Turntable suggestions.

[plastic penguin]

It's half-term, and having to juggle work with keeping the kiddywink happy. One day this week I'm going to browse new TTs.

Anything I should avoid? is there a turntable that has: 1) Dust cover 2) a nice woodie effect 3) hefty upgrade on my Pro-ject. By that I mean NOT subtle. 4) Keeping my ClearAudio cartridge, so the head must easily invite this cartridge.

Ah, almost forgot: Budget is sub-£1,000.

Cheers, pp

 

[altruistic.lemon]

http://www.hifigear.co.uk/roksan-radius-5-maple-turntable.html is the best value, but you'd need to buy a dustcover separately. Otherwise there's this http://www.hifigear.co.uk/michell-tecnodec-turntable.html but again you'd have to buy a dustcover.

If not, and you guessed it, there's Rega or Pro-ject...

 

[plastic penguin]

http://www.hifigear.co.uk/roksan-radius-5-maple-turntable.html is the best value, but you'd need to buy a dustcover separately. Otherwise there's this http://www.hifigear.co.uk/michell-tecnodec-turntable.html but again you'd have to buy a dustcover.

If not, and you guessed it, there's Rega or Pro-ject...

Thanks, Al. Yup, seen the Roksan at that price before. One of my local dealers has the same deal.

The Rega P7 looks quirky and interesting, likewise the pricier Pro-jects. I want to avoid, however, the budget Rega and Pro-jects which, like mine, are minimalist looking.

I've got a good feeling for Thorens though.

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Not new Thorens, but. The cheap ones are made in the Dual factory, and the more expensive ones by Pro-ject, I think. The new Thorens is just a marketing company, they don't make anything.

Old Thorens, now there are some magic decks.

 

[chebby]

Not new Thorens, but. The cheap ones are made in the Dual factory, and the more expensive ones by Pro-ject, I think. The new Thorens is just a marketing company, they don't make anything.

So who are making the TD-160HD (£1900) and TD-350 (£2499) ?

Pro-ject?

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Dunno about the expensive ones but the arm on the 160 is a modified Rega.

Will check tomorrow.

 

[floyd droid]

Last i heard/read a company called Gauder and Knapp took the high end stuff on. Relieving it from matey at Acoustic Signature who helped Thorens (Heinz Rohrer) develop the high end TTs. But if this is still the case is anyones guess.

Over to you web trawlers to dig deeper. Lifes too short,lol

 

[chebby]

Dunno about the expensive ones but the arm on the 160 is a modified Rega.

Will check tomorrow.

The TP-250 is probably an un-modified Rega with a Thorens badge.

I must admit the TD350 (with SME M2-9 arm) looks nice. Something just looks right about Thorens with SME.

 

[plastic penguin]

Not new Thorens, but. The cheap ones are made in the Dual factory, and the more expensive ones by Pro-ject, I think. The new Thorens is just a marketing company, they don't make anything.

Old Thorens, now there are some magic decks.

Like this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thorens-TD-240-2-Turntable-Walnut-Finish-/200636960228?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Turntables&hash=item2eb6e50de4

Has the Thorens badge but built by Pro-ject. Seen a number of these over recent weeks, so how will they stack up?

As a safe bet, think Rega P7 pretty much fits my spec.

I'll have a listen over the coming days and report back.

Cheers, pp

 

[plastic penguin]

Just been giving the whole cartridge thing a rejig. What benefits do you get with Moving Coil cartridge? Can't see me swapping my ClearAudio which is MM, but as the Leema has inputs for MM and MC, if the quality is better that could be a deciding factor with a different TT.

Any views on the MM Vs MCs?

 

[CnoEvil]

Just been giving the whole cartridge thing a rejig. What benefits do you get with Moving Coil cartridge? Can't see me swapping my ClearAudio which is MM, but as the Leema has inputs for MM and MC, if the quality is better that could be a deciding factor with a different TT.

Any views on the MM Vs MCs?

PP, there was a little discussion here: http://www.whathifi.com/forum/turntables-and-lps/mm-vs-mc-pros-and-cons

I suspect you have to be prepared to pay big money, for the MC route to make sense.

I remember the Linn Asak costing about £200 back in the mid eighties!

 

[chebby]

I suspect you have to be prepared to pay big money, for the MC route to make sense.

Ask gbhsi1 about his new Ortofon Rondo Red...

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/turntables-and-lps/omg-can-my-turntable-sound-this-good

 

[plastic penguin]

Just been giving the whole cartridge thing a rejig. What benefits do you get with Moving Coil cartridge? Can't see me swapping my ClearAudio which is MM, but as the Leema has inputs for MM and MC, if the quality is better that could be a deciding factor with a different TT.

Any views on the MM Vs MCs?

PP, there was a little discussion here: http://www.whathifi.com/forum/turntables-and-lps/mm-vs-mc-pros-and-cons I suspect you have to be prepared to pay big money, for the MC route to make sense. I remember the Linn Asak costing about £200 back in the mid eighties!

Which hasn't gone far - ground to a halt on 3 replies. Some say the MC is better, albeit with extra expense. Based on the info I've read about MCs, I'm not sure what the benefits are, if any?

 

[CnoEvil]

I suspect you have to be prepared to pay big money, for the MC route to make sense.

Ask gbhsi1 about his new Ortofon Rondo Red...

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/turntables-and-lps/omg-can-my-turntable-sound-this-good

Fair enough, but I suppose it depends on your interpretation of what big money is.....£380 is hardly loose change (I know it can probably be got cheaper).

Since my knowledge is so out of date, I was going by Andrew Davies's (Doug Brady) comment, that you had to go over £200 for a MC....maybe that is considered cheap nowadays (told you I was out of touch!)

 

[plastic penguin]

I suspect you have to be prepared to pay big money, for the MC route to make sense.

Ask gbhsi1 about his new Ortofon Rondo Red...

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/turntables-and-lps/omg-can-my-turntable-sound-this-good

Fair enough, but I suppose it depends on your interpretation of what big money is.....£380 is hardly loose change (I know it can probably be got cheaper). Since my knowledge is so out of date, I was going by Andrew Davies's (Doug Brady) comment, that you had to go over £200 for a MC....maybe that is considered cheap nowadays (told you I was out of touch!)

Out of touch? Nah, not you Cno.

 

[CnoEvil]

Out of touch? Nah, not you Cno.

What's a quarter of a century between friends. :shifty:

 

[plastic penguin]

Out of touch? Nah, not you Cno.

What's a quarter of a century between friends. :shifty:

Based on your...ahem... your out of touch view, is MC carts - £300-£400 - a deffo improvement over my £350 MM.

Don't take too long to answer: I'm inertiaising (not sure if the word strictly exists)...

 

[CnoEvil]

Based on your...ahem... your out of touch view, is MC carts - £300-£400 - a deffo improvement over my £350 MM.

Don't take too long to answer: I'm inertiaising (not sure if the word strictly exists)...

A bit late answering, but got called away due to a fire at work!

To be honest, I really am too out of touch to give good advice, but I think Henley probably has it about right when he said that "MC overtakes MM at around £300".