New to Vinyl, TT suggestions please


Howdy,

I'm looking to get into vinyl and was looking for suggestions on TT's up to $500 on the used market, including cartirdge and arm, preferably low maintenance (specific table suggestions that are now available would be welcome too!). My musical tastes favor electronic/techno/triphop/ambiant music, especially heavy in angelic female vocals and engaging bass lines, to Radiohead and Pink floyd, Tull and Nina Simone, with operas and occasional jazz thrown in when in them mood. My preamp/phono pre is the musical fidelity A3.2cr, my system if full range and bass from 20-40hz is very important to me, if that helps. My reference redbook and SACD player is the Marantz SA-14, which I'm quite fond of, and would like a vinyl rig with the same essential sonic characteristics, if that helps! Thanks much for any assistance.
uva_hifi
Look at the Musical Fidelity product line they fit your budget and do a good job for the money.
I think a used rega with rega cartridge is about as simple and low maintainance as it gets. IMHO one thing that the regas excell at is bass .. very rhythmic. They're perhaps not quite so good with detail, but still good for the money. You might get a Planar 3 with an elys for $500.
I second Seandtaylor99. I lucked out with a practically new
Rega P3 + Rega cartridge for $500 about 4 months ago from the Audiogon classifieds. I'm quite happy with it.
Im new to vinyl as well (at least for the last 10 years)and I just purchased a Rega P3 2000 for $450.00 on the GON. I upgraded the cartridge but it came with an Elys and I thru it away. You cant go wrong with this TT. Smooth as silk, quiet, great sound. So my recomendation (and thru my reasearch a lot of others) is to go with the Rega.
I was in the same boat 6 months ago and asked the same question. The three most recommened were MMF-5, VPI jr and Rega, I went with the VPI because it seemed to have the most upgrades availbe. You can pick up VPI jr for around $500 used. (66 tri-power here)
Happy Listening!
Rega P-3 is the standard.. also because it comes with the Rega arm, which is a great arm. I've never used them but I hear great things about the Rega cartridges too. I had a Rega P-3 for years that I kept modifying (maybe 15 yrs of so) until last year I took the plunge and went for a Rega P-9 which I love.
You can't go wrong with the P3, but I would recommend the RB250 instead of the RB300. The 250 has better stability because it has no VTF(vertical tracking force) dial and has two bearings, and no spring. The only thing is that you will need to upgrade the endstub(it's plastic) and then the counterweight. This may be more expensive but in the long run a better sound. I know because I have had a P3 with both arms on it.
rega arm and cartridge, the more you get for $500 the better. the 300 is a better arm than the 250, so get the 300!
The 250 tonearm is a better arm, because it has two bearings not just one as with the 300. This has been backed up in other posts on this site as well! The 250 is a great combination a used Sota Sapphire which I just upgraded to. A little more than your $500 though after the armboard.
I'll take an RB250 over a 300 any day. There are some very effective yet inexpensive mods you can do later. I second the suggestion to go with a VPI HW-19 Jr. Great tables, and they're quite easy to upgrade as your funds allow (and believe me, you'll be upgrading. No one escapes the sickness ;) After a while you'll have turned it into an HW-19 MkIV that will play with some of the big boys! VPI does the low-end well in my experience.

I haven't much experience with SACD, but you'll have no problem exceeding your Redbook performance.
Rega P3 with a Dynavector 10x5 and you can then just sit back and enjoy the tunes for a long time to come!
Hey goat, you say you "would like a vinyl rig with the same essential sonic characteristics" as a Marantz SA-14 and for $500, correct? If so, a belt drive is definitely NOT the answer.