Shiv,

Although just about every picture you find of the RP-1 shows it without a dust cover, and there aren't a whole lot of mentions in discussions, the review of it that Art Dudley did in Stereophile when it was rreleased indicates that it comes complete with dustcover for the base price. I haven't heard the RP-1, but I did listen to its predecessor, the P1, and it was damned hard to beat for the money. Dudley came to the same conclusion, and he's one of the few eqpt. reviewers I give any credence at all to. I doubt you would go wrong with an RP-1- Rega just makes quality, no-nonsense gear, and they haven't abandoned the lower price points. If you are leaning to the RP-1, just call one of the many on-line dealers, like Needle Doctor (good people), and ask them straight up to confirm or deny the dust cover issue.

Having said that, the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon at $399.00 sounds like a hell of a deal. I always thought the older Debut models were damn good for the dollahs.

And having said THAT, I like Music Hall equipment. I have a MH DAC and cd player and love them. I've met Roy Hall a couple times- he is an irascible, opinionated son of a bitch who cheerfully calls a fool a fool. I like him. And his turntables.

Between the entry level tt's from those 3 manufacturers, I think you could flip a coin, and be happy with what you end up with for quite a while.

Thanks for the info! Probably won't buy anything for a few months but it's good to know all this stuff beforehand.

So, I was in Athens last weekend and stopped by a vintage shop that is known to carry some solid stuff and there it was.

An early 80's Technics sl-D3 for $100.

I had him set it up and everything was in great working condition and it sounded fine. It is in great shape. Just needs a little cleaning and the dust cover has some minor scratches (i picked up some Meguiar's PlastX to buff them out).

Offered him $70 and we settled on $80. A little more than I wanted but I was able to walk out with it instead of dealing with Craigslist or eBay.

Next up, preamps. Any thoughts?

Whatever the fuck Toze recommended for me. It's awesome, and comes with import software to rip vinyl easily. Found one used for about $100, which may be too much?

What kind was it? I'm looking for something pretty compact.

I really need to someone to come look at it first to make sure I can integrate all of these components into this receiver.

It's bread and butter is home theater sound but I think it should be fine.

Looked it up. It's an NAD make, PP3 model. It's very very small, mine lives back behind the entertainment center. This guy.

You run out of it with standard RCA cables into any old input on your receiver (DVD etc) and it does the rest. The line volume and voltage will now be what the receiver was expecting.

I like both kinds of turntables, Technics and 1200s

Coincidentally, that SL-D3 was the 2nd decent turntable I ever owned. Nice, solid tt.

If you don't want to go with looking for one of those NAD units used, go straight to the link below, spend $49 and you won't get any better until you want to power it with a 12V DC power supply. Trust me on this.

http://www.amazon.com/ART-II-Preamplifi ... B000AJR482

So, I ended up getting one of these pre-amps. Finally got around to drilling a hole in my built-ins in my living room to access the receiver.

Plugged everything in (into the Aux inputs) and through the pre-amp. Turned it all on and..................................have sound out of only the left speaker.

It's a surround sound set up with a left, center, and right speaker set up in front of the room and a left and right in the back of the room. Only speaker producing sound is the left front speaker. I switched the red and white inputs to see if it would change the speakers and got no change.

Any thoughts? I'm currently ready to throw it all out the window.

Is there an option on your receiver to run things in "stereo" (basically this disables the sorround sound processing and just outputs on the Left and Right front speakers [and maybe the subwoofer--mine does])?

Also, you did go phonograph>preamp>receiver, right? I'm sure you did, but the way you typed it makes it unclear.

DON'T MAKE ME COME TO YOUR HOUSE, RICK DERRIS. (something I need to do anyway)

^ I vote for that.

Put some other output into the preamp with the volume turned down on the receiver to see if it's the turntable/cartridge or receiver that's the problem.

So it doesn't appear to be the cables or the turntable/cartridge.

I played around some with the sound settings and various channels (there are a BUNCH on this thing) and I found one that would play the front left and right speakers (but only vocals coming out of the left) and one that would play the front left, middle, and back left that sounded pretty good but I still can't figure out how to get them all to play at once.

Still fiddling with it. Problem is I don't have a manual for this receiver. It was the previous owner of the home's.

I have a pretty nice little turntable that I got from my dad that appears to be in working order.
I's all hooked up.
It's getting power.
BUT...
It just won't spin.

When I put the needle on a record and spin it by hand, I get a signal coming through. But it won't go on its own.
Is there something obvious that I am missing here?

Make and model?

(I ask because newer ones seem to be pretty easy to figure out, but the old KLH I found was NOT something I could just "go at" and get a record to play, without Tentoze's instruction.)

It's a Sony, I believe.
So, not high-end, but a fairly nice production model.
Probably from somewhere around the turn of the millennium.

I'm having the exact same problem...

If it's belt-driven, that's probably the problem.
The rubber breaks down as it ages and dries.
Lift off the platter and replace the belt.
$2 fix.

Yep. I've had the same problem. Easy fix.

I've had the same turntable for 25 years. It's a mid-70s tank. The time has come to replace it.

So Obnish -- what are your recommendations? Price range of $250-350.

I have zero recommendations, but I continue to watch these threads whenever they come up, because we rely on a mid-60's KLH changer. We LOVE it, and have spent a good chunk over the years to get it working again. But ... some day, it shall die.

I think multiple moves over the years, spilling drinks into it, and now the humidity levels where we live have finally killed ours.

I think I'm going to get this one whenever I'm back to work and save up a few bucks. Made in Woburn MA too.

https://uturnaudio.com/products/orbit-special-turntable

And for the price-conscious, the "basic" version is like $179. Nice.