a little over but a great sounding system,
technics sl 1200gr
lehmann black cube statement
orotfon quintet bronze
technics sl 1200gr
lehmann black cube statement
orotfon quintet bronze
Is a GREAT turntable under $2000 possible???
Howdy folks-
I’m really enjoying my current set up and return to 2.1 channel listening and Home Theater. Here’s what I’ve got:
-Mc402 Amp
-Anthem Mrx 520
-Oppo 103 Bdp with Scott Nixon tube dac
-Mac Mini with a Scott Nixon Usb tube dac
-Audience and Wireworld cables
-Tekton Electron speakers
I’d like to introduce vinyl to my evening listening pleasure. Any recommendations for a turntable (including arm, cartridge, etc) under $2000? Is this a reasonable figure? I have no clue when it comes to turntables so any advice given is surely appreciated.
Brent
I’m really enjoying my current set up and return to 2.1 channel listening and Home Theater. Here’s what I’ve got:
-Mc402 Amp
-Anthem Mrx 520
-Oppo 103 Bdp with Scott Nixon tube dac
-Mac Mini with a Scott Nixon Usb tube dac
-Audience and Wireworld cables
-Tekton Electron speakers
I’d like to introduce vinyl to my evening listening pleasure. Any recommendations for a turntable (including arm, cartridge, etc) under $2000? Is this a reasonable figure? I have no clue when it comes to turntables so any advice given is surely appreciated.
Brent
119 responses Add your response
To be blunt, NO. A GREAT turntable is the combination of a lot of well executed engineering, which doesn't come cheap. There are many good to very good turntables for under $2K, however. More than ever before in my estimation. You can probably find something used that retails for $3K or more for under $2K, so my advice is to do your research and be patient for the deal to happen. Clearaudio, VPI, and many others are good brands to focus on. I owned a Clearaudio Emotion for a while and was very impressed with the sound. My local Craigslist has one for $1K, so there are some incredible deals out there if you look carefully. |
$2k? Maybe not off the shelf but you can certainly do what I did. Source a clean Garrard 401 for about $800. Make or buy a layered birch ply plinth and add a 12" Jelco 750 arm for $550. Optionally add an Audiosilente idler for $100. Add brass feet and sit table on solid level support and you will have a great table. |
If you don’t want to buy used, look for a well made value priced table with a good cartridge. For example the Marantz TT 15S1 can be had for $1,499 and it comes with a Clearaudio Virtuoso ($800) cartridge. Clearaudio also makes the turntable for Marantz. It’s solid. You have a number of options for a phono stage in the $500 range. Others can better provide advice for the phono stage. There’s your $2,000 spend and this would work well.
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I've owned at least a hundred TT's for an tricked out Linn LP-12 to a AR-xa .. Right now I am listening to a Pioneer PLX-1000 with a Soundsmith Ottelo cartridge at a total cost of 1k + tax . And yes , it IS great . It was very good but a 700 $ Project DS-2 Phono pre-amp made it great . Read The Stereophile review of the PLX-1000, it is spot on ! People who have have never heard one , much less own one , will tell you it is Chinese junk . They lie . |
the trouble is you'll need a good phono stage to do justice to whatever you put together with the turntable. all of it can be done used for better value (except maybe the cartridge), but $3000 maybe a more reasonable target to get an analog front end into your system. The Marantz TT15s gets high praise from people whose opinion I trust. It's actually a rebadged Clearaudio TT and retails for 1500. used ones on eBay are about $1k often with good carts. |
Talk to Dave at VinylNirvana.com -- he does amazing work with remanufactured, vintage Thorens turntables, some within your budget. However as others have pointed out, a phono stage is another matter. But check out the Audigon thread on the iPhono. I have no experience with it but the user comments were interesting. |
What do do you think of the new Rega Planar 6? It’s getting great reviews. I now have a 25 year old original Well Tempered Turntable with a Dynavector 10x5 cartridge. I’m thinking of replacing it with the Rega and either moving the cartridge or buying a new Dynavector 20x (depending how my 10x needle looks When it’s examined). My other equipment: Audio Research amp, preamp and phono stage, Naim Unitiserve server, Aurilac Vega DAC, KEF Reference 5 speakers. I don’t play records that much so I don’t want to spend a huge amount on a new turntable. My dealer highly recommends the Rega Planar 6. |
Their are alot of great turntables out there. They are not excellent or fantastic but great. I noticed Sonos is providing a turntable made by Pro-ject for their wireless systems. I use Sonos for ambient music around my house. They provide an excellent product - their speaker designs are very good. Everything I come across is positive about the Pro-ject line of turntable (cost effective). Good luck and spend some time to find what you need. jhv |
I think you could do that for $2000. I would probably buy a used turntable and a new cartridge. I would consider a secondhand entry-level clearaudio table and arm with a dynavector MC cartridge, something like the 10X5 perhaps. I have a JA Michell Tecnodec Which is pretty nice and in that price range. You can get one with an arm for $2000 new. Find a good one used, and you have freed up enough budget for a new cartridge. |
Budget version of PD-444 is the PD-441 by Luxman, which you can find for 2k with nice tonearm and cartridge. It’s direct drive turntabel in aluminum plinth (heavy). This little PD-441 is eye candy, classic 70s style, the motor made by legendary Micro Seiki, so the quality is top notch. If you can find it without tonearm it can be under 1k, then you can add tonearm. My PD-444 is much bigger and i prefer it to the Technics SP-10mkII. Tonearms on my PD-444 are under $750 each (Victor UA-7045 and Luxman TA-1 with removable armwand). Great combination for MM cartridges. I've been using Grace F14 and Stanton CS-100 WOS on those arms as you can see on the picture. I’m sure the PD-441 with some classic tonearm is a great start, actually it will be a great analog rig. Good luck! |
Clearaudio Concept Wood w Concept MC cart. https://www.ebay.com/itm/CLEARAUDIO-CONCEPT-TURNTABLE-MC-WOOD-NEW-FACTORY-SEALED-WARRANTY-SPECIAL-SA... Well worth it!!! |
Very interesting everyone. Really enjoying the comments and researching the components and learning more about how the system runs. For my first trip into Vinyl I wanna keep it simple, most likely new and between $2000 to $3000. I know I'll need help setting it up and will look my friend for that, but new makes me feel more comfortable while the feet are wet. Technics SL 1200 Gr PD-441 by Luxman Marantz TT15s The above are pretty nice and high on my radar. Phono pre, maybe a cartridge, nice sturdy block of something for it to sit on and it's gonna sound pretty good. Thanks again for chiming in and I look forward to sharing my results and hearing more suggestions. Brent |
Congratulations! I think you made a good choice with the Technics. The goal of $2000 for a great table is difficult, presuming you actually adhere to the adjective great. The Marantz is a nice enough product, presents a complete, tidy package, but great? I can't go that far, its low-end lacks foundation and solidity. The current lower priced Clearaudio offerings better it, but still don't come up to great |
https://www.amazon.com/VCT-VT-500J-Japanese-Transformer-Converts/dp/B000PC4JL4/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF... Heres one Best of luck Peter |
@knollbrent I’m thinking the Lehman black cube statement and the Orotfon Quintet Bronze Cartridge will pair nicely. Why do you think so? Just because someone use it ? JLTi phono stage from Australia is amazing, with this phono stage you can try different loading with MM and MC cartridges. If you’re looking for a new cartridges i would recommend to try Garrott P77i MM, if you need a LOMC and your phono stage is very good then look for the Audio-Technica. Vintage cartridges like the AT-ML170, Grace F14, Stanton CS-100 WOS, Glanz MF-61, Pioneer PC-1000mkII are superior to the most of the modern LOMC and definitely much better than modern MM. P.S. you need step-down transformer for japanese electronics, they are on ebay, Super SD-30 (30w) is what i've been using for my SP-10mkII before i bought 1000w step-down trans to connect everything. |
You should not plug the Japanese version directly into your US wall outlet as this will result in a 20% over voltage - it possibly could handle it for a while but you’d be pushing the internal regulators pretty hard. Their heat sinking is designed to only dissipate so much. The small step down trafo I recommend above will do the job easily it’s rated, optimistically @ 500W, your turntable draws less than 10W. You certainly can get better ones, in our GrooveMaster Turntables, the versions based upon the Denon DP80 which was only made as a 100V unit, I install a custom made made step down isolation transformer for an example. Good Listening Peter |
IMHO, the best way to go if you are a discerning buyer, is to get a used table/arm and maybe cartridge ensemble that cost up to $6K for your $2K..... People that own that sort of table tend to take very, very good care of them and you can find some excellent deals from some poor misguided audiophile who has decided to go over to the dark (digital) side. You might luck into some hard to find LPs, too. |
The new Mobile Fidelity turntable goes for under $2000 and supposedly is quite good for the money. Recently a nearby high end audio dealer dropped Rega and now only carries Music Hall and Mobile Fidelity in his lower cost turntable offerings. I myself was able to purchase a mint Thorens/Rabbo combination for $950 so there is always the used market as well. Of course I would have to pay considerably more to do better than my Thorens/Rabco combo. Oh yes, I also have an original AR turntable which works quite well for my small audio system. |
@knollbrent - my earlier suggestion of the Marantz was my attempt to keep the total cost =< $2k. I owned the Marantz myself and it served me well for about 5 years. I have since upgraded to the Technics 1200G. It's my retirement table. You made the right choice given your willingness to stretch the budget some. |
I was able to find a like new Music Hall 9.1 TT on this site for $750 and a gently used Clearaudio Maestro V2 cart for $525. While I am sure a table like a VPI Prime or Classic may have much to offer, I would be hard pressed to replace my setup for 2 or 3 times the price and expect a material improvement in sound quality. As is usually been my experience, most people on this site treat their equipment with great care and typically only sell to either upgrade, downsize or just to try something new. My entire system was acquired used on this site and Audio Mart, and every purchase has met or exceeded my expectations. |
Of course, it all depends on your definition of 'great turntable'. I'd say a good enough turntable is definitely possible to build for under $2,000. For example, you could hunt for a used Systemdek IIX. Off the shelf maybe not that fantastic, but it is endlessly tweakable, and you can quite easily nudge it to the very respectable level for very little investment. I have tried it with Jelco 750E 10" tonearm, and it sounds stunning. Jelco will give you the ability to try out various mid-to-high-range cartridges, so you won't be limited in that area (I'm currently using Denon DL-103 and Ortofon OM20). I'm mating Jelco with Nagaoka cables, which is an awesome upgrade. Lastly, you can top it off with iFi Micro iPhono 2 preamp and still won't break the bank. iFi iPhono 2 is maybe the best bang for the buck I've seen lately (but don't bother with iPhono 1, it's not nearly as good at 2). It will give you that much coveted 'silky' and deeply sonorous sound that I was previously only able to hear with seriously expensive phono stage. With the above configuration, I am convinced that you will be able to give more expensive turntables a good run for their money. Of course, you won't be able to beat ultra high end gear, but for the meagre $2,000 or so you're sitting in a very respectable audiophile position. Nothing to scoff at. |
The Technics 1200GR is the best turntable I could find for my under $5000.00 vinyl front end project (buying new; if you are willing to go used you can likely do better in some respects, but at some risk). The 1200 GR is not the end-all/be-all of turntables, but it is a solid performer and flexible platform that allows for simple set-up and easy experimentation with various cartridges. Climbing up the ladder from there requires careful matching between cartridges, tonearms, and preamps (and a lot more attention to system synergy). If your total system budget is under $20,000, and you are not inclined to endless critical tinkering and evaluation, the 1200 GR would be well worth investigating. |
I have to add... If your system budget is over $20,000, you could do far worse than checking out the Technics 1200G. These new Technics tables are a different animal than the old Technics 1200 series tables (although they look the same). As an old AR and Grarrard guy, and more recently a fan of British belt drive tables, I am not enamored of the looks (your audiophile friends will deride you for having an 80's style DJ 'table), but soon you will be having the last laugh when you stop looking and start listening. |
I know only of two candidates, the suspended Michell Gyro SE £1899.00 complete https://www.vickershifi.com/Products/MICGSE202?gclid=CjwKCAjwt5DXBRAtEiwAa3vyEg3lhbt4JvabvZiSVs7ehfl... and the vectored Funk Firm Little Super deck £1584 w/o cart. http://www.analogueseduction.net/funk-firm/funk-firm-little-super-deck-turntable-with-funk-firm-f5-t... However for a simpler life you might prefer the lovely Project Classic or my choice the fuss free bomb proof Technics 1200GR. |
I’m currently looking for the Zu modded Denon 103 for my cartridge but Zu is sold out. I use Zu Audio speakers and cables, but if you want to put Zu Audio Denon 103 on your technics stock tonearm it will be a mismatch. You’d better look at what Zu Audio used for their Zu DL-103 HERE It’s Audiomods tonearm from UK on ZU Technics SL1210. You need high mass tonearm for any versions of Denon 103, the effective mass of the stock Technics tonearm is too low for such a low compliance cartridge like Denon. That’s why Audiomods tonearm was chosen by Zu Audio for ZU DL-103 About tonearm/cartridge matching: https://www.ortofon.com/support/support-hifi/resonance-frequency |
While you are waiting around for the Zu modified 103 and stressing out over compliance issues and phono-preamp matching, get ye an Ortophon 2M Blue and a Schiit Mani and listen to some records. There are tons of really cool MM carts out there that will be fun to try without breaking the bank. I’ve got an old Grado that brings me back to listening to Zep in the dorm, an AT 440 mlc that still gets into rotation, and a new Mofi MasterTracker that is sublime (got that instead of the Ortophon 2M black, but it was a close race). Also have a few old Stantons and Pickerings that are fun to dink around with, and an old Shure V-15 V that is a bit high compliance but works fine with the brush down. Buy a couple cheap headshells and a 6 pack and you’ll be having more fun than you thought possible without breaking any laws! |