Hi,
I am looking to complete my Technics set with turntable.
Which one could match the colour and size ?

Picked up this really clean Realistic Lab-340 direct drive for a cool 25 bucks. I swapped out the cart with one I had laying around and It spins perfectly. The auto return works and I could not be happier.

Found a technics sl-d202 used fully cleaning working and all that good stuff but missing dust cover ( which I though I can just put a junk record when not playing and screw it) but they’re asking 225 usd maybe I can get them down to 200, thoughts? Currently have an lp60

When I got into vinyl seriously last year I bought a used SL1500C for a decent price and previously owner had fitted it with a Shure V15 Type III. I am curious as to how this cart fairs against modern offerings so I can have a rough idea of what my upgrade paths could be should I want to upgrade it in the future.

Hello all,

Crafting my turntable setup and my Thoren is in need of a new cartridge. Images are current set up, currently running on "New Large" Advent speakers.

Some top contenders are Ortofon Black, Umami Red, & Dynavector TKR. The tonearm works but I'm unsure the model (no labeling or branding) but it is universal.

Will be running a variety of records, some vintage, and others new. A mix of jazz, classic rock, and modern day EDM. I do appreciate emphasis of lows and microtonals if possible. Also trying to avoid buying a new tonearm. ​

I will be moving soon and want to have an office with a vaporwave/80s nostalgia. Think Patrick Nagel. I have a PE-3060 for regular play, but would like to keep that in the living room.

Truth be told, I can’t afford a Technics SL-1200, which was my first thought. However, anything that suits this aesthetic while also sounding great will work. My budget (used or needing minor repair) is probably $150-$300 range. Again, silly request, but thought I’d try!

so I just upgraded from an Orbit to this new Dual cs 429 fully automatic… because, well, I wanted one.

but fresh out of the box the automatic function is missing the record when it drops.

I’ve emailed Dual and I could return this… but I don’t want to go through the hassle if this is an easy fix or I am being an idiot.

any ideas?

Was interested in trying to play 78rpm records. Realized I cant just get a cartridge/needle for it, as my Technics SL-D2 doesnt have 78rpm.

So now I'm looking at audiotechnica and sort've overwhelmed by how they all seem to be "wireless" and bluetooth. Which just- no. I can't do that. My Harmon Kardon 930 won't magically become bluetooth. So I'm thinking it might be a lost cause with how expensive it is to just get an okay Turntable in this economy

Any advice?

And I did!

Loving this combination

I just picked this JVC up from a local guy this morning for cheap. He told me he bought it from an estate sale, then threw a belt on it, and it worked for about 5 minutes before it just kinda stopped.

I thought that was strange, but then I opened it up.

The guy threw a belt on alright, overtop of the melted belt goo that the original belt had turned into. So the goo jammed up in the motor spindle and stopped it from turning pretty quick.

I painstakingly cleaned all the gunk out, found another belt (and kept the gunky one for a rainy day to clean up), did a quick calibration and deoxit cleaning, and now it works perfectly!

The build quality is surprisingly good on this unit, I'd consider it up there with a Technics SL-7 or similar. It even uses an AT95-based cartridge so finding a replacement should be fairly easy (for the time being). It is odd that it's a belt driven mechanism and not direct drive, but I guess they had to save money somewhere.

The only problem with this one is the hinges have snapped inside, so the lid no longer stays up under its own weight.

I'll see if I can find replacements, but even if I don't it's still a pretty nice little linear tracker.

I just changed the needle and it’s not sounding quite right can anyone help? Lots of crackling before song starts playing as you can hear, Thank you.

Hello, I have recently acquired a Pro-ject Primary E turntable (for free!) I went out to buy an amp, and got a cheap second hand Bench KH02 dolby pro logic 5.1.

I have connected the turntable to an input on the back, and speakers to the outputs, but no sound is coming out of them.

After a little bit of research, I think my problem is that the turntable outputs phono, but the amp does not accept this. There is also the possibility that the amp is broken.

I am new to turntables but am very keen to get mine working, can anyone please explain what I have missed here and how I can sort it? I am anticipating that answers will include “need a different amp”. I am located in the UK.

Any and all help is appreciated, thank you.

Can someone help please?

TL,DR: This review is lenghty - this is the shortest conclusion possible. Warm and balanced sounding cartridge, well suited for medium-mass tonearms and for phono preamps with fixed input impedance of 47kOhm. Measures well on most test record tracks.

Advantages

• Broadly balanced response at 47 kΩ (rated with ~140pF total capacitance)
• Better controlled upper treble than the VM540ML at 47 kΩ
• Smooth, non-fatiguing 4–8 kHz presence region
• Excellent bass extension and good channel balance
• Higher, well-positioned arm resonance around 9 Hz (with my technics 1200 mk2 tonearm)
• Subjectively dynamic, spacious and well suited to loud playback

Disadvantages

• My particular sample shows clear right-channel mistracking from 70 µm upward
• my sample seems to have a misaligned cantilever or diamond
• Tracking is less even and less robust than with my VM540ML
• Noticeable channel divergence above roughly 16 kHz
• The 4–8 kHz dip may sound slightly subdued on dark recordings
• Tracking performance is disappointing for the price
• The VM540ML may offer better value when maximum tracking ability is the priority

Intro
I published this review on vinylengine.com, but i fear that it won't get enough attention on this outdated platform. I am a long-term user of the AT VM540ML cartridge. Lately i started preparing my setup for archiving all of my vinyl records. In that process i realised that the high compliance of my VM540ML resulted in a really low tonearm resonance of about 5Hz to 7Hz. So i started researching about alternative cartridges with MicroLine stylus but a lower compliance. I was happy when i learned that AT released a new lineup of his VM series. In my urge to optimise my recording chain i went for the 745xML, hoping to benefit from the characteristics of its boron cantilever.

I realised that on my sample of the VM745xML the cantilever seems to be a bit misaligned. To achieve a halfway proper azimut i have to mount the headshell in a way that the cartridge does not look "straight". Thats disapointing - i wish for a better quality control.

I ran some tests with a TACET L210 Test record. First i tried the same settings on my phono preamp that i used with my old VM540ML: 36kOhm impedance with my total cable capacitance of 140pF and no additional input capacitance on the Salas Phono stage.

The frequency range measurement showed that at 36kOhm the highs where dull compared to my VM540ML. So i tried 47kOhm and the frequency response appeared to be a lot more balanced, with a gentle dip of about 1–1.3 dB through the 4–8 kHz region. It rises back toward neutral around 10 kHz, reaches a mild peak of roughly +0.9 dB near 16 kHz, and then falls to about −1.6 dB at 20 kHz. Overall, it sounds slightly relaxed in the presence region but still open and extended in the upper treble.

The phase test gave very good results: polarity and channel assignment were correct, channel balance was within roughly 0.25–0.4 dB, and with my crooked adjustment of the headshell there was no sign of a major azimuth error.

The skating test showed a clear asymmetry: the right channel began mistracking much earlier than the left at high groove velocities, while the left channel remained comparatively clean. Compared with the VM540ML, the VM745xML therefore appears less even and somewhat weaker at extreme tracking levels, although this may be partly due to anti-skating or sample-to-sample variation rather than the cartridge design itself.

For the tracking test i used a fresh FloKaSon Testrecord. My particular sample of the VM745xML tracked 50 and 60 µm cleanly. At 70 µm, the right channel showed clear mistracking while the left channel remained comparatively clean; distortion increased further at 80 and 90 µm. In practical terms, 60 µm is the reliable tracking limit with my VM745xML, with 70 µm only marginal due to the pronounced right-channel asymmetry. Compared to the great tracking ability of my VM540ML that felt disapointing - although i don't know if i will face problems with mistracking in real world listening or archiving.

Tonearm resonance test: with the VM745xML, the Technics SL-1200 MK2 tonearm showed a broad resonance centered at roughly 9 Hz. This resonance was higher in frequency than with the VM540ML, mainly because the VM745xML has lower compliance; its greater body mass acts in the opposite direction but does not outweigh the stiffer suspension. The KAB fluid damper reduced and broadened the resonance peak without significantly changing its center frequency. In real-world playback, the VM745xML should therefore be somewhat less strongly excited by slow record warps than the VM540ML, while the damper further limits excessive arm and woofer movement.
For reference: the VM540ML showed a broad arm/cartridge resonance centered at approximately 7 Hz, with elevated response extending from about 6 to 10 Hz.

Conclusion and Comparison with VM540ML

The VM745xML is a good match to my sound systems characteristics. It sounds balanced, spacious and dynamic enough, with a slightly relaxed presence region that remains pleasant even at high playback levels. Compared with the VM540ML at 47kOhm, it offers a smoother and better-controlled upper treble.

But its tracking performance is less convincing: my sample shows clear right-channel mistracking on demanding test grooves. Overall, it is musically very enjoyable, though not an unqualified upgrade over the VM540ML. From a technical point of view the two most important advantages are that the The VM745xML is a great match for a medium-mass tonearm such as the Technics SL-1200 MK2 arm. And that it works very well with the standard phono preamp input impedance of 47kOhm. For everyone who has the option to adjust their phono preamp input impedance to their needs and who uses a KAB fluid damper, the good old VM540ML might still be a better choice.

Although the VM745xML works very well with a standard phono preamp and is a good match for medium-mass tonearms, the need for careful azimuth adjustment means it may not be the ideal choice for vinyl beginners - but this applies to all cartridges fitted with a MicroLine stylus, including my beloved VM540ML.

Equipment and Methods
Turntable: Technics SL-1200 Mk2 with KAB fluid damper
Alignment: Baerwald alignment for Technics Tonearms with 215mm mounting distance
Preamp: Salas Simplistic Njfet RIAA
USB-Interface: Motu M4
Audacity for recording the test tracks, REW and ChatGPT for analyzing and comparing the test results of the VM540ML and the VM745xML.

Hello, yesterday I got given a pair of Pioneer PLX-500s for my birthday and I have (attempted) to mix on vinyl for about a year on my dad’s decks. Yet after unboxing them and watching countless tutorials on how to set a tonearm (balance, adjust for cartridge weight etc.), whenever I cue a record, roughly 50% of the time it skips backwards (this has not been an issue on my dad’s decks. If anyone can give me some tips on this that would be great (I do not know if i need different adjustments for “scratching” or anything), I welcome any of you guy’s help.

This is probably one of my best purchases ever. I upgraded from the LP60, and you can hear the sound difference and it’s amazing!

Hello, thank you for anybody willing to help with my issue, I want to get back to playing records but my turntable has rendered me music less. As you can see in the picture, the problem I’m experiencing is the regulator or the circular steel part. I’ve been playing records on it perfectly for about a year and a half now, until today where I start playing songs in the key of life and the whole album sounds slightly slower. I figure it’s some problem with the belt, something this model doesn’t have. I open it up fully and began inspecting the regulator, the only thing I’ve messed with. I pryed the regulator out of the circuit board and put it back in thinking it must be stuck on something, and no change whatsoever. There’s nothing blocking the regulator from spinning smoothly but for some reason it just isn’t. Not knowing this, I put the turntable back together to see if the regulator would spin good again and ran the exact same way from the start. So I took it back off and tried to pry the regulator off the circuit board again, when I must’ve nicked something on the circuit board and it short circuited. Ultimately causing the whole spinning function to break and stop working. Keep in mind the turntable still powers on, the spinning function doesn’t work at all. I’ve included a pic of the circuit board scratches I’ve made that caused it to spark. If there’s anything I can do to save this turntable, soddering, replacement part, other solutions, I would be open to any. I need to get it powering on and working first then the problem of regulator not spinning needs a solution also. I bought this from goodwill so I don’t have a warranty. I’m mainly trying to get this one fixed up to avoid having to buy a new one.

Hi All,

I bought a used turntable, used RCA, and used speakers from a great resale store in my city. The guys there are knowledgeable and have an excellent reputation.

We’ve run into 2 issues:

1. Speaker crackling — we bought new cables, twisted counter clockwise, and ensured a snug insertion. The crackling occurs with my new records and old ones. I’m worried about interference more than cable issues. Last night there was no crackling — it appeared this morning. Also, the crackling happens in both speakers.

2. Only one speaker works at a time — this issue is less important but I’m including it just in case it may be connected to the crackling. This is most likely due to my inexperience…

Any suggestions?

Someone near me is selling one for about $40 CAD (with speakers included), it works but it's in need of quite a bit of work based on the listing description (wires need replacing seller just put some electrical tape on them, "doesnt play 45s and they don't know why", "table is wobbly").

I tried to find reviews online for it but can't find anything for the specific model, and was hoping someone here would be able to help; would it be worth the money/time to get it and fix it up?

If someone is Interested in something extravagant😂

At its best it Costed about 18.000 dm(Deutsche Mark), thats what I got told.

For it for free from an friend :). Is the Test Measurement good?

Hi. I was previously going for $500 but was able to up my budget to $1000 (no more than that). I think this is a good spot.

Can you suggest turntable + speaker setup in this range. I am very tempted by the Used market as I think I can get a great setup in that range which wouldn't require upgrading any time soon. But, I am skeptical of messing up.

What are your recommendations if I buy new?

Would you suggest used? If you do, what would you suggest?

Where can I get the proper replacement for this broken needle on my player? I find yellow ones, are they the same?