As some of you may know, I love music. I have a shelf of over 250 CDs right behind me, and some that won't even fit in that anymore. Yesterday I went out to a nearby town to visit an independent record store I frequent when I'm in town. About 2 1/2 months ago was a thing called Record Store Day, which is a celebration of record stores everywhere. And they usually have exclusive releases (both CD and Vinyl) come out on those days.

Well, while I was looking through CDs, I noticed they still had plenty of things from Record Store Day still out so for laughs and giggles, I decided to walk over there to check things out. I knew of one release I was still interested in, a vinyl record. In recent months, a friend of mine and I had a discussion about music and how he collects vinyl. Due to that, my interest in vinyl had risen a bit. So I walked over to the shelf and sitting right there in plain view, was the very record I was interested in.

Only 2,500 of these were made, and each were numbered. I got record number 640, which I think is pretty good.

Now for the question, I'm thinking about starting to buy some vinyl records and I'm wondering if anyone on Giant Bomb can help me to decide on a record player that is at least decent, and won't cost me an arm and a leg.

Technics make good turntables. You'll want an amp too, turntables with built in amps usually have slightly poor sound quality. If you have a guitar amp you can get a lead to plug to turntable into a guitar male end to use that. I think it's more the amp you use anyway but like I say I'd avoid built in amps. You'll need to consider the stylus to use too. Make sure you find out what model you need when you buy it cause they wear out. A stylus is the cap on the end of the arm that holds the needle a basic one goes for about £12. Hope this helps and be prepared to sink a shit load of money. Vinyl is very addictive.

Nowerdays, something like a Project, a Revolver, a Dual 505 or a or a second-hand Rega Planar, Linn Sondek LP12, Pink Triangle, Acoustic Research Turntable, Oracle Delphi, Michell Gyrodek, Elite Townshend Rock, Kuzma Stogi/Stabi, Garrarrd 301 or 401, Goldring Lenco GL75 and others are all great-sounding turntables.

Forget about "Tectonics" (sic) - Technics make a direct-drive turntable for DJs. The best record decks are not directly driven, but belt driven; to minimise motor noise to the platter. A decent turntable, arm and cartridge set-up can sound truly astonishing. Good luck with your search.

A stylus should last for a decade, since the needles are made from diamond!

@King_Bonzo said:

@diz My technic turntable is belt driven and practically silent. I dunno where you heard they just make direct-drive.

I know they don't only make direct drive decks, but Technics are not really notable for their turntable sound quality. Technics are far more famous for making the sl1200 series of DJ turntables - that have fast start-up and are capable of scratching - hence the direct drive.

If you're plugging your turntables into guitar amps, then I can imagine your perception of decent quality from turntables is limited. Records can sound far more exciting, revealing and involving then their CD equivalents, which is why I've taken such an interest in analogue audio reproduction myself over the past few decades.

P.S. I love the way you go back and change "Tectonics" to "Technics" in your initial post. You're learning fast!

My Michell Gyrodec with silver wired Rega RB300 arm and Sumiko Blue Point Signature cartridge.

@King_Bonzo: Regarding plugging a record deck into an amp: Modern cartridges and styli have either moving magnets or moving coils to generate their sound. The sound generated MUST be equalized according to RIAA standards (which adds bass and cuts treble, then boosts the resultant sound). If you plug a deck into a guitar amp (unless you are using a crystal cartridge) this essential RIAA equalization is missing. RIAA equalization is the difference between a phono (record player) input and CD/Tuner/Tape/Aux inputs on hi-fi amplifiers.

@King_Bonzo said:

@diz: The pre-amp on my line 6 enables me to arrange bass, treble, mid etc. I find myself editing levels for different records all the time. For example the bass on my Immortal Technique LP is much lower (or higher as the case is) than on my Miles Davis LP.

Guitar and hi-fi amplifiers have conflicting requirements: Guitar amplifiers allow you to change the original sound as much as possible, while hi-fi amplifiers try and maintain the signal as faithfully as possible. I doubt you would be able to hit the RIAA curve with your guitar amp tone controls, or even know if you have. Decent hi-fi equipment tends not to have any tone controls at all.

@Unknown_Pleasures: Ion Audio turntables seem like they are not made to sound good (even their "high performance" one). It seems like they are made to cheaply convert your LPs, rather than play them on. The difference in quality between a Project or Rega and one of them would be huge.

@King_Bonzo said:

@diz: I dunno I just twiddle until it sounds good :) the superior quality over CD or MP3 is clear even on my set up so what your hearing must be like a rimjob for the ears.

Either that, or you have a dodgy CD/MP3 player... I have 16 x 16 bit DACs all running in parallel, no oversampling at all and extremely low (1ppm) jitter. I have one of these and think it is fantastic.

Get this straight - vinyl can not compete in terms of dynamic range, noise headroom, separation, immediacy and impact of a CD. But vinyl does have far greater frequency response, and can sound subjectively sweeter, more involving and musical.

A problem that affects vinyl more than CD is in the pressing of the disks: the quality of disk pressing deteriorates through the pressing run, while CD manufacture does not have this mechanical disadvantage. This means that pressing faults in individual LPs can create their own limitations in the sound quality of a recording. Also, early pressings will always sound better than later pressings. Mastering a record has always been something of a "black art". Having said that, the best lp pressings can sound superb!