Record player suggestions

[Gerry D]

I've been through a few turntables over the years, starting kinda mid fi and stepping up towards the high end along the way.
Over the last couple of years I developed a condition which amongst other things causes occasional tremors and tinnitus, nothing sinister and I'm assured that it will pass, and so playing records with delicate tonearms and styli became a total nightmare.
I actually stopped listening to LP's for a while.

I'd never imagined that I would ever want an automatic record player. For some reason I believed them to be inferior. But I bit the bullet and tried a decades old DUAL 1219 idler drive that I picked up for a song second hand. I've had it serviced and put a nice MM cartridge on it. It's a fabulous bit of kit if you can handle the very retro appearance. Musical, solid build, reasonable range of cartridges will suit, I'm using an AT 750SH.

It has a lid. It plays records at the flick of a lever switch so I'm not worried about anybody else going at it. And it turns itself off when the record is finished. Great for those late night sessions when one might nod off. Zzzz.

Record player, service, cartridge = €780.00.
Really happy with the performance.

Just a possible option.

🎶

[Brutus1968]

https://northxsouth.ie/products/technic ... _wEALw_wcB

Just to add another option in the list. Probably the internal pre-phono is not super, but it has also a phono signal output, so you can upgrade in a second time.

Best

[Adrian]

Granted it may be a bit outside the budget, but the Technics decks are very good.

The GR2 is about 2.2K but there is another model 1500 I think which is cheaper.

Clear upgrade path to the grand daddy 1000 series for 22K if you fancy that route!!

[RickyB75]

Actually didn’t realise this reply stretched to two pages, so apologies for the lack of interaction. And thank you page 2’ers for your suggestions.

Actually have just plumped for a Rega Planar 3 and a Trigon Vanguard II phono stage. Have it all up and running and have been playing some old vinyls and have a few more awaiting delivery. First impressions; seems I need to adjust the settings on the underside of the Vanguard depending on the record. Bit of a ball-ache. Is this normal? Is there a phono stage that anyone would recommend that doesn’t require flipping over and adjusting microscopic switches depending on the record they play?

[Brutus1968]

Actually didn’t realise this reply stretched to two pages, so apologies for the lack of interaction. And thank you page 2’ers for your suggestions.

Actually have just plumped for a Rega Planar 3 and a Trigon Vanguard II phono stage. Have it all up and running and have been playing some old vinyls and have a few more awaiting delivery. First impressions; seems I need to adjust the settings on the underside of the Vanguard depending on the record. Bit of a ball-ache. Is this normal? Is there a phono stage that anyone would recommend that doesn’t require flipping over and adjusting microscopic switches depending on the record they play?

Hi, the dip switches below the vanguard are used to optimise its characteristics with the cartridge, not with the record. Once properly set you don't change them anymore, unless you change the cartridge. What cartridge are you actually using?

Best

[RickyB75]

Hi. It came fitted with a Rega Elys 2.

I’ve moved all the switches to the opposite side and the music has livened up. Might just be a case of using a process of elimination to determine the best setting and then leave it at that.

Ricky.

[Brutus1968]

Hi. It came fitted with a Rega Elys 2.

I’ve moved all the switches to the opposite side and the music has livened up. Might just be a case of using a process of elimination to determine the best setting and then leave it at that.

Ricky.

Hi Ricky,

on the bottom of the Vanguard you should have 2 lines of dip-switches (S), one for R channel and one for L channel (see picture for confirmation)

trigon.jpg (54.37 KiB) Viewed 2911 times

Each line is divided in one group of 4 switches and one group of 8 switches. The group with 4 switches will adjust the gain: you have a MM cartridge with high output, so you will need a minimum of gain from the Vanguard. You can try first setting all 4 switches to OFF (down in the picture) and listen. Then move S1 up to ON (on both channels) and try again. You can even increase the gain following the instructions on the user's manual (you can find it on the internet if you don't have it) but for your cartridge this should be already enough. A good way to evaluate is that the relative volume coming out from the speakers should be similar to the other sources; if it is slightly lower it is not a problem (just compensate with the volume knob); if it is higher than the other sources you may saturate the Vanguard with detrimental effect on the quality of the music.
The second group of 8 switches are for capacity (S1 and S2) and impedance (S3 to S8) matching. An MM cartridge doesn't need an impedance matching, so all switches from S3 to S8 should be on OFF. You should instead find the best capacity match for your system. 100pF is a good starting value (S1 ON and S2 OFF), but you may also try the other 2 available settings: 47pF (S1 OFF and S2 ON) and 147 pF (both S1 and S2 ON) and let your ears decide.
Remember to apply the same setting on both channels.

You have a good setup, enjoy it!

Best

[RickyB75]

Thanks so much for the comprehensive reply. Have followed you guidance, but honestly I think there may be an issue with the phono stage. When plugging in the red channel, the sound is barely audible. When plugging the white channel, sound comes from both speakers, but off to the left. Funnily enough, when connecting the red channel, if I touch the RCA plug with my finger, the sound is louder than when plugging into the socket.

Not sure how to upload a photo, but in order to be able to play anything passing for listenable, I’ve set the top row of four switches to 1 & 2 on, 3 & 4 off. On the bottom row of four, all four have to be on. On both sets of 8 I have 1 & 2 on.

Thanks again for your detailed reply, very much appreciate you taking the time.

Regards.

[Brutus1968]

Thanks so much for the comprehensive reply. Have followed you guidance, but honestly I think there may be an issue with the phono stage. When plugging in the red channel, the sound is barely audible. When plugging the white channel, sound comes from both speakers, but off to the left. Funnily enough, when connecting the red channel, if I touch the RCA plug with my finger, the sound is louder than when plugging into the socket.

Not sure how to upload a photo, but in order to be able to play anything passing for listenable, I’ve set the top row of four switches to 1 & 2 on, 3 & 4 off. On the bottom row of four, all four have to be on. On both sets of 8 I have 1 & 2 on.

Thanks again for your detailed reply, very much appreciate you taking the time.

Regards.

Definitely an erratic behaviour... if you have the chance to get your money back I would not hesitate. It is possible that there is a problem in the weld joint on the female RCA in the phono stage, so that the signal is audible only when touching the plug or increasing the gain. In that case it would be easy to fix it, but the seller should do it. Or he/she should sell it as not working.
It would be good the exclude problems before the phono stage (cartridge connections). That is easy to do it: invert the cables from the turntable to the phono stage (right cable into the left input of the Vanguard and viceversa) and listen again. Is the problem still on the same channel or is it now on the other one? In the first case the issue is after the cable, so probably in the Vanguard. In the opposite case the issue is before the cable, and I would verify the cartridge connections first.

Best