How Much To Rival Good Digital Playback

Well, I think that Elizabeth is a little too optimistic. I'd say $1000.00 for the analog front end plus,say,$350 for the phono stage,plus $150-$250 for the cable.I meant new. In many ways it will sound better than almost any digital. But it will be noisier and won't get you bass just as deep though bass will sound more natural. To get very quiet playback with great bass you would have to spend more,perhaps much more. Don't expect to pay $1.00 for each record. If you wish the first pressings and Japanese or German or British LPs in NM condition,prepare to pay $10-$100 for each. Original American jazz releases from 50s and sometimes 60s are usually very expensive as well. Classical music records vary wildly in cost: from $.50 to hundreds.Also,if you cannot see the records before buying, be ready to waist a few hundred dollars. So, the picture is not that bright, but not that bad either.

Inna, your comments apply to belt drive only. Spending 1K on a KAB modded 1200 will get you awesome bass. Got to hear it to believe it...

Psychicanimal, the 1200 will only get you awesome mid-bass, lots of it, will little refinement.

Not my modded creature.

So thats whats going on...duh. Every time I hear a turntable now, doing a sole piano, it sounds out of tune to varying degrees depending on the quality of the table. With a full band playing it of course is not really noticable. At least not with a few drinks.

My ears must have become accustomed to the pitch accuracy of digital such that now I can hear pitch errors that I never noticed in my youth. Same with surface noise, I never paid it much mind way back then but now if the record is not really clean it ruins the enjoyment. Thank goodness for the record-cleaning machines.