Any recommendations for a turntable / arm / cartridge for £1,000 . Am I forced into a second hand LP12 or is there life beyond this ?Any guidance gratefully received.
Cheers . Tony.

Tony,

On another thread, someone recently said that a used LP12 is the biggest bargain in hifidom. You could do much worse than buy a used Sondek, provided you choose careful and find a good unit.

As far as the arm is concerned, don't settle for anything less than an Ittok. Find one with an Ekos or ARO (preferably) and you are home and hosed. As for the vintage, try and find a 12 that is less than 10 years old. Most of the factory mods (laminated arm board, braced plinth, hard grommets, ground springs et al) were done in the late 80s.

Good luck and happy listening.

James

Resistance is Futile

check http://www.audiogon.com. I saw a few goodies waiting for a new home.

Ugo,

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing (Duke Ellington)

Tony

Try and find yourself a decent Roksan Xerxes.

I have had a Xerxes since they were first introduced and I am still impressed with it. I have yet to find a CD player that can match the level of clarity and deapth of bass. You should be able to find a decent second hand one easily.

Match it with an Artemiz arm and a decent cartridge and it should keep you happy for a long time.

NB

My comment about used LP12 bargains is operative only in the UK, where they go for 50-65% of the used prices in the US.

About the Roksan, I've heard there are problems with the plinth sagging, so be careful with a used one (I think they may have fixed it with their X model).

--Eric

I'd echo Erics caution about the old style Xerxes--the plinths sag over time, making it difficult if not impossible to set it up correctly.

The Xerxes X is a terrific deck--owned a maxed out one for about 2 years. I have now gone back to a LP12/Armagedd on.

Cheers,

Bob<

I think that if you don't have LP's put the money on a better CD player.

Arie

I'm inclined to agree with Arie here - I'm a relatively young guy, just short of 30. I didn't have a massive vinyl collection, as I caught the tail end of the vinyl years (my first record was in 1979, but I didn't have a record player of any sort until 1988, although did buy some LPs).

My enlightement came in 1991, having heard an LP12 for the first time. I then got a Basik (as a student, an LP12 was out of reach) and started picking up a lot of the vinyl that was then being sold of cheaply. I finally found my LP12 in 1998, and have upgraded it almost to the hilt now (it was an LP12/Basik PSU/Akito/K9; it's now an LP12/Lingo/Aro/Cirkus/Asaka on a Mana shelf with lots of levels).

That's my brief story. However, when I bought my LP12, I already had a good 300 LPs. I've got about 700 now, not a huge amount by most collectors standards, but not bad considering how difficult it is to find good new LPs these days.

To someone starting out now, without many LPs, they will have difficulty finding enough vinyl to satisfy their craving. If you do find an LP12 at silly low money, but it by all means, but bear in mind that it's getting harder and harder to find good vinyl all the time. I bought a VPI record cleaning machine last month as I finally decided that secondhand is the only way forward (my local favourite shop, Fopp, is phasing out their vinyl, or rather, the backfill is tailing off, sadly).

My recommendation for a decent TT would be something like a decent LP12 with Ittok and a K9; don't worry about the PSU - a Basik will be fine, and it's a piece of piss to change it to a Valhalla or a Lingo (as I did).

Or, find a Linn Axis - pay no more than 200 notes; it's a decent deck with a musical sound, more in the Rega league than in the LP12 league (altough I've not heard a P9, before Vuk interjects ;-)

Or, get the cute Basik - 150 quid should get you a functional, fun TT with little to be setup and a solid and workmanlike, musical presentation. They will allow you to dip into vinyl, see how you like it and how it suits you, and if it doesn't, you'll get all your money back (hey, I'm always looking for another Basik - for the lady in my life )

HTH,

John

John,

quote:

---

To someone starting out now, without many LPs, they will have difficulty finding enough vinyl to satisfy their craving.

---

It sounds like you and I are in similar positions, having invested time and money on our LP12s and finding some scarcity of new vinyl. But I'm not yet fretting. There is a huge number of used records out there and having to resort to buying used is helping me discover new (to me) music genres and styles. Buying used is amazingly cheap too. I bought 10 used LPs last week and paid just over the price of one new CD. Certainly justifies the purchase of my VPI RCM.

James

Resistance is Futile

John says

quote:

---

Or, find a Linn Axis

---

I bought my LP12 only 3 month ago. I had an axis 6 years and it is realy a good TT. A good idea for someone who wants a cheap TT for a start.

Arie

I think that the perceived lack of new music on vinyl is that, perceived. If you are a classical music buff then you will probably find it difficult if you are a dance fan then 90+% is on vinyl.

I buy neither of these genres being a LoFi / Indie (some mainstream) fan and I would guess that 60% or more is available on vinyl. For some idea (this is not a definitive list) check out diverse vinyl at

http://www.diverse-music.co.uk/

Cheers

Jason

Thanks for the URL Jason - I've an LP12 and still love the thing to death. More vinyl to listen to. Great!!!

Nigel

... to try is:

http://www.woodstockrecords.co.uk

Very good to get hold of that hard to track down single or LP.

And finally: "All the UK's record shops" list:

http://www.moremusic.co.uk/links/uk_shops.htm

Actually I will post this as a thread ....

Cheers

Jason

I'm seriously considering changing my deck. You could have my gorgeous Michell Gyrodec with QC power supply and Mission Mechanic arm for that sort of money - or I'd throw in my 16 month old Te Kaitora for £1700 all in if you like!!! (Blatant plug)

As to the availability of vinyl, I understand the perception of the lack of vinyl. I'm one of those who likes to see and feel the product before buying it. That said, Diverse Vinyl are a great bunch of people with a vast selection of titles.

Others I would recommend would be:

Vivante (http://www.vivante.co.uk). A great selection and their 180gm cut of the classic live flamenco Friday Night in San Fransisco with John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucia and Al di Meola is just brilliant.

Impulse (http://www.mca.com/grp/impulse) have some great jazz reissues and are available in this country, though I can't remember where...

Regards,
Frank.

Nottingham Analogue Spacedeck, 750 pounds without arm. Add a Rega RB-300 for 150 pounds and a Denon DL103 low output moving coil cartridge for 120 Euros from www.phonophono.de. The Spacedeck is a high mass, no suspension design that defies all the stereotypes associated with such designs (i.e. all imaging, no PRAT). The Spacedeck can swing. It's something of a giant - killer; to my ears its superior to the more expensive Xerxes X. And it's easy to set up: you assemble it (takes about a half - hour) and forget it. No annual tuning by a specially trained and equipped adept is required, nor do you have to insure that springs rebound correctly or cables are dressed just so. As your budget permits you can have the RB-300 modded by Origin Live or replace it with one of Nottingham Analogue's own unipivot arms.

Thanks for the help , everyone . I actually live 600 yards from Diverse Music in Newport and never realised that they were held in such high esteem .Thanks again. Tony.