Re: zeppelin-digest V12 #5282

[stevethomson@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

This is actually very good advice as well. Speaking of direct drive, if you can 
find one at a reasonable price and in good shape, the Technics SL-1200 is a 
tremendous choice. Although it's famous as a DJ turntable, is was originally 
designed to be an audiophile turntable. It's just that DJs adopted it as THE 
turntable for that application and so a lot of audiophiles started turning up 
their noses and branding it as unacceptable for "respectable" audiophiles. 
However, it's build like a tank, has a whole aftermarket full of spare parts 
that will be around for years to come due to the DJ popularity of the 
turntable, and it can sound pretty darn good. In fact, as Scott has suggested, 
there are several direct-drive turntables that offer excellent performance and 
aren't nearly as expensive as the SL-1200 (a good one will typically run you 
$400-$500 on the used market). Just do some research around for specific models 
before buying. There's an excellent article at 
http://www.turntabletech.com/used.htm on buying a used SL-1200, that for most 
steps would apply to buying any used turntable.

I suggest you check out the forums at www.vinylengine.com, wwwaudiokarma.org 
(Turntables sub-forum), and www.audioasylum.com (vinyl sub-forum), as these are 
full of excellent info from people with specific turntable models. 

Other options for buying new might be the Audio-Technica AT-PL120. It's often 
looked down on as a cheap plastic clone of the SL-1200, but in fact, it's not a 
bad turntable at all, especially for the ~$200 price tag, which includes a 
cartridge. Older versions of it came packaged with an AT-ATP2 DJ cartridge, but 
newer ones come with am AT-95e cartridge (green body on it), which is quite 
decent as a cartridge (used to be be shipped as the standard cartridge for the 
Project Xpression turntable). Another "plug and play" turntable choice that's 
not bad per se is the Denon DP-300F.

Anyway, like I said, do some research and you'll soon be enjoying vinyl. It can 
be an addictive hobby. Just remember, it's not as convenient as CDs, MP3s, etc. 
I find that the extra work, etc., gets you closer to the music somehow. You 
start to hear and appreciate things you'd forgotten (especially in the case of 
Led Zeppelin as Jimmy was a master of layering so many details and subtleties 
in the mix that years later, they still creep up and surprise you. I've been a 
LZ fanatic now since 1976 or so and I still occasionally discover stuff I 
didn't hear before, or else stuff I'd forgotten was there.

Enjoy!

On 7/8/13, scott hutchinson <wearingandtearing@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> As an alternative there are many nice used Japaneese 1970's era Direct Drive 
> Tables out there that might provide better preformance for less such as Sony 
> PS-X75,Sony PS-X7,Sony PS-X70,Pioneer PL-630,PL-570.PL-560,Marantz 
> 6300,Sansui 838,929,
> and many others including Technics/JVC to name a few.Buy one these for 
> $75-500 and put the rest into a nice phono pre-amp such as Musical Fidelity 
> VLPS or Cambridge Audio 651 ect...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 07:27:22 +1000
> From: "BGW" <barnoo@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Off topic: Turntables
> 
> Hi all
> I know that this is off topic and I could easily do my google search for 
> reviews, however, I have a ready bank of people on the ground here who I 
> trust more than reviews.
> 
> I am going to venture back into vinyl as I was faced with either throwing out 
> my thousands of vinyl albums or getting another turntable. Just too much 
> stuff and memories to throw them out.
> 
> So not knowing turntables as I once did I was thinking about an entry level 
> deck like the Rega Planar RP1. In Oz it retails for about $495 but one mob is 
> doing an 'upgrade' kit that seems to have garnered some good reviews (I did 
> do some research). Here is the package: 
> http://www.stereophonic.com.au/products/Rega-RP1-Performance-Pack-Turntable.html
>  All in all it looks good, and a reputable and long standing brand. Still 
> made in the UK. This thing will marry up with a high end Arcam amp and some 
> JBL reference monitors.
> 
> So I'd be appreciative of any advice that people can offer. I don't want to 
> get technical too much. I just want a good entry level deck that will revive 
> the 70s for me!
> 
> Sorry for going off topic but this may be of interest to others as well.
> 
> Thanks
> Brad
> 
> 
> 
> 
>