Best record player for the money

[droidspawn]

So duders, I’ve finally started collecting vinyl in earnest for the last 4-5 weeks. I have one of those “all-in-one” vinyl, radio, CD player things from Target I got years ago. I’m obviously looking for something much more high quality now. Any ideas, thoughts, links you could send my way would be greatly appreciated.

[vO)))id]

See if you can get a Denon. Solid record players.
Lenco is also alright.

Depends on your budget.

Do you have a receiver/amp for it with speakers?
There are passive players that will need an amp with phono connections, and there are active ones with a phono amp built-in.

[zim]

i saved this info from storm a few years back, not sure if he still feels the same

hmm, it doesn't seem to have a dedicated phono connection, only av inputs. would i need a preamp or something, not sure if those inputs work the same? i know nothing about turntables.. i will do some research today

my setup is the following:

https://uturnaudio.com/products/orbit-plus-turntable

mine has a grado black 1 cartridge, they had fewer options when i got mine built and that was the best within my price range. haven't looked into the current offerings but i am more than satisfied with the table & hardware, and as an added bonus it's manufactured right here in ein massachusetts.

feeds into this preamp:

https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Ject-Phono-B ... nno+box+mm

it's an extremely no-frills table, it's an entry level audiophile table that emphasizes performance over bells and whistles and it excels at what it does. the only real drawback to me is because it's a belt drive, you have to manually swap the belt to the 45rpm pulley to play 45s, but the overwhelming majority of my collection is 33rpm so i'm fine with it. for what it's worth, the $180 basic version can hang with pro-ject and rega's offerings that start in the $4-500 range; upgrading to the plus with an acrylic platter and elliptical stylus cartridge puts it in the runnings with tables in the $1000 range.

for a more convenience-oriented table, the AT120 is by far the most popular entry-level option:

https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-A ... 002S1CJ2Q/

it's got just about every feature you could ask for in terms of simplifying the listening experience. the trade-off is a subpar preamp built in and direct drive, which certainly aren't dealbreakers, but if you have a nice amp/speakers their flaws will become a lot more apparent (signal cutout during very quiet passages as the pre has some kind of a fixed gating effect built in, motor noise & vibration in the signal due to the direct drive setup).

i obviously have strong preferences on this stuff, but i'll emphasize that even if you go for a lower-cost direct drive option to test the waters, it's still going to be a vast improvement over lower-resolution digital & the quality you get on standard streaming options like spotify or scrapple music.

[vO)))id]

That is some solid advice. Audio Technica's are great too.

[jawn galliano]

still using the exact same setup with no complaints

eventually i would like to upgrade my speakers and amplifier (still using monitor audio bronze 2's which are superb & IMO are the best bang for the buck) but those are very low priority purchases. probably won't bother until i move and that ain't happening anytime in the near future

i've been able to listen to a lot of stuff on the pro-ject debut as well, one of my friends bought one a couple years ago. i think it sounds great, but not enough to justify the additional expense over the uturn

[droidspawn]

Stormy/Tom, thoughts on this one? My local record shop just got it in stock and I’m strongly thinking about picking it up. $199

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-lp3

[jawn galliano]

i wouldn't expect the stock cartridge or built-in preamp to be much to write home about at that price, but you can replace the former and bypass the latter. at that price though it looks great for an entry level table and if you decide to get invested, you will be able to improve performance a lot with those upgrades (if you don't decide to replace it outright).

[Dr. Gonzo]

I got an Audio-Technica - ATLP60XBT and I just set up some 5.0 surround sound computer speakers hooked up to it and it sounds good enough for me.

[jawn galliano]

a big, big upgrade would be getting a cheap power amp and a decent pair of hifi bookshelf speakers

https://audiosource.net/shop/amp100vs/

https://www.monitoraudio.com/en/support ... /bronze-2/

sadly the bronze 2's were recently discontinued and their successor is a step down in quality and a step up in price. if you can find a pair of the 2s at or around retail ($400ish for the pair) they punch way, way above their weight. similar performance to my fellating lover's B&W bookshelfs that cost more than double new.