Trying to get in to vinyl, turntable suggestions?

04-20-09: Burnsy1
is it that hard to find vinyl? My goal is not to replace my library of cd's but obtain albums over time.

You're on the right track and know what you want. It's easy and fun to find vinyl. I had about a dozen LPs two years ago, just prior to buying my first turntable in 30 years. Two years later I have over 700, the majority of which I got for fifty cents to $2 at used record shops and thrift shops. I did this on a shoestring and am having a blast. I get immense pleasure from listening to vinyl now. I liked the higher level of resolution so much that I did a complete overhaul of my 2-channel analog rig (except for keeping the Technics turntable)--platform, headshell, cartridge, cables, amp, and speakers.

This has been an enjoyable road of discovery on so many levels--hunting for used vinyl in good shape, listening to music I might not otherwise because it's so affordable, digging back into the cultural icons of the '50s to the '80s, hunting through used record shops and swap meets, and gradually dialing in improvement after tweak to get a clean, quiet, dynamic, linear, focused sound out of the Technics. It's been an enjoyable process and I very much like where it's ended up for me--a musically satisfying system with lots of high-resolution analog media to play on it.

Beware of sentences that start with the phrase, "with all due
respect", which always follow with a statement that clearly indicates the
author means just the opposite.

Moving on...

You can have a very fulfilling vinyl experience with a Technics SL1200 table, a
Benz Micro Ace or Audio Technica AT150 Mlx cartridge, and a phono preamp
in the range of $1000 new. Invest in a MintLP Best Tractor for $100. Set-up
is critical for good sounding vinyl playback, and you can't cheap out with the
tools necessary to get the job done right. Cleaning supplies will cost in the
range of $50-$100. A Sandbox platform for approx. $300. many will
recommend a record cleaning machine, but I don't subscribe to this. Hand
vacuuming and cleaning work just fine.

Total investment around $2200. I've done it for less, but I didn't hear benefits
until I had spent over $2000 for the entire rig and accessories.

You can probably have an equally fulfilling vinyl experience with an entry
level Rega table. The choice is yours, and no amount of input from users of
either make is going to put a convincing and definitive point on the debate.

If you're used to the quiet aspect of digital recordings, and if you're young
enough to have no prior experience with LP records and their inherent noise,
then you may be frustrated in your attempt to buy quiet used vinyl. There
isn't much available.

IMO. YMMV.

Tvad...You said "LP records and their inherent noise".
Wow! When I said such a thing the vinyl police worked me over.

04-20-09: Learsfool
With all due respect to the fans of Technics, I personally would argue that there is a reason they are known as "DJ" tables.

And that reason is simply that they spin up to speed in 1/4 turn and can take a beating night after night. The SL1200 was designed as a home audiophile turntable. It was adopted by the DJ industry because of its reliability and durability, and because its rotational consistency, bass slam, and leading edge transients get people out on the dance floor.

For the money you are talking about, I would suggest buying a new Rega P1 or P2. You will get much better soundstaging and imaging, if these are important to you, as well as better resolution of instrumental and vocal timbres.

Simply not true. Subjectively a person may prefer the Rega, but it won't be on timbral accuracy, let alone rhythm, pace, drive, or leading transients. I just spent two hours Friday with my favorite LPs at my local British hi-fi dealer. I listened to a P2 with Rega Bias cartridge followed by a Roksan Radius 5 fitted with a Roksan-badged variant of the Goldring 1042. The signal chain from there on was all Naim, at least $10K worth.

Upon firing up the P2, at first the imaging impresses, but after two or three more cuts the shortcomings become very obvious. Once the recording got above 8 instruments or voices, it started to congest. The midrange is recessed *and* grainy. This is a $650 rig.

You can mail order an SL1210 M5G with improved tonearm wire for around $454 delivered. Add an Ortofon 2M Blue and you're at the same price range, and this rig will kick the Rega's ass eight ways to Sunday. For very little more money you can swap out the feet for brass cones, put it on a butcher block cutting board, and put Vibrapods or other vibration absorbing feet under the block. At that point the Technics reveals inner detail you won't hear on the P2.

When I tired of the P2, I started spinning on the Roksan instead. This was a big improvement, and at $2700 it ought to be. It resolved the details, the transients and tonal fadeouts far beyond what the Rega could do. But even at that, it sounded murky and sluggish. The midrange was recessed similarly to the P2, but wasn't grainy. This is a parlor trick to create the illusion of greater soundstage depth and ambient air and detail. This Roksan couldn't touch my Technics rig for linear response, bass drive and clarity, midrange transparency, pitch and rhythmical accuracy, and especially, timbral accuracy.

For those in love with the Rega RB300 and variants, it's still cheaper to get an SL1200 ($350, remember?) and then get the Origin Live Technics armboard and an RB300-compatible tonearm. For about $1500, you could have an SL1200 with an Origin Live Silver tonearm with VTA adjustment.

Any debate about Technics versus Rega is a complete waste of bandwidth.

If anyone has any doubts about which is better, then the debate is best settled by purchasing one of each and comparing them side by side in one's system. Half of users will prefer the Technics, and the other half will prefer the Rega.

With such devotion to both brands, it's clear one can be happy with either, especially if one has little or no prior experience with vinyl.