Starter Turntable

"Overall I would say that the sound quality from the turntable and CD is about equal, and more dependant on the quality of the recording, than on the medium."

Sean Taylor is right on. Wake up & smell the roses. There's red roses, there's yellow roses. My Dan Wright modded belt drive transport is a killer unit--and so is my KAB modded direct drive TT.

All this hype about 'analog' sound is just that--hype.

To answer your question about phono circuits, since records are a physical/mechanical system, then the bass frequencies must be attenuated before cutting the master-discs to prevent too-large excursions (squiggels), making it impossible for a cartridge to track the resulting very large grooves. Similarly, the high frequencies are amplified before cutting. The phono stage must equalize the signal coming off your record player to create a flat frequency response. To achieve the 3-D effect which vinyl does so well and digital loses, one must have a system capable of reproducing this effect. Since you have a tubed preamp (I believe), I would suggest an Antique Sound Lab Mini Phono, which is a cheap ($250) and very good tubed phono stage with excellent imaging (as only natural in a tubed unit), excellent rhythm and very good detail/clarity. Make sure, if you buy this, to immediately install matched and improved tubes. I use Philips and they sond great and are not very expensive. The Rega P3 is an excellent beginner's 'table, as it is good quality and more importantly simple and easy to use. Good Luck.

All,

Thanks very much for the recommendation and the MusicHall MMF-5 does look good, I read some reviews on the net just now. I think I will let go the Clearaudio and project RMP6SB, instead I will go for any of the following:

1. Rega P3 or P25 (if still available, been replaced by P5)
2. Project 2.9 wood
3. Classic Thoerns (not sure which model)
4. Classic Denon (not sure which model)
5. MusicHall MMF-5 (if available).

btw, I live in Hong Kong so the choices are limited by dealership which is sxxx! I do believe 1,2 is easy to find, 3-4 requies some hunting, 5...not sure.

My budget is around UD640 (w/i tonearm), cartidge..oh well it the TT come with it, I will stick to it for a while, if not, will see what I end up with.

I acutally owned a very old Technical semi-automatic TT in the 80s but it was broken down and I play CD/SCAD for the last 15 years or old. I just recently bought some hard-to-find LPs so my road to TT started it again, I agree with Nrenter, I don't want to get into too complicated TT, I know how LP sound as I used to play but I am out of touch in the TT world for the last 15 years, guess lots have changed since then.

Will go some searching today at the shops here. Clasic Denon /Thoerns, oh I like that!

Thanks again.

Recommend:
Thorens TD160 Super
Denon DP5000 (if you can find one)
Audio Note TT1 (Modified systemdek 900x)
Merrill Heirloom (there was one for sale on Audiogon recently; might still be there...great table)

Whatever you do, watch out for the shipping! Be sure to insure if there's shipping involved. Best to pick-up what you're buying, if you can! My Music Hall MMF 7 (my starter, now I have a VPI Scout) was purchased new, was well packed by Music Hall and then arrived broken! UPS has a way of tossing things around and turntables do not take to this well at all. BTW once you start on LPs, you'll stay with them and upgrade as time passes despite the expense!