Record player, self contained and cheap...

[Davie]

First, please let it be known I know nothing about this subject however wife has just announced she'd quite like a record player for Christmas to play her recently acquired collection of old vinyl from her late Granny... good memories and all that.

So, I turn to the experts to hopefully recommend something small, self contained and cheap (sub £50?) that may suit. I don't want some sort of ten level, stacking system from the 80's nor something that Tiësto would use to deploy some hard drops at Tomorrowland.

Any suggestions to a nice little set up? Probably worth noting wife likes delicate, girlie things and vintage stuff so something "nice" visually would probably appeal more than features or sound quality would, but again not complete rubbish. Just something that looks pretty that she can drag out from under the bed once in a blue moon rather than something that lives on the coffee table ready to be destroyed by the kids.

Thanks

Edited by Davie on Wednesday 8th December 23:28

[rjfp1962]

Not sure how much this helps, but I had something similar to this back in the 70's. Cost me 25p from a village jumble sale
If you do a search on Google Images "Vintage Cased Record Player"
That might help...

[Lucid_AV]

How about something like this? Link
Duck egg blue. Compact little case. Under £50

[Davie]

Lucid_AV said:

How about something like this? Link
Duck egg blue. Compact little case. Under £50

Ordered. That was easy... probably could've worked that out for myself to be fair but was suffering a complete brain fart yesterday, probably as buying presents fills me with utter contempt! However, many thanks!

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Davie said:

Any suggestions to a nice little set up? Probably worth noting wife likes delicate, girlie things and vintage stuff so something "nice" visually would probably appeal more than features or sound quality would, but again not complete rubbish.

I'm afraid what you've bought is complete rubbish. The actual platter, arm and stylus is a single standard Chinese unit that manufacturers can buy in bulk for under £2 each. It's then been stuck in a pretty case with some very cheap speakers.

But to be fair, at under £50 for a record player, complete rubbish is all that's available. So it's just a case a choosing the best looking rubbish, and the one you've got fits the bill.

[Lucid_AV]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I'm afraid what you've bought is complete rubbish.

That's a little harsh even if it's mostly true. The brief was small, with a bit of girly appeal, and under £50. What I suggested fills that brief.

I've tried talking people around to better gear. Sometime it works because they're buying for themselves and the budget was just a finger-in-the-air guess. Other times, like this one, there's a significant other involved, and so the buyer isn't the end user. That changes things.

Perhaps if the OP's good lady gets bitten by the vinyl bug then that's the time to get a bit more serious about some gear. We will still be here to offer advice on new or used. In the mean time, let her be happy with their new toy.

The only additional item I would recommend immediately is a good carbon fibre record cleaning brush if budget allows. At £17-£22 it might seem a bit indulgent in the context of a £50 TT, but the vinyl may well be around for the next two/three TT upgrades and so looking after it now is a good plan.

This is the sort of thing I bought almost 40 years ago. I still have it and use it today. It has been a very worthwhile purchase. Dust Jockey

It has two rows of carbon fibre bristles rather than one in the similar-looking versions. The centre pad is a fine velvet. It requires no additional chemicals or sprays. Just use it as it is. Simple.

This could be an ideal gift idea for someone looking to buy for the OP's significant other but struggling for a gift idea.

Edited by Lucid_AV on Sunday 12th December 12:49

[Nick Pappagiorgio]

If it's a lot of "old vinyl from her late Granny" she's intending on playing, you might want to double check she's not looking to play any 78rpm discs (will be pre 60's) as most new players won't have that speed setting

As far as cheap players are concerned, if all she wants to do is play stuff without too much care for precise sound quality, I got a Bush branded one for £18 in an Argos sale about 4 years ago (currently £30). I use it as a back up to the main separates system and it's adequate for the basic job I expect of it

[Deranged Rover]

Lucid_AV said:

Perhaps if the OP's good lady gets bitten by the vinyl bug then that's the time to get a bit more serious about some gear. We will still be here to offer advice on new or used. In the mean time, let her be happy with their new toy.

Sadly, the above Chinese tatbox will most likely have damaged the records by then.

[Bob-iylho]

I'm about to buy one of these bluetooth ones, anyone got any comments on it.

https://www.thehouseofmarley.co.uk/stir-it-up-wire...

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Lucid_AV said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

I'm afraid what you've bought is complete rubbish.

That's a little harsh even if it's mostly true. The brief was small, with a bit of girly appeal, and under £50. What I suggested fills that brief.

He also said he didn't want complete rubbish. So your suggestion doesn't fit the brief, because it is complete rubbish. However, I also said everything at that price point is complete rubbish, so at least what you recommended is quite good looking rubbish.

But the OP needs to know it's rubbish.

[devnull]

All these recent units are all complete and utter trash, as above they are a cheap standard unit rammed into something aesthetically please. Worse, they will probably do a good job at trashing your vinyls as they press quite hard into the grooves.

[Lucid_AV]

Deranged Rover said:

Sadly, the above Chinese tatbox will most likely have damaged the records by then.

Will it though?

The basic tonearm/cartridge design has been around for decades. All those stack systems and midi stereo systems from the 80s and 90s all had something along the same sort of lines as these new Crossley/Ion/DigitNow etc turntables. The stylus design goes back even further.



I have plenty of my vinyl albums from the 80s that were first played on a BSR turntable not far off the quality of this DigitNow. Those albums still play just fine today. The stylus in the BSR was designed to track at 4gms. My Linn, AR Cambridge, AudioTechnica, Rega and Dynavector cartridges were all designed to track at 1.3-1.6gms. The stylus design for the DIgitNow/Ion/Crosley etc TTs are designed to track at 5gms. The tracking weight isn't a problem so long as the stylus tip itself isn't worn.

The type of stylus for the cartridge fitted to these turntables comes in three versions.



Crosley seems to fit the basic plastic cantilever job to its TTs. The DigitNow claims to use a diamond stylus.