Ok all you vinyl heads...

[Swish]

....I got my new cartridge and was all exited about hooking up my old Technics TT to my HT system. I had everything in place when my heart sank. My Rotel Processor doesn't have a phone input, so I needed to order a pre-amp. Well, another minor set-back, but I prolly should have checked up front. I mean, I had the thing connected to my ancient integrated amp about 5 or 6 years ago and it worked fine, but it was sitting idly by since then.

So I get my pre-amp and make the connects, and it sounds great...except for one thing...the speed isn't accurate. WTF did I do to deserve this? I fooled with everything and it's set up properly, but at 33rpms it's just a notch or two slow. I'm feeling pretty stupid at this point, but I didn't ask to get back into vinyl.

Well, it is an old direct drive unit, and not worth repairing, so I suppose a new TT is in order, which is something I really didn't want to have to replace right now. That being said, what is a good, reasonably priced TT and tonearm these days? How much should I expect to pay for one? I'm hoping not more than $200-300, and I already have a decent mm cartridge.

Much obliged.

Swish - feeling extra geezerish today

[nobody]

Go check out the analog forum. It all depends on what you wanan spend. For a couple hundred bucks, I'd go grab another old Technics direct drive unit. I tried a few other options over a few years and was pretty happy with a Thorens and a couple other things, but I grabbed an SL-Q3 that I got for like 80 bucks and have been happy enough with it since that I don't have any desire to get anything else until I have some real money to spend.

One of my big things though was I gotta have my auto stop and such because I play records all the time, not just when I'm listening intently and ready to leap up and grab the arm at the end of the record. And, most of the new tables are manual. So, my choices asking for that little feature were cut down to a very, very slim sliver.

If you want a new one with auto shut off, I really was figuring I'd try out the Denon DP-300F until I ended up being happy enough with what I got to make a change. I've seen 'em go for not much over $200 brand new on Ebay, and they look quite nice from what I can tell.

If you go manual, I'm sure your choices increase, and I'll let some others cover you there.

[Slosh]

I have a Pro-Ject 1.2. I'm perfectly happy with it. It was $300 about 8 or 9 years ago. Not sure if they still make it but I'll assume there's still a similar model in the line-up. This one is fully manual. You have to retrieve the tone-arm at the end of a side, and even have to physically move the belt if ya want to play 45s. The only drawback as far as I'm concerned is the inter-connects are permanently attached and would be a minor tweak if you want thicker or longer cables. They seem fine to me but are a bit on the short side. You'll still need a separate phono-stage but that's a good thing IMO.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

....I got my new cartridge and was all exited about hooking up my old Technics TT to my HT system. I had everything in place when my heart sank. My Rotel Processor doesn't have a phone input, so I needed to order a pre-amp. Well, another minor set-back, but I prolly should have checked up front. I mean, I had the thing connected to my ancient integrated amp about 5 or 6 years ago and it worked fine, but it was sitting idly by since then.

So I get my pre-amp and make the connects, and it sounds great...except for one thing...the speed isn't accurate. WTF did I do to deserve this? I fooled with everything and it's set up properly, but at 33rpms it's just a notch or two slow. I'm feeling pretty stupid at this point, but I didn't ask to get back into vinyl.

Well, it is an old direct drive unit, and not worth repairing, so I suppose a new TT is in order, which is something I really didn't want to have to replace right now. That being said, what is a good, reasonably priced TT and tonearm these days? How much should I expect to pay for one? I'm hoping not more than $200-300, and I already have a decent mm cartridge.

Much obliged.

Swish - feeling extra geezerish today

Ah yes, the wild, wacky, FRUSTRATING world of vinyl - Ultimately it's worth it in the end - according to this humble reporter. I bought a Empire 698 in August '07 and only this week after five or six blets and belt repairs - it's finally running at correct speed. Halle-f'ing-lujah.

Anyway if $300.00 is your budget you can look at Music Hall or Pro-Ject or Rega - though i think their entry level stuff usually includes a cartridge. You can probably find a Technics 1200 used (make sure it wasn't used by a DJ though).

Good luck ole man!

[Swish]

Ah yes, the wild, wacky, FRUSTRATING world of vinyl - Ultimately it's worth it in the end - according to this humble reporter. I bought a Empire 698 in August '07 and only this week after five or six blets and belt repairs - it's finally running at correct speed. Halle-f'ing-lujah.

Anyway if $300.00 is your budget you can look at Music Hall or Pro-Ject or Rega - though i think their entry level stuff usually includes a cartridge. You can probably find a Technics 1200 used (make sure it wasn't used by a DJ though).

Good luck ole man!

...it's just that I have thousands sunk into my HT system and never planned to go back into vinyl. My daughter and son-in-law bought me 4 LPs for Xmas and I tried to play them on my TT. I found out the stylus was shot so...I needed a new cartridge. Then the thing with the lack of phono input in my Rotel (I understand very few HT processors have them), and...you know the rest of the story.

I don't plan on going bonkers with vinyl, so I don't believe I need to spend more than a few hundred for decent performance. That's all I was implying. If $350 or 400 is the right number, then I'll pull the trigger and never look back.

Thanks for the info...to you and the others.

Swishdaddy

[Bernd]

All good advice so far. I think a Rega P2 would be a great choice. It is very tweakable (pm John Michael) and the arm is a peach. He tweaked his within an inch of its life and its sounds great by all acounts. This can all be done in stages big or small, and performs way above its price. Also the new Thorens line up is very good.
Welcome to the dark side Swish.:D

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