What Turntable to buy under $600 ?

Johnnantais. I give you 11 out of 10 for trying, but you are crossing the line into the ridiculous.

'So here's some actual facts'

A few opinions posted on the BB are hardly facts. And no, simply because you really like these opinions don’t make them facts either.

'there is bass in abundance (not a noted Koetsu characteristic)'

Really? I guess I must have an odd Koetsu as my Rosewood pounds at the bass.

'fantastic dynamics, energy, slam, PRaT, call it what you will, and the detail and clarity are stunning'

I have heard people say that about iPods. Can we get a respected audio journalist/critique to say that about a Lenco? Maybe, but I have yet to see that.

'I have been listening to some serious money turntables over the last few months and the budget Lenco beats most of them'

Really? In home or a 10-15 minute listen at an audio show or store? Did you listen to material you are familiar with or not? Are you familiar with neutral and accurate sound, or used to a particular coloration produced by your own equipment? Was the associated equipment the same. What about the arm and carts used? Room acoustics?

Added note – having endured a (painful) karaoke evening a few weeks ago, it was obvious that some individuals actually prefer a colored (read distorted, boomy and smeared) sound. Those individuals are totally unimpressed by an accurate and natural representation of music.

No, I have not listened to a Lenco or Garrard. I have however spend many hours listening to a well restored and well setup TD124. The sound was very colored and there was a very noticeable lack of low level detail. Not nice ...

Regards
Paul

Sean, your point is what?

You quote my statement of "Fact is there are none on the market" and go on to talk about restoring tables that have been OFF the market for 30 odd years?

Surely you do not think that Garrards are still being sold no?

Turntable.. Schmurntable...

A turntable only needs to do 3 things to be Perfect:

1. Turn at the prescribed speed (e.g. 33rpm) with minimal fluctuation.
2. Impart no vibration/resonance of it's own to the cartridge/arm.
3. Be shielded or designed well enough that the cartridge/armwire is not adversely affected by any magnetic or electrical field from the TT.

That is ALL a turntable can possibly do - PERIOD! There is no Black Magic about spinnin' a freakin' platter at a steady speed. The basic technology to accomplish this was in place somewhere between the invention of the wheel and the early 20th century.

Most of the TT's mentioned here meet those 3 criteria reasonably well.

Everything else being argued about is actually a function of the cartridge, the tonearm, the cartridge/tonearm matching, the quality of the arm wire/output jacks.

So my advice to the original poster, at $600 - buy whichever of these looks the coolest to you (or your wife), won't break the bank, and won't be too much of pain to keep running properly. I've had 15 or 20 of these types of turntables to play with, and I can say without doubt (assuming the quality of TT's already mentioned here) the choice of cartridge is by far the more important factor. And unfortunately that does get into a much more personal, subjective preference.

Pauly,

"Surely you do not think that Garrards are still being sold no?"

http://www.garrard501.com/

I recommend that you not be Mr smarty-pants when you are talking about something with which you have absolutely no personal experience.

I recommend that you not be Mr smarty-pants when you are talking about something with which you have absolutely no personal experience.

The same goes for direct drives--and my experience regarding high end decks, tonearms and cartridges.

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