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First Turntable - Direct drive or Belt drive?

First Turntable -  

Having no prior experience with a turntable, I need your help in understanding what are involved in setting up and playing a turntable. I’ve been contemplating an analogue front end that has a good synergy with my existing digital music playbacks and provides a music experience that excels what my current ARC CD-7 tube CD player could offer.

Here’re the components in my existing system:

Audio Research CD-7 Tube CD player (I much prefer a tube-based CD player than a non-tube based one)

Ayre K-1xe pre amp (without phono)

Pass Labs XA 30.5 power amp

Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 speakers (Sound Anchor stands)

Audience Au24e balanced interconnects

Audience Au24SE speaker cables

Kind of music listening to: symphony, chamber, strings, vocal, pop songs, jazz

FYI, I have no of collection of LPs.

 

First, where do I start collecting LPs? Buying new (expensive) or getting used? FYI, I’m in NYC area and I think there’re some LP stores around. Second, do I need a decent record cleaner to achieve a reasonable level of LP playback experience? Moreover, how do you store your LPs? Any suggestion for a good quality shelf/storage for LPs?

 Trying to understand the output from a turntable. I read somewhere on the forum that the output of a turntable is inherently balanced. What’re the typical output connectors off a turntable – balanced, RCA or other?  My pre amp has balanced input/output and power amp has balanced input. Should I get a phono stage that has a balanced input/output to take advantage of the pre and power amps?

If a turntable (i.e. Technics SL-1210GR) has a RCA output, how to connect it to a phono stage? Turntable RCA output > Phono RCA input > Phono Balanced output>Pre Amp balanced input?

 Any recommendations for a high quality, less maintenance First Turntable around $2K (new or used? Thinking about the Technics SL-1210GR? Is its playback more digital like than analogue?

Lastly, I need recommendation on a moderately priced, solid rack for a turntable. FYI, I currently do not have a rack and I put all components on the floor. A rack that will house a turntable, pre-amp and CD player would be ideal. Or, they could be 2 separate low-profile racks.

 

Thank you!


r0817
r0817 OP
55 posts
 
To clarify, I don’t live in NYC and am not familiar with those LPs store in NYC. For turntable, I’m looking for the traditional analogue sound rather than digital like sonics. I already have a satisfying digital set up.
lewm
13,030 posts
 
My point was that since you already own an Ayre line stage, which is inherently a balanced circuit, you may as well also acquire a balanced phono stage. I say this also because most people with experience suggest that the Ayre products sound best in balanced mode. Although Ayre does offer single ended mode as an option. So, you have the luxury of knowing that whether you choose a single ended or a balanced phono stage, either one will be well accommodated by your line stage. Taking it back one step further, that also means you can easily hook up your cartridge in balanced mode. Of course, this is not mandatory in anyway.  In choosing a phono stage either single ended or balanced, tube or solid state, it would be helpful to know your budget. Given the high quality and cost of the remainder of your system, I naturally assumed that you could spend up to around $2000 on your phono stage. You could with some patience acquire an Ayre P5XE phono stage within that budget. As to whether tube or solid state is to be preferred, most guys these days prefer tube. I too would suggest tube, if I knew that you were going to use a high output cartridge, which is to suggest a moving magnet or moving iron type. If you want to use a low output moving coil cartridge then perhaps you would more seriously want to consider solid-state devices, like the Ayre.Many tube  phono stages will require the use of an outboard SUT in order to develop enough gain to deal with a low output moving coil cartridge. That would entail another level of complication, another pair of interconnects, etc.
mnawaz3
3 posts
 
hi there.

the vintage Japanese Direct drive with a good arm is probably what you want. good Direct Drive usually outperforms good belt drive. idler drive  can be better than both belt &DD but can be worse. i suggest making idler your 2nd choice AFTER you have a good 1st choice. 
i suggest technics sl1015 (ridiculously under-valued)  and sony  ps x70 . both of these great decks have great arms . the technics rig goes for 1000-1500 while the sony deck goes for 400 to 700.  grab either. 
lewm
13,030 posts
 
What is a Technics SL1015? I am not familiar with that model. Or did you mean to say “SL1500”? If so, I would have thought you could buy one for less than $1K.
The OP owns a multi thousand dollar CDP and some other fine equipment as well, so I think he can aim a bit higher in selecting a turntable. But I agree that DD offers best bang for buck.
r0817 OP
55 posts
 
Thanks guys for your feedback. As @lewm suggested, I might consider a higher level turntable and will take my time exploring various options.

For the time being, I think it may make more sense to add a full range pair of speakers to my existing system so that I can achieve a more realistic listening experience when playing big scale orchestra off CDs.
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