Turntable recommendations...

[emeraldknight47]

With all the great new vinyl hitting store shelves and available online, I'm giving serious consideration to investing in a new turntable. Anyone here have any good recommendations as far as brands, features, etc? Any and all advice is appreciated....!

[Mikey]

I don't own a turntable but I love watching this guy's reviews.

This one seems pretty neat and I think is priced between 3 - 4 hundred bucks now

Review starts around 0:50

m

[palitoy]

I haven't had good experiences with Crosley, in fact I gave mine away.

[emeraldknight47]

I haven't had good experiences with Crosley, in fact I gave mine away.

In doing some research online, yeah, Crosley has been THE name that it’s recommended to stay away from....

[palitoy]

I enjoyed reading this.

https://www.themasterswitch.com/best-turntables

[cjefferys]

I'm this close to buying a U-Turn Orbit turntable, I've done some research and these seem to offer pretty good bang for your buck. Made to order in the US and they can customize your order with many options.

https://uturnaudio.com/pages/turntables

[emeraldknight47]

Thanks for the links, gents, those are both great resources! Man, who’d’ve ever suspected that in 2018 turntables, ever so humble back 8n the day and almost totally forgotten about after the advent of the CD player, would come back strong and, in some cases evidently, as pricey as a low end vehicle!

[palitoy]

I was just in a music store this lunch hour where the clerk just remarked that since he started there (in 1953!) he never thought he'd see this. He's shocked to see how many lps he's selling now.

[noelani72]

yes yes and yes.

Going back 20yrs, I always had a Sony with built-in pre-amp.
My model is no longer available, but the exact same thing is (and I also own the one in the Link) :
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-us...?skuId=8734569

I have my stuff hooked up to a Vizio sound bar with sub woofer. I'd have to take it down off the wall to get exact model, but it is quite similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-SB3821-...less+subwoofer

Now, tht setup MAY make some audiophiles cringe, but let me tell you what - that Sony player and that sound system takes minimal space, and sound freaking awesome. I have a very tuned ear....I hear things most people do not.

2016
I start buying new vinyl...and have random problems...but ONLY with new vinyl.
It does not matter what weight the new vinyl is...sometimes they skip, sometimes the whole LP plays fine except for one song....even had a 2014 pressing play at the wrong speed.

I searched and searched for an answer. ...found nothing.

Every single new $50-$200 turntable being found on store shelves suffers from the same fate - skipping on brand new vinyl.

2017
I spent $500 on a custom-built, Made in the USA U-Turn Orbit.
https://uturnaudio.com/collections/all

Holy heck, what a beautiful sounding turntable...truly pure...fantastic to the ear.
My problem with it was, it is too light...it has no weight. When too close to my soundbar, with the volume 1/2 way turned up, i would get a horrible feedback. I had to ground it to my wall reeceptical....solved 80% of the issue, but I was not about to have a $500 device that I was unhappy with. I dealt with their engineers for over a month...who were great...but I ultimately sent it back.

Late 2017
Bought this:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/audio-t...?skuId=3321302

A M A Z I N G sound quality. This thing is HEAVY. It was a bit of a chore to unpack and set up - you have to balance your own tone arm, which is probaly too daunting to most people...but this thing is da'bomb awesome. Plays perfect on any Lp I own.

[EmergencyIan]

Are vintage turntables not an option for some reason?

- Ian

[noelani72]

yes, they are...but hard to come by in good condition.
I have one I'd sell you - it's darn reliable, but it requires an external pre-amp (which I can also provide). I didn't want the extra device sitting there taking up another outlet. Plus, the external pre-amps just aren't quite where my ear expects them to be, but probably sound perfectly fine to everyone else.
You'd be looking at spending about $130 plus shipping if you want it.

[EmergencyIan]

^ Gotcha and thanks! I’m not in the market for one, but if I were I’d look at vintage options was well as newly manufactured ones.

- Ian

[TomStrong]

I bought a 25 dollar pre amp and a new needle for my Technics Direct Drive turntable and hooked it up to my existing receiver in my living room. It’s vintage and sounds worlds better than my daughters portable record player. I’ve used it for years and it sounds fantastic. I would say vintage is fine.

[cjefferys]

2017
I spent $500 on a custom-built, Made in the USA U-Turn Orbit.
https://uturnaudio.com/collections/all

Holy heck, what a beautiful sounding turntable...truly pure...fantastic to the ear.
My problem with it was, it is too light...it has no weight. When too close to my soundbar, with the volume 1/2 way turned up, i would get a horrible feedback. I had to ground it to my wall reeceptical....solved 80% of the issue, but I was not about to have a $500 device that I was unhappy with. I dealt with their engineers for over a month...who were great...but I ultimately sent it back.

Well crap, that's kind of bad to hear, because I was planning on buying one of these soon, as I posted above. But my audio setup is different than yours, so maybe I'll be ok? Hmmm.

[noelani72]

Well crap, that's kind of bad to hear, because I was planning on buying one of these soon, as I posted above. But my audio setup is different than yours, so maybe I'll be ok? Hmmm.

yes, probably. They wanted me to get further away from my speakers (don't have to do that with any other turntable) and then buy a special isolation platform to increase its weight...I said no way Jose and sent it back. Now, if I had a small acousticly sound room...where all it had in it was the turntable, speakers and lounge chair...nice relaxation room....then yeah, the U-Turn would be very nice. Dang, the needle I had them install was sooooo awesome with its bass.