Turntable Record Player Suggestions

So my wife gave me permission to turn an extra room in our house into a reading/music room. I am thinking of buying a decent but not too expensive record player. I don’t have a set-up and more than likely it will just be the player and speakers plugged directly into the player. My Best Buy has a couple of Audio-Technica turntables, as well as I think a Sony and/or Pioneer. I don’t want to spend more than about $120, but lower the price even better! Do these brands work well? I am more interested in getting a player and speakers separate than an all in one which I am kind of weary of sound wise (unless anyone has a suggestion for one that is actually good). My local antique shop has a dealer there who sells records at a reasonable price and all the records look brand new, covers and vinyl. After looking at them I just got the itch to get back into playing vinyl again, especially jazz .... plus the holidays coming up there is just something about the sound of Christmas music coming from vinyl instead of cd or tape.

 

In my mind a "record player" is what I had as a kid in the 1950's. Turntable, amp & speaker in one box - like a suitcase with a handle. Lift the lid and play your records.

 

A turn table with a built in phono pre amp plugged directly into self powered speakers that have a volume control is a basic set up. Audio Technica LP-120 and Audio Engine A2 are about as low as I would go. Sorry about your budget.

 

Sorry my choice of using the term “record player” or my budget doesn’t fit in with the snobs of Audioville. I guess I learned my lesson about asking for a suggestion here.

Don’t worry, folks .... I won’t bother you again.

 

Please don't feel that way, it's possible to find enjoyment at all price levels. If a Crosly brings you joy please don't let anyone dissuade you. Or seriously go vintage, many good deals on Craigslist. Never intended to offend you...

 

Go vintage. Look at Craigslist. If you're setting up a music room, you'll end up being a lot happier in the long run with a decent vintage system put together on the cheap (ask me how I know) than a straight armed, no head offset, Stanton or Audio Technica or some all in one Crosley type unit (that's about it in your price range). Stay and ask questions or post links to what's available for $120 on your local Craigslist. In Dallas, one can find a quite nice turntable for that amount that'll be light years ahead of what's available in that price range new.

 

That is a really limited budget, but I think you can get something. If you want new, and find BB easy to shop at, then for a turntable, the Audio Technica LP60, or LP60USB to digitize into your computer. On sale, under $100.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/search...rue&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960&keys=keys

For powered speakers, computer speakers! Look here
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?cp=1&searchType=search&_dyncharset=UTF-8&ks=960&sc=Global&list=y&usc=All Categories&type=page&id=pcat17071&iht=n&seeAll=&browsedCategory=abcat0515039&st=categoryid$abcat0515039&qp=&sp=+currentprice skuidsaas
Plus an adapter cable to connect the LP60 to the speakers.

Vintage would be great, but that can go in 1000 directions, and there could be questions of whether they work correctly or need maintenance.

 

"My wife gave me permission..." God, I hope I never end up like that.

 

Lucky guy.

 

If, however, the idea got into your head because you saw a Crosley sitting in a store somewhere, and you are just looking for somebody here who can tell you with a straight face that you will enjoy it for a long time, it won't damage your records, and this was exactly the kind of thing your wife thought about when she gave you premission to own something cool your friends can "ooh" and "aah" over...please feel free and do a search for any thread on this board where we discuss the Crosleys. Casually. In depth. Politely. Critically. In the context of its' marketing. In the comparisons to other options. They all will probably tell you the opposite of what you were hoping to hear from this board.

Eengineering is the essence of design applied to solve a task. Style is the essence of design applied to making the sale. Critical thinking is the essence of design applied to understanding the difference between the two.

 

T100 TURNTABLE SYSTEM IN BLACK | Crosley Radio

$40 over your budget.

But if you can stretch, happy shredding

Regards

 

Benno,I think you came to the wrong place for advice.

 

Choosing components within a budget is very hard, and certainly a task that can be easily been carried away. I was in your position not too long ago, I’ve since expanded my budget though. My suggestion would be to spend the most money on your outputs, speakers, headphones, less on an amplifier, and even less on a turntable or CD player. That’s just my opinion, I feel it offers less potential for bottlenecking as your upgrade.

In terms of the turntable, I would look at some of the Audio Technica stuff, they are likely your best bet in that budget. Here's my specific suggestion: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008872SIO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_Y46dAbQJ8CBA5
I wish I could tell you I had experience with it, but I don't. In your budget that will do a good job. I would try to stay away from Crosley, but if you do go there, I would look into their work with Pro-ject, but that may be out if your budget.

I'm not sure what else you have or are looking for, but I would imagine you'll need a phono preamp. If you want, take a risk and try Schiit audio's Mani. It's $119, I had one, but sold it in about a month due to radio interference, it drove me crazy. I now have a Cambridge Audio CP1. In your budget, I would recommend an ART DJPREii, it gets pretty good reviews.

Then look into a receiver speaker combo set or something similar, all depends on what you already have, and if you are looking for an amp as well. I know you mentioned you were looking at speakers, and if you wanted to avoid the amp, you could get powered speakers, I wish I had specific recommendations, but I don't know too much about the speaker market, just stuff from higher budgets, I haven't done lots of speaker upgrading, so I haven't done much research either.

 

OP didn't come here. He’s a forum member.

To be fair. Folks (myself included) will struggle to give him any advice for the stated budget.

This has nothing to do with snobbery, but all to do with the reality.


Regards

 

If you like vintage (as I do), a Technics SL-D3 (or D2) would be very good choices, I'm happy with mine. Not too complicated to set-up, but if you prefer to make it easy, a Technics SL-Q300 would be quite decent.

 

Vintage turntable shopping for the uninitiated could be an exercise in futility, or at least frustration. And then there are cartridges, phono preamps, preamps, amps, and speakers to sort out. By the time you make some progress on all that the holidays are over. The optimum answer is as JohnO noted...Audio Technica LP60 and powered speakers.

 

Sorry but that’s doesnt seem like a realist price for a record player. Maybe streaming for that price ? . .

 

My first turntable was a Technics, SL something or other, automatic, I replaced it when I got so sick of the noise introduced when the tonearm was cued down, drove me crazy during the beginning of Telegraph Road, during music it was fine though!

 

I the internet.

 

Bolded for the truth.

 

Today and tomorrow, you can get a Crosley T150A turntable with speakers for $129:

Barnes & Noble Announces “Vinyl Weekend” Exclusives: Grateful Dead, Robert Plant, more

 

No need to get your knickers in a twist. If you are leaning towards a new budget turntable, of those you cited an Audio Technica is probably your best bet.

I say that not from personal experience but rather that a turntable specialty shop I frequent now carries them. A number of new high density apartment and condo towers have sprung up in his neighborhood almost over night and there are more to come. I'm assuming he's getting a lot of walk in traffic looking for precisely what your are and had basically nothing to offer. Considering the level of gear that is his normal stock in trade, I would consider the fact he chose to sell Audio Technica as brand new budget turntables a bit of an endorsement.

 

If the choice is only a new $100 player only, online dealer lpgear adds a little bonus in the form of a better stylus on the supplier cartridge.

Audio-Technica AT-LP60 turntable Improved by LP Gear

Another $100 would offer such a nice improvement and better VALUE, however. A basic UTurn Orbit table for $179 would be so much nicer. You'd need to add a phono preamp, ranging from a $25 Behringer to the previously mentioned $50 ART. $70 gets you UTurn's Pluto built in to the table. (You wouldn't need those if you found a receiver with phono stage to drive speakers.)

Orbit Basic Turntable

One could add a pair of Pioneer SP-BS22 speakers for $100 and a little $60 SMSL SA-50 amp or used $100ish Marantz or Harman Kardon receiver (those would have very decent phono stages) for a very nice little system you could be pleased with for a good while.

https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-B...pID=31iDtHu2uBL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

What part of Ohio are you in? If you are close to Columbus or willing to drive I can help you out. I know where you can get a decent used table for that price. Send me a pm and I’ll hook you up with the seller/ give you an address to a store.

Your budget is beyond low. At that price what you will get for somthing new will be noisy at best and potentially cause groove damage. Two things that get people worked up around these parts and really defeats the purpose of playing records. Some of these responses are a bit rough but that’s only because those cheap tables are really just taking advantage of uninformed consumers. They are little more than decoration for people that want to display album art. Which is fine but you did ask for advice about quality. Unfortunately, earbuds and a phone would yield better results as far as sound is concerned.

The audio technica LP-120 is as low as you will want to go for new. The u-turn orbit is the next step up but is going to be closer to $200.


If you are up in Cleveland you can try playit again Sam out on the west side or record stores that sell used gear. Craig’s list can be good but it can also really suck. At $100 you will find people trying to flip dumpster scores. The absolute cheapest cart you can buy new is an AT that will cost about $60 and it doesn’t sound good. $100 is about the minimum for a new cart and just about anything you find on CL will need one. Buying a used table and not replacing the needle is like buying underwear at goodwill and not washing it before wearing.

Be advised, you will spend far more than $100 in Records in a very short period of time even if you are only shopping a dollar bin. And trust me, you will be looking at $30 records in no time. I say it’s worth it but there are costs that cannot be avoided. The best advice really is to get more budget or hold off.

If however you’re just looking to decorate your reading room and have some background music, those options at Best Buy are all about the same. Go with the one that looks best to you.

 

Benno, I am totally with you on the belief that there’s just something about jazz and holiday music being played on records, not some digital medium. I also believe most Beach Boys and vintage Motown sound more “right”on a car radio! For what you are doing I think Audio Technica, Sony, and Pioneer all sound like good choices. I’ve heard the set-up vwestlife posted that Barnes & Noble offers and was pretty pleased by the way it sounded. I’ve read about horror stories of people shredding records on Crosleys, but I have to confess a lot of my records acquired in the sixties and played on the sort of system 62vauxhall described survived to be played on some pricier tables and still sounded awfully good. I personally think playing records is a lot like drinking wine. Plonk doesn’t have the finesse of a fifty dollar Oregon Pinot noir, but a lot of plonk is darned good and definitely better than no wine! I’d listen to some of the setups you are considering and if you enjoy it, get it! Cheers!