Five years ago, I was walking down my street and saw a bunch of trash on the side of the road.

They were clearing a house out that looked like it had been abandoned for a bit. In the pile of trash, I noticed a record player. The plastic covering was super foggy, so I couldn't see if it even still had all the parts left in it, but I decided to pull it out of the junk to take a closer look.

Turns out it was a PL-518 from 1978. Assuming that it had a whole bunch of stuff broken and that's why they had put it out, I decided to do some testing.

Hooked up some power to it and most things actually functioned pretty well. The lights came on, the turntable rotated perfectly, it could swap between modes, and even to my biggest surprise, the automatic return function worked.

The only downside was no audio was coming out, and there was no tears in the main cables and nothing externally I could see, so I knew I would have to pop it open, which I did. I found that there was only two little broken wires heading to the output just inside, so I went ahead and repaired and cleaned up some soldering and whatnot here or there, nothing really major.

Hooked it up to a $15 preamp that I had lying around and threw a beat-up record I had onto it, replaced the needle, and next thing you know, it was blasting Sublime no problem.

It's now been 5 years since I found this on the street and it's still playing and putting out some amazing sounds for me and my family with zero repairs other than the first one.

I added a little stand just above it to place the record that was currently playing, kind of like an physical play " Spotify's "now playing".

Just goes to show another man's trash is another man's treasure. And they really don't build them like they used to. If it could survive the rain, getting tossed around, and who knows what else and still play and work this well, who knows what else it can handle.

That's it. Just a little story time.

Hey guys, I've been in the market for some turntables for quite a while, and I've only recently been getting pretty deep into the rabbit hole. Long story short, I found this deal for a Fluance RT85 on FB Marketplace for $375. Owner claims it's in mint condition and was only used a few times. What do you guys think of this deal? And do you have any other recommended turntables that I should be considering as a first timer?

Thank you in advance 🙏🏽

Hey r/turntables!

I’m currently finishing up the restoration and setup of my analog chain, and I’d love to get your technical input on troubleshooting, a planned wiring mod, and cartridge synergy.

Current Setup Specs:

• Turntable / Tonearm: A vintage Technics SL-150 I recently inherited—my uncle bought it directly in Japan back in the 1970s and left it stored away in a closet, so I strongly suspect it has barely 50 hours of use on it. It's paired with an SME 3009 Series II tonearm.
• Current Cartridge: Shure V15 III (dialed in to the millimeter regarding tracking force, azimuth, and antiskating).
• Phono Stage: Pro-Ject Tube Box S2 (set to 43 dB gain, with DIP switches 1 & 3 ON to dial in the proper capacitance for the Shure).
• Interconnects & Amp: Pro-Ject Connect it Phono E running into a Yamaha R-N800A.
• Speakers: Dynaudio Emit 20 standmounts.

The Troubleshooting & RCA Conversion Mod: After an initial backwards troubleshooting marathon from the speakers, I grabbed the multimeter to do things right. Continuity checks from the cartridge pins through the headshell leads and internal arm wiring showed a clean path up to the base. However, measuring across the vintage proprietary 4-pin collar/connector assembly revealed an intermittent break on the right channel. The fault is definitely trapped right there between the healthy cartridge and the proprietary SME plug.

Because the original 50+ year-old cable and connectors suffer from an oxide patina that resists cleaning and endless mechanical play, I'm currently waiting on a custom wood conversion plate. Once it arrives, I'll be direct-soldering clean standard RCA jacks to permanently banish the channel dropout.

Cartridge Upgrade Decision: Since I plan to systematically replace everything susceptible to aging down the line, I'm looking at potential cartridge upgrades. Given the low-to-medium effective mass of the SME 3009 Series II, I’m evaluating three main contenders:

1. Audio-Technica VM540ML (very tempted by the MicroLine stylus profile for tracking performance and IGD elimination).
2. Ortofon 2M Blue (the sensible nude elliptical option).
3. Ortofon 2M Black (the top-tier Shibata option).

Do you think making the jump to any of these is worth it compared to keeping/retipping the vintage Shure V15 III (which, despite its age, looks and performs like it's fresh out of a time capsule)? For anyone running the VM540ML or the Ortofon 2M line on an SME 3009, how is the compliance matching and overall synergy in your experience?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Marantz 6300 | Shure M91ED

what do you think of my setup? playing some vintage Disney

Previous post: Technics SL-5200 vs. B&O TX2

All the suggestions from the last post sent me down a few Reddit rabbit holes and almost had me saying screw the budget, let’s get a shiny fancy new turntable. Almost pulled the trigger on a Technics SL-1500C or SL-1200MK7. My indecision between the two is what stopped me from hitting Apple Pay last night.

Looked at the Fluance RT87, spent hours looking at reviews and perspectives, then circled back to vintage B&O. There was something about the aesthetic I really thought was cool. But realized I hadn’t done enough research into longevity, repairability, and maintenance if I wanted to keep this long term.

Ended up looking at Soundsmith’s repair pricing, where the RX, RX2, and 5000 had the lowest listed B&O turntable repair estimates. $685 vs. $1,250 for the TX2. I checked out the models, as I had only been looking at the TX and linear track systems. The TX2’s linear tracking was cool, but also seemed like more mechanical complexity to maintain.

As it turns out, the same vinyl and vintage shop had a Beogram RX in the back without a cartridge. They agreed to swap the MMC3 from the TX2 into the RX. Had them clean it up, grease and calibrate what they could, and check the functionality. Demoed a few records in store and ended up buying the RX for $210 instead of the $225 TX2. They offered a 6 month warranty on it. After committing to buy it, I asked whether I should just replace the cartridge now. The shop tech thought the stylus was in really good condition and I wouldn’t need to for a while.

Have to say, the automatic start, cueing, pause/resume, and auto return are awesome for someone new to vinyl. Most of the turntables I looked at didn’t have that combination. The suspended chassis, automatic anti-skating, and lightweight arm and cartridge setup are pretty cool conceptually too. No idea how much difference they make in practice, but I enjoyed reading about the engineering. Also, how is this thing 40 years old? It still looks completely modern to me.

Had some sheet left over from my sub build so I built a custom isolation platform with levelling feet. 38mm walnut veneered mdf, with sorbothane matched to the combined weight of the platform plus turntable.

Anyone familiar with how well these do, and what a reasonable offer price could be?

Hi all! My boyfriend asked for a turntable for his birthday, and… I have below zero clue what to get him. Could you please recommend something?

My budget is $1,000–$1,500. Here are some useful details about our sound system:

Schiit Ragnarok 2 amplifier with a built-in phono preamp
Vandersteen Model 1 speakers

Would love recommendations for a turntable that would work well with this setup. Thank you!!

[EDIT] Thanks all, I’ve learned more in the last hour from you guys than in the previous few weeks from googling and other forums. Very much appreciate all your help.

So I have both of these and they work beautifully but I’m starting to think of amplifiers (the turntable has the ability to allow you to bypass its own pre-amp). I’m just really quite confused/stuck and need to ask myself honestly if there’s any point buying an amp at all. Are the speakers good enough to show off its capabilities? I see amps for ridiculous prices and think how can that possibly be justified, diminishing returns etc. I will also admit being a sucker for aesthetics, I love the glowing displays and retro vibe of many amps. But the pragmatic part of my brain can’t get rid of the nagging feeling I’ll just be burning away my money. Honest responses v welcome!

I’m new here to reddit so have mercy on me. I own a Pro-ject T1 turntable with a pretty standard Sony receiver and speakers, and i really want to get into the higher audio quality world, but i have no idea what i’m doing.

i don’t have any experience upgrading needles, adding weights, or basically any upgrades whatsoever, but i’ve never experienced this much needle chatter at about half volume, you can hear it from across the room.

any suggestions? should i add a weight? upgrade the needle? get a different mat with different material?

any help is appreciated, thanks.

Hello, so i’ve been collecting vinyls for a while now and i think it’s time to get a GREAT record player. I ideally want to spend around $400 on turntables not including amplifier and speakers. I do not want it to be bluetooth, i want a nice crisp sound that’s true to the point of a record player. I’m a beginner so please give me suggestions if this is even possible. Please include the speakers, amplifier and whatever else i should be getting. I want to splurge for my birthday this week! I see a lot of conflicting info on the internet i need a straight answer. TYIA!

So i decided to get a turntable its RetroLife its budget friendly for me and I dont need anything fancy especially since I'm a beginner. Only thing is I never heard of counterweight. If I do get it how do I adjust it?

I'm the proud owner of a new Pro-Project x2 b turntable! I can't express how much I love its look and features. It's exactly what I needed! But just yesterday I noticed something strange: the tonearm pivot catches on the lifter plate when it's raised. I tried adjusting the height of the entire mechanism, but either the tonearm doesn't lift at all, or it lifts too high, causing the hinge to catch on the mechanism. Miraculously, I found a position where the stylus rises 4-5 mm above the record when raised, and the mechanism doesn't catch the pivot. Is this normal? Is there anything else I need to adjust?

I got a turntable and will be buying a new OM10 soon at this subreddit's suggestion (thanks guys!), but now I'm puzzled about record cleaning. I think it is really the most contentious topic in the entire community.

I'm really looking for the beginner stage of cleaning records. I looked at the suggestions here and elsewhere and the rabbit hole has no end. The spin clean is often recommended, but I own a grand total of 2 records right now, might buy a couple more at some point, and they're all brand new. The spin clean meanwhile is more expensive than the turntable I got.

I'd rather go for a cheap solution right now, and then at some point when I can spend more on just cleaning I can get something more expensive, maybe even that really cheap vevor US cleaner or something similar. It's not even that much more expensive than the spin clean.

So that's pretty much my rationale for not going with those more expensive options right off the bat (of course, I will upgrade in the future). So for right now, what would you guys recommend?

• I'm in Canada, so some brands seem to be easier to get here than others. AudioQuest, BigFudge and Audio Technica branded stuff are the easiest to acquire here if you're recommending something from either of them. Project as well, but half their stuff can be a bit of a rip off. Name brand I guess.

• If it is a kit or a brush, which one? I've heard people say a CF brush before playing is all you need for a new record, and I've heard people say the opposite where they swear against all CF, all it does is leave bristles all over the place. It's a similar story for velvet + liquid, some love it, some claim all it does is push debris into the grooves more. Endless contradictions.

• If it's a microfiber cloth based solution, which cloth, because again some microfibers are supposedly "bad quality". Is a cloth from amazon fine?

Again, I just need the minimum I can get away with without permanently damaging a record or something. I don't need to "unleash the full potential of my records" right away, I just want to do the responsible thing while still staying frugal for now.

So I recently found a Little Bear T7 phono preamp at a thrift store for $20 and figured I may as well try it out and see how it sounds. I figured the internal preamp in the LP120X would be pretty easily outshined by most dedicated preamps.

Got home and tested it and found that the preamp makes the audio sound more muffled than the internal one. Sounds come out clearer from the internal preamp and noticed a decent amount of sibilance when using the T7.

Although the rated dB for the T7 is 35dB, and the 120X is 36dB, the T7 comes through louder when set to the same volume on my processor.

I guess I’m wondering if it’s an issue with the T7, if it’s just not a very good preamp compared to the internal preamp on my 120X, or if it’s just supposed to have a sort of toned down relaxed feeling.

Specs: LP120XBT, VM95E, acurus act3 processor, acurus 125x5 amp, Wharfedale pacific pi30 towers

Disclaimers:
-I did let the preamp “warm up” for a good 30 minutes before using it.
-directly compared the sound from both preamps by repeating the same song with each.

Just picked one up on marketplace and half way through my first song it shut off and won’t turn on.

Anyone have this issue before? I’m hoping it’s the power supply as I read they can have issues.

I’ve got this sears combo system and was wondering if I could get some help finding the best place to get a replacement needle serial no. 132.91917252. Will any galaga ship needle work even if the serial number is different? Thank you!

Hello!

I’m new to this hobby and wanted to share the turntable I got. I haven’t set stuff up yet, but I got two Sony SS-555 as speakers and a Pioneer VSX-522-K as a receiver. I’m pretty excited.

One thing I have a question about is would having vinyl stored in the black cabinet’s position cause sun damage? I’m planning on storing them in Hudson’s inner and outer sleeves.

Thanks for reading!

I’m thinking about going to a direct drive turntable. Any suggestions or recommendations?

I've been wanting to upgrade from my old audio technica lp60 and get something nicer and direct drive. I have been looking in the 300-400 range and i don't know which of these two would be better or if there is something else in this range i should consider.

I’ve got a newly refurbished Kenwood KR-4400 pushing a couple of refurbished/rebuilt speakers that need a new turntable. I’ve got $400ish to spend on a new unit. Please help me sort through the options. Thank you for your help.

Can’t figure out what needle / stylus / cartridge to get for this (late 60s?) GE turntable. Sort of clueless here, can’t find any sort of serial number anywhere on it, except the little blue one that says N3625078. Any pointers?

It was a steal on craigslist and I love the wooden body. This is my first vintage record player, hoping I can make it work :-)

I got a brand new Audio Technica AT-LP120XBT-USB turntable for my birthday, but as time passed, the sound quality started to get worse. When you play any kind of record, over time the quality degrades and the stylus picks up dust, ESPECIALLY when I try to clean my record and the stylus, as well as the gel that I once dropped on the carpet to make it look dirty. What seems to be causing the issue??