Utter idiot's guide to buying a budget turntable

I'd say get a stock 250 or a 300. When/if you decide to go for a better deck that would be the time to consider arm upgrades IMO. I'd go for the 250 myself.

-- Ian

 

The stock 250 should offer a noticeable improvement over the 200, but its wiring is generally considered a weak point (the plastic end stub and counterweight being the other). The Icognito rewire mod costs around £120, so if the difference between the stock arm and modded version is noticeably less than that, you might want to go for it. If not, you'd probably be better off saving your pennies for another rainy day.

 

Dunky, you can get one of the plentiful supply of used RB250's for around 60-70 quid. If he wants much more, I wouldnt buy one.

Instead... ask for a partial refund for your dud arm, and buy one used. You will get one in a matter of days/a week - they are plentiful second hand.

There's no way I would pay for a new RB250 and pay to re-wire the arm. That puts you in the 300-400 arm territory, whereby you can get things like second hand Hadcocks, basic used SME arms and the like.

Thats me anyway.

Chris

 

sme arms go for around 100 ish on e bay but would it be worth putting it on a rega 2?.
basically if the guy sold you a dud tt , even if its just the arm thats at fault i recon a refund would be in order.thats if he cant replace it , dont let him palm you off with something inferior , once bitten twice shy would be my way of thinking.
thers lots of cheap second hand tt's to be gotten so dont jump through impulse at the first one he offers you.

 

Well I've been quoted GBP159 for a brand new Incognito-wired RB-250, which sounds like a pretty good deal to me considering the Incognito kit on its own is around the 120 mark, so I think I'll go for it. It's probably a smidgen on the overkill side for this deck but I'm happy knowing I won't have to upgrade the arm again for a long time (bar perhaps one of the counterweight mods?), and knowing that the arm won't be embarrassed by the next deck upgrade or two.

I don't know if you can tell but even with my fairly unfortunate experiences so far I'm pretty well hooked on vinyl - mostly for the fun of buying 2nd hand vinyl, but I will want my turntable rig to eventually match (or even outclass) my Meridian CD player, so I don't mind spending a bit of cash at the moment if it'll spare me tonearm upgrades in the future.

Anyway, I'll be heading down to confirm the order and make the payment in about half an hour so that's how long you've got to wave me off if I'm making a big mistake.

BTW, I'm really grateful for all the responses so far, you lot have been immeasurably helpful!

Dunc

 

You have an entry level turntable from 20 odd years ago. I don't think it's worth spending significant money on. A brand new P2 is £198, a P3 £298. You're now planning to spend almost as much as a new turntable on a messed with arm. Makes no sense.

Paul

 

^ What he said. Get a stock 250.

-- Ian

 

yeah, I think 159 is too dear.

put it this way, if you demanded a refund and added this sum to 159 you'd have nearly 400.

That 400 would get you an old LP12 for example.

A second hand RB250 for 70 quid is as much as I'd do. You really should make him pay for this dud arm he's sold you - dont you think?

 

They're right dude, there's plenty of good old turntables out there. You could have a boxed P3 with two cartridges to play with and still have £170 to spend on vinyl if you buy my P3, and there's no problem with that one

 

I too would agree,for alot less hassle,better arm and sound, I would chose a P25 S/H,far better than a P3,at a later date can take a good cart/phono stage,and it will really sing,mine does.

 

Hi,

If you are enjoying vinyl, I would look at a better deck. If you can get your money back and can add some extra, you can gain very good improvements. A Rega Planar 3 or better. If staying with the Rega for the time being, I would look at what it is sat on. You will get improvements by playing around with this.

If you want to go mad with your Rega, you could try fitting something like the following

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3283&item=5729383337

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3283&item=5712488256

http://www.turntable-power-supply.com/index.htm

http://www.rega.co.uk/html/stands.htm

http://www.rega.co.uk/html/upgrade_kits.htm

http://www.mana.co.uk/products.htm

http://www.townshendaudio.com/

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3280&item=5729980567

All food for thought. I have not tried them with an old Rega 2.

SCIDB

 

still spending a lot of bucks on a p2 though.
why not buy a better tt with the dosh that might just sound as good as a modded rega?

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3283&item=5731571793&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3283&item=5730047992&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3283&item=5730228039&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3283&item=5730291852&rd=1

you could keep an eye on this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43804&item=5730917288&rd=1

this might be worth keeping an eye on.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3283&item=5730606081&rd=1

thers lots of nice tt's out there that would out perform a rega 2 for the same money.

 

correct me if im wrong , but isent that an rb300 on the thorens in the last link?

 

My two pennies worth - I'd just go for a stock RB250 if you can get it trade it'll be pretty cheap (£70/£80??) and its an arm you can take with you to another deck or get modded further later if you have the cash. The wiring in the stock RB250 may not be the best, but its not that bad - its still a bargain of an arm - also I'm not aware that he wiring on the stock RB300 is actually any better.

Received wisdom says that after mods the RB250 is in fact the superior arm due to having bearings both sides and not having the spring loaded VTF adjustment (admittedly easily bypassed). When John Michell decided to sprinkle fairy dust on the Rega (the Technoarm (a) ), he sprinkled it on a 250, not a 300 - for good reason.

That said £159 for an Incognito rewired arm is a bargain - but I'd still have gone with stock for now. The aim here is to get you running properly for as little outlay and risk as possible. The stock RB250 fits the bill in that respect.

That said I don't think you'll regret your choice - you can take the arm with you to a better deck when you are ready and with an end stub mod as well you'll have an arm which would happily grace a £1k deck. re the stub mods- I have the OL mod, but think the Michell mod is clearly the superior option there - a rewire is next for me, but only after I get a new deck.

 

Yeah, I know perhaps not quite the wisest move, particularly from a money-conscious perspective (I've never been any good at that sort of thing ), but I don't think I'll be disappointed, and as Uncle Ants says, I can take the arm with me to whatever deck I move to next, and then some, and it shouldn't be too far outclassed (particularly with a few extra mods). And meanwhile, it should sound pretty good.

Anyway, I went for it. Should be here by Tuesday at the latest, or tomorrow if I'm really lucky. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

And Tony, I'll get your cart in the post ASAP - no sense me hanging on to it now.

Dunc