TT for under £100

One of my brothers is after a record player. Nothing great.

Ease of use/set up, and a decent enough sound are all that's really required.

Seen a couple of pro-ject debut II going for under £100 which seem the obvious solution.

Any other ideas?

And any ideas of places worth checking online? Would prefer to go ex-display, used rather than second hand through a private seller as will probably be relying on having it posted as no transport. Should imagine if anything were to happen in transit, this would make sorting any problems easier.

Cheers

MO

 

You could always try one of these:

http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/609503.html

http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/274_122882.html

http://www.vestax.com/products/HandyTrax.htm



The Vestax TT is, ahem...portable. Wonder how they do anti-skip on that then

Michael.

 

The best turntbale I've heared under £150 is the Project Debut II, this is the machine I have and it still sounds better than a £300 RRP cd player the in the same year (2001).

I know Goldring now make turntables and they look the part, MDF plinth, good cartridge/stylus and a solid arm. I have no idea how good these sound though.

I would hope Mike was being sarcastic about the ones he suggested lol. The Sony looks very cheap, I nearly considered buying one when I saw it on offer at CBS for £49.95 but thought I would regret it as its made out of cheap plastic. The japs were never ones for making great mass produced turntables. Apart from the DJ Technics 1200 of course.

 

I've got a debut II phono MOself which is great for my vinyl needs.

I've seen the standard debut II for £109 new which is probably what I'll go for (Chiping in with my other brother to get it for him for a birthday pressie), but was just wondering what else was about, or any trusted places for used/ex-dem.

 

Look for a s/h Planar 2 or similar I would have thought.

 

Can you get Planars for £100? All the ones I've seen on ebay seem to go for more than £150.

 

Hi,

Not true at all. There has been some very good decks from the far east over the years. A lot were better than the Brittish decks at the time.

Sansui Sr222/II & Pioneer PL12 were very popular turntables in the 70s. It did go a bit pear shaped in the 80s with the cheaper decks.

Technics made a number of high quality decks such as the SP10. These were used in radio stations in the 70s & 80s. There were 1000s of these around the world & there are still a load around now.

There were a number of high end turntables made in Japan. These were mainly big direct drives jobs. There were a number of fine built decks from companies such as Luxman, Kenwood & Nakamichi. There were a number of cheaper well built decks around as well.

You should be able to pick up an old style Planar 2 or 3 for under £100.


SCIDB

 

MO!, check out this auction on Ebay, http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3084881674&category=3283
, though I doubt it'll go for less than £100 knowing Ebay. But there are a few P2 and P3's on there at the moment for not much more than £100. Anyway good luck with getting a TT for your brother.

BL21DE3

 

Anyone have any knowledge of this?


RD80

Price: £90

RRP: £450

Description
Ariston RD80-TD turntable, with Linn Basik LVV arm, Audio Technica AT110E

Assuming he's ont exagerating on the RRP sounds a bit of a bargain!

 

I guess I've only seen the cheap Sony/JVC jap crap things. I have seen the Pioneers and they are pretty good, my grandma had one but it got thrown in the bin, it was a huge solid wood thing, it wasn't their top range or anything like that.

Its quite sad to think that names like Luxman, Sansui actually made good qualiy stuff, I've only seen their more recent late 80's early 90's stuff. Also I think Sansui have finally disapeared now they were one Richersounds budget brands.

 

or for £80.......

Thorens TD318 mk1 turntable fitted with audio technica AT110E cartridge,VGC with owners manual.Superb build quality and ex.sounding t/t. Owned by me from new. Stylus was replaced 6mths ago and has had 30-40 hrs use.Lid has the usual light polishing marks. Collection preferred due to weight of t/t (12kg)and I don't have original packaging.

 

Hi Mo,

The Ariston Rd 80 came out in the early 80s. It retailed from £180 to £250 ish. It was a deck that was a choice for people who didn't want to pay for a Linn LP12, Pink Triangle, Gyrodeck etc but want a step up from the budget decks of the day. They are a suspended sub chassis like the LP12. You cans set then up like a Linn.

Some people thought they were on par with the Rega Planar 3 while other thought they were a step up. I'm not sure about the TD model but I'm sure they never cost £450 new.

You can pick these up for between £125 & £200. These were fitted with the old Linn Basik arm & the ADC were common. If in good nick, it would be well worth a punt.

The Thorens is a deck that dates from the mid 80s. It isn't one of their most popular ones. It wasn't a price leader. Most Thorens were well built & do last a long time.

Here is some info on the Ariston.

http://www.theanalogdept.com/images/spp6_pics/HFA_arts/HFAMar82 p1.JPG

http://www.theanalogdept.com/images/spp6_pics/HFA_arts/HFA Mar82 p2.JPG

http://www.theanalogdept.com/images/spp6_pics/HFA_arts/HFA Mar82 p3.JPG

& a picture of the Thorens.

http://www.theanalogdept.com/images/spp6_pics/Thor_Data/td318.jpg

SCIDB

 

How did you guess?

Michael.

 

i might be after a turntable soonish too...not for my decent setup, but for the computer. something to rip tunes off vinyl onto VBR mp3s.

I was using my dad's Thorens TD150 with A&R E77 but it won't play 45s- its supposed to, but its faulty...some horrible grinding noises.

I've also tried an old BSR P128R, but even a minor scratch on a record causes it to skip, even after adjusting the 'anti-skip' thing. Could this just be a case of putting a new cartridge on? its a Shure N75- 6k

We have the aforementioned Goldring GR1 decks (Rega Planar 2s with Elektra cartridges) in at work, but seeing the reviews, they won't play 45s.

 

True. I think after the early eighties, the big jap companies concentrated on CDPs. Another deck in the same sort of league as the Sansui Sr222/II and the Pioneer PL12 which might be worth looking out for is the Trio/Kenwood KD1033 - my first decent deck in fact (my first was a Garrard sp25 and the least said the better). Should be able to pick one up for £40 or so.

 

BSR turntables tend to be total junk. I don't think you'll solve the skipping problem I'm afraid...

The Aristons are supposed to be fairly decent - I'd say £80 is a no brainer purchase.

TheMadhippy (Les) got a Rega Planar 3 (old arm) for £80 from Audio-T in Reading (minter as well, on my advice) back in 2002, so bargains do exist. Ebay's stupid money for Rega/Naim/Linn stuff....

 

It might be worth checking around in your local Adtrader or equivalent (www.adtrader.co.uk), that's where I managed to score my Planar 2 from for £80 including a brand new belt and Ortofon 520 cartridge... the guy had just bought himself an LP12 to replace it. Only had to travel 10 miles down the road to get it too.

 

got to be either the project or rega at this price I would have thought,

also try the nad 533 this is a planar 2, or an akai was also a rega, these both go for circa 80-100 ish, and I have one, no complaints.

 

Dual 505-4? Easy to use & set up, plenty about, & relatively cheap (<£50). That leaves a bit for a half decent cartridge or new stylus!
That's what I used before I acquired an LP12 (£250 on eBay last year, & a beaut...haven't seen one that cheap since mind...), and it was OK....have nothing to compare it to except the LP12 though, and I know which I'm keeping!
Well respected when they were still being made.

 

The NAD 533 is a pretty good TT. Dom runs one in his second system and it's more than capable of putting across a great sound, certainly excellent bang for buck, plus the battleship grey plinth looks superb!