turntable madness

Yo KT, my comment about older turntables not traveling well was only to point out that, being the relatively delicate mechanisms that they are, without extreme care in packaging, damage is a high probability. New turntables on the other hand, have been factory packed, and are well protected from the elements (UPS, Fedex). I would'nt hesitate to buy a new one, but I would be very certain that if I were buying an older one, it would be very well packed for shipping.

Revvrun,

I understand that electronices do not like to be shipped in general, especially intricate pieces. But unfortunately I'm not independently wealthy like some of the audiogoners are. I work for a living, quite hard I might add. Also if you read further back in this thread you will notice that I said I am getting a turntable from a friend. If that one doeas not work I will most likely try one of the suggested ( thanks by the way for suggestions ) and I will most likely buy a used one. If I can get it locally I will buy if not I will buy off the net.

But still I don't see the difference between having a new talbe shipped to me. Or having a used table ( in the original box ) shipped to me. But thanks agin for your concern :)

BTW, there is a well known turntalbe expert in my city, who I'm sure could properly tweak my table if needed. Now if he would just start selling used ones I would be happy.

Hey man,

I side with the school that says that phono stage is more important than TT. If you start with a free Technics, fine. Get something like an Ortofon Concorde, change the interconnects, get a bottle of Pro Gold and follow DeKay's recipe of two Rat Shack battery phono preamps. Get the prtotractor from www.turntablebasics.com ($20). Make a good DIY base and record mat (www.tnt-audio.com) and you'll be set. Watch for VTA.

Regards,

The Psychic

Psychicanimal,

Good suggestions, I have actually been looking into the RAT Shack pre. It runs on a 9v battery? It must run deathly silent. Is there anyone out there who knows how long the battery lasts? I have also considered the phono pre by Parasound that sells for about $199, I have read good things about it as well.

No matter what I do, I'll be sure to post the results......

Kt, I helped pay for college working at audio stores--I know how to make things work right w/in a tight budget...run a search on Radio Shack, or email DeKay. He's got SET amps and is successfully using two Rats. People in the Asylum say it beats everything under $200. It will be good for you to play around with these things. You'll learn how to "mod and tweak" a TT. You'll learn a lot and save a lot, too....

I have a Monolithic phono stage. It's dual mono and has an optional dual mono power supply which I plan to get. My demo unit was $300. If I were you I would wait. Right now I'm using a little ONEAC 2 amp isolation transformer ($15 @ eBay) for my Monolithic. The transformer is plugged to my Tice A/V Solo conditioner, so the electricity being fed to the Monolithic is filtered twice *and* isolated via the ONEAC's virtual ground feature. Talk about good results on a budget...