I am so old I am happy to invest in a state-of-the-art-in-my-childhood equipment, so I am at $600 all-in (Dual 1019 fully automatic German idler-drive turntable, Shure M55e AND Shure m97xe AND Shure V15 Type IV cartridge NOS in radio shack livery but state of the art nonetheless for its day and not-much-exceeded by today's equipment.) Essentially I have three Shure V15 cartridges to run my turntable which changes out headshells in seconds (which these days are 3D printed on EBay.) You may scoff but the Dual 1019 was THE dominant turntable for half a decade back in the day.
Every day I see another turntable recommendation...
After digging into this topic, I am convinced now I need to go a bit higher on this first vinyl set up. I think all in, I am prepared at this point to go up to $5k, for the table alone, not including arm or cartridge.
But frankly, being on this forum is like drinking from an information firehose. I have learned a bunch and yet somehow, I am less convicted than before.
With that in mind, to narrow down the decision, I am want to restrict myself to things I can buy, hear and, if necessary, service locally. My local dealers stock, AMG, AVM, Basis, Clearaudio, Michell, Musichall, Pro-ject, Rega, VPI, so I am likely restricted to those brands. I am certain my view will change by the end of this thread.
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@systembuilder22 The last paragraph is a recent statement made in another thread that should make sense to you. There is no scoffing or contempt before investigation when I read your post. I have used Idler Drives for many years and am not too many years separated from using a Idler Drive as my daily TT. I am sure that in the not too distant, if the ears deteriorate, I will be a MM user for all my replays, no point in pretending the MC is the better Cart' when the ears are not so young anymore. My last hearing test ended with the clinician informing me I was still able to hear and my HiFi investments are still worthwhile, the next test might be a different story.
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Just thinking out loud, the turntable & tone arm & cartridge were less than 1/3rd of my original investment; the $200 used 1019 turntable from local craigslist (United Audio base; Shure m55e cartridge) was just the start of the adventure. There were many extras to get: (a) Two additional $30 headshells from ebay (my son broke the original headshell not understanding the tone-arm lockdown), (b) $30 Vintage Discwasher, (c) Washing fluid (d) $22 The unusual Dual "waiter's arm" record changer spindle, (e) $10 Dual-branded 1019 45rpm adapter (f) $20 Original Dual owner's manual, (g) $40 radio-shack smoke colored dust cover (there was no oem cover available for the UA plinth), (h) $15 Dual aluminum reproduction logo to dress up the dust cover (h) $10 extra smoke plexiglass from ebay to fine-tune the fit of the dust cover, (i) $65 TEC TC-778 phonepreamp incl. support for 78pm (the turntable does 16, 33, 45, and 78 rpm), (j) $200 for 2 more shure V15-era cartridges both at bargain prices, (k) $60 two more 3x7 elliptical M55e replacement styluses out of paranoia that mine would break or wear out and the m55e would have no stylus. So about $535 of extras, total. There is a great comfort in buying a best-seller from the past because parts and accessories (some of them being newly manufactured by home enthusiasts) are readily available. |
@saulh It’s unclear why you want a turntable “only” for your first foray into vinyl. This eliminates table+tonearm package deals which would save you $. Usually, vinyl newbies are better economically served with a combo turntable+tonearm package. At ~$5k I would suggest a high value MoFi Ultradeck coupled with their MasterTracker combo and a PS Audio Stellar Phono Preamp both of which received great reviews. |
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