Which Way to Go???

[johnsonad]

Anyone willing to prove a free turntable. LOL I'm not picky.

On a serious note I'm trying to make strategic decisions based on my budget. Since I now have a pre-amp with a phono section I was thinking it would be a good opportunity to get back into vinyl.  Just having a hard time deciding on a table at my price range.

Brad,

Pick up an old Empire deck like Dan is using and enjoy refurbishing it. I've got TD-124 that needs a home but it's outside your budget. 

 

[chard]

Anyone willing to prove a free turntable. LOL I'm not picky.

On a serious note I'm trying to make strategic decisions based on my budget. Since I now have a pre-amp with a phono section I was thinking it would be a good opportunity to get back into vinyl.  Just having a hard time deciding on a table at my price range.

$800 should be enough to get a good used turntable on ebay. I bought a Rega P5 turntable with the corresponding cartridge for $900. The cartridge itself sells for $795 new. The turntable I got was lightly used and works perfectly. 

 

[Grainger49]

I would say buy a rebuilt Dual 1229 and use a nice cartridge.  Maybe a Denon 103.  You will need a SUT for it.  But I know that is a nice sounding combination.  The arm and cartridge are very well suited to each other.

 

[Chris]

Yeah a Denon 103 is a great call...

 

[johnsonad]

Just another opinion my friend, forget the Denon cart. Find a great MM cart with a removable stylus and even better one that can fit a JICO SAS profile.  I've had a Zu 103R, stock 103's, 103R's and a Soundsmith retipped 103R. It may work for some but not all people.

My $3500 Lyra Kleos cart sits in a box and the $250 JICO MM-1 with SAS stylus is in constant play and works great with the Eros and the Tube Phono. 

The JICO SAS profile is amazing. I've used it on the MM-1, a few Empire carts, and the last Shure cart. The MM-1 fit my system best but the others were great.  With as many swap meet and freeby records I've collected even though they are cleaned with a VPI 16, plays per stylus is hard to beat with a good MM and JICO makes an outstanding stylus.

Just my two cents

 

[BNAL]

Aaron, Grainger,

I like the idea of getting an older turntable and fixing it up. I did a quick search and see there is information on fixing up Empire TTs. I'm going to do a little research on the Dual tables to see what's on the web.

Also, the information on a cartage is great.

 

[Grainger49]

Brad,

There is a thread on Audio-Karma about restoring Empire tables:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=278075