Turntables

[Indiana_Jones]

Hey guys,

I'm looking at getting a turntable (no I'm not gonna become a wanna-be DJ!) so I can listen to LPs (Who would of guessed?!)

Just wondering if anyone had an old one they don't want, or which ones you'd recommend.

I don't wanna spend too much, Just something (Is it 'pre-amp'?) so I could stick in some headphones and listen.

Cheers

-Indy

[sunhuntin]

turntables rock.

few years back, i bought [brand new] a stereo: double tape deck, radio, 3 cd changer, and turntable. cost me about $700 from farmers. you might want to try cashies or somewhere like that. only likely problem would be buying replacement needles. i havent had to do that yet, and ive had it about 8 years.

[Indiana_Jones]

This place sells Needles (well they look like them to me)

http://www.styli.co.nz/

-Indy

[sunhuntin]

sweet, so youve got the needles, just need the arm and table, hehe.

good luck finding one... i love mine. got a stack of oringal skynyrd vinyls

[Drum]

I scored a turntable off tardme a couple of years back for about $80. Plus a new needle cost about $50 from stylii.co.nz.

Make sure you get a direct drive not a belt drive, as the belt stretches and makes things slip and slow down.

Note that you may not be able to plug an old turntable directly into your amp if it is a modern digital amp. Good thing is that old amps are even cheaper than turntables, and have cool dials and needles and stuff.

Edit: This kind of thing......http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instr...-120843439.htm

[Indiana_Jones]

I've seen a few new ones for sale, sony does one that fits onto their mini systems.

Any idea what they are like?

-Indy

[Grahameeboy]

I scored a turntable off tardme a couple of years back for about $80. Plus a new needle cost about $50 from stylii.co.nz.

Make sure you get a direct drive not a belt drive, as the belt stretches and makes things slip and slow down.

Note that you may not be able to plug an old turntable directly into your amp if it is a modern digital amp. Good thing is that old amps are even cheaper than turntables, and have cool dials and needles and stuff.

Edit: This kind of thing......http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instr...-120843439.htm

Where can you get belts from as I have a turntable without a belt..went missing when moving here.............

[Swoop]

You need one of these puppies!

No needle. No wear. LP "sound".

[Drum]

Nah, I haven't listened to the new ones. The cheaper new ones I have seen seem very plastic and light. The older ones tend to have a heavier base and be less prone to interfenance from vibration etc. Dick Smith have a USB turntable I believe to hook straiight into your computer, but I haven't tried that out either.

Although I recommended a direct drive turntable, a belt drive one would be ok if it isn't too old or if it has a new/ spare belt.

[hospitalfood]

there is a shop in the kingsland shops that sells old gear, probably have an old rig with built in amp, has shit pushbikes out the front, might be worth a look.

[davereid]

Maybe you should consider connecting your turntable to your PC and making a copy of your L.P.s

If your records get damaged by a dodgy stylus or accidently left in the sun, you won't have lost your music.

... of course your PC is prolly not gonna last as long as yer record player..

[Indiana_Jones]

there is a shop in the kingsland shops that sells old gear, probably have an old rig with built in amp, has shit pushbikes out the front, might be worth a look.

Yea, someone at my work told me about that shop, might take a butchers tonight or tomorrow.

Maybe you should consider connecting your turntable to your PC and making a copy of your L.P.s

If your records get damaged by a dodgy stylus or accidently left in the sun, you won't have lost your music.

... of course your PC is prolly not gonna last as long as yer record player..

yea, pluging into a PC sounds pretty cool, but I'm not really that fussed about it, just wanna stick on some nice head phones and chill it

And yea, I tend to take care of my CDs etc, I'm a girl when it comes to them. If you look after your toys they last longer!

hmmmmmmm speaking of which i should take my model trains for a run about, loosen up their wheels etc.

thanks for the advice guys

-Indy

[obstacle]

I believe this is what you're after:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/audio/90a0/

if I didn't already have a stupidly expensive turntable (purchased when I was single, clearly) i'd be buying one of those. Instead i'm thinking about one of these:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/mp3/85fb/

Otherwise - I had a $100 sony turntable from noel leeming a few years back that did the trick.

[xwhatsit]

You need one of these puppies!

No needle. No wear. LP "sound".

Those are nice, but not quite as good as they're made out to be.

The biggest problem? Dust. Dust causes pops and crackles on a traditional record player, but dust is an even bigger headache on these optical designs. With a traditional player, the needle can push aside dust, as it's very light; it still causes a very small amount of audio interference though, and you hear that as hiss and crackle. With an optical player, when it sees the dust, it doesn't push it aside as it's not actually in contact with the record surface. So it reads it as if it were part of the record, and you can get quite nasty interference.

Under ideal conditions they're very good, though. Good for archival stuff.

You can still buy new turntables. My grandparents bought an ultra-cheap one from DSE, or maybe even the Warehouse. It's a piece of shit ($50 or less?), and they know it too, but it does the job, at least until it falls to pieces.

If you want needles, they always seem to have advertisements at Real Groovy, Queen St.

[BIGBOSSMAN]

If you want to listen to music and are serious about sound, then I suggest you get the fuck real and buy one of these puppies. Or 2, maybe one for the bedroom...