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Narrowed Down to 3 Options, which turntable would be the best?

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As stated in the title, I’ve finally gotten to what I’m hoping is the end of the hunt for a new turntable, in order to upgrade from my current Audio Technica 1240XP. The 3 options I have right now (all used) are a Pioneer PL-707 (unknown service history atm, however functions have all been checked and confirmed) with an Acutex 412 STR cart, a Denon DP-61F (fully recapped, service performed prior to sale) with a Sumiko Pearl cart, and a Denon DP-57M (Recapped in past 5 years, used sparingly, includes voltage transformer) with a Denon DL-103 MC cart. The Pioneer runs slightly cheaper at about $620 all in, with the 61F clocking in at around $720, and the 57M at about $750. I don’t particularly have a preference for an automatic turntable, although it would be a nice addition to at least have auto lift, and I won’t be able to upgrade the cartridge for another few months or so after saving up more money. Given all this info does anyone know what the best choice would be here? I’m open to other suggestions for a turntable as well, unfortunately everything I’ve found is online since my local area has been pretty dry of turntables in this price range.
Thanks
 
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Bumping this to hopefully get a reply before I purchase (likely tomorrow or Tuesday)
 
I'm not a fan of the Pearl cart after running one a few months.
The Denon 103 MC I like alot, especially when you re-tip it with a higher quality diamond down the road.
I'd be inclined to go for the Denon on that alone, plus it's been recapped.
 
I can't really answer your question - they all look good, solid turntables - but will offer some observations from the arm/cartridge point-of-view that might help.

Don't let the supplied cartridge influence your decision too much, as you can change the cartridge to one that suits your tastes. Also, on a used turntable, you should always be wary of the stylus, unless the seller can quote the number of hours it has done, and it is often wise to replace the stylus. You may find that replacement styli for the Acutex are hard to come by. The Sumiko Pearl looks a fairly modest cartridge for that turntable, so you may want to consider an upgrade there. And the Denon DL-103 doesn't have a replaceable stylus - it is also an MC cartridge of fairly low output, so you'd need an MC phono-stage that is up to the job (has sufficient gain) or use a SUT.

The PL-707 and DP-61F appear to have light straight arms. These arms would be best used with high-compliance cartridges and the choice of those is fairly restricted in the modern market. However, I note that the DP-61F has a feature called Q-damping and I think this allows cartridges with a range of compliances to be used, which is a plus point for the DF-61F. I'm seeing photos of the DP-57M with different arms, both straight and S-shaped. If your example has a light straight arm, the same applies as above, plus bear in mind that the DL-103 is a low-compliance cartridge needing a heavy-ish arm.
 
QuanQuan said:
As stated in the title, I’ve finally gotten to what I’m hoping is the end of the hunt for a new turntable, in order to upgrade from my current Audio Technica 1240XP. The 3 options I have right now (all used) are a Pioneer PL-707 (unknown service history atm, however functions have all been checked and confirmed) with an Acutex 412 STR cart, a Denon DP-61F (fully recapped, service performed prior to sale) with a Sumiko Pearl cart, and a Denon DP-57M (Recapped in past 5 years, used sparingly, includes voltage transformer) with a Denon DL-103 MC cart. The Pioneer runs slightly cheaper at about $620 all in, with the 61F clocking in at around $720, and the 57M at about $750. I don’t particularly have a preference for an automatic turntable, although it would be a nice addition to at least have auto lift, and I won’t be able to upgrade the cartridge for another few months or so after saving up more money. Given all this info does anyone know what the best choice would be here? I’m open to other suggestions for a turntable as well, unfortunately everything I’ve found is online since my local area has been pretty dry of turntables in this price range.
Thanks
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One piece of information missing in your post is how the 1240XP is deficient. What aspects of its operation and/or sound quality are in need of upgrade? What have you read about the three possible replacements that indicates they will address what's wrong with the 1240XP?

In terms of suggestions for other turntables, I always prefer to buy new. One turntable I've heard and like in your price range is the Rega Planar 2 (especially since they changed the tonearm design to include adjustable antiskate). One I haven't heard, but that reviews well, and has end-of-side lift and stop, is the Music Hall Classic.

https://www.soundstageaccess.com/in...-audio-classic-turntable-and-spirit-cartridge

Apart from features, it's hard to tell if you're getting an upgrade without a comparative audition. Another issue is that even if something better exists, and something better always exists, that doesn't mean I have to own it. If a 'table is good enough to keep me excited about spinning records, good enough that I don't want to stop, then do I really need something "better"?

I haven't heard the 1240XP, but I have been pleasantly surprised by its cheaper stablemate, the LP120XUSB. No, in direct comparison it's not as good as my Rega RP3, but after upgrading the cartridge to a Sumiko Oyster, it's good enough to let me enjoy record after record for hours on end, good enough to make it a disappointment when life's other demands bring a listening session to a close.

Perhaps it's because my ears are getting old, but after decades of enjoying higher end turntables from Linn and Well Tempered, the last decade has seen me happy with a "downgrade" to the Rega RP3 (which nonetheless lets me enjoy my records just as much as the more costly 'tables did), and I now find I could be perfectly content with a $279 Audio Technica and the $79 Sumiko Oyster (one constant for quite a while has been the built-in phono stage of my old Audio by Van Alstine OmegaStar PAT-5 preamp, bought used but with warranty directly from AVA, and still sounding great after 16 years).
 
What's wrong with your current turntable?

You might get a bigger upgrade from putting your money into the best cartridge you can afford for the turntable you've already got.
 
patient_ot said:
If it were me and I really wanted a Denon, I would be looking for one without all the fancy damping features and the computer controlled cueing and all that. Those fancy decks can turn into expensive boat anchors when something goes wrong.
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I would agree. Find one with a fully manual arm as it will be the least troublesome. Finding a tech to repair one of those servo arms appears to be quite difficult. Then you would more than likely have shipping costs and a large chunk of time where you have a non working turntable.
 
Aesthetically, these turntables look a lot nicer than the AT-LP1240XP, with lovely polished wood. It could be that the OP wants a turntable that both looks and sounds good - nothing wrong with that. The AT-LP1240XP may look good in a budding DJ's bedroom, but perhaps not in pride of place in an audiophile's lounge. I agree that automatic functions may be asking for trouble, although many automatic turntables can be used on manual.
 
Mister Pig said:
I would agree. Find one with a fully manual arm as it will be the least troublesome. Finding a tech to repair one of those servo arms appears to be quite difficult. Then you would more than likely have shipping costs and a large chunk of time where you have a non working turntable.
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That exactly the reason I passed on many fancy servo arm decks.
 
patient_ot said:
If it were me and I really wanted a Denon, I would be looking for one without all the fancy damping features and the computer controlled cueing and all that. Those fancy decks can turn into expensive boat anchors when something goes wrong.
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So you would opt for a VW Bug over a Cadillac.
 
Thunderbox said:
So you would opt for a VW Bug over a Cadillac.
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Oh I would take a 1950s or 1960s era VW Bug over a Cadillac any day. The Bug is going to be worth about 3 or 4 times as much and is a sought after collectors car. Especially if we are talking a Cadillac Cimarron or one of the 1990/2000 era ones where every electronic gadget breaks in 18 months.
 
Guess I am out on the boat alone. I like those Denon's and have quite a few other tables with all those troublesome features. They have all worked flawlessly to this day, and the one issue I have had with one was speed issues. But the same could be said with my upper line Technics SP10 MkII, had to have it gone thru and they are not cheap to service.

Ok given the choice it would be the 57M. and would hope to get both tone arms, that allows for more cart choices.
 
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One consideration with audio is that quite often we do not know what we don't know. Essentially how can we shop for an upgrade, and in this case an analog package upgrade and be sure you will get what you expect to get for your hard earned money? In the past it was possible to visit audio stores and get some pretty in depth auditions, but that went away in the 1980s and 90s for analog in general. Sure there were and are exceptions, but it is not the norm.

One of the central debates you will have to navigate is which is more important the turntable/arm or cartridge. One school of thought says that all a turntable has to do is spin the record and its really the cartridge that is responsible for the sound quality you get. So you can buy a basic and inexpensive turntable and anything more is a waste of money.

There is an opposing view that says the turntable and then the arm are the foundational pieces that have to be resonance free in order for the cartridge to realize its potential. This group would advocate buying the best turntable possible, and if funds are not available you put a less expensive cartridge on for the time being as it will reach a higher level of performance than a more expensive cartridge that is being subject to vibrations from turntable motor, inferior bearings, and outside influences.

Often the discussion turns to an analysis of specifications for turntables. The question one asks is how important is speed accuracy in terms of getting within a hundredth of a percent? At what point do you reach a level of inaudibility in terms of speed accuracy, and what is the cost and or possible limitations of the associated circuitry needed to reach it? Then there are wow and flutter and rumble numbers that can be an indicator of the quality of bearing being used, and the level of precision in the machining process. I would think there are indeed value to those numbers.

Yet a turntable is a mechanical device that transfers mechanical energy generated by a stylus reading a record groove into electrical signal. Some folks believe that every aspect of the turntable, from plinth to bearing, to materials, to suspension, to motor type, to arm type all have an effect on overall performance. How do you measure this accumulation of resonances and how do they interact? Will 3 or 4 basic specifications really capture the totality of the process?

Those are some of the questions you have to sort through. Understanding what your philosophy toward analog playback is going to be can go a long way to guide you during your purchase process. Then you get to form an opinion on direct drive, belt drive, idler drive, moving magnet/moving iron/moving coil cartridges, tables with sprung suspensions or not, tone arm design, stylus cleaning, record cleaning, and all the other stuff we vinylphiles fuss over.

Don't know if this helps any or not. But audio is a journey of a lifetime for many of us. Your profile shows you as 18 years old. You have an awesome start, some nice speakers, very respectable electronics, and obviously care about the sound you hear. What you choose now may very well change in the future. One possible pathway is to improve what you have, and make plans to be able to listen to good analog players if you can, even if its just another hobbyists system. Get a feel for what is possible. Perhaps you will be able to journey to an audio store that has a good analog rig set up. The other choice is to do as much research as possible and then take a leap of faith. You will have first hand experience and then you can decide what a pathway could be once you have more data to work with.

Now I am just a simple country pig. We like good food, warm sun, and soft hay. If you want another opinion go talk to the cows for they are wise. Don't ask the chickens, fowl are known liars and they cheat at cards.
 
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Mister Pig said:
Oh I would take a 1950s or 1960s era VW Bug over a Cadillac any day. The Bug is going to be worth about 3 or 4 times as much and is a sought after collectors car. Especially if we are talking a Cadillac Cimarron or one of the 1990/2000 era ones where every electronic gadget breaks in 18 months.
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Buying something because it will be worth more in the future is called an investment. What we are talking about here is listening to music. The cost is irrelevant. I would go for the nice Denon with the good arm, oh I already did that.
 
Thunderbox said:
Buying something because it will be worth more in the future is called an investment. What we are talking about here is listening to music. The cost is irrelevant. I would go for the nice Denon with the good arm, oh I already did that.
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I took the German table with the basic manual Japanese arm.

IMG_20210708_193607__01.jpg
 
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