Pioneer direct drive PL-200

[surf,sun&sound]

Griff,

With this turntable, any quality cartridge will play your choice of music with equal aplomb. So get that turntable dusted off, and starting spinning some vinyl. You will never look back.

Cheers,

Surf, Sun & Sound

[griff]

the question is, if i do this, and dont look back, will i quickly become broke???

I am thinking that following a cartridge comes a new deck, followed by a dedicated phono, followed by a ........... followed by a file for chapter 13 (bankruptcy)

[surf,sun&sound]

Griff,

Never say that you were not warned, it is a very fatal virus to be afflicted with!!

Yes, upgrading is great fun and, of course, a necessary treatment to put the virus into remission, but you are ultimately in control.

I unfortunately am not one of those people with an unlimited budget for my hobby, so I have had to learn to put my funds to the most use. One of the best ways to look at is, to remember that this is about music and listening to music. So as easy as it is to become a gear junkie, I try spend the majority of my money on new listening material. I know too many "audiophiles" with a $10,000 system to play $1,000 worth of music, to me that equation does not quite ring true. I will never be satisfied with my system, because I am too much of a perfectionist, so the best way for my to find more excitement in audio is buy a batch of new listening material. I know that does not fix the problem with gear, but I believe it gives more value for money than spending a $1000 for a possible .1% improvement. But than that is just me. Many people on this forum, would rather attack the situation from a different angle. So each to his own, just so you are happy with the path you are taking. That is all that matters.

Cheers,

Surf, Sun & Sound

[dice45]

Griff,



i feel i have to slightly object to advice given here.

The cartridge is not the most important thing you have to cinsider in this price range.



Please see that the tonearm has no slack, no backlash at all in its bearing at all.

It shall move freely but is ot emant to show any torsional play. Otherwise your cherished LPs get damaged.



If you fell the arm is ok or you are confident you can fix it yourself, go for that TT, it will be good enough to make you vinyl-addicted. Delay selling other cherished projects, my hint. And, it may become a real DIY TT finally having nothing left that the tonearm or evn not that, maybe only directdrive and platter albeit heavily modded. Would have some hints for you. Who knows how this ends ....



I do not think killing the backlash in the tonearm bearing with heavy grease is a good idea. It eats up µdynamics, it kills the live-feeling, yes, admitted, it reduces danger to the record.



Moving magnet cartridges of today are soo good even at $25 that you do not have to fear for your records, but cheaper cartridges last short, not more than 600 Hours (as the diamond stylus is ground arbritarily instead of crystal-oriented).

Yo may have to complain a bit resolution but musicality doesn't suffer even with cheap cartridges.



But, pleeeezzzz see the arm is well and alive. It must not bounce around in its bearings. Consider that the cartridge resolves nanometers, so we talk of µscopic bouncing here.



To cost roof, well, you are right, there is almost none. My most expensive cartridge is a Koetsu Urushi i bought used for more money than most of my fellows would pay for a complete TT or preamp/amp combination. But IMO it is possible to achieve marvelous sound dirt-cheap if there is some open mind, DIY enthiusiasm and the hands a bit skilled.

[mrfeedback]

Hello Griff, welcome to audio, and to add to Lynn's thoughts, I can say that you can have your cake and eat it.
If you search garage sales, flea markets, classifieds, the good samaritan thrift stores etc, etc, you CAN find tons of great gear and records at near to giveaway prices, and when you get skilled enough to repair any and all broken gear, you can get it for vitually nothing.
But as Lynn and I strongly warn you " it is a very fatal virus (read - noble addiction) to be afflicted with!! " " ....... but you are ultimately in control. "
Hmmmmm ? ...... aren't they contradictory terms, by definition ! ..... LOL ......
The trick is to make your gear run like factory new and and apply the right tweaks to make it sing - its easy and cheap and fun .
The first thing to do is 20 pair phone cable for speakers and okish type interconnects and contacts treatment.
Then you can hear more properly your tweaks and upgrades and tune your setup how you like it.
Most decent factory phono pickups are okish, and it definitely pays to add shunt loading capacitance to tune the HF and get it to how you like it.
The point of all this experimentation, is that when you understand how to fine tune a system, you can set your own sound at will.

Please enjoy your vinyl.

Regards, Eric.

[griff]

i think i may hit the garage sales for a little while, see what i turn up, any brands/models i should be looking out for???

[mrfeedback]

Just about anything that was reasonably decent in it's day will be fine.
Just be prepared to do a little servicing to get it to perform as new, then you can tweak it.

Regards, Eric.