Discussion
If you don’t have any kind of hifi system £50 will see you limited to suitcase ‘retro’ turntables, these don’t sound great and generally have a poor reputation but if you just want to hear old records it will do the job.
If you have a hifi you may be able to find a turntable with a built in phono stage for around £50 if you don’t mind going for a used one.
Beyond that your choice is build a separates system (£100s-£1000s), or the simple solution would be a turntable with a Bluetooth output and matching speaker(s), if you already have the latter the former could be found for around £100-150 brand new.
If you have a hifi you may be able to find a turntable with a built in phono stage for around £50 if you don’t mind going for a used one.
Beyond that your choice is build a separates system (£100s-£1000s), or the simple solution would be a turntable with a Bluetooth output and matching speaker(s), if you already have the latter the former could be found for around £100-150 brand new.
If you don’t have any sort of hifi system at all, I’m not sure I’d recommend £50 as a starting point, especially if you want to play records.
Could you take your time and save up some more money, maybe buying items as they appear on the used market? It’s too easy to waste money in this hobby.
Could you take your time and save up some more money, maybe buying items as they appear on the used market? It’s too easy to waste money in this hobby.
Still a long way above your budget but this is where decent sound starts https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/28033848488?iid=362906439...
There are several reviews when the price was £180-£200 and they were very complementary. A few links below.
https://thevinylfactory.com/features/turntable-rev...
https://theaudiophileman.com/lenco/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenco-L-3808-White-Integr...
https://www.trustedreviewer.co.uk/review-of-lenco-...
There are several reviews when the price was £180-£200 and they were very complementary. A few links below.
https://thevinylfactory.com/features/turntable-rev...
https://theaudiophileman.com/lenco/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenco-L-3808-White-Integr...
https://www.trustedreviewer.co.uk/review-of-lenco-...
If you are starting from scratch with that budget then I’d avoid vinyl I’m sorry to say.
Not knowing what the records you’ve been gifted are I don’t even know if they are worth buying a turntable for. That sounds rather harsh but, growing up in the 80’s when cds were coming onstream, a number of the albums I bought then were very poorly mastered on wafer thin vinyl that warped instantly. I played them on a cheap turntable and they were nowhere near as good as the albums I played on my father’s hifi.
Vinyl is quite unforgiving of inexpensive set ups.
Many years later I bought a nice turntable, phono amp (a special amplifier to go between the turntable and the main amplifier unless it has phono built in) and some heavyweight vinyl to play through my amp. It sounded great but had required a bit of an investment.
I suggest you take a few albums to richer sounds to see what they can set you up with and then decide if it is worth it for you. They are normally very helpful.
As others have said eBay can also be worth a look but you’ll be needing turntable, phono stage, amp and speakers before you can play anything and so it is going to be difficult.
Not knowing what the records you’ve been gifted are I don’t even know if they are worth buying a turntable for. That sounds rather harsh but, growing up in the 80’s when cds were coming onstream, a number of the albums I bought then were very poorly mastered on wafer thin vinyl that warped instantly. I played them on a cheap turntable and they were nowhere near as good as the albums I played on my father’s hifi.
Vinyl is quite unforgiving of inexpensive set ups.
Many years later I bought a nice turntable, phono amp (a special amplifier to go between the turntable and the main amplifier unless it has phono built in) and some heavyweight vinyl to play through my amp. It sounded great but had required a bit of an investment.
I suggest you take a few albums to richer sounds to see what they can set you up with and then decide if it is worth it for you. They are normally very helpful.
As others have said eBay can also be worth a look but you’ll be needing turntable, phono stage, amp and speakers before you can play anything and so it is going to be difficult.
I'd definitely suggest second hand. Have a look on Gumtree or Facebook marketplace for second hand decent gear, there's plenty of folk get bored and sell things off or upgrading and want things moved on quickly.
My current system is around £1500 worth of equipment at retail prices. But its been built by trading up second hand pieces until I could get the cash together for a new system.
I've bought more than one amp/speaker combo for less than your budget, and a couple of turntables that would do the job you needed for less than £30. It's not impossible you just need to do some research, have a plan and start browsing classifieds.
My current system is around £1500 worth of equipment at retail prices. But its been built by trading up second hand pieces until I could get the cash together for a new system.
I've bought more than one amp/speaker combo for less than your budget, and a couple of turntables that would do the job you needed for less than £30. It's not impossible you just need to do some research, have a plan and start browsing classifieds.
Facebook Marketplace is where you should be looking. You can get some really nice kit from the 80's for little money, and it will be way better than anything modern unless you spend hundreds.
Avoid like the plague anything that does cheap Vinyl to MP3 conversion (why would you do that?) and makes like Ion, Bush, Steepletone, and the absolute garbage Crosley shyte. Not only will they sound truly awful (like low bitrate DAB awful that even your Gran would be offended by), but they will most likely ruin the disk with their ridiculously heavy tracking weight. And I say that as an entry level amateur.
Avoid like the plague anything that does cheap Vinyl to MP3 conversion (why would you do that?) and makes like Ion, Bush, Steepletone, and the absolute garbage Crosley shyte. Not only will they sound truly awful (like low bitrate DAB awful that even your Gran would be offended by), but they will most likely ruin the disk with their ridiculously heavy tracking weight. And I say that as an entry level amateur.
bobski1 said:
I have nothing at the moment so would be starting from scratch. I don't plan on going crazy with records.
Not sure I'd make use out of a full hi-fi system, a turntable and some speakers might be about my level for the moment
Not sure I'd make use out of a full hi-fi system, a turntable and some speakers might be about my level for the moment
A very simple solution would be the Lenco turntable I linked to earlier in the connected to a pair of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/PreSonus-3-5-inch-High-De...
It would also provide an easy way to rip all the vinyl to your PC/laptop so you could use it anywhere........on your phone, in the car etc.
Edited by Crackie on Tuesday 11th February 12:02
Crackie said:
Still a long way above your budget but this is where decent sound starts https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/28033848488?iid=362906439...
The Dual MTR-40 is very similar (Technics SL1200 cut price copy) and was recently available from Lidl at £99Crackie said:
bobski1 said:
I have nothing at the moment so would be starting from scratch. I don't plan on going crazy with records.
Not sure I'd make use out of a full hi-fi system, a turntable and some speakers might be about my level for the moment
Not sure I'd make use out of a full hi-fi system, a turntable and some speakers might be about my level for the moment
A very simple solution would be the Lenco turntable I linked to earlier in the connected to a pair of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/PreSonus-3-5-inch-High-De...
It would also provide an easy way to rip all the vinyl to your PC/laptop so you could use it anywhere........on your phone, in the car etc.
Edited by Crackie on Tuesday 11th February 12:02
Jimboka said:
Crackie said:
bobski1 said:
I have nothing at the moment so would be starting from scratch. I don't plan on going crazy with records.
Not sure I'd make use out of a full hi-fi system, a turntable and some speakers might be about my level for the moment
Not sure I'd make use out of a full hi-fi system, a turntable and some speakers might be about my level for the moment
A very simple solution would be the Lenco turntable I linked to earlier in the connected to a pair of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/PreSonus-3-5-inch-High-De...
It would also provide an easy way to rip all the vinyl to your PC/laptop so you could use it anywhere........on your phone, in the car etc.
Edited by Crackie on Tuesday 11th February 12:02
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