turntables

am going to buy a turntable soon, my friend has a debut 1 which he will be selling withing the next few weeks, hopefully. i was looking in the net today and can see debut 2's for 110 and phono debut 2 for about 160, am i right in thinking that the phono model just has a phonostage built into it?

and also if that is the case would it sound any better than using the phono inputs on my amplifier? (pioneer a400)

thx
matthew

 

The phono amp on the Project is very good quality but then the phono amp in your Pioneer is probably good as well. I would buy the Debut II or your mates MKI if its much cheaper and spend the rest on some LPs.

 

my fired want 25quid for his debut 1, the stylus is good, but he said the cartridge has turned a bit nasty, it needed soldering or something and said if i replace the cartridge the toner arm cable will also need doing?
good or bad idea to buy this, i think it sounds great by the way

 

err £25 is a good buy but I am confused to why it needs soldering. If it needs a new cartridge that shouldn't need soldering. Its common practise t replace the stylus anyway.

I don't think you can replace the tone arm on the Debuts.

The Debut II has added benefits of a better quality bearing machienism which is supposed to reduce surfice noise (rumble).

 

Id ask him what he means by soldering. My best guess is he means that perhaps the cartridge tag on the end of the tone-arm wiring needs re-soldering?

That certainly would need clarifying if it were me before parting with any reddies.

Ive read that the phono stage in that pioneer is actually quite good. Hopefully someone who has heard it will be able to say. Id certainly advise also going for the cheaper deck, providing its not knackered!

Good luck

 

i have seen it, the wires from the tone arm cable going to the cart are soldered to the cart now as the connectors broke, and he said it would be very difficult to unsolder and attach to a new cartridge? he said the stylus is pretty new anyway

 

It sounds a bit iffy but if it works ok then for £25 you can't really go wrong. If the cartridge needs replacing the wires are very thin and will melt if you try and unsolder the connections. This means the tone arm wiring will have to replaced which may be expensive if you can't do that yourself.

If it works though then I would buy it, you should get a few years out of it, then when it breaks you should still be able to get £20 for it from ebay.

 

how much would it be to buy the tone arm cable and fit it myself? on the cart end i gues it should just have the little push on connectors, but what about at the turntable end? whats it connected too inside?

 

if youve got a 'loop' of cable where the tags are soldered to the cartridge pins, then youve probably got enough leeway to unsolder the cartridge and put cartridge tags on the end of the cable.

Its quite fiddly because tonearm wire is often so thin, but Ive done it and it wasnt too bad. The dialectic will melt a bit, but the cable wont of course - its metal!

More of a problem will be all that crusty solder left on the cartridges pins - it would be difficult to get tags to fit over the mess of the solder.

I would personally keep it as it is until I wanted to change the cartridge, and then fit cartridge tags to the cable to go with a new cartridge.

I cant see why you would need to re-wire the arm unless you have another problem.

Cheers

 

as amazing trade said though, even if i get 6months half decent listening out of it i could get my money back on ebay even selling it as faulty. i will get it when he gets his arse and gear and buys something a bit nicer.

 

Get the Debut 1 - I've heard both the 1 and 2 and the Debut 1 I heard is far better musically than the newer model.

AS mentioned earlier - I too have heard that the phono stage in the A400 is fairly good. My mate has one, but the uneducated heathen doesn't have a turrntable, so no idea whether this is true