Turntable Recommendation for Beginner

The Zesto has gotten wonderful reviews. I firmly believe that to get what vinyl really has to offer, you have to go to a certain threshold. Admittedly, I have not heard the recent small VPI or any number of others that are in the 2-3000 dollar ballpark. But, as you note, Moonguy, the phono stage is also important. I'd rather see somebody look for a used higher quality phono stage than buy a budget one, just to get in the door. At the price of the Zesto (and also, I gather the Fosgate has gotten a good reception, although i haven't heard it either), the price of entry for a very high quality phono stage is, if not cheap, more accessible.

I've got a used HW-19 III with a Premier FT3 that would be a nice table for a first timer. I was using it with an OC9ml (1) with good results. Always performed well.

I can tell you I just started getting into it and I'm pretty happy with my sota sapphire, and grado reference sonata. The table is easy to set up, and the cartridge is good out of the box and gets better with break in. If you go with the dl103 or most low output cartridges you need to keep in mind that they NEED their breakin time. The dl103 will need a Stepup device in addition to whatever preamp you go with (unless you get a klyne or something with a head amp built in). Moving iron and moving magnets go right into the preamp with no stepup device. They are completely different sounds in my experience. Most would likely go with the dl103, for the money it is hard if not impossible to beat. The vpi hw19 mk3 (with the armboard) is another great table though a little harder to find. I've heard nothing but great things about well tempered as well. Generally you will get close to what you spent when you sell the table and arm and preamp if you buy used and barring accidents. So look at those as investments.

Regards,
Bill

The Grados were always wonderful. It was a go-to cartridge for me when i used
an ARC SP-10 preamp. While that preamp had a wonderfully juicy phono stage,
it was quite noisy, and didn't like low output cartridges. I still have a couple of
old Grado Signatures sitting in a box, must be 20+ years old. I think
Soundsmith may also be doing something in this vein, I'd have to check. Step-
ups will add additional expense although I think some of these newer stages
have enough gain to run a low output cartridge.
PS just quickly looked- seems the Zesto has built in step ups?

I strongly 2nd the Denon DP-47 and 103 recommendation. The Denon tables of that vintage were incredibly well-built and are very good turntables all-around. And they are very easy to setup and use. They also *look* very good, very solid bases and smooth, elegant controls and switches.

The Denon 103 cartridge is one of the most popular in the world. You'll need a step-up transformer because of its low output, but there are plenty of those around for $200-300.

A setup like this will serve you well for many years and you can probably put it all together for less than $800.

-RW-