Record player/turntable suggestions?

[Terbinator]

My girlfriend has offered to buy me a record player for my birthday to link up to my New amp and speakers.

Now she's a student so preferable something a fair bi under £100 ideally, but i don't know the first thing about record players no i have no idea whats worth looking out for and so on. There are some USB powered ones (i think) on RS for around ~£60-70 but again, i don't know if they're pants or not.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

[Saracen]

I'm totally out of touch as I bought mine a LONG time ago, but one thing to bear in mind from those days (and I've no doubt it's still true) is that a cheap and cheerful player will result in damage, or wear, to the record that any subsequent upgrade to a better deck/cartridge will pick up ... and dutifully play.

The above may not bother you, but if you have records you value, let alone that are rare, you may want to bear the above in mind. Put it this way, I do not lend records, and with the exception of one friend that had a system roughly equivalent to mine (which was/is fairly high-end), and was careful how he handled records, I never have.

[blueball]

+1 on Saracens post

I have sold all my records now and have a Linn Sondek LP12 with a Syrinx PU3B arm gathering dust in my wardrobe

[g8ina]

The Pro-Ject series are quite nice, I recently sold mine for 70 odd quid, but there are plenty in ebay.

You may even pick up a Dual 505 at a car boot sale if yer lucky.

Names to look out for in that price range :

Goldring Lenco GL series
Ariston
Pro-Ject
Dual
Sansui 222
Pioneer PL12D

Keep away from "direct drives" like Technics, Sony etc. Belt drive is the way to go.

and yes, IMHO USB TTs are pants.

[Terbinator]

My uncle was saying Direct allow the song/track to play straight off the bat, so i assumed better? Although eh does do deejaying where response is a priority, i guess.

[Flibb]

Have you got a Richer Sounds near you? They sell Project which was the best of the budget brands when I was looking for a turntable, although at £140 its over your budget. They often have open box deals so might be worth calling in to see what they have. I ended up going the "retro" route and am very happy with my Dual.

[Terbinator]

Have you got a Richer Sounds near you? They sell Project which was the best of the budget brands when I was looking for a turntable, although at £140 its over your budget. They often have open box deals so might be worth calling in to see what they have. I ended up going the "retro" route and am very happy with my Dual.

Yeah there two near-by. I'll probably be heading into Manchester over the weekend where there is a Super-Fi and Rs within a stone's throw of each other.

[DavidM]

I seem to recall there was one in Stockport as well.

[Terbinator]

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...-essential-blk

Could i get this and basically link it up to my Denon amp via some phono cables?

[g8ina]

spot on, as long as the amp has a Phono stage

[Terbinator]

spot on, as long as the amp has a Phono stage

http://www.denon.co.uk/uk/product/Pa...uctId=PMA510AE - it's this one.

[g8ina]

yep, MM stage included so go for it

One tip, make sure you get a good solid surface for the TT to sit on, I used to use a paving slab