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

You need someone that can support you until you learn a lot more about the whole analog front end. Find a local Hi-end dealer that has extensive experience with turntables, tonearms and cartridges including setup and adjustments/tuning. Turntables are not as easy to use as CD players.

Look for a turntable with a suspended subchassis to filter out external vibrations, such as Linn, VPI, SOTA. I owned a SOTA Star Sapphire for 18 years.

$2,000 dollars? Ok, I'm going to assume audiophile used will work for you and that you want the 'tried and true'. Well, here's some ways to get away with 2k...(hey, that rhymed...neat)

1. VPI HW 19 MK IV/SAMA/PLC. For an arm, choose a BritAudio 1 or a Linn Ekos. Phonostage is a Bottlehead seduction and the cart is a ClearAudio Aurum Classics Wood.

2. VPI Scout/JMW 10/Dynavector 10x5. Phonostage is either the seduction or a used Lehmann Black Cube

3.Sota Comet with an RB-250. Detach the 250 and sent it to BritAudio.com for a JA Michel Counterweight and Incognito wiring upgrade. Purchase a used Acoustic Research PH-3 and a Shelter 501 Mk II.

Let me know if you need more,

Marty A. Nickison II

Why would you own such an expensive system and only budget 2K for table/arm/cart.? Throw the phono stage that you will need in there and the budget looks even smaller. You can get pretty good sound in this price range, but you are likely to be disappointed in how it performs in the context of your system. If you just want to dip your toes in the water to see if it's for you, why not borrow a cheap rig from a friend. Or if your local dealer has a Rega P3 and something like a Project or Creek phono stage he would loan you for a couple of weeks, you could find out if it's your cup of tea or not. Then up that budget to be more in line with the rest of your components and you can buy a great setup that you will enjoy now and still have room to make smaller improvements. But in my opinion, that 2K will be wasted if you either

a) decide vinyl is not for you or

b) you want to reach higher up the ladder right away.

In both scenarios you will sell what you just bought at a loss.

Yes,
The tentative $2K budget I established is for 'used' gear and does not include phono stage or cleaning items. The budget is certainly not cast in stone and can be adjusted either way.

I realize a significant investment will be needed for albums should I pursue this end of the hobby seriously. If the table/arm/cart are upgradeable, or not, is not that important to me at this beginning stage, since I will likely sell the gear to upgrade if I continue in this direction.

Unfortunately, I'm not in an area that has high end analog shops, or know of anyone I could borrow a 'set-up' to taste this end of the hobby. But, please, all your comments are excellent and I would like to hear more. Thanks!

There are some really good and relatively inexpensive choices out there. My preference is for the VPI Scout/Scoutmaster but regardless of which table you choose the KEY issue is proper isolation. Any competent table will sound fantastic if you are able to remove it from footfalls and resonances introduced by your speakers. Really good tables get better still. I would hesitate before spending a lot of money on a rig if you are unable to mount it to the wall using a Target or similar stand or can utilize some other means of isolating the table. IMHO table sitting on suspended floors (particularly in older homes) cannot be made to sound their best using many of the isolation products out there (Black Diamond Racing, Ginko, etc)--they are merely bandaids that do not adequately address the vibrations your table is subjected to. Basement systems are great in this regard because the table sits on concrete rather than suspended flooring. If you can't isolate then I would lower your expectations about what vinyl can do or simply stick with your excellent digital setup.