I’ve been buying vinyl again despite the fact that my hi-fi system is not in great shape. My trusty turntable (a DUAL something or other) has a broken linkage in it that means it will always put the arm at the 7" position no matter what. I busted that linkage myself, by the way. Maybe it’s fixable but a new turntable would be nice, too.
I had my eye on a SOTA Moonbeam III but those are like 850 bucks and ha ha, no way, not today, so something that’s pretty good and below that price is what I’m aiming for.
Need an amp, too, sold the old one I had because it wasn’t very good. Any suggestions? Tubes a plus.
I already have speakers.
Quite missing the experience of spinning vinyl on a Saturday afternoon
I know you said that you were on a budget, but I could just never be without my Technics SL1210’s. They are built like a tank, last for ever (it seems) when taken care of and are very reliable. Because they’re an industry favourite, it’s very easy to find replacement parts. I had mine serviced last year for about £100 quid, sorted out a couple of little niggles and they’re like brand new turntables again. (These things are like 20 / 30 years old). Justify it in the same way you would justify a mid range synth
Do you need an amp?
Cheap dj mixer has preamps for turntable. Can mix laptop and hardware together. Plug your studio (powered) monitors to the output.
SL1200 here ,though a cheap dj deck (like a limit) can do more tricks like wide pitch and reverse. All dj decks (with direct drive) good for effects and sampling.1200s are king ,but pioneer have an excellent copy out now.PLX 1000.
I appreciate the suggestions, though I’m more looking for something to listen to records on rather than sampling from them or doing the ol’ turntabalism
Are you UK?
Clas Olsan had cheap all in ones.
Argos too.
The retro lookin designs seem best for cheap and have line out.
If I find a make I’ll try n post.
I bought a cheap retro one from Argos. Sounds pretty crap even through line out. Wished I hadn’t parted ways with my Bush Mini TT which sounded awesome but looked scabby.
I got a Rega RP3 but that’s more than the Moonbeam you’re talking about. For the amp I got a Bottlehead Stereomour 2A3. Lucky for me my friend had a spare Dyna 10x4 and an Antique Sound Labs phono pre. The sound of the entire system is good … but I need to do a few mods to the RP3 to get it tip top.
The stuff gets expensive. I highly recommend the Stereomour if you’re handy with the soldering iron. Just don’t electrocute yourself on the high voltages!
Cool thing is you can have fun scratching with this. It’s said it’s for beginner but I’ve never thought I wasn’t
My amp is a Marantz NR1403
I find it pretty cool that it can receive vinyl player, CD player, game console, DVD/BR player, router and other stuff (USB key, computer, iPad, etc.).
So you can centralize everything that could play some sound or video on it.
I know you said that you were on a budget, but I could just never be without my Technics SL1210's. They are built like a tank, last for ever (it seems) when taken care of and are very reliable. Because they're an industry favourite, it's very easy to find replacement parts. I had mine serviced last year for about £100 quid, sorted out a couple of little niggles and they're like brand new turntables again. (These things are like 20 / 30 years old). Justify it in the same way you would justify a mid range synth ;)
I feel you, my technics are my babies, but with the originals price tags now being pushed up massively following the rerelease, the temptation to sell and buy a massive piece of audio equipment is high.
Onkyo amps pair up really nicely with a pair of technics too
That Audio Technica 120 mentioned earlier has a built in preamp, so you could just plug it straight into powered speakers, although a dedicated phono amp on a receiver will possibly sound better.
The USB part of it doesn’t work so well so I plugged it into my TASCAM Portastudio using the RCA inputs until I get proper connectors to get it into my Scarlett
1. The audio will not play through the computer at all, just from the monitor or headphone outputs on the Scarlett. I have no idea why the computer itself will not play the audio even though it shows the VU meter shows it is picking up the signal (yes, I changed the input/output settings in system preferences)
2. The cartridge isn’t great. It’s not awful, but would a Shure M44-7 be too much for this cheap table? I could always use it for a different table later when I upgrade.
Does anyone know any rough translations of vinyl speed and op1 tape speed? Like if I sample something at 45 rpm to save space, how many steps down is it to normal speed? My table also has +/- 10 and 20% options. Any correlation to tape speed or numeric pitch adjustments? Maybe these numbers won’t line up perfectly. Just wondering.
Sure wish I knew about these when I bought my crappy Numark!
I got the built in pre-amp, too, heard it’s good. Lousy Canadian dollar makes this not as cheap as it would seem but still pretty reasonable for the quality.
