It’s time to replace my Project Debut and I have a budget of £500 for the turntable and pre-amp. I’ve looked at the various Rega ones and that’s where I’m veering towards but I just wondered if the Vinyl fans here had any other recommendations.

At a budget of £500 I don’t see what you’re going to get that will significantly improve on the Debut – why does it need replacing out of interest.

If your budget would stretch to £500 for the deck and a phono amp on top things would be different.

That said this (Edwards Audio TT1) looks interesting for £380.

Cheers

Danny B

And then say this for the phono amp

Thanks. I’m afraid the original needs replacing as one house move too many saw it get dropped agin and it’s nacked.

Better cartridge and phono stage first I’d say.

Second hand decks are plentiful and often largely unused. For £500 you should be able to get something pretty good, allowing £150 for a new cart (Denon or AT for example) and 100 for a PS (say a Cambridge Audio) that leaves 250 for a deck. I’d think a Rega, higher model Project or similar will be in reach.

In my system the single biggest improvement after the equipment was a wall shelf – Properly set up and isolated even a cheap deck can sound so good.

a black magic from
http://www.inspirehifi.co.uk

That said this (Edwards Audio TT1) looks interesting for £380.

basically its a reworked Rega with an ‘OK” arm!

Better off with this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rega-RP3-in-Titanium-B-Grade-slight-minor-imperfections-save-126-00-/390622756232?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Turntables&hash=item5af2ee3d88

Slight cosmetics – yes – I got an RP6 with slight cosmetics and cannot see anything wrong with albeit it a £1k deck but sounds fantastic

Get them to put an Elys 2 and you have a very nice deck – the best sub £500 deck imho – it has plenty of upgrade potential too – TT PSU, subplatter

Also the RP3 has the superb RB303 tonearm which is also on the RP6

Good Luck – The RP3/Elys2 combo sounds great………….I should know I owned one!

the rega carts are nothing special (i owned an Elys) much better offerings out there from the likes of ortofon, sumiko etc.
an ebay planar 3 is a good start though as lots of upgrade potential.

Brilliant, cheers. I am so glad the kids are older and the wife has started working again so I can invest in the important things in life.

the rega carts are nothing special (i owned an Elys) much better offerings out there from the likes of ortofon, sumiko etc.

I beg to differ but you are entitled to your opinion!

Do you refer to the Elys or Elys 2?

Rega carts IME are very nice on a Rega arm, yes you can get better but then you start having to mess about with spacers on the arm – I just think for simplicity then a Rega Elys 2 will sound lovely.

BTW I have Dynavector 10×5 on my RP6 and its lovely but so was the Rega Exact I had on before!

TT tech hasn’t really moved on all that far – I’d be looking at a s/h LP12 or something of that ilk. when I compared my 20 odd year old lp12 with a Linn Axis, there was a noticible improvement, and the Axis was better than a Planar 2. I#d be surprised if an aging but well sorted LP12 wasnt stil distinctly better than modern TT’s (althought the sound might be a little “warm and coloured” compared to the newest TT’s – but the bass extension and stereo depth and vinyl silence will stillb e there to trasure.

LP12’s providing the main bearing isn’t knackered are more simple bits of kit than the mag’s would have you believe – and you can always improve them over the years – bearking kit, baseboards, bearings pxs’s, armboards, plinths, motor, ect…

Same goes for any elderly TT – Roksan Xeres, Townsend, Pink Triangle.

what was good 20 years ago is still good today, its just the benchmarks might have changed and fasion for the type of sound might be different.

Hi

I second Jujuuk68’s comments but then again I would, I work at Linn. Unlike some elderly TT’s, the LP12 is still in production, albeit a bit over the £500 budget. It’s often possible to pick up a perfectly decent 2ns hand LP12, from ebay.

An LP12 is a great platform. A deck from the 70’s can be gradually upgraded to a top spec deck over time, there are also enough dealers scattered around the UK who can service the deck and setup the suspension for you.

If you can’t stretch to an LP12, Rega decks are also a good platform for servicing but the upgrade potential is not so good.

Hope this helps.
Ian

For me its all about the Technics 1210 mk2’s for me ,can scratch, back spin, finger tap and the BASS is awesome .I have them on a Canadian maple 4″ thick workbench (think woodwork class) if i crank it up the neighbors think the Taliban is coming?