Hi there,
I'm looking to buy a new turntable in the next few months and am drawn to the Audio Technica AT-LP1240USB and 120USB turntables, both based on Hanpin models from Taiwan. The USB function is not a big deal to me and neither is a built-in phono stage as I'll be buying an amp with a phono stage anyway (a Yamaha AS500 or Onkyo A-9030). Omnitronic produces clones of both decks - the DD-5220 (phono, no USB) and DD-1520 which are almost identical in terms of specs and use the same Hanpin decks as their basis. Their advantage is that they're quite a bit cheaper for what basically seems to be the same deck. Does anyone have any experience of the Omnitronic decks - I've seen a couple of good reviews on Amazon but the only other reviews seem to all be in German and Google doesn't translate as well as it'd like to think. Also, Omnitronic do a belt drive model, the BD-1520. This has no phono stage or SB and, like the others, is entirely manual. Again the specs are decent, it weighs 10kg with an aluminium platter so is pretty substantial. I have no particular feelings re. belt drive vs direct, I've never used a DD deck but my old belt drive Garrard GT-20 gave me three decades of pleasure before time took its toll.
I know that Pro-ject and Rega are supposed to be the go-to guys for reasonably priced belt drive decks but I hate the straight tone-arms and dislike the general aesthetic, hence my looking at more DJ-orientated models.
Any feedback would be very much appreciated.
I'm looking to buy a new turntable in the next few months and am drawn to the Audio Technica AT-LP1240USB and 120USB turntables, both based on Hanpin models from Taiwan. The USB function is not a big deal to me and neither is a built-in phono stage as I'll be buying an amp with a phono stage anyway (a Yamaha AS500 or Onkyo A-9030). Omnitronic produces clones of both decks - the DD-5220 (phono, no USB) and DD-1520 which are almost identical in terms of specs and use the same Hanpin decks as their basis. Their advantage is that they're quite a bit cheaper for what basically seems to be the same deck. Does anyone have any experience of the Omnitronic decks - I've seen a couple of good reviews on Amazon but the only other reviews seem to all be in German and Google doesn't translate as well as it'd like to think. Also, Omnitronic do a belt drive model, the BD-1520. This has no phono stage or SB and, like the others, is entirely manual. Again the specs are decent, it weighs 10kg with an aluminium platter so is pretty substantial. I have no particular feelings re. belt drive vs direct, I've never used a DD deck but my old belt drive Garrard GT-20 gave me three decades of pleasure before time took its toll.
I know that Pro-ject and Rega are supposed to be the go-to guys for reasonably priced belt drive decks but I hate the straight tone-arms and dislike the general aesthetic, hence my looking at more DJ-orientated models.
Any feedback would be very much appreciated.
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