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Need recommendations for new, budget friendly auto TT with built in phono pre, please

tomlinmgt

tomlinmgt

Lunatic Member
My son told me his GF wants a new turntable for her birthday to replace her broken POS Crosley unit. Budget is around $300. I'm not well versed in TT's since I've always used a digital front end, but I do know the Fluance units get a lot of praise as intro/budget friendly TT's. The RT-81 looks like it would be a good choice except it's not automatic. Is there a table that's equivalent to something like the RT-81 but is automatic? I have a little Dayton Audio chip amp I can give her that has analog inputs but don't want to have to get a stand alone phono pre...so having the pre built into the table is a requirement. My son said he doesn't want to give her something used for her bday, so let's keep any recommendations new units only, please.
 
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tomlinmgt said:
My son told me his GF wants a new turntable for her birthday to replace her broken POS Crosley unit. Budget is around $300.
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There's not a lot of new automatic turntables on the market. I paid about $300 for a Denon DP300F that I was happy with, but that was over a decade ago and I see that its price is now $429.

I would recommend looking into Audio Technica's AT-LP3. It sells for $249, and AT's website has it currently marked down to $199. Reviews I've read are highly complimentary about the sound quality. I've had AT's even cheaper LP60X in a bedroom for about a year and a half, and I'm still surprised at how good it sounds.
 
jrtrent said:
There's not a lot of new automatic turntables on the market. I paid about $300 for a Denon DP300F that I was happy with, but that was over a decade ago and I see that its price is now $429.

I would recommend looking into Audio Technica's AT-LP3. It sells for $249, and AT's website has it currently marked down to $199. Reviews I've read are highly complimentary about the sound quality. I've had AT's even cheaper LP60X in a bedroom for about a year and a half, and I'm still surprised at how good it sounds.
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That one is on the radar and currently seems to be the best option.
Since the little Dayton Audio chip amp I'll be supplying doesn't have any sort of ground connection, how do I go about providing a proper ground connection?
 
I would just try it without an extra ground cable. I thought they might get a ground thru one of the RCA cables. But if you do find it to be noisy any screw in the metal of the table should work to run a wire and just crimp a terminal lug on both ends and fasten them to any screws which contact the case.
 
tomlinmgt said:
That one is on the radar and currently seems to be the best option.
Since the little Dayton Audio chip amp I'll be supplying doesn't have any sort of ground connection, how do I go about providing a proper ground connection?
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I'm not familiar at all with the Dayton Audio chip amp, but my understanding is that no ground wire is needed if the turntable's built-in phono stage is used. I asked Audio Technica that question with respect to a different model (LP120XUSB) a few years ago, and they said, "No you do not need to use the ground wire when connecting to an AUX or Line level input, only for connecting to phono inputs or an external phono preamp."

tomlinmgt said:
I just ordered the AT-LP3. Got the non-bluetooth model for a few bills. Seems to have all she needs.
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I hope everything works well for her!
 
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