Speaking of which, any suggestions for the budget minded audiophile?
Used Rega P3s and AR (Acoustic Research) ES-1s (Also called the late model AR Turntable) are both good ones for low price. The Rega is fixed plinth, the AR is spring suspended. Shure carts work well on both; Grados do not.
Most receivers/integrateds don't have phono stages these days. Receivers that do don't tend to have enough gain for MC carts, just MM, and tend to be weak and noisy. You would do well to get a seperate phono stage. In fact, if you're handy with a soldering iron, you could even make your own Bottlehead tube stage at low cost.
