[Godthul]

As of right now I have a Sony PS-LX250H turntable and am looking to upgrade.  I am using an old B&O set from the 70s as the output.  Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated   This may be in the wrong place, but there are no other categories that fit well.  
 
Edit:The price range that I was thinking about was below $200.  I recently bought some American Football and Sigur Ros albums, and also have a lot of albums from the 70s as well.  (Kansas, Molly Hatchet, etc.)  I am pretty new to vinyl, and not totally sure what I am looking for when it comes to turntables.  I didn't know that there were major differences between models/years.  Soundstage is pretty important though.  Thanks

 

[MohawkUS]

I'm a bit new to vinyl, but from what I've seen you're better off going for a vintage table. Can you give us a budget, and musical preferences? Do you have a preference for drive system of the table? Generally direct drive/idler tables have more weight and speed to the sound, while belts are more detailed with better soundstaging. If you're going vintage stick to tables made between 1970-1982 , around 83' the quality of receivers and turntables dropped. Generally plastic is the sign of a newer/poorer table but not always.

I started out with a Dual 1209 after being recommended Dual tables on a vinyl forum, not a beginner table at all, a lot of these Duals require maintenance and repair and I have no idea what I'm doing.

if you want a modern table, start in the $500 range, bellow that you're really better off with a vintage table. Popular brands are Pro-ject and Rega.

 

[Godthul]

I was thinking something below $200.  I am also new to vinyl.  How exactly does the drive type change the soundstage?  I thought that was pretty much determined by the headphones.  I have a bunch of older vinyl albums from the 70s, but also bought some more recent vinyl, like American Football, Owen, Muse, Neutral Milk Hotel, etc.  Thanks for your input  

 

[El_Doug]

Typically a direct drive is noisier, but more reliable - has almost nothing to do with soundstage
 
Quote:

I was thinking something below $200.  I am also new to vinyl.  How exactly does the drive type change the soundstage?  I thought that was pretty much determined by the headphones.  I have a bunch of older vinyl albums from the 70s, but also bought some more recent vinyl, like American Football, Owen, Muse, Neutral Milk Hotel, etc.  Thanks for your input  

 

 

[Godthul]

Ah ok.  Are there a lot of maintenance issues when it comes to turntables?  I have not really had to do anything to my Sony one, but I have not really used it much.

 

[Acix]

I love the Technics 1200.

 

[nikongod]

 
Quote:

I love the Technics 1200.

If you cant find an SP-10 or 15, This ^^. 

 

[Posam]

Quote:

 

If you cant find an SP-10 or 15, This ^^. 

Last time I was at my Grandpas house he had what looks exactly like the technics 1200. Are they actually really good and are they newer because I know its been sitting in his living room for a while. 

 

[nikongod]

The 1200 is VERY under rated, and gets a seriously un-deserved bad rap for being popular with DJs.
 
Technics made LOTS of very high quality TTs back in the day. Id for sure see what it is and if you can fit it into your system. 
The 1200 was the last Technics TT still in production (thanks to the DJ community) but other Technics decks were really nice too. Its not worth calling them out by name because there were too many and at the same time they seldom come around used. Read up on Vinylengine if you find the model numbers.
 
Id look for:
Japanese direct drive TT. 
NO automatic anything except speed control. No auto start, no auto arm movements, none of that. Manual all the way. 
Avoid modern knock-offs of the 1200 at all costs. 
 
Food for thought:
Every record you will ever listen to was cut on a direct drive lathe. 
When vinyl was the only option (aside from 1/2" tape which makes records look cheap) direct drive TTs consistently COST more than belt drive. Direct drive requires more R&D, requires more complicated dedicated parts to build, and is generally harder to do. Sometimes it just takes more effort and costs more to do it right. The people who could afford to upgrade to a direct drive TT did. Radio and recording studios used direct drive or idler drive. 

 

[Godthul]

Thanks.  I will look into Technics.

 

[Ingo]

The 1200 is VERY under rated, and gets a seriously un-deserved bad rap for being popular with DJs.

Technics made LOTS of very high quality TTs back in the day. Id for sure see what it is and if you can fit it into your system. 
The 1200 was the last Technics TT still in production (thanks to the DJ community) but other Technics decks were really nice too. Its not worth calling them out by name because there were too many and at the same time they seldom come around used. Read up on Vinylengine if you find the model numbers.

Id look for:
Japanese direct drive TT. 
NO automatic anything except speed control. No auto start, no auto arm movements, none of that. Manual all the way. 
Avoid modern knock-offs of the 1200 at all costs. 

Food for thought:
Every record you will ever listen to was cut on a direct drive lathe. 
When vinyl was the only option (aside from 1/2" tape which makes records look cheap) direct drive TTs consistently COST more than belt drive. Direct drive requires more R&D, requires more complicated dedicated parts to build, and is generally harder to do. Sometimes it just takes more effort and costs more to do it right. The people who could afford to upgrade to a direct drive TT did. Radio and recording studios used direct drive or idler drive. 

I would not limit the search to only manual Japanese direct drives. There are very good auto and semi-auto tables to be had for next to nothing. I have a Technics SL-1210 that now gathers dust because I like my JVC JL-F50 much better.It is not a matter of the JVC SOUNDING BETTER, IT'S A MATTER OF IT SOUNDING JUST AS GOOD WITH THE ADDED CONVENIENCE OF MY GIRLFRIEND BEING ABLE TO JUST PUSH PLAY when she wants to play a record and not risk damaging my $200 stylus.