Say I want to get into collecting vinyl... What is a good player to start off with that won't break the bank? I'd prefer it to be under $100, but that includes used players. I'm not really sure of the ins-and-outs of vinyl; I pretty much decided on this the other day when my friend and I went looking for some Beatles record he really wanted. The "hunt" for a rare record is rather appealing and it just seems more authentic than having the CD. I look forward to burning money on more stuff I probably don't need.
A decent player w/o pitch control will run you at least $150 to $200 new, I'm sure. You can probably buy a sub par one that'll sound good if you get a good needle.
Audiophile or DJ? Audiophile usually wants belt driven as it absorbs vibrations and has better stability rotation or something like that. DJs on the other hand usually wants direct driven as it has better torque. I personally have Numark TT-500
I agree that the Technics looks greats but they are overpriced compared to it's competitors, at least that's my opinion anyway. On the other hand they have a great resale value.
http://www.project-audio.com/main.php?prod=debutphsb&cat=turntables&lang=en nothing beats this one for its price.
Rega Planar 9 or the upgrade I read about in some cool UK Audio magazine. Since the Rega Rocks, but perhaps it is a bit overrated. But don´t ask me. But I have only head good things about Rega. But since you said 100 US Dollars, then you are out of luck. If you want one brand new.
Thanks for all the help, guys. I forgot to mention that I'm just going to be listening to records, not DJing or anything. On the downside, the screen to my Zen was cracked today, so I might be out of luck for a little while. I haven't decided if I'm going to replace it or not. We'll see I guess. Would a pawn shop be a good place to look for a player? Almost $11,000. That's just a little over my price range.
Very expensive stuff but if it really is as good as they say it's a fantastic bit of kit. Just a shame it's but ugly :lol: Still, If I was an audio nut with the cash I'd buy one. I just love the sound of crackles at the end of a track. A lot of my 80's MP3 collection (VBR) is taken from my own personal vinyl and I must say it does sound far better than a lot of the other rips out there taken from CD collections. Mind you, I did have to pay a recording studio to rip them all for me. Still cheaper than buying a high end turn table though. Yakumo
So original recordings converted to CD sound worse than old vinyl converted to MP3? You'll have to forgive me for being cynical about that. Vinyl sounds good because it's analogue; once you convert it to digital you lose that, and as soon as you convert it to something inherently lossy like MP3 you lose a lot. What's the average bitrate for the VBR MP3s you've got? It's a lot more likely that the old vinyl has a lot of low-end presence while the CD releases better preserved the high end, making it sound clearer/more tinny, depending on your preference. It's also possible that newer CD releases got caught up in the whole "loudness war", which would be unfortunate, but pretty unlikely.
What I'm trying to say is that an awful lot of 80's CD compliations are really poor quality. The original sorce or the way they were encoded is piss poor. They either sound flat as hell, too tinny on tracks that should have a good base line or just all together turd. The MP3s I got made (about 350 odd) go to 320kbps with an avarage of 220kbps or something around there. I'll have to check the invoice from the company that did them. I've compared them directly to original 80's CD compliation discs and the MP3s do honestly sound fuller with better tones than many of the CDs. I did the check on my Pioneer DVD player that can play MP3 via discs or USB to make sure it was a fair comparisson. Basically what I'm trying to say is that if you want the best possible quality from older vinyl recordings without the fuss of playing the actual vinyl (which will eventually wear out) then get them done yourself either to Red Book CD audio or high bitrate MP3 or whatever. Because those compliation discs are mostly awful when it comes to quality. I've also noticed a few of them edit the songs to make them shorter just so they can fit more on to a CD. Yakumo
Double Ditto. The current version is the SL-1200 Mark 5 but very little has changed. It's pretty much the best you're gonna get on the home market. I've got one feeding into a nice pair of JBLs and everyone who has a listen is amazed at how good vinyl sounds (new and old) on the system. -hl718
You could always get construction paper and roll it around a needle...huhuhuhuhuh I like Vinyl and have a few vinyls but I buy CD's. I don't even have my own vinyl player and don't have the room. CD's are convenient too, and you don't have to pay a giant fucking amount for them. I dunno. I'm not a big fan of all digital everything but for just listening to the music I guess it's fine for me.
Not really an option though is it for most people who want a good collection of 80's music. Buying every single isn't going to be cheap or an easy task. So the compilation discs are the only option and a poor one at that unless you're an avid collector. Yakumo
I always thought that the contact with the belt would make it a worse system than a Direct Drive (DC brush-less servo controlled motor), but yeah the high end ones seem to mostly be belt driven. My advice to OP would be to look out for a fully automatic Direct Drive as you won't have to put the needle on or take it off, so less fiddly for a beginner. The 1210 is manual, and doesn't have the best sound quality overall (unless you upgrade the tonearm). There are automatic turntables for home use in the Technics range, and Sony, Pioneer and Aiwa manufacture them as well.
