thinking about buying a turntable

[aragorn723]

I just heard Billy Joel's "Piano Man" on my dad's Rega P2 turntable and onkyo.  Holy crap!  That was some of the nicest sound i've heard in a long time.

Dave

[aragorn723]

Has anyone had experience with the Pro-ject Essential II turntable?  The price looks pretty good,and it uses an Ortofon cartridge.  The only downside is that I can't find a local dealer that sells them so I can listen to it.  How does this look for an entry-level turntable?  Thanks,

Dave

[aragorn723]

Hi,

Are there any other turntables that are similarly priced to the uturn audio ones that will give it a run for the $$?  The uturn i'm looking at is the basic turntable with a Grado black1 cartridge (~$230).  The project debut carbon and regas seem to be popular too, but are at a much higher price point than this.  Are there any other turntables worth looking at in this price range?

Dave

[mkane]

  New, probably not. Used, an AR XA in good running order.

[Wanderer]

If you are concerned about the work that might be needed in buying used, I'd consider this option.

https://www.kabusa.com/slbd20.htm

[aragorn723]

Just got my 70' s Sony Integrated back up and running.  It had dirty controls, but now is ready to play some vinyl!  The phono section has an input sensitivity of 2nd, does that mean my phono cart can't exceed that?

Dave

[Chris65]

Guess you mean 2mV. Simple answer, yes your cartridge output can exceed that & will if MM. Google 'amplifier input sensitivity' lots of info out there.

[aragorn723]

Yep 2mv, darn autocorrect :-p. I'm looking at carts now, either the Ortofon OM5E (4mv) or Grado Black (5mv).  I'm leaning towards the Grado b/c of the higher output and I'm a fan of their headphones.  Anyone have experience with these? 

Dave

[bernieclub]

My two cents...the output difference is insignificant unless you're right at the edge.    Much more important is matching the cartridge to your arm.   Critical.
Bernie

[aragorn723]

The turntable I'm looking at is the uturn audio.  Both carts cone as options so they should be compatible with the turntable.  I'm curious about the sinus of both carts, anyone have experience with them?

Dave

[aragorn723]

Hello,

I am thinking about getting a reduction, and using it with a uturn audio turntable and Grado black cartridge.  Has anyone compared the resolution of the reduction to other commercial pre-built units?  It is a little bit more on the expensive end for me, and was wondering whether people think it's worth the money or not.  Most likely I would eventually get the integration upgrade, but run it stock.  Any thoughts?

Dave

[Karl5150]

Dave, the Reduction was my first BH kit. It had plenty of gain for a 20W PP but the Integration became a necessity when I moved to a SET amp with 94dB speakers. While I've never used a non-BH tube phono, I found that the only times I used my SS phono, even with its +10dB, was when the Reduction was on the bench for upgraded caps, etc. It let me hear turntable upgrades easily, even with my old, abused (AC/DC, 6th row at the Long Beach Arena, etc.) ears. And, of course it's made to feed the BH amps. I'd still be loving it if Doc hadn't put the Eros on sale right when I was jonesing for the smell of solder flux.
Karl

[aragorn723]

Karl,

Thanks for the feedback.  Which caps did you upgrade?  I think it would be enough gain for my system now (got a 170 w per channel amp now) but I might go to something like a seduction with 91db speakers.  Would a Seduction be loud enough in that system?

Dave

[Doc B.]

Dave, you might want to talk to Shannon Parks about your vinyl playback setup. He makes a nice phono preamp called the Parks Audio Budgie, and he runs the diytube forum.

[aragorn723]

The budgie looks really nice, and is all tube (i'm assuming the reduction is the same) and class A.  Unfortunately it is going the wrong direction of the budget for me.  I was looking at phono preamps since my sony integrated from the 70s' wasn't working (tracked itt down to a dirty source selector button which works perfect now after a good cleaning).  It will definitely play records (going to feed the signal into my quickie thru a tape loop) but won't be the final solution as it probably won't give the best quality sound.  Plus it's 44 years old now, so it may quit on me at some point.  Looking to get some ideas of what phono preamp to use, as the wife gave me the go ahead to get a turntable.  In any case, I have some time to save up for a phono preamp (if the sony holds up).  I tend to look for something to build myself and customize, rather than buy something off the shelf.  Plus if something goes wrong, the voltmeter comes out, and you can figure out the problem.

Dave