Sleeper List / URL?

[lasitter]

After rashly giving away my vinyl years ago for the "new and improved" CD format, I've seen the error of my ways and at a yardsale Saturday bought a fellow's complete kit including over 100 LPs and a Realistic LAB-2100 turntable.

I don't pretend to be a "real audiophile" (or have the budget of one), but I do appreciate a value, so I'd like to find out what some of the real "sleeper" values are in turntables and cartridges.

My current turntable would certainly do better without the original AT P-mount cartridge and it's conical stylus, but I don't know enough about turntables to say whether this would be a waste of money given the base turntable itself. If replaced, I'd like to get a good performer that's fairly common, with ready availability of repair parts.

I like to get a lot of "bang-for-the-buck" in purchases, and when moving from one level of quality to another. Since I would probably have a hard time hearing the last 1-2 percent in turntable performance, I'm certainly not willing to pay 50 percent more to get it, but I might pay 25 percent more to get a 10 percent improvement.

So are there good values under $100? Under $200? Any URLs or pointers to an appropriate FAQ would be appreciated.

[JaS]

These are UK prices but shouldn't be too different where you are.

For value its hard to beat the Dual 505 from around £25, its got a suprisingly good arm that tracks budget MM cartridges very well and in a balanced sytem this is enough for most people. Reliability is very good with just the pitch control belt being a common problem. Theres a brief mention of the deck here: http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/hfw/oldewor ... 000tt.html

The Thorens TD150/160 are even better performers and can be had for about £30+ but need checking carefully for motor/bearing/arm wear as these are pretty old now and seem to turn up in varying states of repair. A good one will sound great though and there is a thriving community of people addicted to these things: http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk/hfw/oldewor ... td150.html

I'd like to suggest a Rega Planar 2 but expect to pay £85+ here in the UK where there are zillions of the things or possibly more in other countries. They are ultra reliable though and of the decks listed they are the easiest for spares - not that you should need any except for the odd drive belt. They hold their value too so if you decide to ditch vinyl again you would most probably get your money back

Regards,
JaS

[mosin]

The Thorens is one to look at for sure.

A couple that haven't been mentioned are the Ariston and the AR. Both are fine sounding turntables.

[lasitter]

Any opinions on this one?

[lasitter]

[quote="lasitter"]Any opinions on this one?[/quote]

I've seen AR XAs on eBay, but apparently there are one and two motor versions? Don't know how much more valuable one is over the other, of if this is the model you referred to ...

[Triophile]

Hello, all.

Some of Kenwood's old DDs can be surprisingly good, if the circuitry hasn't drifted out of alignment.

I can't remember too many model numbers, but if you can get a KD-600/650 (the latter with Kenwood's own arm), that's very nice. Again with a faux-marble plinth, there's the KD-500/550, although this lacks quartz lock. Some of their cheaper, but still heavily built, DDs are worth considering too, as a nice KD-600/650 will probably come in towards the top of a $200 budget. It will sound much better than your current turntable, though. The KD-5077 is another pseudo-marble deck, has lovely, retro looks, and sounds good, AFAIK.

I keep banging on about this (apologies to everyone who's tired of hearing me do so), but the better Technics linear-tracking DDs are surprisingly good, as long as they have a decent T4P cart and are sited on an effective support. The ones to go for are the SL-7, SL-10 and SL-15. This might not be an eBay buy, though, as you'll need to check for the common fault of the arm not tracking across the record properly, which is due to a slack drive belt (easily remedied if you're handy with a little DIY, but a major pain if you're not).

I have a page up with the service manual of the commonest of these decks, the SL-7, at:

http://uk.geocities.com/lineartechnics/

Cheers, Jon.

[nat]

I've been surprised by the Dual 1019. The arm looks massier than it is, and the bearings are good and tight, though low friction. They sound prerry nice are available pretty cheaply, too.
Old ARs and Thorens are obvious good choices also, though the headshell threads on the AR are very fragile, and good like finding a replacement. I find the Thorens headshell in the 160 series annoying, but that may just be me.
By the way, the two motor AR was simply early production -- the motor they used at the time didn't have any prefered rotational direction, so the second motor gave it a nudge in the correct direction. I don't think there is any advantage to it over the later one motor. And the earliest stamped subchasis/nylon main bearing model is less desireable.