Advise buying a record player?

I've used them all the time. We used Technics hi-fis at work back in the Nineties and they were poor. I've used 1210s in clubs all over the place; my friend had a pair that we lugged home on the train together when he bought them new and I regularly used them. They're great DJ decks, but NOT audiophile decks. It's like chalk and cheese. Anyone who says otherwise is most likely a clubber using them for listening to their dance vinyl. Listen to something subtle - not good. Unless you heavily modify it... in which case, you might as well have spent the money on a decent turntable in the first place.

http://www.soundhifi.com/sl1200/evo.html

Sod that!! You could get an AMAZING turntable for that sort of money!!

As per the DJ decks, those auto-loading decks are horrible. Anything unnecessary can interfere with the sound quality - quick start, varispeed, auto-loading arms etc.

Back when they were new, What Hi-Fi rated it 3 stars and said you could get better sounding turntables for the same money. They were right... the Rega Planar 3, for example. And if they're right about it as a stock turntable, it's hardly worth spending even more to upgrade it when you can get a decent, purpose-built turntable for the money.

Oh, i nearly forgot... there are a fair few original Planar 2s around, with the "200 arm instead of the RB250. If you must get one of them, I wouldn't be spending more than £60, personally. They're over 30 years old now and the arm, whilst solid, wasn't really as good. Likewise, the later P2 is a cheap remake, lacking the glass turntable.

Of course, what kind of music you listen to would dictate what setup is best for you. If you listen to dance crap, the 1210s are probably a decent turntable for you as they were fairly punchy It's mostly the arm and cartridge that will make a difference... and the default Technics arm was a bit... meh.

 

What ever happened to that laser turntable? I really liked the sound of that as the records were never touched meaning they'd never loose quality from playing.

 

They are really expensive and don't work with every record. I think they only work with black records, but maybe they work with darker colored ones too.

Why stop there though? The technology exists to "play" a scanned image of a record.

 

Seriously? You can scan a record and have software play the scan?

 

I say it tongue in cheek. It produces a sounds with a lot of hiss in the background:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11851842

Also, it's a special set up they have at the US Library of Congress to archive records - some records so old/fragile that playing them with a needle could destroy them. I'm not sure if anything is commercially available.

 

Just read and listened to the article in the link. It's pretty impressive what they have done.

By the way, what is the average life of a record? How many times can it be played before sounding awful? Also, how many hours can the average record needle do?

 

It depends on the record.... and the player. There are various qualities of material, groove characteristics and so on. Weight of the tonearm, tracking force etc. will have a bearing. Some decent turntables have a puck - these will have an effect. Storage of the record is important - how you clean it, storing on the edge, how tightly you pack your records, not touching the surface, temperature, humidity and how you handle the record both on the turntable and off. They can last decades, though - I still have original Beatles albums that sound great, despite some warpage, and I played them to death in the Eighties!

Likewise for the stylus, but generally 500 - 1000 hours.

Here's an interesting article:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...-the-resurgence-in-vinyl-records-9695409.html

 

Nice link. Thanks for that.

 

I was gifted a gorgeous HMV all in one by a family member for until I get a real setup going. His story if your interested is that he bought it [he thinks] at the age of 17, he's now 47. I've just used one of my grandma's old records on it for now, but it's fantastic, the look, theres something about the sound i can't quite explain and just the experience of it. Reading with it playing in the background was so blissful.

 

Yeah, records do have that softness to them that CDs are missing. I really love the crackling sound that records have.

 

Nothing like listening to an old jazz 78 through a horn. It sounds like crap at first, but you soon get accustomed to it!

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with Technics 1210s, and I produce music professionally for myself and ghost produce for others in various genres.

As per his OP he is not an audiophile (Although there is absolutely nothing wrong with the sound from them) and want's something that requires no work and is durable. You will not get anything as durable as a 1210. Seriously Cyantist, if you pick up a good condition 1210 it will last you till the end of days.

 

Except as a non-audiophile, he could pick up something equally as good, if not better, CHEAPER. He mentioned in his OP also that he's on a budget, so a turntable that often hits £300 second hand is more than likely not going to fit the bill - especially when it may have issues being second hand and he could get a new Pro-Ject Essential II for around £200, and it's a very capable turntable.

If you try another decent turntable, or indeed an upgraded 1210, you'll see that the standard tonearm sucks. I really cannot stress highly enough that you don't want to use the standard arm for everyday listening. In clubs, sure, it'll do - the music is blasted so loud that nobody's listening to quality, anyway. They're made to be sturdy, and they do that job just fine.

Of course, the HMV all-in-one doesn't live up to any stand-alone turntable, but if it's keeping you happy, that's the main thing!

 

Man, I forgot that HMV used to have their own brand of audio equipment. How old is it and who actually made the hardware? I'm thinking JVC or Toshiba since both of them are connected or were at some point with EMI who did own HMV and were part of Toshiba at some point in the past (they may still be).

 

I <3 my Project Debut III I got back in 2010

 

It's a HMV 2030 from 1967 not sure about who manufactured it but I'd be interested to know,

 

Being that old I have a feeling it will be an EMI product.

 

Actually, the history is quite interesting.

The Gramophone Company introduced the "His Master's Voice" picture. However, they were sued by Columbia Phonograph (who later became Columbia Records) and Zonophone for patent infringement, who won. They were no longer allowed to make records in the US, although they continued to do so in the UK. Columbia and Zonophone formed a new company, the Victor Talking Machine Company, to produce records in the US. As part of the settlement, they were allowed to use the logo. The company ended up being sold to RCA in 1929 and later became RCA Victor. During the Second World War, the Japanese division split from the company, but continued calling themselves Victor and using the logo.

Meanwhile, Victor bought The Gramophone Company in 1920. Columbia Phonograph's UK operation, Columbia Graphophone Company, was sold in 1922. It then bought the US company three years later. The Gramophone Company in the UK merged with Columbia Graphophone Company in 1931 to form Electrical and Musical Industries - EMI. They ran the Columbia record label in the UK, which largely sold licensed versions of Columbia Records' products from the US. RCA sold EMI in 1935 but kept Victor and the US rights to HMV. 22 years later, RCA and EMI severed all ties. EMI Merged with Thorn to become Thorn EMI in 1979, who kept the HMV label in the UK until HMV Group was formed in 1986 and the shops until HMV Media was formed in 1998, although they kept a share of the company.

Anyway, who made HMV products? Actually, the HMV name was licensed to Thorn from 1956 until 1977. They also owned Ferguson and had a license to use the Marconi name. After that, Fidelity made products under the HMV name.

 

Wow now that is a complex history but the end results aren't good. Both Thorn and Fidelity made pretty poor products from what I remember. Saying that the oldest record player we had was a Thorn and that lasted forever. I had a Fidelity in the 80s and it was crap.

 

It's a lot of getting into bed with former/future partners!

HMV actually made one of the best hi-fi systems ever. It was so expensive, it wasn't viable to produce (platinum-wound coils). I believe three prototypes were made and shown off at Crystal Palace. One turned up as a shell in a radio shop. Another is missing. The third was in my friend's house with a critical custom component blown, but I have no idea what happened to it after his marriage fell apart. I have a copy of the manual somewhere.