Upgraded to a Uniti Star from an Arcam Solo earlier this year (& have just changed speakers from Quad 11L’s to Focal Aria 926’s). Now it’s time to upgrade the turntable. Currently have a very basic Project Debut (using a Project phono stage). Whilst I don’t listen to a huge amount of vinyl I would like something that will do justice to the. rest of the system. And whilst I would love an LP12 the expense would be unjustifiable for the amount of vinyl I listen to.
So, what would people recommend in the £500-600 bracket…a more up to date project, a Rega or anything else?
1 Like
A P3 would be a sound choice.
1 Like
A Rega would fit the bill very well. Ex-dem deals are a good way to get a well looked after machine a grade above what you would get new.
2 Likes
As above Rega P3 or if you could stretch to a P6 even better
2 Likes
There’s great fondness for Rega on this site - and you rarely go wrong with a Rega p3 , but Pro-Ject don’t get the same fondness and that’s a shame.
Their products are well made, good value for money and I would be very happy with a Pro-Ject 1 Expression which comes at £599 with lid and cartridge
2 Likes
Not to put project down I’ve had the carbon debut it felt cheap and nasty compared to a rega off similar value
But there electronics feel and sound brilliant and well made from the cheap to expensive
Rega is the obvious choice, anyday over Project imo.
Maybe a s/h RP6 or a new P3 bundled with Elys, not my cup, I’d consider a better cartridge but no knowledge to the project phonostage, maybe the weak link next.
Alternative could be a Technics 1500c.
unfortunately these come included phonostage and a cheap Ortofon cartridge only.
If they’d excluded these it might have been a winner.
A mint second hand Thorens TD160mkII with Audio Technica mm cart will do the trick. The Thorens is a solid buy and sounds more lively than Rega P2/P3 or P6.
2 Likes
I don’t think you’ll be paying much for the phono stage, I doubt it would be more than 50 euro cheaper without it. And you can choose not to use it.
The same would be true for the cart, likely the saving’s even less in both cases.
It wouldn’t have been a 700 euro deck without them.
In principle there are benefits to a built in phono stage. With no leads to it you avoid the whole capacitance issue with MM/MI carts. But I have no idea how good it is otherwise / compares to the project.
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.