Just ordered my first turntable!

marjen

So I have started collecting vinyl recently. I have about 12-13 records some pj of course, gaslight, cage the elephant and a couple others but so far I have had nothing to play them on. I have been following the orbit urturn project since it was finishing up on kickstarter and today I finally pulled the trigger and placed an order. It looks like it wont ship for a good month but eagerly waiting its arrival. I built a custom blue one with a slightly upgraded cartridge. Now I need to find a decent phono/headphone amp. Thinking maybe the Bellari - VP129 if I can land one on ebay. Got a pair of brainwavz headphones a couple weeks ago and cant wait to fire it all up.
Anyone else try a u-turn orbit yet?

Yarden

is this it? looks cool. i love vinyl but i'm no expert when it comes to turntables. good luck with your collection!

marjen

Yeah thats it. But I got the blue one.

shecky

Congratulations marjen! I'm excited for you.
I grew up listening to records but haven't had a turntable in years.
I'm saving for one and researching at the same time so I'll read up on your choice.

cutz

I HOPE you hit the lottery now>LOL!!

mfc2006

Nice!

brianlux

Congratulations! Welcome to the excellent world of analog sound. :-)

Tim Simmons

I've heard good things about it. It seems to be a great entry level table.

smarchee

looks pretty sweet, welcome to the club

marjen

Thanks guys. I am going to resist paying crazy prices for vinyl, At least thats my plan. If I cant get it for retail forget it. Which means I wont be listening to a lot of PJ material unless they re release all their middle albums.
Any suggestions on a phono amp?

Dr. Delight

Wasnt this TT a Kickstarter campaign product?

Tim Simmons

marjen said:

Thanks guys. I am going to resist paying crazy prices for vinyl,

Ha. good luck with THAT.

Tim Simmons

I don't have any pre-amps so I can't help.

marjen

So finally after weeks of waiting my new u-turn audio turntable showed up. It seems sell built and was easy to set up. So far sounds good. I am still playing around with the rest of the setup. I got a Bellari VP129 phono pre/headphone amp and not a huge fan so far. Right now I have it running through a very old pioneer receiver and it sounds pretty good. Getting some cracks and pops, i heard I might have to clean my records even new ones?

brianlux

marjen said:

So finally after weeks of waiting my new u-turn audio turntable showed up. It seems sell built and was easy to set up. So far sounds good. I am still playing around with the rest of the setup. I got a Bellari VP129 phono pre/headphone amp and not a huge fan so far. Right now I have it running through a very old pioneer receiver and it sounds pretty good. Getting some cracks and pops, i heard I might have to clean my records even new ones?

Congrats! I've often heard cleaning new records is a very good idea because they often have industrial contaminants that can affect a good stylus. I clean every record I get- new or used- with my Spin Clean. Many record spinners are not as fussy which is cool too.

Last week, I received my new Pro-Ject Debut Carbon that I purchased to replace a Goldring that refuses to adjust properly and has a lid that falls... only I've been too busy to set it up- too many damn books in the way (I have no idea how that happens, LOL).

brianlux

I finally took the time to get my Pro-ject Carbon Debut turntable set up. It's a great turntable for the money- so glad to finally have one that's well made in pretty much every way. The only problem was that setting the tonearm weight according to the instruction booklet was impossible. I had to find an on-line video tutorial to get it right. I would suggest that unless you have a lot of prior experience, anyone setting up a new turn-table try to find an on-line tutorial for your model. It can save you a ton of headache (and unnecessary record wear).

JWPearl

How much did it cost you ??

monkeypimp

Looks like a great entry level option....as for not paying crazy prices for vinyl. Good luck as even new vinyl can be crazy priced. Mother Love Bone was $45, Mad Season was $40. The total you will spend on equipment and music for vinyl can be mindblowing without even really trying. When i start to total up what i have spent on records, it blows my mine. And then when I add that I had to have the Pro-Ject Xpression iii and the Pro-ject Phonobox 2 preamp....its depressing how much this stuff costs compared to a $0.99 mp3.

brianlux

monkeypimp said:

Looks like a great entry level option....as for not paying crazy prices for vinyl. Good luck as even new vinyl can be crazy priced. Mother Love Bone was $45, Mad Season was $40. The total you will spend on equipment and music for vinyl can be mindblowing without even really trying. When i start to total up what i have spent on records, it blows my mine. And then when I add that I had to have the Pro-Ject Xpression iii and the Pro-ject Phonobox 2 preamp....its depressing how much this stuff costs compared to a $0.99 mp3.

Vinyl/turntables are not the least expensive way to go, that's for sure. It can be cheap- you can always get an inexpensive all-in-one player like a Crosley for $100 and just have fun with it. I like analog sound and good music enough to push my spending limit to what I consider my maximum such that I have what most people probably would consider mid-range equipment- the Pro-Ject Carbon Debut, a used Marantz and Polk Audio bookshelf speakers. There are turntable cartridges out there that alone cost as much as my whole set up. I'm neither so rich nor indulgent to put that kind of money into a sound system (not that having top-end equipment wouldn't be nice) but I like the analog experience so much so that I don't have any MP3's at all and mostly only listen to CD's while driving. If I could only listen to digital music I would find that very depressing!

SVRDhand13

monkeypimp said:

Looks like a great entry level option....as for not paying crazy prices for vinyl. Good luck as even new vinyl can be crazy priced. Mother Love Bone was $45, Mad Season was $40. The total you will spend on equipment and music for vinyl can be mindblowing without even really trying. When i start to total up what i have spent on records, it blows my mine. And then when I add that I had to have the Pro-Ject Xpression iii and the Pro-ject Phonobox 2 preamp....its depressing how much this stuff costs compared to a $0.99 mp3.

That's why I stick to second hand stuff on discogs. I only buy new vinyl when its an absolute priority for me, like with Lazaretto, Ten coke bottle, and A Letter Home recently.

BikePHL

marjen said:

So finally after weeks of waiting my new u-turn audio turntable showed up. It seems sell built and was easy to set up. So far sounds good. I am still playing around with the rest of the setup. I got a Bellari VP129 phono pre/headphone amp and not a huge fan so far. Right now I have it running through a very old pioneer receiver and it sounds pretty good. Getting some cracks and pops, i heard I might have to clean my records even new ones?

I also have a Bellari (different model) and am not a big fan. I use it to listen with head phones. The first one I got had a crazy loud hum, so I brought it back to the store. The new new is a bit better, but still has a hum when you turn the volume up. I tried using a better power source because I read that it help other folks, no luck for me. I want to like this thing. It is made in America and reasonably priced, I can't recommend them.

marjen

I just sold the bellari and ordered a bugle2 for now using an old pioneer receiver. Bellari was a little too noisy. Still getting a lot of noise, pops and stuff. Some say it's the records but not sure?

marjen

So have had some time to play with the setup and the new u-turn orbit. Been trying to get some time with a record or two each night. The u-turn seems very solid and depending on the record seems capable of putting out good sound. I recently purchased the bugle2 phono pre amp. It seems really solid. It is feeding an onkyo 787 right now. Hoping to get a dedicated phono amp or stereo amp that can power both the cans and speakers. Any advise on a solid, lower cost stereo receiver that sounds good?

mrussel1

marjen said:

So have had some time to play with the setup and the new u-turn orbit. Been trying to get some time with a record or two each night. The u-turn seems very solid and depending on the record seems capable of putting out good sound. I recently purchased the bugle2 phono pre amp. It seems really solid. It is feeding an onkyo 787 right now. Hoping to get a dedicated phono amp or stereo amp that can power both the cans and speakers. Any advise on a solid, lower cost stereo receiver that sounds good?

What's your price point that you're trying to stay within?

marjen

Maybe $300-400. I really just need something to provide the following features: 2 channels of power for speakers, input for 2 RCA sources, good headphone amp abilities. Thats it. Would love to hook up the u-turn plus my squeezebox and be able to listen via speakers or headphones.

marjen

Here is a pic giving some pj a spin.

mrussel1

Does that turntable have a built in pre-amp? If not, I think you would have to hook it to a receiver that has a phono input and many very nice receivers don't have that input.
You definitely don't want to go cheap on the receiver. Your music quality is only as good as your weakest part of the link. And the receiver is critical. My advice would be to look at an older (2-3 yrs old) Pioneer Elite receiver (to get you in price range, or even used).
And if you want 'basic functionality', you can even go with this:
pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Elite+Amplifiers/A-35R

I have one myself that I use to drive my zone 2 music and it is fantastic. It's not widespread and can be hard to find (got mine from ebay) but it's a gem. It has a phono preamp, headphone out, zone a/b. But it's only for music and only 2 channel. $200 new but you should be able to find it for 150-175. You can also use the analog hook ups on your squeezebox to use that.

I run an Integra amp, an Elite receiver and other assorted equipment, and this is my favorite little piece that I own. I admire it every day that I use it.

mrussel1

Looks like they have a newer model with slightly more power. Looks really nice. Elites are always clean sound.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Elite+Amplifiers/A-20

marjen

You actually reminded me that I had a pioneer VSX-1018ah just sitting in the basement collecting dust SO the onkyo is out. The pioneer sounds better, but think the speakers are the weak link.

Though I really wish someone would come out with a small unit that only had 2-3 inputs (phone, aux, usb) and could power 2 speakers and have a good headphone amp for a couple hundred bucks. I big receiver with a hundred inputs, 9 amps and 30 sound modes is such over kill for a nice little two channel setup and takes up too much space.

marjen

I might actually give that A-20 a try it looks really nice. Seems totally geared to a basic music setup. Thanks for the heads up!

Thinking about Chane 'Arx' A2rx-c center / LCR speakers for the setup. Never heard them but seem to be getting some good reviews.

mrussel1

I have read good things about those speakers but have never listened to them. I just picked up some def tech bp8b speakers for 199 a piece on new egg. They were normally 600 each. If you are a def tech fan (I am), they also have studio monitors that are super discounted right now.