy with it. It's an entry level Audiophile player but it's fully automatic I loathe manual players

I've got the same set up, and am also very happy with it - I also loathe manual players! It is very frustrating to me that hardly any TTs are automatic, so those of us who consider it a requirement, as I do, are kind of pigeon holed into buying what we might not necessarily buy otherwise. I have read that the justification is that automatics don't have as steady a tone arm because of the extra mechanism involved. That seems like a massive cop out to me. This day and age, they are more than capable of making an auto TT with a nice solid tonearm, I mean come on.

They're definitely capable of making them, they just haven't found a good way to do it cheaply. IME, most automatic TT's under $500.00 have too many concessions in quality of materials and design.

The Denon DP-300F is an exception. That's a nice, well rounded table. One would have to spend a lot of money to get a little improvement.

Vintage gear is the exception, generally speaking. There are plenty of great sounding, reliable and affordable automatic turntables out there.

brianlux

dudeman said:

PJ_Soul said:

Zod said:

I bought a Denon DP-300F w/ Ortofon Red Cartrdige. I was going through all the reviews online and this one got really good review except the cartridge it comes with isn't very good. I bought a combo set of this player with the Ortofon Red Cartridge.

I've been really happy with it. It's an entry level Audiophile player but it's fully automatic I loathe manual players

I've got the same set up, and am also very happy with it - I also loathe manual players! It is very frustrating to me that hardly any TTs are automatic, so those of us who consider it a requirement, as I do, are kind of pigeon holed into buying what we might not necessarily buy otherwise. I have read that the justification is that automatics don't have as steady a tone arm because of the extra mechanism involved. That seems like a massive cop out to me. This day and age, they are more than capable of making an auto TT with a nice solid tonearm, I mean come on.

They're definitely capable of making them, they just haven't found a good way to do it cheaply. IME, most automatic TT's under $500.00 have too many concessions in quality of materials and design.

The Denon DP-300F is an exception. That's a nice, well rounded table. One would have to spend a lot of money to get a little improvement.

Vintage gear is the exception, generally speaking. There are plenty of great sounding, reliable and affordable automatic turntables out there.

I'm still quite happy with my 110% automatic ProJect TT (10% bonus for having to lift off platter to change speeds). One of the things I like about the ProJect is that it is an "Age Gauge". I can still successfully use my turntable. My father is 94 and his hands shake. When I can no longer safely lower my tone arm by hand I will know I am officially old. Meanwhile, it's "spin spin"!

yellowledbetterman80

i have a Project - debut carbon. I more then happy with this turntable

PJ_ROCKS

still very satisfied with my purchase....

dudeman

dudeman said:

PJ_Soul said:

Zod said:

I bought a Denon DP-300F w/ Ortofon Red Cartrdige. I was going through all the reviews online and this one got really good review except the cartridge it comes with isn't very good. I bought a combo set of this player with the Ortofon Red Cartridge.

I've been really happy with it. It's an entry level Audiophile player but it's fully automatic I loathe manual players

I've got the same set up, and am also very happy with it - I also loathe manual players! It is very frustrating to me that hardly any TTs are automatic, so those of us who consider it a requirement, as I do, are kind of pigeon holed into buying what we might not necessarily buy otherwise. I have read that the justification is that automatics don't have as steady a tone arm because of the extra mechanism involved. That seems like a massive cop out to me. This day and age, they are more than capable of making an auto TT with a nice solid tonearm, I mean come on.

They're definitely capable of making them, they just haven't found a good way to do it cheaply. IME, most automatic TT's under $500.00 have too many concessions in quality of materials and design.

The Denon DP-300F is an exception. That's a nice, well rounded table. One would have to spend a lot of money to get a little improvement.

Vintage gear is the exception, generally speaking. There are plenty of great sounding, reliable and affordable automatic turntables out there.

I would add the Marantz TT42 to the list of good, current production automatic turntables. It's not the most substantial TT out there but for $329.00, it's a good contender.

PJ_Soul

dudeman said:

PJ_Soul said:

Zod said:

I bought a Denon DP-300F w/ Ortofon Red Cartrdige. I was going through all the reviews online and this one got really good review except the cartridge it comes with isn't very good. I bought a combo set of this player with the Ortofon Red Cartridge.

I've been really happy with it. It's an entry level Audiophile player but it's fully automatic I loathe manual players

I've got the same set up, and am also very happy with it - I also loathe manual players! It is very frustrating to me that hardly any TTs are automatic, so those of us who consider it a requirement, as I do, are kind of pigeon holed into buying what we might not necessarily buy otherwise. I have read that the justification is that automatics don't have as steady a tone arm because of the extra mechanism involved. That seems like a massive cop out to me. This day and age, they are more than capable of making an auto TT with a nice solid tonearm, I mean come on.

They're definitely capable of making them, they just haven't found a good way to do it cheaply. IME, most automatic TT's under $500.00 have too many concessions in quality of materials and design.

The Denon DP-300F is an exception. That's a nice, well rounded table. One would have to spend a lot of money to get a little improvement.

Vintage gear is the exception, generally speaking. There are plenty of great sounding, reliable and affordable automatic turntables out there.

Fair enough, but I was talking about higher end TTs. There are almost none of those that are automatic either. They are actually nearly impossible to find at any price. I.e. needledoctor has only 8 auto TTs altogether, and almost all of those are total crap (and the most expensive is simply the DP-300F with a bronze ortofon upgrade). That is 8 TTs out of 154! And there is not a single high end auto TT. So it doesn't seem to me that cost has anything to do with it at all. They have TTs costing up to $170,000, and the most expensive automatic setup available is $750 or so. To me it almost seems like some kind of stubborn audiophile snobbery in the TT design community or something, lol. I am really hoping this gets better before (if) I get my next TT.

tempo_n_groove

PJ_Soul said:

dudeman said:

PJ_Soul said:

Zod said:

I bought a Denon DP-300F w/ Ortofon Red Cartrdige. I was going through all the reviews online and this one got really good review except the cartridge it comes with isn't very good. I bought a combo set of this player with the Ortofon Red Cartridge.

I've been really happy with it. It's an entry level Audiophile player but it's fully automatic I loathe manual players

I've got the same set up, and am also very happy with it - I also loathe manual players! It is very frustrating to me that hardly any TTs are automatic, so those of us who consider it a requirement, as I do, are kind of pigeon holed into buying what we might not necessarily buy otherwise. I have read that the justification is that automatics don't have as steady a tone arm because of the extra mechanism involved. That seems like a massive cop out to me. This day and age, they are more than capable of making an auto TT with a nice solid tonearm, I mean come on.

They're definitely capable of making them, they just haven't found a good way to do it cheaply. IME, most automatic TT's under $500.00 have too many concessions in quality of materials and design.

The Denon DP-300F is an exception. That's a nice, well rounded table. One would have to spend a lot of money to get a little improvement.

Vintage gear is the exception, generally speaking. There are plenty of great sounding, reliable and affordable automatic turntables out there.

Fair enough, but I was talking about higher end TTs. There are almost none of those that are automatic either. They are actually nearly impossible to find at any price. I.e. needledoctor has only 8 auto TTs altogether, and almost all of those are total crap (and the most expensive is simply the DP-300F with a bronze ortofon upgrade). That is 8 TTs out of 154! And there is not a single high end auto TT. So it doesn't seem to me that cost has anything to do with it at all. They have TTs costing up to $170,000, and the most expensive automatic setup available is $750 or so. To me it almost seems like some kind of stubborn audiophile snobbery in the TT design community or something, lol. I am really hoping this gets better before (if) I get my next TT.

"drop, drop, dropping it down, oh so gently"

tempo_n_groove

Pushing Martin Logan motion 15's. Fantastic speakers!

PJ_Soul

tempo_n_groove said:

PJ_Soul said:

dudeman said:

PJ_Soul said:

Zod said:

I bought a Denon DP-300F w/ Ortofon Red Cartrdige. I was going through all the reviews online and this one got really good review except the cartridge it comes with isn't very good. I bought a combo set of this player with the Ortofon Red Cartridge.

I've been really happy with it. It's an entry level Audiophile player but it's fully automatic I loathe manual players

I've got the same set up, and am also very happy with it - I also loathe manual players! It is very frustrating to me that hardly any TTs are automatic, so those of us who consider it a requirement, as I do, are kind of pigeon holed into buying what we might not necessarily buy otherwise. I have read that the justification is that automatics don't have as steady a tone arm because of the extra mechanism involved. That seems like a massive cop out to me. This day and age, they are more than capable of making an auto TT with a nice solid tonearm, I mean come on.

They're definitely capable of making them, they just haven't found a good way to do it cheaply. IME, most automatic TT's under $500.00 have too many concessions in quality of materials and design.

The Denon DP-300F is an exception. That's a nice, well rounded table. One would have to spend a lot of money to get a little improvement.

Vintage gear is the exception, generally speaking. There are plenty of great sounding, reliable and affordable automatic turntables out there.

Fair enough, but I was talking about higher end TTs. There are almost none of those that are automatic either. They are actually nearly impossible to find at any price. I.e. needledoctor has only 8 auto TTs altogether, and almost all of those are total crap (and the most expensive is simply the DP-300F with a bronze ortofon upgrade). That is 8 TTs out of 154! And there is not a single high end auto TT. So it doesn't seem to me that cost has anything to do with it at all. They have TTs costing up to $170,000, and the most expensive automatic setup available is $750 or so. To me it almost seems like some kind of stubborn audiophile snobbery in the TT design community or something, lol. I am really hoping this gets better before (if) I get my next TT.

"drop, drop, dropping it down, oh so gently"

Haha. Well, I actually never use the auto start. I always drop manually. But I need that auto-lift!

dudeman

PJ_Soul said:

dudeman said:

PJ_Soul said:

Zod said:

I bought a Denon DP-300F w/ Ortofon Red Cartrdige. I was going through all the reviews online and this one got really good review except the cartridge it comes with isn't very good. I bought a combo set of this player with the Ortofon Red Cartridge.

I've been really happy with it. It's an entry level Audiophile player but it's fully automatic I loathe manual players

I've got the same set up, and am also very happy with it - I also loathe manual players! It is very frustrating to me that hardly any TTs are automatic, so those of us who consider it a requirement, as I do, are kind of pigeon holed into buying what we might not necessarily buy otherwise. I have read that the justification is that automatics don't have as steady a tone arm because of the extra mechanism involved. That seems like a massive cop out to me. This day and age, they are more than capable of making an auto TT with a nice solid tonearm, I mean come on.

They're definitely capable of making them, they just haven't found a good way to do it cheaply. IME, most automatic TT's under $500.00 have too many concessions in quality of materials and design.

The Denon DP-300F is an exception. That's a nice, well rounded table. One would have to spend a lot of money to get a little improvement.

Vintage gear is the exception, generally speaking. There are plenty of great sounding, reliable and affordable automatic turntables out there.

Fair enough, but I was talking about higher end TTs. There are almost none of those that are automatic either. They are actually nearly impossible to find at any price. I.e. needledoctor has only 8 auto TTs altogether, and almost all of those are total crap (and the most expensive is simply the DP-300F with a bronze ortofon upgrade). That is 8 TTs out of 154! And there is not a single high end auto TT. So it doesn't seem to me that cost has anything to do with it at all. They have TTs costing up to $170,000, and the most expensive automatic setup available is $750 or so. To me it almost seems like some kind of stubborn audiophile snobbery in the TT design community or something, lol. I am really hoping this gets better before (if) I get my next TT.

Well, I guess if you can afford to spend $170,000 on a turntable, you can hire someone to cue your records for you.

-decodified-

turntable masters, what do you recommend, built in preamp or external preamp?

dudeman

External for me. Actually, I prefer to use the phono stage in my receivers. The old school Marantz units have excellent phono amps. Sounds like a million bucks to me.

For the high end audiophile, tube driven external preamps are the way to go.

brianlux

^^^ Well said, dudeman.

A little tip here for Pro-ject Carbon owners:

There are tons of article out there that discuss the notorious "hum" issue of some of these units. So far what I've come up with for solutions include two things. 1) Have the motor screws adjusted (not something I'm willing to try myself though) and, 2) By placing the needle in position on the record FIRST then turning the motor on, the hum is often reduced or eliminated. This seems to have helped some with mine. Most of the time the music drowns out the slight hum anyway. Overall, I'm still happy with this turntable.