New vs. vintage turntable for beginner

There's a nice Micro Seiki BL-41 on ebay with starting bid of $249 USD, that would be a nice deal if you could get it close to that price. It's a fully auto belt drive, but Micro made some very nice belt drives in that series with built in speed control and very good w&f specs. I think this one would be from the mid 80s. People were giving these things away 10 years ago, tough to find a deal today on quality vintage gear unless you are really willing to dig around...

 

There are a ton of great deals on used turntables out there. Just takes a little time and effort to score the one you want at a good price.

The suggestion of looking over at VinylEngine for specs and additional advice is a good one.

 

I got lucky and found a Dual 1229 in great condition at my local record shop for like $250 a few years back. It is a rock solid piece of equipment and I've loved owning it. Based on your OP I think you would too. If you could find one that's been serviced I'd throw in a recommendation to get one.

 

That TT looks like it has the Micro Seiki TA-1 tone arm. It is a very good tone arm. My Luxmen PD272 has the TA-1 and the direct drive electronics uses discrete transistors making it rebuild able vs an 'unobtanium' IC (integrated circuit). Perhaps the BL-41 is also discrete. I would recommend this vintage BL-41 too.

 

Old Japanese turntables are very reliable even 30 or more years old. With that budget I would not consider new.

I have 6 vintage TT's and all function fully no issues and no maintenance done on most of them. Low cost, high reliability.

 

I have two vintage Kenwood tables, a KD-770D and a KD-5070D.

The 770 was purchased via Craiglist in L.A. for $300 while my main table was in for an arm replacement. The table itself is in perfect shape, the dustcover has damage and will eventually be replaced. The cartridge was irrelevant to the deal as I had my own Denon DL301 mkII, the seller offered it with it’s factory cart.



This model has electronic cue control and auto lift. I think it’s a beauty, and is certainly one solid, well-crafted piece of gear. When I look around on ebay for this and similar models I see them going for considerable more money, so I’m grateful for the excellent deal I got. I currently use it as a mono table with an Ortofon 2M Mono installed.



Having had such a good experience with the 770D, when I decided I wanted a new table for my New York system I hit Craigslist once again and found the 5070D for $250. This one has “The Rock” upper plinth, is fully automatic (with manual option) and also has a strobe and pitch control. I currently have a Sumiko Bluepoint EVO II HOMC on it and couldn’t be happier. One of these days I’ll have it looked over, but all seems good, and I love it’s auto lift and return. I have very long work days and many is the time I’ve fallen asleep while a record is playing, no worries with theses Kenwoods!

 

One of the benefits of being “old”...I got my 2 main tts back in the early 90s at garage sales. A Technics SL1100 and a Pioneer PL518. No way I paid over 20 bucks for either one.

I say go vintage.

 

Friend of mine has an absolutely perfect one with a black widow arm on it. He got it at a yard sale!

Sounds great.

 

I have to vote for getting a new one, or even a demo one.

Inexpensive turntables are much better than good ones from decades ago. With a few exceptions, turntable technology has been bettered.

You can get a very good to excellent turntable in the $500-1000. I have always loved the music that comes off the Rega Planer 3. You'll get better inner harmonic detail with more expensive tables, but does that table render the energy of the music. It's one of the best buys in audio.

 

I suppose it depends on your point of view. From a features and specs point of view, new, sub-$1,000 turntables have often become worse than what was offered 30-40 years ago. Nowadays you have popular entry level models that do not even meet basic broadcast standards of the 70s for things like W/F. I don't call that better.

 

W/F?

But we're not talking broadcast standards, are we? We're talking fidelity. I'm pretty certain that the $300 table nowadays sounds better than the $300 one you bought in the '70s. Features? I'm talking performance as in sound quality.

 

Show me a $300 table you can buy today that has better specs (and sound) than either of the vintage tables listed in my profile. You can't, because it doesn't exist. I've seen and heard most of them, and none of them impressed me. When I do upgrade and sell these on, it will be to something that costs a lot more than $300.

 

Let me echo @patient_ot, check my profile and tell me there's a $300 turntable today that sounds better than my old Pioneer.

I think your statement is just plain wrong.

 

What cartridge/stylus combo is on your KD-40R? Perhaps upgrade that first as opposed to your table. You may be quite surprised by the result. I once put a Denon DL-110 cartridge on a vintage table with a tonearm similar to your Kenwood & it sounded waaaaaaay better than I expected. Gifted it to a nephew. Still rolling trouble-free to this day. My 2 cents...

 

I have been involved in this hobby for over 40 years and my advice to a complete novice would be to buy a new belt drive with a good deal on the supplied cartridge, add on some cash to buy a record and styli care kit with a cartridge alignment gauge and a bubble level . Go for one of the name or house brands on the handful of on line audio sites and you should be good to go .

If you were to go vintage you might have no idea of the history of the product and it may have multiple problems depending on age and usage , there also may be compatibility issues and that certain parts are no longer available .

If you buy off a bona fide vintage site with a reputation then the premium you may pay is well worth while as they probably offer a limited warranty and will be willing to work with you on any problems you might have !
Buying new off a reputable vendor is best at the end of the day!

 

I'm not a fan of quartz locked direct drive turntables, particularly from that period. To do direct drive right, to my understanding, it costs a lot. Rockport used to make one that was about $75,000.

Technics makes a serious one that goes for $6000. If not done well, you get motor feedback, if subtle. Technics famed SL-1200 was more of a DJ table. At its price point, there were better sounding belt drive tables.

$300 is at the low end of decent sounding tables, but I'll take a Rega Planar 2 over either of the ones you have, personally.

 

If you can find a local dealer who will stand behind a Dual, that could be a nice option. I've also heard that the guy at fix my dual has pretty good tables ready to go.

 

If you are going to buy used you have to do so from a reliable source for servicing. This way it will come with suport.
I have never lived in a place where I couldn't find a decent tech with a small investment of my time.

 

Let's just say we have different opinions on these things.

 

Well, sure. And you and I may value different qualities or have different preferences when it comes to what is most important in music playback. You and I may also differ in the types of music we listen to, which would lead to valuing different strengths in playback.

 

Check out this thread, running concurrently with this one

Dual turntable with high end stereo

 

You cannot go wrong with a TD150
Thorens turntable.
Or a TD160.
Look o the net as to what people do with them.
Some work ie an oil change and suspension reset will be on the cards.very high quality.
Possibly the only turntable you will ever buy.

 

OP,
Any decision you make will not lead to tragedy or ecstasy. In other words, seek the feature you want, auto return. Since that feature is typically passé on today's turntables, you might want to hang out on eBay and strike for a used/vintage unit when the opportunity comes. All this strategy requires of you is patience. In the mean time you can be saving for the turntable to minimize your budget or credit line constraints.

 

The TD115 I have has auto lift off
At the end of play.
Special shockabsorbers instead of the usual springs.
Lovely arm and sounds superb.
Bass quality is superb .
Maybe a direct drive turntable with auto return. Good luck

 

Vintage gear goes up in value.
I bought a TT (Garrard 401) for 100.00 in the nineties, expect to pay 1000.00 twenty years later.