What record player to buy?

Frankyboy

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My step dad has a lot of those black LP's from the 70's and a while back he was going to sell them all as he has nothing to play them on, I'm wanting to surprise him for Christmas with a record player but I have no clue as to what I'm looking for?

He's not a DJ I don't want turntables, if you remember those old fashioned movies where they put a record on a player and they move that arm sort of thing onto the player...Am I right in guessing I need one of those?

ANYWAY, any help is greatly appreciated.
 

Jim-W

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Remember those old-fashioned movies? Of course we do. The black and white ones? I remember when I got my first coal-fired tv: God, it was like we were living in the future. Along with the hostess trolley, it was our impoverished family's most prized possession: we thought we were so wonderfully continental.

Anyway, back to the future; click on the What Hifi? Best buys link and, if you manage to follow it, you'll find a list of, erm, best buys to suit your budget. I doubt that they'll look much like the ones from the black and white films, but hey, we've all crashed headlong into the twentieth century, on this section of the forum at least. They do say, they do, that there's some folks over on the HiFi forum with all this modern stuff that don't need no wires. Balmy, if you ask me. Don't go there: it would be like walking into an abandonned house in one of those old black and white films.
 

chebby

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It would be useful to know how much you intend to spend on this turntable. Also we need to know if step-dad already has a hi-fi that it can plug into. (Amp, speakers etc.)

Assuming he has a stereo system already - or even a computer with pc speakers - this will do the job nicely and not destroy his collection ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Technica-ATLP120USB-USB-Turntable/dp/B002S1CJ2Q

In fact I am pretty sure that this particular turntable could be plugged directly into a pair of decent desktop/PC speakers so long as they had an analogue input and a volume control.

If you didn't envisage spending that much (we don't know yet), then Audio-Technica also make this ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Technica-AT-LP60USB-AT-LP60-USB-Turntable/dp/B00EUSMFPQ

... it won't be the 'last word' in outright sound quality :) but will probably sound fine in the context of feeding a pair of desktop speakers. It is also fitted with a basic, good quality Audio-Technica cartridge (needle) with a diamond stylus that will last well and not damage your step-dad's vinyl.
 

Frankyboy

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@Jim - Thank you, will check those out later!

@Chebby - I'm only 18 and my job isn't going to fund the best one out there but I'm sure he would appreciate one in the £200 region wouldn't he?

@Both - According to my step-sister (His daughter) I need what they called "sepearates" the record part and the sound part? He doesn't have anything remotely related to his LP's to play them on, I would be buying the lot of it. The ones you posted look more like what a DJ uses to me but I am not the expert so if that's the sort of thing I need to look for I will!
 

luckylion100

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merchant? The OP manage to find his way onto the vinyl part of the forum, post this question yet completely missed the review section. If I'm wrong, sincere apologies offered. 18-24 year olds are the driving force behind vinyls recent surge in popularity, so most of us here are already too long in the tooth!

Anyway, I believe the previous replies have all bases covered regardless.

Or perhaps something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/vintage-Wind-up-gramophone-/301368891276 ;-)
 

chebby

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Frankyboy said:
The ones you posted look more like what a DJ uses to me but I am not the expert so if that's the sort of thing I need to look for I will!

The most well known 'DJ turntable' of all time (Technics SL1200) first originated as a good quality, domestic hi-fi turntable in the 1970s so don't worry about that.

Both of the Audio Technica models I linked to earlier can plug in directly to a pair of desktop speakers (so long as they have a volume control). This means you can side-step having to buy all those expensive 'separates' that your sister referred to.

So - for example - this would be a completely self-contained vinyl playing system for a shade over £300 in total ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/M-Audio-Studiophile-Av40-Monitor-Speakers/dp/B0051WAM64

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Technica-ATLP120USB-USB-Turntable/dp/B002S1CJ2Q

... if that's too much then this combination would also work for only £166 in total ....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-GigaWorks-Multimedia-Speakers-Technology/dp/B001IZZ2PE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Technica-AT-LP60USB-AT-LP60-USB-Turntable/dp/B00EUSMFPQ
 

thescarletpronster

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Frankyboy said:
He's not a DJ I don't want turntables, if you remember those old fashioned movies where they put a record on a player and they move that arm sort of thing onto the player...Am I right in guessing I need one of those?

The ones you posted look more like what a DJ uses to me

There's not much (if any) discernible difference to the eye between a DJ turntable and a domestic turntable.

On the terminology, a 'turntable' refers to a unit which has only the platter/arm/needle, and which sends out a phono-level signal to an amp; a 'record player' contains its own amplification and needs only external speakers to be usable. (I hope I'm right in those definitions!) Both are used at home - 'turntable' doesn't refer only to what DJs use.

Things to ask yourself/your father:

1. Does he have an existing hi-fi system?
2. If so, does the amp have a phono-level input?

If 'yes' to both those questions, he likely wants a 'turntable'.

If 'no' to both questions, the best solution would probably be a stand-alone 'record player'.

If 'yes' to question 1 but 'no' to question 2, he either needs a turntable plus a phono stage (such as the Rega Fono Mini) so the records can be played through his existing amp/speakers, or he needs a separate record player.

Hope that helps clear up a couple of things.
 

huntjohn698

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Hey, there are number of such record players which one can look up for. Number of online sites are there which allow people to buy best of the audio players among which some of them also provide the vintage ones that helps in adding extra fun to music such as http://www.crosleyturntablereviews.com/ is one such site which help people to check all of the reviews in relation to the audio players.
 
D

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huntjohn698 said:
Hey, there are number of such record players which one can look up for. Number of online sites are there which allow people to buy best of the audio players among which some of them also provide the vintage ones that helps in adding extra fun to music such as http://www.crosleyturntablereviews.com/ is one such site which help people to check all of the reviews in relation to the audio players.

Now this is a wind-up. Are you mad or serious sir?
 
DougK said:
huntjohn698 said:
Hey, there are number of such record players which one can look up for. Number of online sites are there which allow people to buy best of the audio players among which some of them also provide the vintage ones that helps in adding extra fun to music such as http://www.crosleyturntablereviews.com/ is one such site which help people to check all of the reviews in relation to the audio players.

Now this is a wind-up. Are you mad or serious sir?

Mad...... to be sure.
 

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