Recommended first turntable?

If you're not willing to spring $400-475 for a Technics Sl 1200, I recommend you get the Audio Technica DD all-manual knockoff AT PL120 (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-3Bvjrt9AR8i/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=10500&I=057ATPL120) or the automatic belt drive Denon DP300F (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-3Bvjrt9AR8i/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=10500&I=033DP300F).

Both have a built-in phono preamp if you want to get up and running into a line-level preamp or receiver.

06-09-07: Ledhed2222
All of your info is helpful; I appreciate it! What do you think of Grado cartridges? My preamp has an MM input (but not MC) so I was leaning towards Grado.

The Grado Prestige line isn't a bad place to start, but there are other viable alternatives in the same price range, including the Ortofon OM 5 or OM 10 (depending on the sale price), the Shure M97xE (I paid $99 for mine but some on this forum have seen them as low as $50), and Audio Technica AT95E at under $50 or AT440MLa at about $85 if you get a lucky score on your turntable.

When you start putting the rest of your system together some of the people here may be able to help you pick the cartridge that best complements your downstream gear.

Sometimes you can get lucky. I got a Yamaha belt-drive semi-automatic turntable at a garage sale in Feb. for $2. It uses a P-mount cartridge. I replaced the cartridge with an Ortofon OMP 10, added an anti-static mat, and set the turntable's feet on Vibrapods and got a very musically satisfying player in return. Certainly not the highest resolution, but the P-mount arm virtually guarantees your cartridge is tracking at 1.25 grams, which should go easy on your records until you can afford something better.

About 3 weeks later I did buy a Technics SL1210 M5G, and enjoy the difference very much, but really, I could have gotten by on that old Yamaha pretty well if I'd chosen to.

Well, here's the easy answer to your question. How about a new-with-warranty over-achiever on sale at Audio Advisor for $255 including mounted and aligned cartridge? You can get the Goldring GR-1.2 at http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?ranlg&1167148054&read&3&4& for $249.97. List price is $425, which is what they sell for at Acoustic Sounds.

I recommended one of these to a friend over his vintage belt-drive Dual and he appreciated it so much he bought me the Monk/Coltrane-at-Carnegie Hall LP to say thanks.

06-15-07: Sbrgr12
I have the Goldring and paid $425 (gulp) through Needle Doctor. I didn't know about sites such at this one; sure wish I did.

It's a matter of timing. Audio Advisor doesn't carry these all the time. The last time, they carried 'em for $299 and had a demo closeout for $217 a year ago. That's the one I passed on to my friend.

This current batch is very limited and I think they may be B-stock.

But it's always worth checking out Audio Advisor when you're in the market for something. They don't always have a deal, but they might.

In my HT big rig, I got a B-stock Adcom GFA-7700 (5x175 watts) from them for about $743, a $1K Mirage sub for $543, and a $600 pair of Mirage surround spkrs for $277. In my living room 2-channel system I got a $500 Mirage sub for $250. All from Audio Advisor.