How should I go about buying a turntable? ?
I'm looking into buying my mother a vintage turntable for christmas. Being a 16 year old youngin', I know absolutely nothing about them. I want to play vinyls, lps, and of course, records. Also I don't want the type that plays CDs and is all 'refurbished' fake vintage. I'd really like to get a genuine record player, with a wooden cover.
I'm looking on E-bay, but I'm weary of the condition. I don't really know what to look for in deciding what 'good condition' is. And this sounds stupid, but how does the sound come out of the turntable? Do I need to buy separate speakers? What are some reliable brands? I think Dual is a brand, right? Are there key terms I need to know when looking for turn tables? C'mon oldsters, school me!!
OK. Record players can be stand alone or part of a stereo system. If it is stand alone it will have a speaker or speakers. Really old ones have 3 speeds. 78, 45, 33. Newer ones (relatively speaking) will only have 45 and 33. Those are the most common. Modern records (or lp’s) are vinyl. Really old ones can be metal w/ a vinyl coating. Most important thing is to be sure it comes with a needle and that you can readily find replacement needles. That can be tricky these days. The needle is in the end of the arm which is what reads the record and makes the sound. It plugs in the end of the arm. Most have swing arms. Just before CD’s took off they also had linear tracking. In a swing arm the arm pivots across the record at an angle. In linear it goes straight acrosss (like a CD optical scanner).
There were some very expensive ones back in the day. Your best bet is likely a record player that is part of a component system. When CD’s were becoming popular many stereos came with record and CD players. A few years later they stopped making records though so they went away. But many people held onto the old records before going digital. Good stereo brands are the same as today. Sony, Sansui, Sharp, Fisher, Pioneer and so on. See if you can find out the type of needle used so you can look for a replacement source. That will be the most important thing when getting a record player.
I hope this helps. Would you like to hear about rotarty dial telephones????