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  3. 1210511980

First used turntable +- $20,000. Any suggestions?

Hi all,

I've been into audio for several years but never ready looked into turntables. Since a few of my friends telling me they like the sound of turntables much much more than CD I might make the switch as well.

Since new is too expensive I will be looking on the second hand market. Could anyone advise me on a superb table that will be max. $20,000 (incl. cartridge, arm etc etc) on the used market? What are the brands to look for and are there particular things I need to watch out for when buying second hand turn tables?

Appreciate your thoughts.
maxx1973
Ag insider logo xs@2x
rauliruegas
9,123 posts
 
Dear Maxx1973: Welcome a board!.

This TT/tonearm is very good option:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtabl&1215614324

and you can match with these cartridges:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1213192894
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1213377406
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1214272918
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgcart&1214313935

Other than that you need a first rate Phonolinepreamp.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
schipo
1,267 posts
 
$20,000, at this price the analog world is your oyster....
tiger
313 posts
 
Spend at least $1000 to get Mikey to come visit and do the set up.
nrostov
199 posts
 
Max,

DO NOT BUY A TURNTABLE USED. There are many good turntables new for under $20,000. Turntables have many parts that can be damaged in shipping. You are really taking a big risk. People are going to post on here how they didn't have any problems buying used online. Trust me for every turntable that comes okay there are ten other ones that come damamged. Then either it can't be repaired or it costs almost as much as buying a new one to fix it.

Second you don't need to spend that much on the turntable. My turntable costs $5,000 and it is more musical than a lot of other more expensive rigs. Why? The turntable itself affects the sound the least. First you need a great phonostage(I recommend the Messenger). Second the cartridge and tonearm have a greater effect on the sound than the table. Now don't get me wrong the table is important it's just the least important componenet in the chain.

Another good thing about buying the table new is that the dealer can set it up for you. I don't care how much you spend on a turntable if it is not setup correctly it will sound like crap. In fact your CD player will probably sound better. I believe that is why a lot of people on audiogon think there CD's sound better. It's because they don't know how to setup their turntables correctly.

Lastly, a properly setup table will blow away any CD player on the market-I don't care how expensive. For those of you who disagree with me you are more than welcome to bring your best CD player over to my house to compare.

Please email me directly if you need any advice.

Justin
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