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Decent Turntable for £100? Is this possible?

Moppit

Moppit

pfm Member
OK folks, a ladyfriend of ours wants to buy her hubby a turntable BUT sadly ONLY wants to spend £100. My dear wife pointed out that I was a bit of a hifi nerd(misguided!) so thought I could sort things out for her(?)
I've tried the "oh, you can't get anything for £100, BUT Richer Sounds do the ProJect Elemental for £159.." and have been promptly made aware it's too far overbudget...! An extra £20 or so ok but £60 too much... HELP!
Is this a thankless task? Are the vintage Dual CS505's, Sansui SR222's etc. on Ebay a load of overpriced junk/high risk. I know you all have fond memories from your early Vinyl years but surely they are now outclassed by the circa £100 Sony/Denon/Pioneer brand new items? Am I being a hifi snob?

I think he has a vintage kenwood receiver and a pair of wharfedale diamonds. I assume the Kenwood has a phono input as he is currently using a £16 Ebay turntable on it (some random lump of plastic).
Sorry I've been stitched up here so thought I would share the pain and see if you lot could find some way to minimise his inevitable birthday disappointment...suggestions please..what would you do?
 
Pioneer pl12D ? they usually go round the fifty pound mark.Got one for my daughter last year.Put a cheap Audio tech cart. on it sounded pretty good to me for the money.

regards.
 
That is a tight budget! The ones you mention (Dual, Sansui) are almost certainly in a different league to the modern cheapos and are probably the way to go IMHO.
 
I used to have a Technics direct drive. DL30, DL33? I think. I was fine. The Linn Axis I have now was a big step up, but the sound was perfectly usable.

Maybe one of the Project entry level decks second hand?
 
No its not really possible new.

Unless they have a student baked beans budget (which I doubt), it should be no trouble to pay for a Rega RP1 or the Edwards Audio versions. Rega RP1 would be my starting point on a limited budget. Brand new and ready to go.

You could go onto the used market but you will still have a job. Anything cheaper will have cosmetic and age issues. You really must know what you are doing with cheaper used turntables. I do it as buy, sell, dabble hobby. Ive put in a lot of work to service and get them right.

I dont recommend that to someone just wanting a decent turntable to get going with.
 
Japanese direct drive could be a safe bet - they're generally hardwearing and easy to set up. I've bought DD decks for 20 quid that have been perfectly respectable.

A decent DD with a new budget cartridge will be a massive upgrade on what he has now.
 
Thorens TD150 is my choice under £100. Murders a Rega 2 or 3. Sony or JVC direct drives are cheaper still but I don't know these models and they tend to look a bit cheap and plasticy. Sound good though. A mate has one, or had, if he hasn't sold it, it was £30. He travels between N Lincs and Gt Yarmouth every week, if you are interested.
 
P2 is certainly plug and play and there is less to go wrong. I like them, owned one and 2 P3s, one of which had a Linn Basik on it and wasn't spectacular. The RB250 and 300 arms are great. If you can get a P2 for £100 then grab it.
 
stevec67 said:
Thorens TD150 is my choice under £100. Murders a Rega 2 or 3. Sony or JVC direct drives are cheaper still but I don't know these models and they tend to look a bit cheap and plasticy. Sound good though. A mate has one, or had, if he hasn't sold it, it was £30. He travels between N Lincs and Gt Yarmouth every week, if you are interested.
Click to expand...

The only reason I missed this out is that the budget doesn't allow for a decent arm and cart to go with it... but on second thoughts even the standard arm and an AT95E would be great for the price.. so yeah +1
 
I reckon the std arm on the '150 is pretty good. Most come with a working Shure 95, better if you are lucky. I got one with an Ortofon LOMC for £30 a few years ago. Still got the cart, it's an OM10 (iirc) with a really low output.
 
Thanks for the input Guys,
My thoughts on the good points raised...

PL12D - finding a clean one a challenge! Can I get spares?

Been looking at Sansui's and Duals but most going for silly money - way overpriced - clearly Vinyl is back in fashion.

Project entry level - sounds doable! £100 for a decent one?

Technics now on the list - still cheap on ebay

He does not have many LP's yet but is hoovering up loads from Charity shops and buying the odd new one - looks like he has got the bug so need to nuture his interest. I think this will be an interim purchase

Cash converters - I think the bargains are no longer on Ebay so not a bad suggestion.

Minstrel - sound advice noted...

Paulfromcamden - do you have any suggestions?

Steve c - a Thorens TD150 would be bang on in my view - looks better than pro-jects etc but some go for silly money too? A £30 deck probably not much better than what he has got (I find out what it is this weekend)

Planar 2 for £100? Not found any for less than £150

Overall I too thought there would be some decent choice but the difference between a new project and second hand decent kit (RP2/project/TD150) is marginal - the market for 2nd hand has gone mad on ebay...

Maybe gumtree the answer...

Thanks to all for your input
 
Always worth looking on gum tree, I picked up an immaculate linn basik/akito/ortofon 510 on there for £90 a couple of years back when putting a linn system together for a friend with a shoestring budget! A new belt was fitted and the oil changed in the main bearing and it was good to go, it's still in regular use with the cartridge it came with :).
 
stevec67 said:
Thorens TD150 is my choice under £100. Murders a Rega 2 or 3.
Click to expand...

I would only be careful of how carefully the turntable is to be used and sited and how much the guy knows about setup. If a total novice, I would avoid suspension.
 
The usual Pioneers have been mentioned and get my recommendation too. Other than that have a look out for not so common Direct Drive models by Hitachi, Sansui, Fischer, Telefunken, Technics, Micro Seiki and so on. All very durable. Just do an Ebay search for "direct drive". Spare some cash for a new needle. Lower midfield Audio Technica, Grado, Ortofon, can all be had for 50 quid. Same goes for the DD tables. Voila.
 
Tell her it cannot be done for such a sum unless you get lucky on ebay .

What is the point . My wife wanted a new phone , it would be analogous to me giving her the plastic toy one our 1 year old plays with .

If you dont want to tell her , show her this message ;)
 
There's a Technics SL BD 22 for sale round me for £35 if you want I can check its still there...
 
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