Well i have been thinking about doing getting a turntable, umm seems intimidating.
Now from what i understand because my HK reciever does not have a phono input i will also require a preamp.
Can anyone suggest some brands to look at? And in addition what preamps to match up with, i'm unsure if matching the preamp to the turntable is similiar to matching speakers to a reciever but i imagine there are ones to avoid (ei klipsch+yamaha)
Good luck in your search. Goldring and Pro-ject both make entry level decks. Moving up a bit, NAD has a deck made for them by Rega who now start with the P3. Rega make 4 decks. Pro-ject make half a dozen. As you get more expensive, more and more brands open up for you.
As to phono preamps, NAD's PP2 is pretty good and so is Project's PhonoBox (Confusingly, Project is not Pro-ject). Midrange level would include Dynavector's P75 and Tom Evans MicroGroove+.
hey actually i went to target hi fi in my home town of london, ontario, canada. The carried quite a selection and retail the Project line that you mention. They were quite helpful and schooled me on the construction of several makes/ designs. I really didn't think that it would be this involved..... but learning is half the fun.
They had some used Stanton turntables there for about the same price as the Project (new). I'm not a big fan of buying used, i never have but am open to the idea. Any opinions on this?
And then i guess after that i will be hunting for a cartidge. Probally just go with moving magnet for now.
Is there a great deal of difference between moving magnet and moving coil with lower end equipment? I have an Hk-225 reciever, so it is hardly high end.
Moving Magnet rules the roost at the entry level. Good brands are Grado and Ortofon. However, it sounds to me like you've got a decent dealer there. If he says he can maintain the second hand turntable and there's no problem with parts then you shouldn't worry about buying second hand. After all, there's only a few parts in a record deck. Try to get a demo ofthe decks if possible. That will really help you make up your mind. As to cartridges, again it depends on what he carries.