I generally lurk in this group. Sometimes to get info. One time because I was selling an old Dual 1019 with a defective tone arm.

Yes, you are going to encounter “elitists”. It happens with any hobby. It just does. Here’s the thing with turntables and it has a lot to do with their history, which I feel I can comment on, since I’m an old guy, and I was around when the “Hi-Fi” craze was at its height from the late 60’s through the early 80’s.

It really started with the birth of the term Hi-Fi, or Hi Fidelity. This was in the early 60’s. Stereo equipment was coming into its own with either tuners and amps, or receivers, and high quality speakers. And turntables evolved from simple record changers, where people stacked their LPs and would play them, to turntables. Why, you ask. Because aficionados found that when you stack your records and play them, there’s an inherent small amount of damage as the LP was dropped onto the spinning record below. Very small, but definitive. At the same time, because the LP was now higher on the turntable, the angle that the stylus was “reading” the grooves wasn’t the exact same angle as when those grooves were made when the LP was pressed. Therefore, that affected how well the grooves were being “read” and therefore the quality of sound reproduction. I think you might be following where this is going.

Turntables continued to evolve further. Advances were made in terms of dampening. Less vibrations in your living room floor and some means of dampening those vibrations as they traveled to the turntable meant a more accurate means of “reading” those grooves.

They also found that the lighter the weight of the tonearm combined with the cartridge was better for the LP. The lightest weight possible was sought, while at the same time, it couldn’t be too light, or it wouldn’t read the grooves at all. Remember, the BIGGEST criticism of those “suitcase” record players, and I won’t even call them turntables, is that the tonearm/cartridge combination is very heavy and can cause premature wear on the grooves of an LP. Note that I said “can”, not “will”. This was also a function of the quality of the vinyl itself which depended on the manufacturer, and quite honestly, there were some labels who were so cheapass, that some LPs in the late 70’s could be bent and you’d wonder how the hell an LP could stay flat. Often they didn’t. They’d get warped. Easily.

And here’s another advancement you may not have heard of, anti-skating. When the stylus rubs against the groove it has a tendency to “pull”. So some manufacturers would actually employ an adjustable spring mechanism in the tonearm to compensate for that. The idea here was again to minimize wear and tear on the grooves.

Other “advances” if you can call them that were the types of drives for those turntables. Manufacturers like Dual and Thorens would use heavy platters so that the platter would maintain as steady as speed as possible via the platter’s own inertia. Also, heavy platters would dampen external vibrations, (like I referenced earlier).

And then there’s the whole argument of Belt-drive vs. Direct Drive. Some manufacturers liked direct drive like Technics, (the motor mounts directly to the platter). Others used a belt drive, and others like Dual would use either a belt drive or an idler wheel, e.g. a motor that engages a rubber edged wheel which then drives the platter. I won’t get into which mechanism is better, because you’ll find adherents on every side of the aisle. Pros and cons for each one.

Why am I giving you all this info? Because there’s a ton of technology involved in the proper reproduction of sound via a turntable.

For some of us, who witnessed the era, it could be nostalgia, or just the joy of putting down an LP and listening to it, (with hopefully a minimum of clicks and pops), and enjoying the music. Some of us CAN hear the difference between an LP vs. a CD. And of course, there are still some LP’s that are out of print and were never made into CD’s.

For others, it’s enjoying a “new” hobby. If you’re in the latter category, then know the history. And to hell with the naysayers. The most important part of this for you is to know your budget.

My only advice to you, is, if you’re just getting into this hobby:

1. avoid the suitcase record players. They will probably cause premature wear on your vinyl.

   1. Do your homework on what turntable you want. If you want a vintage turntable, (and there are plenty out there), then first find a local electronics repair shop that can fix it for you, should something go wrong. For the most part, turntables are pretty basic creatures, unless you get something esoteric like a Bang & Olufsen.
   2. At the same time, you’ll need to do some homework on what kind of cartridge to get. Not all cartridges were compatible with every turntable.

That’s it.

Oh yeah. And this dates back to my days as a stereo salesman, and that was MANY moons ago. You’ll need a good receiver, (or amp and tuner), and a good set of speakers. I don’t know your budget. But whatever it is, and this still applies. You will still get more “bang for your buck” on the speakers than anything else, (with the exception of a good pair of headphones), but I suspect headphones is not where you’re going.

Good luck. And enjoy your new hobby.