Re discovering vinyl

As an interim, the project debut TT offer a lot of bang for buck. You can pick up one for about £60. They are by no means the ultimate TT but will sound perfectly acceptable through the 640p. And when you decide to upgrade, you will get your money back. As a stop gap they are a no brainer really!!

 

Thanks johnandchris, thats a good idea, I've been thinking that way too I'm just concerned it will sound poor at the side of my digital source played through a cambridge dac magic.

 

It shouldnt sound poor, the debut is a cracking little table.

 

What about a old Thorens deck? I have a Thorens TD125 mk2 with an SME tone arm. The whole thing is wonderfully well made. You can pick up good examples for £200-£300.

The TD150/160 are easily available for around £100-£150. They aren't nearly as well made as the TD124/125 but they are very tweakable and there is a wealth of information on them available online.

Whatever you get take the time to learn how to set it up properly. A well set up TT cheap TT will often better than a badly adjusted expensive one.

I can vouch for the Cambridge Audio 640P it's cracking value for money!

 

Yes a TD150/160 can be made to sound excellent.
The basic engineering is good and you can make some worthwhile and inexpensive improvements.

Lots come with a SME3009 fitted and while this isn't necessarily the best thing ever it can sound excellent with some thought over matching cartridge. Certainly a needledrop I heard recently has caused me to revise my view of the arm.

Otherwise you can get great results with any of the Rega arms, and even the fairly common Linn LVX sounds good.

The TD124, while a lovely thing will be seriously expensive in order to find one in good order, or to rebuild and get back to stock performance.

 

great t/t the thorens, i have one still with sme 3009 and sure v15 mk5

 

Thanks everyone for the other suggestions, I have lots more to consider now

 

Ok, I have about £150 kicking about for this so its looking like a rega p2/3 or planar 2/3 and suggestions on things to look out for desired or undesirable?

 

Pro-ject!!

 

I'm thinking Rega because they hold their value better so if vinyl is not for me I shouldn't lose much. They also give me more options, should I chose to upgrade the rega arms are good to bolt onto just about anything.

 

I bought a rega p25 which I'm loving the sound of, blows my digital source (cyrus 6se/dacmagic) out of the water.

Its slightly lighter in the low frequencies but the air and dynamics are startling. Vocals have breath in them.

Its in beautiful unmarked condition but the completely wrecked stylus tells me its been a bit neglected so I'm going to fit a new belt as I can hear it slipping a bit at start up.

I've made a level wall shelf and swapped out the hard rubber feet for a set of sorbathane I already had.

A mate has lent me a cart and a few albums so I'm currently re discovering vinyl Thanks for all the help and advice

 

Rega TTs are very good for their price. If you can pick one up with an RB300 (or evenbetter a 600) then they are a respectable tt. Just dont overlook the projects.

 

i think you must have read my post on page 2 and missed the one on page 3, I do that all the time lol. I already got the p25 with rb600

 

Good spot. DOH!!!!!
What arm have you go on it?

 

Should be the RB600 as standard which is very nice - a tuned-up and better specified RB300.