So I’m in the market for a turntable. I have a lot of old inherited/yard sale vinyl, and I’ve even picked up a few new things recently for various reasons, but I have nothing right now to listen to them on.
I’ve also been listening to a lot more turntable-type music in the last few years–DJ Shadow, RJD2, Prince Paul’s various incarnations, etc. I’d really love to learn to do that sort of thing, so while the turntable I buy now will mostly be just for listening, I’d like to add a second one and a mixer to it before year’s end. (To this end, I definitely want a direct drive deck.)
I do a show at a community radio station, and they have a pair of Technics 1200MK3s that I’ve had a chance to play with. They’re beyond fantastic, but I’d have a hard time turning loose of the money for one (much less two) as an absolute beginner.
It should also be pointed out that while I am a huge music nerd, I am no audiophile, and none of my other sound equipment is anything like audiophile-quality.
This deck from Numark seems to have a lot of good reviews for the price.
Any recommendations as to brands, dealers, cartridges, setup, etc. would be greatly appreciated.
Ahhhh… you’re wanting a turn-table which can do DJ work - not just a pure audiophile effort.
If it had been the latter you were looking for I’d definitely recommend REGA.
But as for the former, not my field of expertise, sorry.
Just get a direct-drive (as opposed to belt-driven) turntable, and you’ll be fine. The general mentality is that you should buy two technics to start with, since they’re the standard turntables that you’ll encounter in any future situation, such as DJ’ing at a club, but you probably don’t want to put up a grand to get started.
Though they’re expensive, keep in mind that you can always re-sell Technics 1200’s for not much less than you payed for them, so if the whole thing doesn’t pan out you should be able to unload them and recoup your cash.
I use two 1200md3’s and I love them to death, but you’ll be fine with a cheaper turntable from someone like Numark or Vestax, as long as it’s belt-driven.
I wouldn’t pay more than $1.19 for one.
Turntable aficionado here. That Numark seems fine for your requirements. And in their DJ / Accessories / Cartridges section, any of those cartridges / styli will do what you want. If you don’t want to be more-or-less tied to one cartridge or don’t know how to wire one up, I suggest you get any on that page that are a combination headshell and cartridge with stylus. That way you just plug it into the socket on the tonearm, turn the ring to lock it, set the tracking force at the back, and play.