Do you have any suggestions?

hey knot,
i am new to the vinyl thing. my dad gave me his old linn lp 12 i put a a blue point special evo 3 on it and bought the 150.00 parasound pre amp. you would not believe the great sounds i get out of this little budget system.

Hey Knot, You have no experience and limited budget so pursue used and resell at a slight or no loss if you do not like results, vinyl can sound pretty good on a tight budget but you cant buy miracles for that amount.

"Im afraid that these low end turntables are going to sound really tinny and cheap"

the issue is often not so much "tinny" as muddy, although id you're really lucky you can have both. ;-)

Try a used Thorens TD 160 or even a TD 150($200 - $250) and a Shure M97xe cartridge ($53 at Kennzo.com.)They come up all the time here and on e-bay. Great value and terrific sounding.

The amp is infact integrated. It has the built in stage for phono aux and a few others. I truly know nothing about these turntables, so its a bit difficult for me to narrow down excactly what im looking for. I will check out Sumiko though, and suppose I will continue looking around on audiogon. Im afraid that these low end turntables are going to sound really tinny and cheap, so Im really trying to find the right match for my system. Thank you both for your help.

I have a Pro-ject RM-5 and like it a lot. Purchased it new from the Needle Doctor.

I have placed a couple of web address below. Both have a wide selection of entry level equipment. Like Wwshull posted Sumiko's, Pro-ject budget line is a great place to start but there are lots of brands available.

http://www.needledoctor.com/

http://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/needbelt.htm

Good luck

Pro-Ject Debut III (Sumiko), MMF-2.1, Rega P1, the direct drive Technics SL-1200 mkII, and for auto operation, Thorens TD 158 are your options new in that price range, which is actually from $300-400. They represent the bottom of the line options from reputable companies. They all come with cartridges which you would do well to think of upgrading in the long run. Used might open the door to a few more but most probably from the same contenders. You can pay as little as $75 for an only adaquate phono stage, which would get you the Rolls VP-29. Raising your budget will get you noticable improvements at every step.

Good luck and enjoy!

Dealer disclaimer.

Knot,

Is your NAD an integrated amp? If it is an integrated, does it have a built-in phono stage? If not, you are going to need to divide your $300 investment between a turntable (with arm and cartridge) and a phono stage.

If you just need a turntable, i.e. you already have a phono stage in your integrated amp, you can probably pull it off for $300 or so. However, if you also need to buy a phono stage with your $300 budget, it's going to be difficult.

Enjoy,

TIC

look into the entry level tables by sumiko