Cuthbert

I will likely purchase one very soon, can anyone tell me what I should be looking for?

It is to play vinyl in the lounge for entertainment purposes if that helps.

Pioneer PL-990 Turntable - Black: Amazon.co.uk: TV

I have been considering that one, any good?

Also if anyone can answer, what is the best way to clean vinyl?

Paul Smeenus

IF you're looking to DJ a Technics direct drive turntable will work best. If you want the best sound quality for personal use, entry level belt driven audiophile tables such as those by Music Hall, Rotel and NAD would sound a lot better. In the application you're looking for, I'd probably look at a technics with s good phono cartridge.


Most cheap cleaners suck ass TBH, but I'd imagine that's what you'll probably get, probably the Audioquest carbon fiber record brush. I dropped $200 on my record cleaner and it is one of the best investments I've ever made.

Record Doctor - V - Record Cleaning Machine-Audio Advisor

I can't begin to describe how this device made the record sound eight hunfred times better. I don't have time right now but later on I'll upload a record I transferred to digital from a friend of mine that literally rescued his records from a flooded basement

__________________
Gentle Giant Catalog Review

The entire Ditty Bops catalog reviewed

GuitarBizarre

I'd say that for Vinyl in your situation, avoid technics - the 1210 has never been a particularly compelling alternative to a good belt drive turntable in the home, and with their discontinuation by Panasonic (Matsushita, Panasonic's parent company, owns and runs Technics), prices for a 1210 of any vintage, have absolutely skyrocketed.

The two most common turntables I see recommended, are the Rega Planar 3, or the Project RPM1.3 Genie. I own the Genie myself and honestly I'd suspect it's difficult if not impossible to do better for the price. It's an MDF, formed plinth, which is self damping and has only 3 feet to prevent rocking, and it comes in 2 variants - the one with the OM3E cartridge, which sets the pricing here in the UK, and a variant with the much superior Ortofon 2M Red cartridge, a £40 upgrade over the OM3e with no change in price.

It's above your budget, but consider saving for one. It can and will beat seven shades of **** out of the pioneer you linked (Which is a common but honestly flawed budget model - functional but not hi-fi).


Alternatively, Rega Planar 3's have a great used market - try and find a bargain.

__________________

GuitarBizarre

I should also say - cursory googling indicates the price of the Pro-Ject Genie has gone up a LOT since I bought mine - I paid just under 200 english, (189) they're significantly more than that on Amazon and I suspect that price isn't reflective of how much you can actually buy them for. Try and scout around dealer's prices and try to haggle them down. Maybe even look secondhand.

__________________

Paul Smeenus

I own a Rega P25 and I love it. I wouldn't wanna try dj'ing with it tho.

The $300 ballpark turntables by Music Hall, Rotel and NAD use Rega motors and tonearms, on a less isolating plinth (just MDF) and without the glass platter. Of course they're not as good as the Planars but it's a damn good approximation for significantly less, I had the NAD version before I got the P25

__________________
Gentle Giant Catalog Review

The entire Ditty Bops catalog reviewed

Cuthbert

Cheers for the response Smeenus.

It is literally just to listen to my record collection on, I have no interest in DJing.

A lot of those words are like a foreign language to me. I'm currently using a piece of shit, so pretty much anything would be a step up.

Is the turntable I posted any good or should I avoid it?

Just looked for what you mentioned:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PROJECT-DEBU...hall+turntable

250 is too much for me imo. It doesn't have to be the dog's bollocks, just half decent like. I'll post a picture tomorrow of what I currently use. It really is shit.

I wasn't even thinking of buying anything :d, thinking more along the lines of giving it a wipe with some wet tissue. Bad idea?

Some of my records sound slightly out of tune in places but they are 40+ years old given to me by my parents, will cleaning them fix them or is that a problem with the turntable?

Cheers mate.

I can afford it easily on it's own, but the problem is once I've got the turntable I'm gonna need some speakers, then an amp and so on... So it's gonna be expensive obviously. It's not really a necessity. That one you posted looks **** hot though.

I will have a look on Head-Fi at some point too.

I love bargains . Will have a browse over the weekend for this.

Is it safe to buy second hand for a turntable?

Paul Smeenus

Fluffy, that turntable blows monkey chunks. Try finding one of the tables I mentioned used. And remember to have a decent phono cartridge.

Does your stereo have a phono input? Auxiliary or tape or ANY input not marked "phono" won't work. If not you'll need a decent phono preamp. Low end would be about $100

__________________
Gentle Giant Catalog Review

The entire Ditty Bops catalog reviewed

Paul Smeenus

As far as cleaning your records without buying something, try this

Cleaning Vinyl Records

__________________
Gentle Giant Catalog Review

The entire Ditty Bops catalog reviewed