Turntable questions

chalky

I'm looking to get a turntable as a gift for someone for Christmas and I'm looking for a bit of advice.

My budget is about €200 - €300 all in. As it's a gift, 2nd hand is not an option.

I was looking at the following, which is within my budget. Would this be a reasonable option? Are there any alternative/better options?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/PRO-JECT-13205-Essential-Turntable-Black/dp/B00DKSUHO8

They have a 5.1 surround sound dvd player with an additional RCA input. Would it be possible to use this? Would I need a preamp?

ZENER

The choice is a decent one for the money but you will most likely need the phono pre-amp as well.

You'll need to check if the DVD player has Phono IN connections. RCA connectors are used for many different sources - AUX - Line - Tape - DVD - but not all are capable of taking turntable levels levels which are much lower and require RIAA equalisation. They can't simply be connected to any similar RCA socket.

Ken

chalky

It's a Line input. So I assume it will need the pre-amp.
Can you recommend a reasonable pre-amp?

Thanks for your help

ZENER

The ad you linked to suggests one along with the interconnect cable to connect to the DVD Player at a package price. You could pay hundreds of Euros for a pre-amp but you probably won't hear the difference unless you have a high end amp and speaker setup. The one in the ad is probably a good starting point and can be replaced with something better, if needed, later.

The cable to connect from the Turntable to the Pre-Amp/Phono input is included in the box with the Turntable according to the ad so that should be all you need. Just one thing, it doesn't say if there's a power supply with the pre-amp ? Might be worth an email just the check if it is included.

It's a nice gift to give someone. Giving them everything necessary to get going is even nicer !! Long live vinyl

Ken

discobeaker

Don't know if your budget would stretch to it but I recently picked up a pro-ject debut iii turntable. I could not be happier. Really well built and in my eyes it was well worth the money.

Dartz

I got lucky getting Rega RP-1 and pre-amp at 350, but if you can push to that point it's well worth it.

Just avoid anything steepletone or crossley, or similar. Generally, if the end of the tonearm has One of these yokes on it, it's just not worth what's being asked of it.

At best it'll sound ****e. At worst, it'll rip the grooves out of any record played on it. Usually a little of both.

Dartz

I got lucky getting Rega RP-1 and pre-amp at 350, but if you can push to that point it's well worth it.

Just avoid anything steepletone or crossley, or similar. Generally, if the end of the tonearm has One of these yokes on it, it's just not worth what's being asked of it.

At best it'll sound ****e. At worst, it'll rip the grooves out of any record played on it. Usually a little of both.

chalky

Thanks for the help. I don't think my budget will stretch to either of those 2 options, so I'm going to go with the Pro-Ject Essential II

Regarding the pre-amp, is there much of a difference between these 2? Is the 1st one worth £30 more?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000YEK1AQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ANNASRW22SIOH
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-PP400-Microphono-Compact-assorted/dp/B000H2BC4E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479220062&sr=8-1&keywords=pre-amp