Buying a Record Player

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cyharding
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Buying a Record Player

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Postby cyharding » Sun Sep 17, 2017 10:44 pm

I've been considering buying a record player for my family as they have many LPs, a combination of albums that various family members purchased decades ago that haven't been thrown away, and a small collection that we got from a late uncle of mine. I've done some research, but I feel I still need some advice from all of you, either based on your own experiences or those of people you know. A few things you need to know:
1. While I do have some money, I'm not made of it either. I know you get what you pay for, but I can only afford what I can.

2. There are no 78s in the collection as far as I can tell.

Thank you for your time
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Re: Buying a Record Player

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Postby DarkBluePhoenix » Mon Sep 18, 2017 1:44 pm

I had this problem a few years ago with my dad, and I found this one for him
Crosley Director CD Recorder (CR2405C-ES) It's quite wonderful, the speakers have a great audio range, and the speaker volume is shown in dB. The first record I played on it was the orginal soundtrack to Star Wars, and boy does the Imperial March really play well on it. We've had it for 3 years I think, and its been great. It also has a radio, CD, and Cassette player (in addition to an aux channel), so it can play any music you may have besides LPs. It's $189

I went with the all-in-one just because of the CD and LP collection my father has. It made more sense to just have one piece of equipment to play everything on rather than a stereo and CD/cassette player and a record player taking up space.

Here's another all-in-one Crosley CR704C-PA Musician Turntable with Radio, CD Player, Cassette and Aux-In, Paprika without bluetooth is $149

Now, for the more budget conscious options, Victrola Nostalgic Classic Wood 6-in-1 Bluetooth Turntable Entertainment Center, Mahogany $89.97 for the Mahogany finish, or the Crosley CR8005D-BK Cruiser Deluxe Portable 3-Speed Turntable with Bluetooth, Black $62.97 and its just the record player with bluetooth compatibility.

All the record players are 3-speed, and the prices I saw are with Amazon Prime, so it may be different if you don't have that, and I hope this helps ^_^
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Re: Buying a Record Player

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Postby cyharding » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:02 pm

Thanks DBP. The thing about Crosleys is that they seem to be rather unpopular for supposedly being of low quality (this video as one example) to even accusations of them making records unplayable after being played on them a few times. I don't know if there is any truth to these claims or if these audiophiles are just being snobbish.
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Re: Buying a Record Player

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Postby DarkBluePhoenix » Wed Sep 20, 2017 12:42 pm

No problem, man, just helping where I can.

I've never personally had an issue, but I don't play the records very often (and neither does my father), its only when either of us in the mood to listen to them. I'm definitely not an audiophile, and I knew a guy in high school like that, played only vinyl, and basically shit on any music that came out after 1979, so they could be being snobbish, or they could just be playing the records too often and wearing them out. If its possible, you should find a record player that can rip the music onto a CD or hard drive, because vinyl does wear out at some point, although the internet cannot give a solid answer on that.
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Re: Buying a Record Player

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Postby Joy Evangelion » Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:04 pm

I'd recommend being patient and checking out some used turntables/receivers/speakers at garage sales, flea markets, or online. If you go to a flea market look for a dealer who looks like he respects electronics, not some guy who's going to sell you some janky thing he found in the alley behind a Taco Bell. I scored my Sansui turntable at a flea market for something like $30 four years ago and the thing runs like a champ. I had to replace a needle in the first year, but that was NBD. Before that I had some portable type job, that could run on batteries and had a shitty speaker attached, but the thing broke in a couple years(I think the belt wore out or something).

Re: Speakers. I sort of recommend getting them, as opposed to having a built in one, because it's a nice part of the music listening to experience; put a record on, sit down in front of them,and take it all in. Get your floor rumbling and all that crap. Luckily I was given the ones I use from a friend of my brother's, but I imagine there's a lot of people out there trying to get rid of their's, from moving apartments, or replacing them, or just not having a use for them like how I got mine.

DarkBluePhoenix wrote: basically shit on any music that came out after 1979

LOL
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Re: Buying a Record Player

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Postby DarkBluePhoenix » Wed Sep 20, 2017 8:12 pm

Joy Evangelion wrote:LOL

Yeah, its funny till you get a dissertation on how "Back in Black" is why he stopped listening to AC/DC and that the 80s precipitated the downfall of music. Dude was a little nuts, and I'm guessing he'll be bald and fat at the reunion in three years time, or hoping at least.
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"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." Said at the beginning of the nuclear age by J. Robert Oppenheimer.
"That which does not kill us makes us stronger." Words of Wisdom from German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

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Re: Buying a Record Player

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Postby Dartz » Sun Sep 24, 2017 12:54 pm

The reason Crossley's and their ilk are poorly regarded is because they use an aolder-style cartridge called a Ceramic cartridge. The moving needle (Or Stylus if you want) puts pressure on a pair of crystals which generate piezo-electric voltages. Amplify the voltage and you've got your music. The problem with them is that they tend to put a lot of pressure on the record in order to generate the voltages needed. The more pressure you put on the needle, the more wear it puts on the record grooves.... and the harder it is for the needly to react to the music in the grooves.

It's a standard turntable made by a Chinese company called Skywin or something, that's used pretty much everywhere with a premium price added, and some branding stampled on. If it's plastic, with a plastic arm, and a red needle on the end, don't bother. It's just not worth it.

I've been using a Rega RP1 for the last couple of years and it's done quite well. It cost me about 350 euro at the time, with a pre-amp included by the dealer for free. It uses a moving magnet cartridge - which is basically a miniature electrical generator (Magnet+coil) that's a lot easier on the record surface, with a vetter quality tone-arm. You can adjust the counterwighting on the arm, and the bias of the arm, which affects how well the needle rides in the groove and the quality of sound produced. You can put a better quality cartridge on the end, or put an upgrade kit on it.

The drawback is that it's not too cheap. and it needs a pre-amplifier before your main amplifier, both to correct for the RIAA equalisation curve on the record, and to boost the phono signal to a level modern equipment expects.

It's currently matched to a Marantz SR7400 home theatre system and some Mordaunt Short Avanti speakers that I received 'off the back of a truck'. For thirteen year old hardware, it's more than up to the job.

I've managed too acquire about forty records or so - almost enough to start to qualify for a collection.

(You can spend a lot more money if you'd like, both on cartridges, on turntables and on amplifiers. Like, €20k+ levels...... )
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