[Letitroll98]

Wow S Clark, I thought this thread was called Cheap and Cheerful vinyl set up? I am happy that you can, but I wish I was in a position to consider $1000 cheap and cheerful! 
I am new to this group, so I hope my interest of vintage equipment under $500 doesn't offend anyone? 

You're perfectly fine with vintage on this circle.  Some of our members get overenthusiastic about their recommendations going wildly over pricing guidelines which are $1,000 for the total system with a general max of around $350 per component.  But the idea of the circle is fun with cheap components and it's a buzz kill to come down on every post that goes over guidelines.  So yes, please post your vintage gear.

[S Clark]

Wow S Clark, I thought this thread was called Cheap and Cheerful vinyl set up? I am happy that you can, but I wish I was in a position to consider $1000 cheap and cheerful! 
I am new to this group, so I hope my interest of vintage equipment under $500 doesn't offend anyone? 

The system that was proposed would be a vinyl rig and cable for under $1000.  And that's with an older TT.  You might find a used Vista phono pre.  So perhaps you could get out for under $600.
Perhaps you could find a JVC QL-F 4 or 5 with cartridge for $250- 300.  They can sound very good.  The F6 has a better tone arm.
Or you can go to vintage record store and buy an old receiver and a Dual TT for around $350  It's cheap. Not sure about Cheerful.
It's all about budget.  IF you had $500, I'd spend $300 on the TT and $200 on the cartridge-- that's using an older Goodwill receiver with a built in phono input.  Less that that, I'd stay with CD's. 

Let's start over.  What gear do you have, and what is your budget?  Then we can actually make some real world recommendations.   

[wushuliu]

For vintage maximum bang for the buck I recommend tables sold by Unisound from Japan on ebay and an inexpensive 100v to 120v converter from Amazon. Reliable seller and very well packed.

Hard to beat this for $400:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154537645122?hash=item23fb295442:g:NYoAAOSweVJg9oNN

[Letitroll98]

The word on how good the JVC QL-F series is has gotten out and inexpensive examples are rare to nonexistent.   Much like the Technics SL 1200 a decade ago went from $100 DJ tables to upwards of $1,000 or more.  IMO the old "wood" bodied (mdf with a vinyl wrap) tables sound better than any of the plastic bodied models.  I refurbished a pioneer PL512 (I think that's the model) for my son and threw on a grado black for him and it sounded fabulous.

The best new table under guidelines appears to be the better Fluance tables.  I haven't heard one personally, but going by some reviewers I trust they're decent if you avoid the two lowest models, the RT 80 and 81 are a step below the RT 82, 83, and 84 models which have a better motor and perhaps other components.  The top three go from $300 to $500 with better included cartridges the only difference as you move up in price and an acrylic platter for the top model.  You can buy the acrylic platter from Fluance later if you buy a RT82 now, and of course the Ortofon Red can also be switched later.  I love that these don't include the horrible built in phono preamps ubiquitous in cheaper tables, get a decent Schitt or Project box.

[Rocket]

Hi Guys,

I had a DENON dp1200 which I highly recommend. My turntable guy thinks its just as good as my technics sl1200g .

The denon can be bought for quite a good price. They go for about $500usd here in Australia but on Unisound they sell for about $250usd.

Cheers Rod

[mr_bill]

For vintage maximum bang for the buck I recommend tables sold by Unisound from Japan on ebay and an inexpensive 100v to 120v converter from Amazon. Reliable seller and very well packed.

Hard to beat this for $400:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154537645122?hash=item23fb295442:g:NYoAAOSweVJg9oNN

I’m new to vinyl but have a high end system. I see unisound on eBay has many choices. Which of his vintage tables would be the highest value purchase? They are all priced nice.  This seller has a lot of choices! A voltage converter doesn’t seem to be a big deal to run on US voltage.
 I don’t know anything about vintage tables!

[S Clark]

For vintage maximum bang for the buck I recommend tables sold by Unisound from Japan on ebay and an inexpensive 100v to 120v converter from Amazon. Reliable seller and very well packed.

Hard to beat this for $400:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154537645122?hash=item23fb295442:g:NYoAAOSweVJg9oNN

That's as good as it gets for that price.   

[S Clark]

I’m new to vinyl but have a high end system. I see unisound on eBay has many choices. Which of his vintage tables would be the highest value purchase? They are all priced nice. A voltage converter doesn’t seem to be a big deal to run on US voltage.
 I don’t know anything about vintage tables!

I think the Victor/JVC tables are the best values out there.  The electronics are getting a bit long in the tooth, but it would cost as much to recap one as it would cost to replace it.  The voltage converter is a must for the Japanese models.  I ran a Victor TT-81 on a variac for years, limiting voltage to 100v.  Somehow the dial got moved, and I burned out the transformer.  I had already done a recap, so I spent the money to get it repaired... close to the value of the table.  When you are dealing with older direct drives, failure repair can cost as much as a replacement. 

[S Clark]

I had a DENON dp1200 which I highly recommend. My turntable guy thinks its just as good as my technics sl1200g .

The denon can be bought for quite a good price. They go for about $500usd here in Australia but on Unisound they sell for about $250usd.

Rod is correct; Denon made some very fine tables.  I've always thought the best value is to go to the top of the line, and drop down a model or two.  Let the high end guys bid for the prestige of the "best". 

[mr_bill]

Kenwood, Victor, Yamaha, Denon, some with headshells, some without,..…my head is spinning.

[unfairlane]

 I decided to buy me a decently sounding nostalgia setup some years ago. Started out by picking a good sounding but "payable* phono-stage,
went for the Audion Premier Phono stage. It`s pair of ECC88`s are the only tubes in my setup, actually relpaced by some 6N23P-EV.

*My friends Jadis JP80MC was to me "unpayable"

 While concidering to build up a Sony TTS300 I came over a Sony PS1800A, the consumer version of the TTS3000. Replaced the old long signal-cable with my own diy reference cable, calmed down the platter and plinth with a mix of marine-silicone and small lead-shots. The arm, a Sony PUA230 is still tight like a new one.

 Since this is a nostalgia setup I`m running old MM`s like Ortophon`s, Shures & ADC`s.

  The Audion Premier was at $1200,- when I bought it, $2k now.

  https://trueaudiophile.com/audion-premier-mm-phono-stage-amplifier/#reviews

  There are lots of old turntables that are "good enough" in the pricerange around $500,- Gave $350,- for my old 1966 Sony since they are underestimated.

   And old cartridges like Ortophon VMS20E or M20E, even with cheap "unoriginal" needles sounds impressive on this setup.

[wushuliu]

Kenwood, Victor, Yamaha, Denon, some with headshells, some without,..…my head is spinning.

Here is a great reference website for more info on some of those models:

https://audio-database.com/

[mix4fix]

The system that was proposed would be a vinyl rig and cable for under $1000.  And that's with an older TT.  You might find a used Vista phono pre.  So perhaps you could get out for under $600.
Perhaps you could find a JVC QL-F 4 or 5 with cartridge for $250- 300.  They can sound very good.  The F6 has a better tone arm.
Or you can go to vintage record store and buy an old receiver and a Dual TT for around $350  It's cheap. Not sure about Cheerful.
It's all about budget.  IF you had $500, I'd spend $300 on the TT and $200 on the cartridge-- that's using an older Goodwill receiver with a built in phono input.  Less that that, I'd stay with CD's. 

Let's start over.  What gear do you have, and what is your budget?  Then we can actually make some real world recommendations.   

Actually, $1k is what I always recommend for the vinyl starting point for a newbie. Turntable, cartridge, and phono stage for $1k.

Same theory can be applied to other prices of it. $1K for amplification and control (typically an integrated amplifier). Once you go up in budget, you can get a decent preamplifier and separate amplifier if desired.

[lazydays]

Just a suggestion:

* turntable; Technics SL1200's have became way over priced and are not worth half the asking price. The JVC Q Series is a better table right out of the box, and the last one I bought was about $35 (Q4). I own two or three, and won't part with them. I also own a Technics 1200, and the JVC is a better table. The upper end Denons are pretty good, but getting over priced. A couple years back I did some experimenting with an Onkyo, and it was fairly good while being built like a tank. Never herd one, but have some folks around me that like the Sansui. Run from the name Marantz!!

* phono preamp; I can recommend the Darlington. Not quite as warm as the George Wright, but seems to be involving.

* cartridge; kinda like a personal choice, but have always had good luck with a Grado. The Denon high out put moving coils are also very nice

* cables; are like waking up with a viper in the blanket! Been using a ZU for several years, but it has it's issues. Prone to picking up FM radio broadcasts. I'd highly recommend a tone arm rewire down the road, and get rid of the OEM head shell!

OK; lets say you bought that direct drive turn table at a yard sale. Buy a good quality head shell with some of the money you saved. Go to Harbor Freight and pick up two cheap torpedo levels. Now go up the street to Lowes (or whatever) and look for two pieces of granite that are larger than the turn table, and then go to Ebay and buy six or eight Sorbethene pucks to go between the two slabs. That will be your isolation pad. I use a Ginko Cloud, and the price tag has gone crazy these days (I paid about $200). I could have bought two or three of them, and now cry that I didn't buy two. Most all direct drive tables are prone to feed back, and please don't tell me you don't have any feed back! The weight at the end of the arm is not close to being accurate! Find a digital scale that reads down to a grain or even a tenth of a grain. (don't buy one you see made for audiophiles, but look on Ebay). I still to this very day find the anti skate set up to be nuts.

On the otherhand you could simply buy a nice used SOTA and be done with all the feed back issues from the get go.
gary

[mr_bill]

Ok, I checked out the first link with the Victor turntable.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154537645122?hash=item23fb295442:g:NYoAAOSweVJg9oNN

Here’s two more - another Victor and a nice Denon:  of the three, which is the best bet?  I need help with vintage tables!  (Not much experience here)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/155075580464?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11304.m43.l1120&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=97f38a936ba243ca8f9a5b93c45b5577&bu=43156256117&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20230704023337&segname=11304

https://www.ebay.com/itm/155077003082?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11304.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=770124a314cd4cfd8a609b92df07034e&bu=43156256117&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20230704023333&segname=11304

[mr_bill]

^^  above  - vintage vinyl experts comments if you could, looking at one of these links 

[wushuliu]

^^  above  - vintage vinyl experts comments if you could, looking at one of these links 

I vote for the Y5. Looks best condition of the 3.

Also for my own clarification, you're not familiar with vintage tables but you do have experience with turntables right? This isn't your first table, correct?

[mr_bill]

Thanks Wu, yes that is correct. I’ve had a B & O turntable and also a Rega planar 3.
These vintage unisound tables look like a really good value but also hope I’m not getting in over my head. Want a hood non fussy table. Simpler the better.

 I see that with the Y5 I would need to buy a head shell and cartridge too.
Are the other two tables ‘lesser’ tables than the Y5?

[wushuliu]

Thanks Wu, yes that is correct. I’ve had a B & O turntable and also a Rega planar 3.
These vintage unisound tables look like a really good value but also hope I’m not getting in over my head. Want a hood non fussy table. Simpler the better.

 I see that with the Y5 I would need to buy a head shell and cartridge too.
Are the other two tables ‘lesser’ tables than the Y5?

The B37 is technically lesser in that it is an earlier model but my concern would be what looked like veneer starting to peel in the front corners for the one you linked. I do love the look of that era of JVC tables tho. The Denon I'm not as familiar with but I believe that as far as specs go it too would be considered not as good. The tonearm of the JVC is much better IMO. One thing to note is that JVC made Denon's motors, which is why their tables looked so similar. Might as well buy the from the original manufacturer.

The headshell for the JVC is not proprietary, any headshell will suffice (unless you really want the original).

[toocool4]

Thanks Wu, yes that is correct. I’ve had a B & O turntable and also a Rega planar 3.
Want a hood non fussy table. Simpler the better.

If you are looking at vintage and simplicity, you can't get any simpler than Rega. Not much to go wrong with Rega, they just work and you have had Rega before.