Low budget for record player

[admin_exported]

Hi, I recently had that epiphany, revelation or even nightmare in realising that my dad's taste in music back in the day was actually pretty good and as such there are a lot of decent prog rock, classical etc records in the loft not being used, though I refuse to move on Cliff Richard's 'Wired for Sound'

I thought I'd make the most of these and buy a cheap player, most probably second hand for around £50. At this price point am I not doing them any justice at all and might as well get the odd oldie off of Spotify and invest in some more CDs? I was planning to use the phono from my RA-04, is this sinful?

And why do a lot of players come without cartridge? From my understanding this part changes the motion of the needle on the grooves into a signal, is this correct? If it is I'm lost as to why cartridges are sometimes missing from a player.

I spent a few minutes looking for similar topics, but either they don't exist or more likely I'm typing the wrong thing into a search box, so sorry if this has been covered before.

 

[fatboyslimfast]

At around that price, you should be able to get yourself a good Dual 505 or Pioneer PL-12d (ones that say "recently serviced" are a good bet!). My preference would be for the PL-12d as there is less to go wrong with it, and replacement belts are available from Maplin for a fiver.

If looking for the Dual, make sure the headshell has the standard 1/2inch two-screw mount - earlier 505s had a single screw mount and are tricky to get replacement cartridges for.

They normally go for around £20-30, so add a new Audio-Technica AT-95E or Goldring Elecktra (Mantra Audio or needlesandspins.co.uk are good sources) and you are away with a good budget deck.

Even if they have a cartridge, PLEASE make sure you replace the stylus before playing anything - a damaged stylus can ruin a record in just one play...

I have both the Dual and the Pioneer, and people are surprised with the sound a £50 ebay-special can produce.

Your RA04 has a great phono stage, that won't be bettered unless you spend £100 or more on an external. Either of the TTs above will sound suprisingly good through it!

I think the reason people take the cart off is to keep it "as a spare, just in case"...

 

[floyd droid]

Ah, well carts are down to personal choice of how you like your music to sound, hence you will see second hand decks for sale without a cart or /and without an arm,we wont go there !. Plus you wont know if the cart is knacd until you get the deck wired up (not all people are honest in their descriptions ) However for what you want and the use you will probably get out of it i would try and source a discontinued project genie,mk 1 or 2, it will have all that you need bolted on and ready to go. Your amps phono will be fine. Or follow the above posts reccs, you wont go far wrong there either.

 

[chebby]

fatboyslimfast:If looking for the Dual, make sure the headshell has the standard 1/2inch two-screw mount - earlier 505s had a single screw mount and are tricky to get replacement cartridges for.

Earlier CS-505's had a standard 1/2" mount onto a detachable metal plate which then clamped into the headshell (using the headshell finger lift as a lever to lock it place.)

This was to enable the user to align the cartridge - off the arm - using a small transparent plastic 'jig'.

My 'old bits' box has two such plates and two of the alignment jigs and two sets of black plastic spacers (and a screw on additional counterweight disc for use with heavier cartridges. They came from a CS-505 (mk1) the plastic model....

As you can see here the chromed pivot for the locking lever gives the impression of looking like a single screw fitting....

That diagram shows the earliest standard fitted cartridge that simply had a plastic top moulded in the same shape as the 1/2" metal plate and just locked in - as it came - without needing alignment. Every deck came with a spare plate to allow use of other cartridges.

A bit later on (still original CS505 Mk1) the standard fitted cartridge had 1/2" lugs and came fitted to the metal plate that I showed in the photo. (You can see the standard Dual cartridge in my pic has the 1/2" lugs.)

 

[fatboyslimfast]

I sit corrected. Good info chebs...