New to Vinal. Need turntable advice!

Vinal is spelled vinyl!!

You can read the AVR's manual to get the how to.


A phono cart puts out a very small signal, about 5mV for a MM type. A CDP/DVDP puts aut 2V, or 400x more. LPs are recorded with a standard EQ curve that needs to be equalised to get a flat replay response. Here is the curve for replay, with record obviously being the inverse of that.



Highs are boosted to get a decent signal to noise figure, and lows are reduced in level to get a reasonable playing time on the disc as the higher the LF amplitude, the wider the groove.

Pretty much ur 3 best choices in my mind would be the pro-ject debut III, the music hall 2.2, and the rega rp1

Rather than get a new turntable that might suck, save $ and get a used one. For example, you can get used Technics direct drive turntable for a fraction of what a music hall costs and sound better. For example, I got a mint semi auto Technics sld2 off of craigslist fot $60. Take the $ you save an get a decent preamp and a good cartridge.

Also good advice, especially the second hand idea, and the Technics DD. I'd advise not getting something that has been DJ'd.

Agreed, in my experience the Technics DD 'tables are a good value.

I'll third that . For all the bad rap that Technics rack systems (read- Matsushita[Panasonic, etc.]) got in the 80's, their turntables were remarkably solid and well liked by "most". I actually own/owned other mainstream brands like Pioneer, Sony and Garrard, but I've used, sold and appreciated Technics too.

I'm sure someone will come along and insist you need a hoity-toity TT to get "real" fidelity, but let me preemptively tell you that they'll be FOS. Yes, they look really cool, but...

The basics of any TT are, imo; accurate speed, quality cartridge & stylus. Yes, there are many other variables, but most deal with inaudible differences that most of us would never notice.

EDIT: It was merely my opinion that Technic's rack systems got a bad rap in the 80'. I stated that incorrectly, as it is me who was never a fan of rack systems, lol. I had to sell them as part of my job at one point. Actually, they were probably the best rack systems on the market in their price range/value ($400-$1000+).

I was an early adopter to digital (1983 or 4) and abandoned it for many years quickly thereafter, staying with vinyl as a primary source. I have owned many brands and models of TT incl Linn (3 LP12s), Thorens, Systemdeck, Michell Gyro, Townhend Rock, Garrard, Ariston AR and others, and I keep circling back to the SP10 as the best.
Technics TTs can be very good and very well built, lasting ages unless abused. They were just too mainstream to be accepted for the high performers they were - maybe if they'd separated some off as a different brand a la Lexus/Infinity they'd have gotten more kudos.

When I was a teen in the '80's, I bought a brand new Technics belt drive SlB2 semi auto. Despite its low price, had better specs than anything at its price or double. I had a Shure V15 III on it and it could track anything, even the warped records that were so common in the day. It took a beating, was dragged to numerous parties, lived in two different dorm rooms, had beer spilled on it, etc. Still worked great! It was in my parents garage when they tossed it. I got a new 1200 last spring and love it, but still like the cheap ones. The SLD2 I picked up will probably end up as part of a system I'll give to my daughter, still would like to have it up next to my 1200.

Marty you won't need a preamp with the 4308 it has a phono input You have to assign phono to zone 2 in one of the setups in the menu, amp assingment I think. As for TT the technics are very good like some of the other posters stated stay away from dj rigs too much wear and tear.

$400 should get you something from project, rega, the technics. if a newbie to vinyl something like the rega's are excellent , very easy to use, pretty much plug and play.

as far as phono stage you wont need one for the 4308 if use the phono input but keep in mind it will only work if you have a high output MM phono cartridge. no good for low output moving coils.

my suggestion get a deck you can either upgrade or easily sell on to either upgrade or move on. reason being if new to vinyl who knows you might either take to it that you want a better deck or upgrade it. or alternatively might even turn out vinyl is not for you and you decide to sell it off and move on if that the case youd be better off buying a second hand rig(apart from the 2nd hand dj rigs), that way if selling the loss on resale not as much

Some of the Dual belt drive tables were very good quality and sounding units if you can find a old one cheap so another one to consider. Used to see them at garage sales cheap and they sold a lot of them so not too hard to find a good upper end unit cheap. I also had a Technics SL220 table back in the day and it sounded nice with it's belt drive and OK quality arm with a Shure v15III.
You can spend stupid money on a table so get in cheap then decide if it's worth it to you to step up.