Ultimate Guide to Turntables
Our Friendly Turntable Help Guide
Are you in the market for a new turntable? If you’re feeling baffled by the huge array of options, keep reading to determine what kind of turntable is right for you.
Records are a wonderful way to listen to music, from selecting the individual records, setting up your turntable, and finally sitting down and enjoying the sound. The entire experience involves a lot more deliberate thought than simply streaming the latest tunes. Putting a little energy and love into listening to records can be one of the most rewarding experiences out there.
Buying a good-quality turntable is an investment in your future. You will find years of enjoyment if you look after it carefully, so choose wisely.
A few of the options we have in store:
Debut Carbon RecordMaster
Pro-Ject 1-Xpression Classic
McIntosh MT10
We are always here to help, so pop into one of our stores, or flick through an email and our helpful staff will get you on the right track.
Things to consider:
How do you want to listen?
What determines the sound quality?
How do I connect to my system?
How do I set up my turntable?
Do you have existing equipment?
How will you listen? Active vs. Casual Listening
The whole experience of listening to records obviously takes more care and time than streaming or listening to radio. That’s the beauty of the process. For every minute of time you invest, you get something much better in return, real enjoyment of your music.
Active listening is when you sit down and listen to music as your primary activity. It can be a really rewarding experience, but be warned: It’s addictive! If you consider yourself an active listener, you really should be listening to items before you purchase them, and considering what is going to sound best for your given budget.
If you are more of a casual listener, then things like simplicity of use become a little more important (although it’s still important for your system to sound good!)
What Determines the Sound Quality?
Wouldn’t it be nice if sound quality were simple? It would certainly make our job easier!
Sound quality is complicated because humans are complicated and what sounds incredible to one person might just be average to the next. That’s where our most important suggestion comes in:
Listen to what you are about to buy!
A million online reviews are no substitute for your own ears. What suits a reviewer doesn’t always suit your home. So the most important thing to determine sound quality is your own taste. We have demo rooms specifically set up so that you can be sure you are on the right track and end up with a system you will be happy with for many years.
Cartridges: Where the vinyl hits the road…
Cartridges are arguably the most important part of the turntable. They usually consist of a diamond tip mounted to a small metal cantilever. The movement of this cantilever in the cartridge produces the tiny electrical signal that goes on to ultimately drive the speakers and move the air that you listen to.
Choosing a cartridge can be tricky, and worthy of an article in itself.
The general idea of it is…
Moving Coil Cartridges sound better for high end systems
Moving Magnet Cartridges are more cost effective and not so sensitive to a phono preamplifier
Make sure you get at the very least an elliptical stylus tip (Spherical sounds awful on all stereo records)
More elaborate stylus profiles, generally require a tone arm with a lot of adjustments available to get the most out of them
A Thorens turntable in action
Physical Build Quality
Most people want a turntable that will last and sound good. Turntables are mechanical devices and so the more highly-engineered and heavily-built models will tend to sound better and last longer.
Things to look for:
Heavy plinth with quality isolation feet
Bearings that turn smoothly without noise
A simple mechanism (nothing to complicated)
A platter that is suited to the bearings and the rest of the design
Of course these are all things that cost money to build into your design, so it tends to be that more expensive models have better isolation from vibrations and are more solidly built.
How do I connect it to my system?
The signal coming out from the stylus is very quiet. Somewhere along the line, this signal needs to be amplified to reach similar levels to what is output from a CD player or similar. This is where the phono preamplifier comes into the equation.
Some cheaper turntable models may have the phono preamp built-in, to make things easy to connect. It’s worth noting that the quality of built-in phono preamps is generally fairly basic, so usually you are better off with a separate preamp.
Some amplifiers may have a phono preamp already built-in, so it’s worth checking before you purchase a separate one.
Phono preamplifiers have to amplify a very sensitive signal and precisely match tonal RIAA curves, so the quality can vary quite a lot. Picking one that is suitable for your cartridge and doesn’t lose any of the details is well worth some time and consideration.
How do I set up my turntable?
Taking the time to set up your turntable correctly can make a huge difference to the sound through your speakers! The first job is to use a spirit level to ensure the surface is precisely level.
Click here to watch Crighton set up a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon turntable
The next step is to make sure your cartridge is aligned correctly. Click here to see Audio-Technica’s excellent guide to cartridge alignment
Step three is getting the cartridge down-force correct. The easiest way to do this is with a small digital scale, although some turntables will make this easier. Have a chat with us or see your turntable’s manual for more information.
Do you have existing equipment?
If you already have a system you are happy with, it makes sense to look at something that works well with what you already have. Our friendly shop staff are usually more than happy to help fit something perfect into your system.
Now you’re up and running, sit back and enjoy!
Stop into one of our friendly shops and have a chat about how turntables can change your life!
