OK hifi people I need some help...I had some pretty good Technics gear back in the 80's but haven't got back into this audio genre the same way I have with boomboxes so don't really have a clue.  What I want is a nice turntable to plug into a decent box like my M70 but I don't want to spend much as its not like I'm going for the full hifi set up.

So I want something nice and retro, reliable, and cheaply available in the UK...any ideas?...or anyone got a nice one to sell me?

Technics SL1200 mk2

job done

If you are after audiophile on the cheap, have a look at Rega or Project.

Rega.co.uk or project-audio.com

Try and see it you can get second hand, don’t forget you will need a phono stage too.

Nice looking deck with good reviews...think you might have missed my 'cheaply available' requirement though lol...or have a different definition of cheap to me, with me being a tight fisted northerner ...I'm thinking sub £100 and as sub that as possible

Not going to happen for under £100

Bush MTT1 about £30 but will sound £30 too. No need for phono stage.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/ctg/Bush...-Turntable-/78059448

dont buy one of them si , you might as well use your cock as a tone arm  

Hi Northerner.

Good budget retro turntables that would be worth a look are the Dual CS-505 and Rega Planar 2. The Duals crop up quite often on ebay and are prettyreasonably priced. Rega will cost a bit more but are very good for the money.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/REGA-planar-3-WHITE-with-Elys-2-Cartridge-/141089417774?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Turntables&hash=item20d995aa2e#ht_25wt_1141

Another one for you Si

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/dual-cs-505-3-audiophile-concept-turntable-/171149143821?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Turntables&hash=item27d948af0d#ht_155wt_1399

I can’t stop laughing

Hi Seb968 i forgot about the Dual decks.

Hmmm, could get a bit messy!!

     the garrard  gl 72/75"s are worth a punt 

Yeah, they are pretty good, and fairly cheap these days.

Technics 1200 is not a great value deck unless you need the instant acceleration for DJ work. They come at a premium for the pseudo bedroom DJ crowd who just don't know any better but you don't get much for the money.  Poor build, cheap quality arm and soft suspension to eliminate room feedback e.g. dancing/fighting vibrations not to mention the very low mass platter.

A good deck if you can find one is the Rega esp with Linn arm, there are plenty on eBay  and they've nearly all been looked after.  Also the Dual 505 was a good budget deck, loads around.  Many decks are gaining value now esp Linn Sondeks and Dunlop Systemdecks and not without good reason.

There are some older decks which are solid and bombproof and still quite cheap i.e. Goldring Lenco and some Thorens decks, I used to have a Thorens TD150 with LinnBasik arm, I've never heard a better deck.

rega planar 2 you can get for 99 pounds in your local gumtree - best bang for buck

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-s...-for-sale/1035353693

Agent Orange is a bit confused - the Rega Planar comes with the Rega RB250 arm which is a hifi gem - The Linn Basik arm is nothing to write home about - the best "budget" Linn arm being the Ittok

The Rega Planar 3 on ebay that someone posted WILL go for over 180 - the Rb300 arm alone goes for 130

and of course factor in spending 20 quid on a new needle at some point - your boom box will have a built in phono amp if has a section marked "phono"

Oh I posted a link to a Rega Planar 3, sorry! Claret Badger is quite right these are relatively expensive bits of kit. (But very good!)

I have a 3 somewhere - and it is indeed good

I had a 2 - and raped it for the arm - and put that on my Technics

I always considered myself a Hi-Fi buff and have owned some nice kit over the years and listened to some of the most exotic equipment that money can buy. It may come as a surprise therefore that i never kept any of the expensive turntables because they did not represent value for money. It is always a law of diminishing returns as you spend more (no matter what sphere of interest we are talking about) but the staggering cost of minor improvements was too much for me to stomach.

In the late eighties I bought a Technics SL QD2 which is almost the same as the later SL DD33. I still have it and use it regularly. Just in case it ever packed up I bought a perfect DD33 off Ebay last year for £35 and it is similarly brilliant. I also bought an SL7 which is a LP sized linear tracking machine and liked it so much I bought 2 more! They seem collectable......

Basically though, the Direct drive Technics turntables are cheap as chips and very durable; I have never done any more that change a cartridge to an Ortofon OM20 which for about £30 made a small but noticeable improvement to the mid range over the original orange or (better) blue Technics stylus.

You won't have to spend a lot of money on them and you can't go wrong with the sound. It's 95% as good as anything 10 times the price; new or old.

I think that is what you were looking for.

Oh, and I forgot; The Technics machines are auto or semi automatic. They actually lift off the record and return to the parked position when the record is finished! So much more civilised than the basic stripped down nonsense you get with expensive machines! It's called user-friendly and does not affect the sound quality as much as the posh twits would have you believe.

how dare you call me a posh twit  

If the cap fits....

in the law of "diminishing returns" don't waste your money

and your return will always be healthy

All my purchases are made with resell in mind - with FEW exceptions

The Rega - if you shop around - like the one I posted which comes in the original box AND a turntable shelf for 95 blinkin quid - will NEVER lose money - you will only be "renting" the gear as you will ALWAYS get your money back.

you pays your money

I am an audiophile - and I am on a list

Good point, the Rega will never loose money (may even increase in value some day) and it will sound fantastic!

the whole ritual of playing records is one of my favorite ways of wasting time!

Hiya

Sorry to hijack the thread. I'd like to get a good turntable for under £100 as well.  Preferably one that doesn't need a preamp, but they all seem to.

Anyway I hear the technics 1200 shout, they do sound very good, but they are also expensive second hand.

I've been offered an old DJ turntable for nowt I think it's a soundlab DLP 32.  It needs cartridge, headshell, lid and probably a drive belt.  Worth the risk?

not for listening to for long periods - soundlabs were never good quality

for free it won't be bad though

you will always need a phono pre amp - unless you get the mixer with the deck

I've seen this brand new.

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-400...pl990-turntable.aspx

What do you all think?

No mixer available

How much should I spend on a pre-amp?

I'm thinking all the bits I'll need for the soundlab

(headshell, cartridge, slipmatt, drive belt, lid) might add up to quite a bit....

See my avatar Si. Best tone arm, drive and used by the most demanding audiophile out there...a 6 year old!

Longevity..thy name is Fisher Price

just work out how much you wanna spend

then work from there - free is a great start

Cool and coloured vinyl too

Maybe you are searching for a 'TT walkman' like the Audio-technica Sound burger...

try getting a soundburger for cheap!

The Vestax handytrax is available for around 80 quid second hand

i have a dual 510,paid a fiver for it from a car boot,

its how much your willing to spend on a deck,those cash converter type shops are full of

bedroom dj setups and a great place to look

Oh I'm totally not looking a gift horse in the mouth.  It's the freebie NJD DLP 500 (rebadged soundlab?) needs a:

lid    £unkown

slipmatt £10

headshell £5

cartridge £30

drive belt £unknown

It's been sat in a loft for 10 years as it's owner now has a lovely pair of Technics.

However I'd probably guess I'd need at least a new cartridge for any second hand deck. I don't want to scratch my vinyl.

Yeah that's a good shout, it's best going in and giving them a crazy offer.  You can sometimes beat them down a pound or two.

Hi, i don't know if i can reach you through dialog.if you see it here can you check your dialog?thanks! 

'poor build'?   

I guess you are not referring to the SL1200 MkII that I have, because this thing is SOLID (with almost 12Kg, itsn't fragile precisely).

The construction is very solid and the quality is high, precisely to survive those long sessions at the disco.

I don't know how good are those exotic arms, but this one is precision machined aluminum and steel, and the attention to detail is high, as well as the finish.

The suspension is very effective, and I cannot understand why this could be a bad thing. On vibrating and quieter environments, it can only be good!

Excuse me if we are talking about different machines...

I was a little confused as well. I have 5 SL 1200_MK2's in almost good to precise condition since the 80's and 90's. You can't go wrong with these tables, but for the price they are looking for, second hand it maybe a little high. Build quality isn't a problem with these tables, especially if you're taking the needling and dropping it on the record to just listen to music  

In the end it's just going to be what need the user will have and what they can afford.

It's a shame Technics discontinued them 

getting involved now - the SL1200MkII is a solid built deck, yep, but not suitable for standard-home-hifi-use. I did own a pair of SL1000's in the past, swapped them for some Vestax PDx D-3s because I like those better - but ONLY for mixing or serious DJ-works.

Usually I spin my wax with a vintage 1966 Thorens TD 124 MkII modified in a solid chassis and a SME 3012-arm with bronze-bearings and a Shure V95 MkIV- cartridge -

this rocks loads, but for lower budged there's f.ex. Thornens TD 320 / 150 / 160 and even the 280 with standard-arms and a mid-range headship Shure M95ED or equivalent - that for me being a Thorens- fan - there's good Lenco's, Duals etc. from the mid / late 80'ies available for small budget in many many thrift-shops, those units once supplied with a proper cartridge beat out most of that stuff that's available today - if you wanna buy new I recommend a Lynn...

Think you maybe sorted now