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

I got into vinyl a few months ago and I started with a Nottingham Horizon with a Dynavector 10x5 cartridge and a Whest phono stage. I had owned some very nice digital front ends like you do and I was blown away by how good this combo was, surpassing the sound of any digital rig I had owned. Good thing about the Nottingham is that it is relatively easy to setup and use. I have since upgraded to the upper line Nottingham, but for the money the Horizon would be hard to beat I think.

One thing to keep in mind is that you will need a record cleaning machine and cleaning products. You will want to budget around 500 for that.

You can start cheaper with a Music Hall MMF-5 which comes complete and isn't at all shabby. That you really can't beat for the price about $500- on Agon. If you really have $2,000 to burn get a VPI scout second hand assuming as Ejlif said you have money for the cleaning machine and also you already have a phono stage.

Don't be discouraged by the Record Cleraning Machine cost. You can get a perfectly good one from Audio Advisor for $239. Whether or not you get into vinyl, it sounds like you have a problematic room with those dimensions and might want to look into room treatments as well. Good luck, Dave

If you're willing to max your budget, there are a LOT of options for you, most of which I am not privileged to know enough about to advise on.

I am getting into analog and picked up a used Music Hall MMF-7 and am very pleased with it. It is a highly regarded table, especially at the used price - around $600 for table, arm, and cartridge. It is very musical and warm (I run it through an Arcam AVR200 integrated.) As an advantage, it is pretty much plug and play. There are not really any tweaks you can do easily, except for clamps and matts. And if vinyl turns out not to be your thing, you can probably re-sell a used one at almost the same price.

Non-upgradability can be a down side, though, if you catch a real bad case of vinylitis. A comparable table in quality and (sometimes) price is the Rega P3, on which you can do tonearm upgrades.

Keep in mind the magnitude of the undertaking - building a collection, cleaning the collection, dickering with the arm and the stylus. It may be best to try one of these, save yourself some $$ for albums and a record cleaning meachine, and then, by the time you've spent the whole budget, you'll know whether you like it so much that you chould have spent it all on the able alone.

Good listening.