2. analog
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turntable madness

Ok I need the help of you folks who have in the audio game forever. I'm interested in buying a inexpensive turntable, emphasis the word INEXPENSIVE. I have been looking on e-bay but I must admit it is mind boggling. What do I look for in an oldie but a goodie? I'm looking at turntables such as, Marantz, Technics, Dual, Garrad, Pioneer, Thorens and Gemini to name a few.

Does anyone have any experience with any of these older tables? A particular model # would be very helpful. I don't need something that is going to send me into audiophile heaven, just something to wet my whistle in the never ending quest for better sound.

thanks in advance
kt_88

Showing 3 responses by psychicanimal

psychicanimal
1,738 posts
 
I am a nomad---one more reason to own a tank...
psychicanimal
1,738 posts
 
Hey man,

I side with the school that says that phono stage is more important than TT. If you start with a free Technics, fine. Get something like an Ortofon Concorde, change the interconnects, get a bottle of Pro Gold and follow DeKay's recipe of two Rat Shack battery phono preamps. Get the prtotractor from www.turntablebasics.com ($20). Make a good DIY base and record mat (www.tnt-audio.com) and you'll be set. Watch for VTA.

Regards,

The Psychic
psychicanimal
1,738 posts
 
Kt, I helped pay for college working at audio stores--I know how to make things work right w/in a tight budget...run a search on Radio Shack, or email DeKay. He's got SET amps and is successfully using two Rats. People in the Asylum say it beats everything under $200. It will be good for you to play around with these things. You'll learn how to "mod and tweak" a TT. You'll learn a lot and save a lot, too....

I have a Monolithic phono stage. It's dual mono and has an optional dual mono power supply which I plan to get. My demo unit was $300. If I were you I would wait. Right now I'm using a little ONEAC 2 amp isolation transformer ($15 @ eBay) for my Monolithic. The transformer is plugged to my Tice A/V Solo conditioner, so the electricity being fed to the Monolithic is filtered twice *and* isolated via the ONEAC's virtual ground feature. Talk about good results on a budget...
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