Starter Turntable

The Rega P25 is the best jump into it about $1150 with good cartridge. Plus, there are many worthwhile tweaks for it.

I tnink you will love analogue ! For a TT I'd recommend
a used classic Thorens as they are excellent TT's and can be tweaked to provide great sound easily.
I wouldn't buy a new TT particularly an expensive new TT
as there are enough variations that it's a virtual certainty that if you really get into this stuff, you'll end up wishing you had bought a different TT/arm.
The only apect of analogue that I'd recommend spending serious money right away is a good phono stage as that aspect provides serious performance differences for the $
spend some time perusing the vinyl section of the audio asylum just about anything you'll need to know about analogue gear is there.
Regards Fredj

I was one of the anti-turntable people for years. Then I tried it. Since, I have sold my Sony SCD-1 and bought a cheap Rotel. Why? I found that the SCD-1 was never turned on from week to week. The only reason for the Rotel at all is because of my investment in cds.

For a startup setup:
Denon DP series turntable (approx. 150.00 and up)
Cartridge The shure V everyone talks about $199.00 Jacks Music
Phono Pre - Grado pickup used for around $300.00

Alot of headway has been made in digital technology. The available gear is spectacular. The problem is the shotty mastering that is available on 90% of the available software. I for one tired of buying supposedly remastered or new releases to the SACD format, only to be dissapointed by crappy mastering.

Feel free to give me a call 716/821-7828. I would be more than happy to share my journey into vinyl.

John

F155: The hype is true vinyl is stupendous your dealer is right it costs money but if you have it, do it, but its no picnic.
I had only 1 box of records when I started less than 2 months ago now through friends and family I have 4 boxes and haven't heard all of them. I also spent serious money on the net getting new recently released and heavy pressing remastered albums. Those are expensive with a capitol E.
I a more than pleased with the Music Hall MMF-5 which my dealer set up and comes with a cartridge and arm for about $500 new. Many consider that table the one to start with, there was just a thread about it. You'll probably need a phono stage unless you had bought a pre with a phono board or have an integrated with a phono stage. Any number of mini phono boxes will do- Clear audio sells a cheaper one as does Project, I got an unbelievably good one by Redgum its the little phono box,its great, But I wouldn't have bought it except I got it from a dealer who sold it to me as a demo very inexpensively.
A record cleaner also turned out to be a necessary piece (serious bucks look at VPI or Nitty Gitty in the catalogs) if you go with used. Which is really the only way to get quantity and want but poor quality is a rmians real problem with used you need to get near mint or mint if you don't want any noise.
Thats the bad news if you want audiophile level sound. The good news is that nothing sounds as good as vinyl and its worth it. I saw some inexpensive tables with built in phono stages but forget where. I have no idea what they sound like. As a total newbie I would listen to vinyl at a fellow audiophile's place before making the investment.
I am now totally addicted vinyl but you've got to understand its a real hassle as mentioned. Its not the place to put your precious dollars in your first serious system. That being said, after you get rolling a bit, give it a try it really is uniqely better.

Why do you all have to make this sound so complicated?

I was in this guys exact same position 3 years ago, was asking the exact same questions, and had the exact same concerns. If I was reading all of this advice, I'd be thinking that this is way too complicated, and probably isn't worth the effort. Here's my perspective:

For your first table, you want something that you don't have to mess with that much. Everyone seems to try to point you at something that can be tweaked, modded or upgradable. As a newbie, you just want something that sounds good without a lot of work.

I would recommend a Music Hall MMF-5. No, you can't really tweak, mod, or otherwise upgrade it - and that's the beauty of this table. You should be able to pick one up used on the 'gon for about $350.00. Out of the box, this table is generally good-to-go. This is the table I started with. In a side-by-side comparison with a Rega P-25, Rega RB-900 arm, and a Grado Reference Platinum cartridge, the Music Hall didn't lose by that much. And when you take into consideration that the Rega (or at least the one I compared the MMF-5 to) ran fast, one could make the argument that the Music Hall sounded better.

The MMF-5 hooked me, and after 22 months with this table, I sold it and purchased a Teres 255, Origin Live Silver tonearm, Shelter 501 cartridge, and a Wright WPP-100c phono stage. I learned to set up the table properly, and I love to tweak it to maximum performance. Was I ready for that kind of comittment when I first go into vinyl? Hell no! But I wanted to experience what vinyl had to offer and see if it was right for me. If you get hooked, a starter table is easy to dump, you won't lose much money on it, and you'll probably want to upgrade significantly (as opposed to incremental upgrades to a starter table).

There is one other table that just came out that may be interesting (although I haven't heard it) - it's a Goldring GR-1. The Goldring GR-1 is built by Rega and is the same as the Planar-2 with a modified RB-250 tonearm a different platter and slightly less expensive cosmetics (and comes with a cartridge). Do a search for this table on the 'gon, as they are going for between $350 - $365 new and may be exactly what you are lookging for.

Hit the used book and record stores for vinyl. If the vinyl looks like it's been abused, it's probably going sound abused. Note that a dusty record is not necessarily an abused record. You may want to look at the cleaning products by Disc Doctor. It's a PITA to do, but it does make a big difference.