Good turntable compared to Unison Research Unico cdp

[Me1983]

Hello Everyone,
I'm new here and would like to know what's a good turntable compared to my cd player. The thing is, i'm looking for a turntable, but i don't know what to get. My worry is that i may buy a not that good turntable that will make my cd player sound better...

My cd player is a 1200 euro Unison Research Unico cdp

I hope that someone can tell me what sort of price range i have to think of when i want it to equal (or beat) my cd player.

Thank you very much!

[13oots2]

Do you wish to buy new or old?

Purchasing second-hand will get you an awful lot of performance for a fairly modest budget. A wisely chosen used TT, arm and cartridge will easily perform better than CD. It would be wiser to set your budget , then let the advice come rolling in.

[Me1983]

I would rather buy a second hand lp player, but it doesn't have to be very old. The budget is around 400- 500 euro Would you know a good turntable around that prise? I just hope that it will sound as good as a way more expensive cd player... Otherwise i rather save-up some more money.

Kind regards,

Me

[dlaloum]

There are a great many excellent TT's in that price bracket.

Are you including the cartridge in that price? What about the Phono stage? (you amp may already have a phono stage?)

Do you have a preference for a particular "look" in turntables? Or a particular design philosophy (direct Drive/Belt Drive, Solid Plinth/Suspended, etc...)

I personally own a Revox Linatrack turntable (mine is a B795) - which is excellent for high compliance cartridges

I also have a JVC turntable with servo arm (QL-Y5F) which is best with mid-compliance cartridge, but due to the servo damping on the arm it is very flexible and most cartridges sound good in it.

Both of these should be available within your budget...

There are many many others - hence the need to find a way to reduce the breadth of the field!

Another way of searching might be to see what is available locally and then research those tables, you might find something nearby that you can pick up...

I picked up an excellent Toshiba/Aurex table about a year back for the price of a cheap meal... perfect condition (it is currently my 3rd/spare table).

bye for now

David

[13oots2]

Don't think you would go at all wrong with this TT listed in the for sale section http://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32102

You may have to extend you budget a little if you have to buy a cartridge or phonostage but this is a fine and highly regarded TT.

[dlaloum]

Yep - that's a good one...

[Me1983]

Indeed I do include the cartridge in that price. Quite silly, but i never knew that i needed a phono stage. I'm now trying to find out whether my Stax headphone system has a phonostage build in, but i guess that's not very likely.
I hope that i will be able to find a good phonostage(amp) and turntable + cartridge. The cd player and stax system were really a bargain, but still the price was pretty steep for my financial situation.
Still music is the most important thing to me (holes in my shoes, but a nice audio set-up )
By the way, is there anyone else who uses headphones only?

I want to thank you all for your advice!

(My current audio set-up is: Stax 4040 system + Unison Research Unico CDP)

[dlaloum]

I am not exclusively HP's, but have been doing 90% of my listening the last 18months or so on HP's... (domestic situation driven....)

You can get a very basic yet nice sounding phono stage down under $100....

I think at this stage you need to be looking around in the local used audio venues to see what people have thrown out.... or use something like ebay but with the distance filter (look for what is on there locally) - or craigslist... I don't know what is the best option where you live.

When you find something that might be promising post it on VE and get peopls advice...

Are you willing/interested in doing your own tweaking/adjusting of a used TT, or do you want something that is plug and play - where you take it home and it works straight out of the box perfectly?

bye for now

David

[Me1983]

Hello David,

A nice sounding phono stage under 100 dollar is not too bad at all. I'm from the Netherlands and we have some ebay-like websites here, so that I will try.
A turntable which doesn't need tweaking or adjusting would be nice. Maybe in the future i will get into that, but i'm too much of a rookie at this point. Thanks again for the advice

[nat]

I don't have any useful suggestions about buying turntables in the Netherlands, but if you are using Stax headphones, you clearly are used to very good sound. So I would avoid low end tables, even if inexpensive. That does not mean spending a ton of money. I think the current enthusiasm for Lencos and other idler tables (including Miracord/Dual/PE/even some better Garrards) is justified, and it shouldn't be too hard to find one in good shape. These often don't do as well with high compliance cartridges as they do with low compliance, but nowadays that's less of a problem.