Turntable help

glenwcar

Taking the HiFi Road
I am new to this game and in the process of puchasing a "vintage" receiver/amp/integrated. My next step will be to replace the gemini turntable that I have. What is the best bang/quality for the buck?
I gave away a Pioneer PL-550 about 16 years ago, along with all my vinyl, (I sold that)(Iknow,Iknow).
So to you that know, What should I be looking for? Tables, cartidges et all.
Thanks for helping this (recovering) old fool.
 
Welcome to Ak Glen.

Can you give us an idea of how much you are looking to spend? Are you looking just for turntable and cartridge suggestions or also the other stuff as well? Once you give a little more info, you should get alot of suggestions.
 
Hi Glen, I'm going to assume you're wishing to also stay vintage with the turntable, yet want something that will offer great sound, and also be a very attractive turntable, hopefully making you forget about the sad loss of the Pioneer table years ago.

Yes, there were many very nice Pioneers over the years, as well as many nice Technics Tables, and many of these can be gotten for virtually peanuts.

My buddy seems to pick up lots of these nice Technics at yard/garage sales in florida.

I just earlier mentioned Denon Tables in another thread, and Denon made some real beauties years ago.
I own a beautiful Denon DP-2550 as a spare table, and some of the nice models of Denon I've always liked, and admired, were the DP-2000, the DP-2500, DP-2550, DP-59L, and especially, one of my all time vintage favs, the Denon DP-60L.

The DP-60L doesn't pop up on ebay quite that often, but I have seen a few mint examples over the last couple of years, even though I don't search ebay that often for them.

The DP-60L came from the Factory with two Tonearm Wands, a Straight Wand-Arm, with offset Headshell,and an S-Shaped Wand-Arm with Straight headshell. One could then easily fit different Cartridges on both arms, and do a swap in a matter of seconds, only needing to reset vertical tracking force, and anti-skate.

Team a Turntable such as this with a mint Shure V-15 Type III, and I think you'll be a very proud, and happy "Vintage" man. Mark
 
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Well, you could try to at least partially correct that mistake you made 16 years ago :D

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-70-S-PI...ryZ48649QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

You just have to make sure he knows how to pack it, i.e. remove platter and counterweight, secure tonearm, plenty of insulation and/or double boxing, etc, etc.

I have one and still think with a Shure M97xE or AT440MLa it'd be dynamite and that you'd have to pay big bucks to exceed it sonically. Just my 2 cents.
 
You could get a PL-550 again... :)

I have a 550 and a 570 and it would take 4 figures to beat either one, new...IMO.

The 550 is sporting a Grado Black and the virtually identical, but auto vs. manual 570 has an AT 440ML on it. Both sing. :)
 
My first "Real Turntable" was a brand new fully manual Pioneer PL-51 back in '74, fitting with a then new Shure V-15 Type III, and I also had a new Audio Technica AT14-S for my Quad LP Collection.

I got many good years of great sonics with that Direct Drive Table-Cartridge Combo, and I in fact still have that Shure Cartridge, plus another.

About the only downside-deficiency I could complain about on the PL-51 Table was the lack of a built-in Strobe Light, although it did have the Platter Strobe Markings, you had to use a small little Neon Lamp to accurately set speed.

As you know, the Shure V-15 series is long gone off the shelves, and decent ones seem to be climbing in price every day. Although the V-15 II and III were some of the best tracking Cartridges of all time, for what one would pay for a mint example nowadays, one could probably do near as well with a new Shure M-97 for about $65-$70, or an Audio Technica. Some of the Grado's are decent, but I've heard too many stories about many of these Cartridges picking up hum on certain Turntables.

Getting back to a Table like the Denon DP-60L: A mint exacmple will probably cost in the area of $450-$500, but IMO, this is a table (If it is in mint condition) is well worth the money spent. (New cost was $800 about roughly 22-23 years ago) A really drop dead gorgeous piece of equipment, and a quite heavy, solid Table. I did see one on Ebay last night that claims to be very clean, no scratches, etc. Mark
 
This is not to lessen Mark's recommendation of the Denons like the 59L, 60L, 62L or similar--I doubt you could go wrong with any of those. Just be aware of the fact that the headshells are not removable for the straight arms, a plus for sonics, but a drawback if you like to swap out carts a lot. The entire arm pipe is removable, but extras are difficult, if not impossible to find. On the other hand if you can pick up one that has the S-arm included, then you have the replaceable headshell option.
 
Check out vintage Duals, 1000 and 1200 series. Vintage looks, weight and a lack of plastic. Slap a new Shure 97 on it and enjoy.
 
I would like to suggest that if you decide to purchase a table from "that auction place" be certain that the seller really knows how to pack a table for shipping.

Oh as far as table recommends - I like what has been posted above, but I would also put Thorens on my short list :)

...and welcome to AK!
 
Wow

Thanks to all for your time.
I at least have some starting points for my search.
(I will be the guy at the flea market with the AK posts hanging out of every pocket).
Your responses have me ready to ask a whole slew of new questions regarding cartidges, stylii etc. Have to find the table first.
 
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