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Would getting an LP120 and upgrading the needle be a good investment? or should I be thinking bigger and getting a Fluance or Pro-ject?

I have a Marantz receiver and a Hitachi PS-38 record player going to some Klipsch speakers. LP 120 is hitting my desired price point but I would like some recommendations or opinions of people who have this turntable. Thank you.
 
AudioAce said:
Would getting an LP120 and upgrading the needle be a good investment? or should I be thinking bigger and getting a Fluance or Pro-ject?

I have a Marantz receiver and a Hitachi PS-38 record player going to some Klipsch speakers. LP 120 is hitting my desired price point but I would like some recommendations or opinions of people who have this turntable. Thank you.
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What's the complaint with the Hitachi? If it's in good shape I'd honestly say it's nicer than the tables you're considering.
 
kvetcha said:
What's the complaint with the Hitachi? If it's in good shape I'd honestly say it's nicer than the tables you're considering.
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Shure needles are hard to find in Canada as they’ve gone out of production. I’ve tried a few replacement needles from other places but the sound quality is much lower. When I put it at 45 it can’t hold a speed. It may stay at a steady speed for a minute before it speeds up or slows down.


I don’t know if changing the cartridge is an option as well. I’m not to familiar on how that works.
 
AudioAce said:
Would getting an LP120 and upgrading the needle be a good investment? or should I be thinking bigger and getting a Fluance or Pro-ject?

I have a Marantz receiver and a Hitachi PS-38 record player going to some Klipsch speakers. LP 120 is hitting my desired price point but I would like some recommendations or opinions of people who have this turntable. Thank you.
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Didn’t we decide we like the LP3 better than the 120? Because popmarket still has the LP3 for $150 price drop going on.
www.popmarket.com

AUDIO TECHNICA AT-LP3BK AUTOMATIC BELT DRIVE TUR Accessories on PopMarket

AUDIO TECHNICA AT-LP3BK AUTOMATIC BELT DRIVE TUR, Turntables, Belt Drive, Black, 4961310137922
www.popmarket.com www.popmarket.com
 
AudioAce said:
Shure needles are hard to find in Canada as they’ve gone out of production. I’ve tried a few replacement needles from other places but the sound quality is much lower. When I put it at 45 it can’t hold a speed. It may stay at a steady speed for a minute before it speeds up or slows down.


I don’t know if changing the cartridge is an option as well. I’m not to familiar on how that works.
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I think you’d be better off spending that money getting the Hitachi refurbished by a professional. It appears to have a swappable headshell, so it should be easy enough to install whatever new cartridge you please.
 
AudioAce said:
Shure needles are hard to find in Canada as they’ve gone out of production. I’ve tried a few replacement needles from other places but the sound quality is much lower. When I put it at 45 it can’t hold a speed. It may stay at a steady speed for a minute before it speeds up or slows down.


I don’t know if changing the cartridge is an option as well. I’m not to familiar on how that works.
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I'm going to side with @kvetcha on the refurb path, unless there's something you just don't like about the TT aesthetically. I'd at least see if you can get a quote on the refurb and go from there. The Hitachi is a nice mid 70's vintage table :)
 
kvetcha said:
I think you’d be better off spending that money getting the Hitachi refurbished by a professional. It appears to have a swappable headshell, so it should be easy enough to install whatever new cartridge you please.
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Ah good to know, will look around for a repair place. So just for clarification, a Ortofon or Audio Technica cartridge should be an easy replacement?
 
Corycm said:
That’s a good question, because I know zippity-do-fuck about amps. So part of this will be budgeting I think. I know I don’t need a $5k McIntosh. But I’m not sure what I do need. Maybe in the $2k neighborhood? Am I over- or under- spending given what it’s pairing with (PLX with extra toys/Goldring 1042, Insight) in a room that’s not enormous?

Any thoughts would be welcome.
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Did you pull the trigger on anything yet?
If not I know someone sitting on a semi-vintage and semi-obscure amp... T+A 1530r.
I've heard the amp in question on a few occasions in different systems, including my own system most recently. This thing won't win any beauty contests, but it's a god damn monster! The only reason it doesn't live with me is because I would need to sell my Mastersound to fund it, and after hearing them side by side I know I'd miss that tube sound.

If you're still looking, I'd say do a little homework on T+A. If it sparks your interest, just shoot me a PM and I can put you in touch with the seller.
 
So, I’m working on a new turntable set up as I’m moving in with my girlfriend.

I need a small footprint for my turntable and have toyed with the idea of getting a nice pre-amp and running a line to Sonos 5 directly or getting a Sonos Amp instead to power some unpowered speakers while allowing me to listen to vinyl throughout the house. I assume there are serious drawbacks to my TT-> Pre Amp -> sonos 5 plan besides a limited soundstage since I’d be getting stereo sound from one speaker?
 
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David A. said:
So, I’m working on a new turntable set up as I’m moving in with my girlfriend.

I need a small footprint for my turntable and have toyed with the idea of getting a nice pre-amp and running a line to Sonos 5 directly or getting a Sonos Amp instead to power some unpowered speakers while allowing me to listen to vinyl throughout the house. I assume there are serious drawbacks to my TT-> Pre Amp -> sonos 5 plan besides a limited soundstage since I’d be getting stereo sound from one speaker?
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You can create a stereo pair from any of the sonos speakers. So 2 five can be made into a stereo pair in the app and the turntable connects to the back of one of them. You can make a pair out a 2 one/three as well but they can’t take a turntable so you’d need a port to connect it to.

The serious downside is that the sonos are fine for what they are, a wireless streaming speaker, but a dedicated amp and passive speakers will smoke them sound quality wise. It’s all that play off between convenience/form factor v sound.
 
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David A. said:
So, I’m working on a new turntable set up as I’m moving in with my girlfriend.

I need a small footprint for my turntable and have toyed with the idea of getting a nice pre-amp and running a line to Sonos 5 directly or getting a Sonos Amp instead to power some unpowered speakers while allowing me to listen to vinyl throughout the house. I assume there are serious drawbacks to my TT-> Pre Amp -> sonos 5 plan besides a limited soundstage since I’d be getting stereo sound from one speaker?
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Congrats!

Former outer borough resident here of many years, so I know the challenges you're working with space-wise! I've done that very thing, run a TT into an external preamp into a single Play 5, and I was quite happy with the results for what it was. It's a solid sounding, small footprint device. Yes, you lose true stereo, but you do get both channels represented on each side of the Play 5, a la boom box, but for a compact unit, it does get the job done. Two play 5's set vertically will give you true stereo, but I think if you're at that point into the investment, your money is better spent elsewhere. Nothing beats listening to vinyl through passive speakers and a separate amp. That said, if multi-room playback is something high on your list, Sonos is absolutely the move there.

And one final thing to keep in mind - there will be some latency between what your turntable is actually playing back in real time vs what you're hearing through the Sonos. Sonos analog inputs convert that signal to digital, then output it.
 
If I went with the Sonos amp and wanted to play passive speakers hardwired into the Amp… would the signal still be converted to digital ?
 
David A. said:
If I went with the Sonos amp and wanted to play passive speakers hardwired into the Amp… would the signal still be converted to digital ?
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It really depends on the internal configuration of the Sonos Amp. I’m guessing ‘yes’ so that the Amp can keep the passive speakers time-synched with the rest of the Sonos setup.
 
David A. said:
If I went with the Sonos amp and wanted to play passive speakers hardwired into the Amp… would the signal still be converted to digital ?
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To play it to other sonos speakers in other rooms it’d have to be to pass it over your Wi-Fi. Within the amp I’m not sure tbh and I’m not even sure that it’s be possible to figure out. It is an alaogue line in port that you’d be connecting the tt to. (edit: what @kvetcha says above makes a lot of sense).

If you get that it might also be an idea to use it as your tv speaker. That amp gets great reviews as a television speaker and has a HDMI arc input/output to connect to the HDMI arc input/output on your tele. In line with the rest of sonos it has so so music reviews but again they aren’t bad and you do get the form factor and convenience.

That said I’d put money on a reconditioned NAD 316, and you could add a sonos port to it for similar money to the sonos amp, absolutely smoking it.
 
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