I'm New To Vinyl - Which Turntable Should I Buy?

Get a VPI Scout. That will include tonearm and have money left over for cart.

I am somewhat unfamiliar with the analog terminology; but I assume that "cart" means cartridge?

Regarding stands and isolation... Is a wall stand the preferred method, or are floor stands better? Thanks.

Whoever above is saying used Scout, I agree. You're unlikely to find one with a jmw10, they ususally come with a jmw9. But they're a really good table, highly upgradeable. Since you need to get a phono stage anyway, get one with mc capability, [approx. 60db gain] and a Denon 103r. You'll be under 2000 with this, depending on what phonostage you buy.

Don't forget record cleaning, and I will say this about the manual record cleaning machines: Cleaning records is, to me, excruciatingly boring and time consuming. If you have a lot of records to clean, the minimum machine I would get is the vpi 16.5 [used 300-400 and they go fast], only because they are slightly easier to use than a manul. If you're just starting out collecting, stay up on it! I have cleaned about 1000 of my lp's. I still have about 2000 to go. I am dreading it.

George3,

Yes, "cart" is short for cartridge.

If you have wood floors over floor joists, wall mounting is preferred, generally speaking. Be sure to bolt into the wall studs or masonry. See the recent www.6moons.com article on wall mounting, for example.

As recommended by others, the VPI Scout with JMW 9 tonearm is a very fine turntable/tonearm combination with a very good and reasonably priced upgrade path. (E.g., upgrade to the Scoutmaster, the Signature version of the tonearm, add a motor controller...) The upgrade to the Scoutmaster (either intitially or later) is highly recommended, but the basic Scout is very fine. Combine this with a medium-to-high-output cartridge of choice (e.g., Grado Sonata, Shelter 501, Sumiko Blackbird, Denon 103R), and you've got a very competitive vinyl set-up.

For record cleaning, my recommendation will be to start with Disc Doctor's Miracle Record Cleaner and manual cleaning procedure. Add a record cleaning machine later only for the added convenience, not for any improvement in cleaning results. (NB: I've used a VPI HW-17 record cleaning machine here for nearly 20 years and wouldn't be without it. But it's the Disc Doctor that makes the difference in cleaning results.)

Good luck on your journey into vinyl!

Slight quibble with Ruston here--while I fully endorse his claim that wall mounting is preferred when you have wood floor over joists, I would NOT recommend hanging the turntable shelf from the masonry. First, it flexes and vibrates when excited by room resonances and footfalls. Second, it is simply too weak to hold your precious table and the shelf supporting it. Screw your wall mount shelf directly into the studs or, if you do not have studs where you wish to place the shelf, take a 4' H X 32" W (the width between two studs with one in the middle) piece of grade 1 (smooth finish) 5/8" birch plywood and mount it to the studs in the location you desire. First cut away the wall board or plaster in the area where you want to mount the board. Then simply spackle around the perimeter where the plywood meets the wall board/plaster and paint. Now you can screw the wall mount shelf directly into the plywood. You won't even be able to see where the plywood is and will have the ability to easily spackle the holes and repaint should you have to remove the wall mount shelf for any reason. I did this at my house and it works very well.