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$18 USB Turntable — Parallax Forums

$18 USB Turntable

ercoerco Posts: 20,259
edited 2012-06-02 23:31 in General Discussion
From the precipitous price drops, it appears that the demand for these units is slowing down: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VIBE-Sound-VS-2001-USB-Turntable-Vinyl-Archiver-Rip-Your-Old-Vinyl-MP3-/221037507288

Yes, I still have some old vinyl I've been "saving", but no I wouldn't wreck them playing them on a cheap unit like this. In today's dollars, I used to spend more than $18 for one NEEDLE on my old MCS turntable. I'm not an audiophile junkie, but I cared about my records. Many of mine were played only once, while recorded to tape. Those were the days.

A buddy of mine has a brother who IS an audiophile junkie bachelor. In his house, he has 2 rooms full of equipment and speakers optimized for one (and only one) seating position. He cooks his food outside in the garage to avoid letting food steam and vapors "wreak havoc" on his equipment, speaker cones and wood speaker cases.

I'll have to ask if he showers in the house. There's a whole lotta steam there waiting to ruin something. :)

Comments

  • dmlandrumdmlandrum Posts: 13
    edited 2012-06-01 14:29
    It's interesting that this would come up now, as I've been thinking about buying a decent used turntable to digitize a bunch of old albums using my music studio setup downstairs. I would also need a phono preamp, but I'm pretty sure I could make one of those. I really have no idea what are good used tables, and of those which ones have needles readily available.
  • GadgetmanGadgetman Posts: 2,436
    edited 2012-06-01 14:51
    Well, for a decent system you can't go too wrong if you pick one with an Ortofon pickup.
    http://ortofon.dk/

    Pretty good sound quality for your money.
    Check out their webshop before buying a turntable, then you'll know which mounts and cartridges are available.
    Or if you find a used turntable with an Ortofon pickup or tone arm already mounted...
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2012-06-01 15:44
    You can still buy turntables, and most of the lower cost ones have the RIAA pre-amp built in. Prices start at around $100-150 for brands such as Pioneer and Sony. Of course, like anything else, you can pretty much spend as much as you want. I've seen some in the $30k range...
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,259
    edited 2012-06-01 15:48
    Back in the day, there was linear tracking for "perfect tonearm alignment".

    And prior to that, the big dawgs had the Accutrac 4000. THAT was it. Big money. But check this page, it looks like a NOS in the box unit sold for just $34 back in 2010! http://turntableusa.com/adc-accutrac-4000-turntable-nib
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-06-01 15:48
    erco wrote:
    ...no I wouldn't wreck them playing them on a cheap unit like this.
    But with a USB turntable you really only have to play them one more time. :)

    -Phil
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2012-06-01 15:52
    Check it out, it's actually the 16 most expensive, and prices start at only $19,000

    http://www.bornrich.com/entry/top-10-most-expensive-turntables/


    I don't think any of them have USB...
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-06-01 16:08
    Am I in the wrong business? Parting rich so-called audiophiles from their money is con man's goldmine. I'd really have to hold my nose doing it, though, regardless of how much their foolishness merited the fleecing.

    -Phil
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,259
    edited 2012-06-01 16:18
    There's an audiophile section at Las Vegas CES. One seller was selling woven AC power cords from real GOLD. Like golden monster cables for 120 VAC. He adamantly insisted that they made a huge difference in getting the optimum power out of a wall socket to your amplifier.

    Never mind that the low grade copper Romex cable on the other side of the wall socket to your fusebox remains unchanged.
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2012-06-01 17:21
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) wrote: »
    Am I in the wrong business? Parting rich so-called audiophiles from their money is con man's goldmine. I'd really have to hold my nose doing it, though, regardless of how much their foolishness merited the fleecing.

    -Phil

    I couldn't agree more. My friend just launched a line of audio amps, they're beautiful. But, they use terms like "the end result is a far superior tone." Hmmmmm......
  • lanternfishlanternfish Posts: 366
    edited 2012-06-02 23:31
    And then there was the turntable that used a laser diode instead of a stylus.
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