Looking at Turntable: belt drive or direct drive?


Hello.

I am thinking about venturing into the vinyl world! I am really stuck on three questions: -direct drive or belt , probably automatic/not getting any younger/

                 -turn table with or without phono preamp 

                 -first budget purchase around $1500 or so , but does that give me a  

                  decent start?

My system:

Rogue Pahraoh II integrated.

Focal Aria 926 

Audioquest cables and interconnects.

Thank you for taking the time.

rockanroller

venturing into vinyl.

the most expensive TT and Cartridge will NOT sound good unless the TT/Arm/Cartridge is professionally aligned. It takes time to acquire the skills, and a few inexpensive tools are needed.

to dip your toes, with

no serious investment or initial need for knowledge, alignment tools and skills,

I would buy a simple TT with a switchable built-in phono eq, to ascertain if you will stick with vinyl.

removable headshell is important when beginning.

I had and recommend this one:, quartz locked direct drive, factory aligned arm and cartridge, optional built-in phono (use it to start, use external later)

I actually preferred the sound of it’s built-in phono eq to my McIntosh C28 SS Preamp’s phono eq. When you decide to stick with vinyl, 1st thing to do is a more advanced MM cartridge.

 

this microline stylus profile comes pre-mounted in a headshell, all you would do is loosen the headshell locking ring and swap the headshell, re-check tracking force and anti-skate force.

 

any future ’better’ TT, stick with a removable headshell, then that cartridge can be used on it, as well as others you may progress to, i.e. Moving Coil; Mono; ....

then there is the argument that detachable headshell arms in the budget category incur significant performance compromises in comparison to some of their fixed headshell brethren

you have to weigh up the the pros and cons..

some of the most highly respected arms have removable headshells.

i.e. SME's 3009, 3012

technics 250

Acos lustre GST-1; GST-801

significant performance compromises is an absurd overstatement IMO, especially for a beginner

some headshells can provide adjustable VTA, far more important than imagined improvement of fixed arm

 

for a beginner, KISS.

Dear @rockanroller  : How many LPs do you own?

 

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.