Quality is important when buying a turntable

October 23, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Q. I am thinking of adding a turntable to my sound system. Do you really think vinyl records sound better than digital formats such as downloads or CDs? What would you recommend I buy, and is it worth considering a used turntable from Craigslist?

D.S., Wexford, Pa.

A. Most audiophiles agree that a really super turntable setup will sound better than digital almost 100 percent of the time. No matter where you stand on digital vs. vinyl, you can embrace and enjoy both, and doing so opens up the widest variety of music possible. A turntable not only provides warm, natural sound quality but also allows you to experience a very wide variety of music that can be found used at very low prices. Often, you can buy a whole album for the price of a single iTunes download.

I usually recommend people stay away from Craigslist turntables because they tend to be poor quality, ridiculously overpriced and in questionable mechanical condition, and very rarely are they set up correctly. It is not worth the risk. Many affordable, new turntable packages are offered with a cartridge pre-installed, providing optimal performance with little setup hassle.

Extracting music from the record grooves is a difficult task. Spending more to get a better turntable setup will yield much-larger sonic benefits than buying a more expensive receiver or amplifier. If you plan on making vinyl the centerpiece of your system, invest as much as you can. It is a lifetime purchase that pays big dividends over time. Here are some recommendations from $200 to $1,500.

Selling for $200 online is Audio-Technica’s AT-LP120-USB, which I have reviewed and recommended in past columns. It looks like a Technics SL-1200 turntable and has a built-in phono preamp and USB port, so it is all you need to get started with vinyl records. A very modest cartridge is pre- installed. The AT-LP120-USB looks good and sounds good, and for $200, it is a no-brainer, but you would be well served to go to LPGear.com and buy their $309 upgraded version. It has a much-better cartridge installed, so your records will sound better and last longer.

Between $400 and $500 the $449 Rega RP1 is worth a look, as is the $499 Pro-ject RM-1.3. The $1,000 price point is where you start getting into some truly superior sound. For $999, my favorite is the Pro-ject RM-5.1 SE. It has an attractive, minimalist modern design with a carbon fiber tonearm and a wonderful cartridge that sounds detailed and sweet.

At $1,500, the king of the ready-to-go turntables is the award-winning Clearaudio Concept. Clearaudio is a German high-end turntable manufacturer that offers turntables that can cost more than $100,000 — with no cartridge! (Yes, five zeroes.) Not only is the Concept the best sounding in the $1,500-and-under class, it also is the best-made and easiest to set up.

If your receiver or amplifier does not have a phono input, you will need a phono preamp to go between your turntable and receiver. Some good and affordable phono preamps to consider are the Audio-Technica AT-PEQ3 at $45, the Parasound zPhono at $199 and the $199 Pro-ject Phono Box II USB, which also has a USB connection for your computer. If you have a higher-end sound system, consider spending more.

Don Lindich writes about consumer electronics. Submit questions to www.soundadviceblog.com.

2011, McClatchy-Tribune News Service Distributed by MCT Information Services