I'm relativly new to Home Audio and have over the past two months decided to buy a turntable. With much deliberation and research I have decided to buy a Pro-Ject Debut III turntable. Additionally two weeks ago I purchased a pair of Grado SR80 headphones rather than investing in speakers. I have decided that a phono pre-amp / integrated amplifier combination is too expensive for my budget but I have yet to decide on an appropriate stereo receiver. Looking around at the audio shops in my area the cheapest appears to be a Yamaha RX-397 which retails at AUD$499 (USD$374). This is too much for my budget :-P and I have started looking at possible buying a vintage stereo reciever. A website I have been look at stocks four that appear to be appropriate: a Sansui R-70, a Marantz SR810, a Rotel RX402 and a Pioneer SX-5000. I was wondering if anyone on these boards have had any experience with any of these receivers or able to make a recommendation as to which on is the best, I will only be using the receiver for the turntable and only be outputing it to the headphones. Also any guidance of comparison of the sound quality between these old receivers and the Yamaha RX-397 would be helpful as well. Any help or guidance in the right direction would be greatly appriciated.
An older receiver should be just fine for your needs
There is no need to pay for all the bells & whistles on the newest bestest technology of 7.1, DD-DTS, etc, etc, etc if you're only going to spin some vinal and listen through headphones.
There are plenty of quality receivers from 15-25 years ago that will suite your needs just fine, and for a price that is practically nothing.
For example, I've seen my 20 year old garage receiver selling on ebay for <$50. LOL It retailed for $1200 nearly 20 years ago, and something like that has all the quality you would ever need for your purposes.
Mitch I don't know that particular model first hand, but I own a RA-840 which should be similar (mine doesn't have a built in tuner). I have had this unit since 1990 and I can definitly vouch for it since it is still working as my bedroom stereo unit.
I just found one on Ebay on sales starting at $150 US and a "Buy" price of $280. LOL since I only paid $350 for it new back in 1990.
You certainly can find cheap receivers. That was not my issue. It seems a shame to have a decent table and good sounding headphones only to run them off the IC based headphone output and phono section that is typical of a receiver. For only a few dollars more, you can buy a good sounding phono pre amp and a terrific headphone amp. The only advantage to buying a used receiver would be, if you can find someone who wants the receiver, you can re-sell it for about the same as you paid. Given the hassle of doing that, I would still suggest waiting until you can afford something that compliments the other pieces you already own. You'll find the Grado headphones are not kind to the IC based stuff you're considering. Of the bunch, the Rotel may not have IC's in the phono section at least.
Following your advice Jan I had a look around for Stereo Amplifiers and found one which looks appropriate. It is a NAD Model 60 Integrated Amplifier. I sent an email to the dealer about whether a pre-amp was required and he said that this model actually had a built in Phono Pre-Amp and NAD are actually rather good. Any opinions on this option?
I don't know what sort of sound quality you prefer but the NAD sounds like a good beginning. It is musical and should suit the Grados well. I think you could achieve a more open sound with greater detail with a separate phono pre amp and a stand alone headphone amp but you can investigate that option later when funds allow.
