Opinions Needed for a turntable

I would just say check out the good used market, for something nearly new. You may be able to go a step or two up this way. Good brands last for decades. Rega and Project are highly thought of here. Thorens of course speak for themselves. Each are great bits of engineering. I've had an old Rega Planar 3 since the early 80s which is still going strong. Nice Scottish company. You wouldn't go wrong with a Rega deck and cartridge (or phono amp if you need to upgrade that too).

 

Soundstage has a red VPI Scout Jr demo for $1100. Out of your price range but I wanted to mention it.

 

These are all really nice value entry-level TT's, so choose your flavour and enjoy. I would only add, and this is purely my opinion, stay away from the Sumiko Pearl cartridge unless you're a serious bass-freak. It's the only thing this cartridge brings to the game. The mids and highs are severely masked by the excessive bass.

 

Vinyl Nirvana occasionally has a Thorens T-166 or something like that, that would be around your budget.

 

What THEY use as the lowest quality that my records will be played on is no place to aim.

 

Seems like that Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Esprit with the 2M Blue would at least be a very well respected table with maybe the highest end cartridge on the list (although I'm not familiar with all of those carts listed). I would think the red would be more equivalent to the others that were listed if you were comparing similar categories. Anyway, not having heard any of these tables, if this were my list I would listen to the Esprit with 2m blue last to see if it's noticeably better since. Happy searching, sounds like fun.

 

Well i agree with not over spending.i learnt a while ago that cost and quality don,t always go hand in hand.
A good well informed colleague, or dealer is a must,as time and time again set up and matching pays such big dividends here.
About 6 months ago i paid £65 for a Thorens td150 with stock arm. I fitted a shure V15 mk3 to which i fitted a Jico stylus.
Best turntable i have ever owned!
I did clean and fully service it. I installed an IFI phono stage and was very satisfied. My point is old stuff was well made
And would cost a bit today and sadly i don,t things have really improved.they have in that there Are few bad uns today, there were in the good old dAys.sounds like a contradiction i know!
Regas have been around a long time! Someone is buying them!
I feel that VPI from what I have read up is a step forward. This is about the right price for me in sound quality that will last several costly upgrades. Set up properly would make. Lot of sense to me.
Cartridges finish the job and as such are a very personal choice as most have a house sound or to put it another ways Ortofons will sound different to dynavector!in addition they need to be comparable with chosen arm. You are doing the right thing! Good luck john.

 

Better off buying a nice used table - more bang for the buck.

 

I do not have experience with the exact TT's you listed.
I do own a Music Hall MMF-7 and enjoy it quite a bit. It is easy to use, keeps its set up without extra work and looks good too.

 

Things like the main bearing on the platter, arms with reasonable resonance and decent quality bearings, and is fully adjustable, help! But are costly.two decent manufacturers that have been mentioned are Rega and Project. Have not heard a rega for a long time, but they are built very well with great back up and superb arms!
Project i have heard rpm 6 or whatever, very well built! Linn use their arm(speaks volumes for the design and quality). Read an article in HI-FI world about Project themselves. State of the art factory!biggest turntable manufacturer, in the world!
Start off with best deal you can, and take it from there, maybe upgrade to VPI at some point,use say a shure m97xe or 2m whatever , or Goldring 1045 and enjoy,

 

Does anyone make a decent turntable with auto return these days? I don't want a fully automatic one, but I tend to nod off at night listening to music and not having auto return would be disastrous! Thank you in advance.

 

Not quite true, the Neumann SX 68 cutting lathe was over $80,000 new in 1967 money. And the SX 74 which replaced it cost over $120,000 new.

 

I'm using a Denon DP-300F with an Ortofon 2M Blue, and am quite happy with it for the dough. Fully automatic, but I generally cue myself and use the auto return.

 

I want to thank everyone who posted their opinions here. I really kept all of the opinions in mind when I did my purchase today. I went to a place in the Philadelphia area called World Wide Stereo. That place is a candy store for audiophiles. I was contemplating the Music Hall MMF 5.1 and the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon DC Espirit SB. I chose the Pro-Ject because it came with the Ortofon 2M Red. I got a pretty good deal, so I also picked up a Pro-Ject High Mass Compression Record Clamp and Spin Clean Record Washer.

Again, thank you all.

 

Sounds awesome, enjoy!

 

Well done. A colleague bought a project rpm 6.1 and that was 10 years ago.
He loves it.
Now you can buy some records! Enjoy, and well done for doing your sums first.

 

I suspect that if and when the day comes and I must part with my Yamaha YP-D6 (which I bought brand new 100 years ago!) the only route I will have is buying a fully automatic and cue it up myself. Many thanks for the response.