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Speakers and Turntables

post #1 of 8
5/5/11 at 9:14pm
Thread Starter 

Hey guys, so I've recently gotten interested in buying a turntable and some decent speakers in attempt to start a vinyl collection. I'd love to experience a new sound of music and all that jazz. Trouble is, I don't really know where to start. I would like to stay in the 200 dollar range for both speakers and turntable. What kind of speakers should I look at? What about turntables? Appreciate any help

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post #2 of 8
5/5/11 at 9:57pm
$200 won't get you a good new turntable. However, there are a lot of good vintage ones in that price range. Look around the source component forum and you'll find a thread discussing them.

Would you consider building your own speakers? It's not that difficult and something like Voight Pipes would give you great sound.
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post #3 of 8
5/5/11 at 11:35pm

Check out offerings from Rega and Pro-Ject. They have a couple turntables in this price range that are supposed to be pretty good.

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post #4 of 8
5/6/11 at 7:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post

$200 won't get you a good new turntable. However, there are a lot of good vintage ones in that price range. Look around the source component forum and you'll find a thread discussing them.

Would you consider building your own speakers? It's not that difficult and something like Voight Pipes would give you great sound.


Erik, im also considering a turntable. What do you think would be a fair price for a vintage turntable? Any recommendations? Thanks 

 


Edited by cifani090 - 5/6/11 at 3:48pm
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post #5 of 8
5/6/11 at 7:51am
That would entirely depend on the turntable. Watch out for Sony PS-X5, X6, and X7, as well as some 70s era Technics and Denon turntables.

If you find one for less than $100, a good choice would be putting the next $100 in a decent cartridge. (Shure, Grado, and Ortofon all have good sub $100 cartridges.)
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post #6 of 8
5/7/11 at 10:38pm
Thread Starter 

Well I am just interested in starting to buy some records and having some nice speakers and a decent turntable that i can use. Im looking at newegg for home audio speakers and i found http://www.amazon.com/Technica-AT-LP60-Automatic-Driven-Turntable/dp/B002GYTPAE. What is all this complex stuff like cartridges? Is it impossible to not just buy the two things and some vinyl and listen? Also I was checking out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290202. Overall, what do I need to start this project? Will these items work? Thanks

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post #7 of 8
5/7/11 at 11:12pm
Thread Starter 

How do the connectors of speakers like polk audio work? Do you need a receiver or something? What does a receiver do? And is there some way of converting the connection into that of an RCA or 3.5 mm cable?

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post #8 of 8
5/8/11 at 1:52am
Those are passive speakers, so yes, they would need some sort of amplifier, such as a receiver.

That turntable has a built in phono stage and cartridge, which is technically all you need, however, I would not expect the audio quality to be fantastic. It would certainly work, for the basics.
Vinyl isn't as simple as digital. The turntable, cartridge, and phono stage are all separate components required for a system to bring vinyl to line level, and then it must be amplified (or fed into a pair of active speakers.) Those terminals on the Polk speakers cannot be "converted" to RCA, because RCA cables are meant to carry a channel of audio, whereas each speakers has terminals for the positive and negative poles to be amplified.

Keep an eye out in thrift stores and on Craigslist for old turntables and receivers from around the 70s, mostly from Japanese companies like Marantz, Sony, Sansui, Pioneer, and Fisher. Just remember if it feels like it's quality, it probably is, you want to check the weight (more is usually better) and the overall build quality of the piece. If you're lucky you can get both a turntable and a receiver (hopefully with a usable cartridge) for under $100, and then you just need to add speakers (most receivers have phono-level inputs, eliminating the need for a preamp).
Edited by revolink24 - 5/8/11 at 2:00am
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