Best all in one turntable or cheap set up for a 16 year old beginner

[adam4487]

Hi all, sorry for any mistakes/misposts i may have made (im new here!)

I have recently become intrested in collecting vinyls and since i have no experience in the area or much of a budget im not sure what to buy! Should I buy an all in one turntable/speaker system or invest more money in seperate parts? I have a budget of about £200. I realise it is not much of a budget but id like to see if i like it before splashing out! any suggestions?

thanks all

 

[bigfish786]

To be perfectly honest you are going to find it very difficult to buy everything you need with the money you are talking about.

You are definitely going to have to spend wisely. Most likely second hand.

Richer sounds have a couple of clearance turntables in their sale. Other than that , look for a used Project tt. An arcam alpha amp with a phono stage in it and maybe some cheap mission/ mordant short speakers off ebay.

This may give you a taste of vinyl but it's not going to blow you away.

Have a really good shop around. Good luck.

 

[matthewpiano]

Ebay is your friend.

Dual turntable - CS505 or CS503 will do fine. Pair with any decent 2nd hand NAD, Denon, Marantz, or Rotel amp with a phono stage. Then add some speakers - Mission 760, Mordaunt-Short MS10 or MS20, JPW Sonata.

For less than £200 you'll have a musical system and the scope to upgrade slowly over time.

 

[matthewpiano]

OK, to be more specific...

Dual CS503-2 or CS505-4 turntable

Rotel RA-930AX Amplifier

Mission 760 speakers (or the 760i or 760iSE version)

 

[adam4487]

Thankyou! the Dual CS503-2, is there a brand name as i cant find it online?

again sorry for my niavity

 

[matthewpiano]

Thankyou! the Dual CS503-2, is there a brand name as i cant find it online?

again sorry for my niavity

'Dual' is the brand name. German turntable manufacturer.

You'll need to buy all of these 2nd hand. It really is the best way with your budget. Search Ebay, but be prepared to keep looking over the course of a couple of weeks until something in nice condition comes up.

 

[bigfish786]

http://m.richersounds.com/#!/clearance/product/PROJ-RPM1-GENIE

try this. A real bargain

 

[swlivesley]

Try some charity shops and even Cash Converters / Gumtree

My Dad managed to find a thorens turntable for £10 in one. He also found some JPW speakers for £3 which are absolutely brilliant. And he also found a NAD C352 Amp for £30 in another shop. All in the space of one day.

Getting a nice system second hand is half luck, and half tactics.

 

[peterpiper]

that project would be a superb buy if you can get hold of it,

If you do go used beware you might need to budget for a new stylus,

 

[matthewpiano]

Try some charity shops and even Cash Converters / Gumtree

My Dad managed to find a thorens turntable for £10 in one. He also found some JPW speakers for £3 which are absolutely brilliant. And he also found a NAD C352 Amp for £30 in another shop. All in the space of one day.

Getting a nice system second hand is half luck, and half tactics.

That's a great score and I bet it is a really musical system too.

 

[swlivesley]

You wouldn't believe it.

His taste in music is much like mine, it can range from some large scale Wagner, to low key Tracy Chapman, and everything in between. It deals with all of it beautifully. He even found some high quality speaker cable lying in a skip.

 

[peterpiper]

Try some charity shops and even Cash Converters / Gumtree

My Dad managed to find a thorens turntable for £10 in one. He also found some JPW speakers for £3 which are absolutely brilliant. And he also found a NAD C352 Amp for £30 in another shop. All in the space of one day.

Getting a nice system second hand is half luck, and half tactics.

wow good buys there, were they all in proper working order

I thought my 50 quid technics was a good buy, then found out the shure stylus was worn, stuck a cart on that was 3 times its price :shifty: , nice sound now though

 

[swlivesley]

Try some charity shops and even Cash Converters / Gumtree

My Dad managed to find a thorens turntable for £10 in one. He also found some JPW speakers for £3 which are absolutely brilliant. And he also found a NAD C352 Amp for £30 in another shop. All in the space of one day.

Getting a nice system second hand is half luck, and half tactics.

wow good buys there, were they all in proper working order

I thought my 50 quid technics was a good buy, then found out the shure stylus was worn, stuck a cart on that was 3 times its price :shifty: , nice sound now though

Aha. Yeah all were good. The Thorens did need a new belt but that wasn't much. You just have to know where to look.

 

[Crocodile]

Check your local Gumtree as well as you may be able to pick up a complete system.

 

[MajorFubar]

My Dad managed to find a thorens turntable for £10 in one. He also found some JPW speakers for £3 which are absolutely brilliant. And he also found a NAD C352 Amp for £30 in another shop. All in the space of one day.

Getting a nice system second hand is half luck, and half tactics.

Make that probably 1/3rd luck, 1/3rd tactics and 1/3rd living in the right place where there's lots of competition. The handful of charity shops round here seem pretty-much clued-up to their goods' real worth and will happily refuse daft offers. In fact sometimes they're in dreamland: £35 for an 80's re-press of the Beatles' Love Me Do 7" single? I think not. :-/

 

[lejockey]

As a good starting point, I managed to pick up a pair of Kef Q15.2 speakers for £20 on ebay. I was lucky, but they go for £30 usualy, and sound great. I also got a cambridge audio A1 amplifier for under £20. These things usualy go for about £30-40. If you are patient you can get some really nice kit very cheap on ebay. Sadly, my knowledge of turntables is fairly limited, but a decent stylus is important, so I would maybe go for the earleir suggestion from richer sounds. Plenty of budget if you shop smart

Lots of fun will ensue

 

[the record spot]

Hi all, sorry for any mistakes/misposts i may have made (im new here!)

I have recently become intrested in collecting vinyls and since i have no experience in the area or much of a budget im not sure what to buy! Should I buy an all in one turntable/speaker system or invest more money in seperate parts? I have a budget of about £200. I realise it is not much of a budget but id like to see if i like it before splashing out! any suggestions?

thanks all

Hi Adam,

Welcome to the forum - first stereo eh? Great days! Good suggestions so far, but here's a few thoughts of mine.

Turntable: Sansui SR222 - went up to the Mark V edition, but you'll get a Mark 2 for cheap as chips money - however, there's a Mark V on Gumtree just now for £40. That'd be my pick over the aforesaid Dual, which, good though it was, was as plastic an affair as you'll get. The Sansui came with far better build and sounds better too. Just buy this if the guy still has it and will post it out to you.

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/sansui-sr-222-mkvi-record-player-now-40/1054167809

Almost any amp - NAD 3020A, Sansui AU-217/317 (which would be my pick over anything else just about) and the rest. As long as it has a phono stage, you're up an running. You'll do this easily enough. Here's a Pioneer SA508 - just serviced and cleaned, £75 on Gumtree that'd let your system sing.

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/pioneer-amp-model-sa-508-just-serviced-and-cleaned/1054350555

Speakers: Wharfedale Diamond 9.0 - £60 in Richer Sounds, or £50 if you sign up to their VIP mailing list.

Don't waste money on cables - £5 will get you ten metres of 322-strand cable from the likes of Digitalis Direct that'll get you going. Worked as well as Audioquest Type IV for me so the latter went!

Hope that helps or at least gives you some pointers!