![]() ![]() Looking for a dirt-cheap turntable that features a USB port (to enable recording onto a computer) but won’t mangle your precious records after a single play? Try this cutie, which also includes a built-in phono stage and a great little OM cartridge from Ortofon to save you even more cash. Built to a price, sure, but it delivers the sonic goods. Mere initial irritations, however, because, once up and running, the Essential sounds great, offering all of the, well, essential elements of sound from a vinyl source. It feels rather flimsy with a wonky arm and a plastic belt that is initially tough to remain fixed on the outside of the platter. Very easy to set-up, this low cost turntable fools you when you unpack it. Including dust cover, felt mat and dual speed option, this turntable offers great value and holds its head aloft in budget turntable circles. Made in Boston, USA and only available in the USA and Canada for now (although the company says that this will change), this belt-driven deck features a unipivot arm and a pre-installed Audio-Technica cartridge. Buy one and feel the relief running through you… What follows are highly recommended turntables that are safe: physically and sonically. Sony, meanwhile, is supplying very poorly designed turntables at low prices while Pioneer, a normally innovative company, has a batch of cheap decks that are simply nasty in terms of build quality. Teac, a usually admirable outfit, is offering an all-in-one mini system that uses a deck as terrible as those offered by the likes of Steepletone and Crosley. Great for planting cabbages but not for playing music.Īlso, don’t be caught out by those normally reliable, ‘go-to’, Japanese brands that are also pushing cheapo turntables onto unsuspecting innocents. Under a hundred pound from Amazon, they may be, but they will quickly destroy your vinyl collection as their high cartridge tracking weight – the downward force of the needle – will plough a very pretty furrow in your wax. I’m talking about the wide range of cheap, cheerful and wholly nasty budget models that are regularly being advertised in lifestyle magazines from companies such as Crosley and Steepletone, GPO, AMOS and ION. The problem with the, admittedly welcome, increase in turntable popularity is the pitfalls opening up for the unwary. Other manufacturers are saying the same thing.” ![]() That’s how popular turntables have become. As a wholesaler, even we have to wait three to four months for stock. “We sell the Rega RP1 Performance Pack with the mini phono stage, just to get people on the road. “Turntable sales have shot through the roof,” reckons Darrel Sheinman. Its owner recently remarked on vinyl’s current popularity, not just in terms of record sales but also decks. It also owns a recording and mastering studio, using one of the purist analogue systems in the world. London-based label Gearbox Records focuses on a mixture of jazz vinyl reissues and new artists. While the deck Amazon sold may well destroy your records, and a new Technics SL-1200 will cost you a small fortune, we’ve also been treated to a lot of new options at the budget end of the spectrum, meaning it was about time we gave this list a refresh.įour of the eight decks from the original piece have been replaced with new models, all of which cost under £400 and won’t chew your records to pieces. Even faux-vintage brand Crosley made a turntable worth buying. Amazon sold more turntables than any other home audio productthis Christmas and a wide range of new turntables have hit the market, from Sony’s hi-res audio deck to the rebooted Technics SL-1200. Since it was originally published in March 2014, our guide to the 8 best budget turntables has proved to be the most visited article on the whole site.īut a lot has happened in two years. ![]() Originally published on The Vinyl Factory. ![]()
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