Turntable Recommendation
 

Hey Everyone.

I’m considering getting a turntable to add to my system. I currently have a McIntosh C15 paired with a McIntosh MC275vi. The C15 has a moving magnet phono input so I guess I would need a moving magnet turntable? Anyway, I don’t want to spend more than $1k as this would be a test to see whether or not I want to go down this road. If it turns out I enjoy vinyl then I’ll upgrade later, likely to an MT5 to match my other components.

Reason for this is my wife and I enjoy listening to music together on Friday and Saturday nights and we think that vinyl would be kind of fun. Plus there are a ton of stores here in Portland that sell vinyl so it could also be fun looking for albums together.

FYI, I really have no experience with turntables other than I borrowed a Technics DJ turntable table from a friend years ago when I had my Adcom system and the results were disappointing. So I’m looking for help.

Thoughts on a turntable?

Hi Stahle,
You would need a moving magnet cartridge, not a moving magnet turntable.

Does your budget include the cost of the cartridge or not? Are you open to buying used?

If your budget does not factor in the cost of a cartridge, I would highly recommend you get a Rega Planar 3 turntable. That is the best 'table you can get under $1000, in my, and probably a lot of other's, opinions.

If you need to have the cost of a cartridge included in the $1K, I'd loook for a used Rega and then put the savings difference into the cost of a cartridge.

best,
Stephen

At that price point; hands down Rega... I move a lot of them.

And rightly so....they punch way above their price point, for sure.

Just did some research, one can get a Rega Planar 3 with a Rega Exact cartridge pre-installed for about $200 above the base cost of the turntable.

I'm sure Ivan can help Stahle out...:thumbsup:

No doubt about it! :ok:

Yes, an excellent recommendation. The Rega 3 is a great table for the price, and everything is plug-and-play: no cartridge setup and no fiddling, so an easy start if you’re new to vinyl.

If you are looking for a full automatic turntable in the sub 1000.00 range the Thorens Td190 is a lot of fun.

moving magnet
 

I thought I read somewhere that some of the better moving coil cartridges will work with a Mcintosh moving magnet phono stage. I have MX136 with moving magnet phono stage. Can anyone confirm this? I obviously do not understand the technology. Mark

+1 on Rega. My first TT was the predecessor to the P3. Great listening experiences with Boss-girl flipping vinyl on that rig. The beauty of it as a way to get into or back into vinyl is for about $1,200 you get a TT, tonearm and cartridge all matched in a setup that's pretty much 'set it and forget it'. ++1 on Ivan's ability to take care of you.

it's relative to the cartridges output, if a 'high output' cartridge is utilized it combined with the gain of the phono-pre section should suffice.

food for thought ..........

https://gearpatrol.com/2019/02/05/be...no-cartridges/