Turntable Advice

TT Novice

Hello! I know it is very early to be thinking about Christmas, but I have to stagger the present buying this year...I guess like everyone else at the mo
I have decided to buy my boyfriend a turntable, but not knowing too much about them I would be grateful for some advice. He has a large vinyl collection, will be using the turntable just for playing records on, no scratching, maybe will want to back up some music on mp3 - not a priority though. I have between Euro 200 & 300 to spend. I've seen some good reviews for the Numark TT200, the Technik 1200 and the Pro-Ject range but some not-so-good reviews for various stockists e.g. Sounds Around, Capel St, Maplins, Jervis St. Any opinion on the models I've mentioned, am I on the right track? Also, can anyone advise on reliable online suppliers or 'shop based' retailers? :rolleyes:

Zascar

http://www.thomann.de/ie/cat.html?gf=direct_drive_turntables&oa=pra

You won't go wrong with Technics - but I hear good things about the Numarks too

Technics are fairly bullet proof so you could pick up a pair second hand on www.buyandsell.ie for cheap.

TT Novice

Thanks Zascar, will take a look at that

VinylJunkie

Yeah I agree Technics are by far the best but if he is ONLY using it to play records and maybe record some to mp3 you could buy a cheaper Belt Driven Deck.

http://www.thomann.de/ie/numark_ttusb.htm

or
http://www.thomann.de/ie/american_audio_tt_record.htm you can record straight to a usb thumb drive with this one.

I stress ONLY play because belt drive decks are useless for DJing..
Oh by the way I got 2 technics 1210's mk2 for 250euro i just replaced the pitch sliders and they where as good as new as Zascar says check out www.buyandsell.ie

TT Novice

Yes, he'll definitely only be using it to play records - I hadn't actually seen that USB compatible Numark model before, I will check it out. At the start of my search I came across an Ion model compatible with USB but the reviews weren't great and it looked pretty ugly, v plastic. Thanks for your advice!

jonny68

Even though we curently use Technics 1210's which are more or less the industry standard (CDJ's very popular too) Vestax in general are the best decks hands down, ive used both over the years and that's just my opinion,but i would certainly check out Vestax first.

http://www.vestax.com/

TT Novice

Thanks Jonny, I checked out your link but I think the Vestax range might be more high-end in spec & price than what I'm looking for.

jonny68

TT Novice wrote: »

Thanks Jonny, I checked out your link but I think the Vestax range might be more high-end in spec & price than what I'm looking for.

No problem you pay for what you get though, i wouldn't mind a set of Vestax myself sometime when im flush ill get a pair.:)

diditwork

jonny is just trying to play the know it all.

TT asked for basic models and she got them so why would you start complicating things?

Technics are class love, go with them.