I had an ancient Phillips black tulip turntable with a Linn K5 cartridge and very basic amp into Roksan hot cake speakers and the turntable has just died. To replace it I had a listen to a Goldring gr1 which I can get on-line for circa £100. Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether this is a good way to go or to look at second hand decks. Appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

"Dogs have owners but Cats have staff"

Rega P2 or P3 are fairly solid second hand buys. You should be able to pick up agood P2 for around a hundred, perhaps £150 for a P3.

Very good decks - I used to have a P3, you probably won't do much better for this kind of money.

My father in law has a P3, great deck, good build quality great arm for the money!!!

I use a Project Perspective (around 1000Euros) but prefer the P3!

Recently bought a second hand Thorens TD160 (?) for my own dad for 80 Euros. Rather old, but if the mechanics are still OK, excellent deck!

Alternatives

Revolver with Linn Arm £ sub £100
Linn Axis (plays 45s with no belt movement) £200-£250

Mr Perceptive

The only choice worth considering is a Rega. Everything else is merely a toy or a wanna be.

Thanks for the replies. I'll look around for a rega to listen too.

Thanks.

"Dogs have owners but Cats have staff"

a second for the Thorens TD 160.
Go for the "Super" version if possible.
Can be tweaked a fair amount - quite abit of info on the web.

If you want set and forget, then P3

regards,

michael

Another for the thorens 160S great

Stuart

If you want to go new.

I bought a Projekt Expression £200 and added a Grado Gold £100 .

Not a bad combination .

I would also consider a REGA P3

Alsoa 2nd hand Thorens 160 in good nick is also a goer. Do fit a new belt and check the suspension etc. Then go for a good Ortofon cart or a Grado cart. I like Grado's.

There is a fair choice out there in 2nd hand land if you look carefully.

If its old you will have to do belts suspension and maybe even clean out the baring housing and replenish the oil. Simple things can transform a good 2nd hand buy into a real winner. Just a couple of hours of your time and a few quid on belts etc .

I have had Garrard 401's 301's Thorens 124's and 125's via this route. Also a Mission and an OPUS 3.

So goodhunting.

regars David

I have a Rega Planar 3 TT which I had upgraded to P3 spec a couple of years back, which basically means it's still a Planar 3 but now has a P3 motor.

I'd had it boxed away for a few months whilst my house was redecorated and have actually been contemplating abandoning vinyl altogether and sticking with CD.

A few weeks ago I took delivery of my new pair speakers - the floorstanding Spendor S5e's, and have been relying on my CD5/FC2 to give them a good workout, whilst posting here ad nauseum about how much I want a CDX2!

Then last week I decided to open up my Rega and duly hooked it up to my system. It comes with the classic Rega RB300 arm as standard and some months ago I took the opportunity to have the cartridge upgraded to a Rega Super Elys after the stylus on my old Elys broke.

I'm playing the album "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm" by 'A Tribe Called Quest" (one of several albums I retrieved from the garage over the weekend!) and it sounds absolutely wonderful. My humble Rega is eliciting an extraordinary sound from the Spendors - PRaT, vibrancy, grip, the sweetest treble and an absolutely gorgeous, tight, fast bass.

I'm loving it! You simply cant't go wrong with a Rega P3 or even a Planar 3 for that matter. Even at £300-odd brand new, it must be one of the biggest steals in hifi

Regards,

JonR

quote:

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You simply cant't go wrong with a Rega P3 or even a Planar 3 for that matter. Even at £300-odd brand new, it must be one of the biggest steals in hifi

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Hmm, then a Rega dealer in my area must have done something horrible to it, or have 2 left hands which he used to mount a Grado cartridge.

About 6 months ago I thought about going into analog. I tried a dealers Rega P3 with a Grado Green cartridge in it.
Maybe the P3 deserved some better cartridge, but this P3 sounded absolutely horrible.
Even my then s/h cheap Rotel RT940 tuner sounded way much better than the P3!
(the P3 sounded very muffled, shut-in,boomy,no detail)

I also had a Thorens TD160/SME on a home trial last year, and boy that was something quite different!
On some records it even gave my CDX a run for its money.

regards,
Alco

Btw, I'm pretty sure a P3 can sound good though.

I once heard the P3 on a show (at that same dealer ) when the Dutch Rega distributor demonstrated the P3 through a Rega pre-power combo driving some Totem speakers.
Sounded absolutely great. (with Rega super Elys)

Also a friend of mine once used his Nait-2 & Mission 760 system with a Planar-3 and unknown cartrdige. Sounded brilliant imho.

so,.... it should be possible

Alco,

I reckon half-decent turntables, even the (relatively) cheap-and-cheerful Rega's all benefit from good quality ancillaries. My system happens to include a 202/150 pre/power combo driving the Spendor's thru NACA5. I used to listen to the Rega through a NAC112/150 driving Rega Kytes thru NACA4, and though the Kytes are great little speakers, I have to admit that it was listening to this combination which lead to some frustration and then the thought about whether or not to give up on vinyl altogether.

Luckily, however, I have been saved!

Honestly, by all accounts the Rega pre-/power combo's are not half bad, and I'm confident that if you auditioned a P3 with that lot you would not be disappointed!

Regards,

JonR

JonR
Have you tried a Hicap on the cd5 yet?
Just curious as it`s probably my next move.

hi simcat
have a look at audio ts web site
regards
naime

quote:

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Luckily, however, I have been saved!

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Lucky indeed Jon! The S5e's just love vinyl.

On the subject of budget turntables, the old Rega Planar 3 is capable of producing excellent results if you can find one. They tend to last a long time too because there's not much to go wrong.

Legolas, I took the Hicap off my CD5 to power a Stageline about 3 months ago. In that time I played 2 cd's. I just bought yet another s/h Hicap for the CD5 and it's back in regular use. After you've used the CD5 with a Hicap it's just not worth listening to without one.

simcat, I have some used TD160s, Rega Planar 2s and Rega Planar 3s, if you are interested. You'd be most welcome to come down and check them out.

Steve Margolis
defy convention - make music

quote:

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Originally posted by Legolas:
JonR
Have you tried a Hicap on the cd5 yet?
Just curious as it`s probably my next move.

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Legolas,

To be honest I've been dithering over whether to get a Hicap for ages! However were I to get one, do I stick it on the CD5 or on the 202? Which would give me the best results? I dunno...One thing that keeps putting me off is that annoyingly half-width case!

Regards,

JonR

quote:

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Originally posted by bazz:
Lucky indeed Jon! The S5e's just love vinyl.

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Indeed bazz, as I am finding out!

It does make me wonder, though. How on earth would the Spendors sound on the end of an LP12??!!