I’m finally accepting the fact that my turntable needs replacing. It’s a 40ish year old B&O which has much sentimental value but needs a new cartridge (£250 ish 😳) and having just switched it on tonight needs at least a new belt and/or full service. And it still won’t sound as good as a new turntable.

So… max £250 budget, what should I buy?

Yamaha AS 501 Amp and Morduant Short floor standers, so nothing outstanding but reasonable.

I’m tempted to nip to Richer Sounds tomorrow and pick up whichever Project they have in budget, but I like to overthink and over research everything.

Cheers

Rega

Rega Planar 1 Turntable

(With a slight detour) this is on my way to work.

And get an external phono stage 🙂

Listen to a few. Whilst project and rega get a lot of recommendations, i ended up with a £250 teac 300 which sounds amazing and also has a usb out with file converter so you can create digital copies. It also has a built in phono stage.

@csb listening would have probably been a good idea, but decided just to go for this.

@richpenny you mean get an external phono stage vs the one built in to my Yamaha amp? Maybe an upgrade for the future.

Impulsive purchase complete. Sounds grand 😀 looks great too 😀

Nice 🙂 Have had 3 rega decks, simple to set up, bulletproof and sound great. Would definitely recommend moving to an external phono stage. Not saying there’s anything wrong with your amp but in the design phase I would expect the phono stage to be a nice to have addition rather than something engineered in from the start, IYSWIM. Get the cartridge run in first, but you could pick up a used one from the bay for about £50 which should make a significant difference.

RichPenny, I’m thinking of saving for a Rega 3 as an upgrade to my P1. Have you by any chance had both and if so, can you confirm if this is worthwhile?

I was in this situation. Went to Richer Sounds and bought a Project.

in the design phase I would expect the phono stage to be a nice to have addition rather than something engineered in from the start

Would that still be applicable if one had an amp from the early 90s?

Would that still be applicable if one had an amp from the early 90s?

It would depend entirely on the amp – some had it as an option – to be added , or the minimum
spec built in , there are lots of options from quite cheap (same as built in) to mad cost , luckily plenty in between , Project have a nice range , I have one of them on an RP3 bitsa ,
its important to have good clean well fitting cable in between TT and phono/amp as the signal is very weak.

I would say less so in the early 90’s Chapaking, since back then line level sources would be similar in significance. Still, the signal levels in a phono pre mean you’re better off isolating it as far as possible.

Gunz, mine have been planar 2, planar 3 and an rp6. Just go and listen to a p3, either you walk away with a new deck or spare cash for loads of new vinyl 😁