Budget Turntable and Amp recommendations?

Robotito

I'm looking to spend about €250 each on a turntable and amp (I have a pair of decent Mission speakers) and would appreciate any recommendations of brands/makes/models. Also any good dealers you guys could recommend, in Munster if possible, would be very helpful.
Thanks..
Type of music would be mostly alternative/indie & classic rock btw.

Custardpi

Hi Robotito. Not sure about dealers in Munster, you might have to travel to Dublin/Belfast or order online. I got some headphones from a company called "Limerick Hi-Fi Bits" a couple of years ago through the post, I'm not sure if they have an actual shop or if they're still around but something to check out anyway. Ireland isn't fantastic for that kind of thing really.

What I would recommend however is that out of your €500 you spend the bulk of it on the turntable & maybe go second hand on the amp, since your source is the most important link in the chain. You can always upgrade the amp at a later stage & many people do but get a really good turntable & you should have it for decades since there's so little to go wrong with them. Ebay usually has a good few Rotel/Nad/Arcam/Marantz amps from the 80s/90s that you can often pick up for €100 or so. Marantz seem to partner particularly well with Mission speakers. Adverts.ie occasionally has good bargains too. In both cases you're likely to be receiving via post so make sure the seller knows how to pack securely.

In terms of turntables, if buying new Nad, Project & Rega all have very good reputations. Buying second hand in this case is a bit of a lottery as although a properly cared for turntable will last decades with minimal maintenance a lot of turntables one sees second hand aren't properly cared for at all really.

Robotito

Thanks for the advice Custardpi, cash is king these days so I might get the amp second hand and spend the extra on the turntable instead...maybe the RP3

The Ritz

Mod Comment:

Warning PM sent to a Boards user regarding mentioning his business here.



@Custardpi,

Sorry, one of your posts responding to a Boards user suffered "collateral damage" with no blame attaching to you because I deleted some advertising.

Your post above replying to the OP is perfectly ok, sorry again for the deletion, feel free to discuss with me via PM if necessary.



Ritz.

shoegirl

Robotito wrote: »

Thanks for the advice Custardpi, cash is king these days so I might get the amp second hand and spend the extra on the turntable instead...maybe the RP3

The project Debut range are quite good and not hard to find. Have had a mk1 for 15 years now and does perfectly well for the odd record.

billythew

Hi sorry to jump on this thread but might be wasteful starting a new one.

I am new to record players and have just bought a Pioneer PL 990 onine. It came with a 2-pin plug, like an electric shaver - is that normal?

Was going to buy speakers on richersounds.ie, but was not aware that I needed a receiver/amplifier as well until recently. I presume there's no way of bypassing the need for one of those. Saw some on ebay that would come to around €100 including postage as most are across the water. Will check adverts.ie as well, but would that be the kind of minimum price a person would expect to pay for a receiver/amplifier?

Custardpi

The plug is probably just a European one, the turntable must originally have been sold in mainland Europe. Any electrical/hardware shop can sell you an adapter so you can use it with UK/Irl standard sockets. Unless your turntable has a built in amplifier itself you'll need one to play the turntable through your speakers, no way around it.

Make sure that any receiver/amplifier you buy has a "phono stage" section, otherwise the turntable won't work properly on it, very important. Some do, others don't & you'll have to buy a separate unit. If buying new you're probably not going to get much decent for €100, if second hand then that's reasonable enough.

Checking Adverts.ie as well is a good idea, as there might be someone selling an amp near to you, so you could check it out in person. If you were collecting a second hand amp you might get one for €70 or less but that really depends on the make/age of the item.

billythew

Custardpi wrote: »

The plug is probably just a European one, the turntable must originally have been sold in mainland Europe. Any electrical/hardware shop can sell you an adapter so you can use it with UK/Irl standard sockets. Unless your turntable has a built in amplifier itself you'll need one to play the turntable through your speakers, no way around it.

Make sure that any receiver/amplifier you buy has a "phono stage" section, otherwise the turntable won't work properly on it, very important. Some do, others don't & you'll have to buy a separate unit. If buying new you're probably not going to get much decent for €100, if second hand then that's reasonable enough.

Checking Adverts.ie as well is a good idea, as there might be someone selling an amp near to you, so you could check it out in person. If you were collecting a second hand amp you might get one for €70 or less but that really depends on the make/age of the item.

Thanks for the tips Custardpi. It came from mainland Europe alright so that explains that. Will make sure the amp has a phono stage section.

bogmailer

Theie's a Rega on adverts at the moment - pretty good intro turntbable and if you can pic up a naim nait 2 you'll have a pretty good system