Hi-FI Help - What turntable

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I have spent the past two and a bit weeks researching what Hi-FI system I wish to invest in. So far I have come to the conclusion that the Onkyo 9010 and Q-acoustics 3010 are ideal for me.

The real issue lies with turntables. I have fallen in love with the Rega Planar 1 which would compliment the amp and speaker however, I have recently became aware of vintage turntables which are selling at a fraction of the Rega asking price.

I am currently eyeing up the Technics SL-BD22D, SL-Q300, SL-J100R on eBay and these prices are around what I would be prepared to pay for a vintage turntable (£50-80).

I am wondering whether there are any more 'vintage' models which can be suggested for me for a similar price.

Thank you!

 

[thescarletpronster]

Hi there, and welcome to the forum.

I would be seriously wary about buying a second-hand turntable online, particularly if you are new to turntables. There's so many things that can go wrong, as turntables are delicate pieces of kit, and buying online you don't get a chance to see or test it before buying. I would recommend buying new simply for the assurance that all will be well (and, if not, the dealer will sort them out for you so you won't have hassles).

I bought a second-hand Rega Planar 2 from ebay as I was on a very tight budget at the time. The seller was helpful and above-board, but even though I checked with him about how he was planning to package the turntable (I got the reply 'Don't worry, I know all about how to pack turntables properly'), it arrived smashed up because he had just put it in a carboard box surrounded by bubble-wrap. And then you're faced with paying to return it in order to get a refund, so you end up out of pocket either way.

You might decide that £50–£80 (plus p&p, which might be an extra £20) is worth a punt and you wouldn't mind losing this sum, but I would think carefully about it before going ahead.

Another question (which others usually ask when someone says they want to get a turntable): do you already have a big collection of records? If not, is it really worth starting down this road? At the low end of the price range you're not going to get any sound improvement over CD (records probably won't sound quite as good as CDs), and of course new records are pretty expensive compared to CDs. Even second-hand records have experienced a huge price hike over the past few years because of the surge in interest. I realise that 'vinyl' is massively chic at the moment, but the reality might not match up to what you're expecting. I love records myself, but I'm not sure I'd want to start from scratch now.

Good luck whatever you choose to do, anyway.

 

[audioaddict]

if you were to buy second hand youre better off with a good reliable direct drive from technics.....obviously as a 1200 owner that would spring to mind and all the parts ie arm, platter. switches buttons are available new. Try the vinyl engine, there are plenty of vintage direct drive owners with various different machines that are still working as a good as new.....the technics sl1300 to 1800s are apparantly very good and extremely reliable.