Best fully auto turntable available? New or Vintage. Need suggestions

Hi all. I've got two young kids, 12 and 13, that are getting interested in spinning records (I blame Rush's Moving Pictures) and am afraid to let them have at my LPs and my RP6 so I'm looking for something good and automatic. I was reading through the Dual thread and am concerned about servicing and didn't Thornes make an automatic, and what about the various Technics? How do those compare to the Denon 300f? Any other new automatics that I should look at?

Thanks
Russ

 

For your kids, I wouldnt recommend the best automatic, but vintage Technics makes some good ones that you can easily get that they can start with, and see if the fever spreads.

I found this in Syracuse Craigslist, its a good deal.

http://binghamton.craigslist.org/ele/4975054254.html

 

Excellent deal....perfect for first timers and kids learning.

 

SL-3200 is nice, but it's semi-auto. That is an absolute steal of a price though.

The SL-Q3 and SL-1300 are very nice fully-auto Technics.

 

But how are you going to stop these teenagers from raiding your record bin, that is a tough one.

 

Locks like on a liquor cabinet?

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Please keep them coming. Are any of the Technics based on the same drive system as the SL1200?

 

Safest... Technics SL-5

 

That's an interesting one. I remember my father having a Technics table like that with a row of numbered buttons that when pushed would cue up the corresponding song so you could program it to only play the songs you want then hit the start button and off it went.

I would also like it to sound good enough that I could use it occasionally and enjoy it.

 

Yeah, the two that I mentioned have not exactly identical but very similar specs to the 1200 Mk2s. Same design concept, with a stator and the magnets built into the platter. The main difference is the size and shape of the platter.

 

FWIW, I may get the Denon DP300F with Ortofon 2M Bronze ($760 package deal at Needle Doctor) ... IF I can get away with it sometime! ... but would say the 2M Red package ($420) should be a good starter for them ...

Are you going to hook it up to your main rig too? or get a separate but good total system for them?

 

Id leave both out but connect the automatic during the week and for times I'm at work then I'd hook the RP6 up for when I'm kicking back listening. I'm actually pretty familiar with the Denon. My sister has one with a 2m Red. Its a nice table but I was wondering if for the same cash I could pick up something used or vintage that's a bit better. Like a Dual or Technics.

 

Pioneer also made some good fully automatic turntables. The PL-A35 and PL-A45 might be found at somebody's garage sale. The PL-A35, which had a beautiful wood bass, got me through college. There were many nights when it worked perfectly at the beginning of the evening but not at the end. For that, I can't blame the platter. It was never at fault.

 

I forgot all about Pioneer. Those are definitely some I'll keep an eye out for. Thanks

 

why not just grab them a DP-300F? You can probably grab a gently used one for about $250

 

Honestly I was hoping for something with a little better sound and some more cool factor for them. Despite the risk to my beautiful records I'm trying to encourage them a bit . But yeah I've been thinking that'd be a quick and easy way to go and maybe even find one with a decent cartridge

 

Mine puts out great sound with a m97xe.

 

At 12 and 13, don't you think you can teach them how to cue up a record properly? That way you will be able to choose from all the semi-automatic and manual turntables (vintage or new), which would give you far more options for getting something of reasonable quality (and at a reasonable price). If they are going to be playing your records, they are going to need to learn how to handle them properly, and getting the disc out of the sleeve and onto the platter is more fraught with danger than properly positioning and lowering the stylus (since most arms have a damped lowering mechanism).

 

Hahahaha I know adults that have difficulty manually cueing up a record and not lifting it in a reasonable amount of time after the records done.

 

Those sound better than you might expect.

 

From personal experience, it's not YOUR kids that you need to worry about. It's when they invite their friends over that problems begin. The friends (especially boys) will want to "play." Make sure you have cartridges with husky cantilevers that are easily replaceable. You will go through a few. After a few rounds, we settled on a Dual 1241 which is a belt driven automatic with just a few simple settings. My kids are grown now and long gone but we still use that Dual every day.

 

Technics SL-1600 is hard to beat. Performs very well, is super reliable, and has 3 point suspension. Recommended highly. I like Dual changers up to 1973, the Dual 1009, Dual 1019, 1218, 1219, and 1229 in fine order very nice performers whether used as a changer or as a single play automatic.