Any advice for first turntable?

And we are talking about MM rather than MC?

The Denon I mentioned is a High Output Moving Coil (designed to work with a MM phono stage)

All the other cartridges mentioned in this thread are MM.

No idea whereabouts in this wide brown land you might be, but if shopping on ebay try to find one close enough to you to allow you to check it out and collect it yourself (or have a trusted friend do so).

Many sellers will have little idea of how to properly pack a turntable for transport and damage in transit is all too common.  Possible damage can range from annoying to fatal and even if insured the whole thing is best avoided if possible.  IMO

Good luck

Hi Frostg
I can tell you that I'm very satisfied with my Pro-Ject debut III Esprit TT. I can't compare it to too many other TT's and I don't know how well it stands up against the 1200 as I've ever only heard that one plugged in to a compact stereo system with modest results. Anyhow, it has gotten pretty much top reviews overall as a very good starter turntable. Might be a good option if you don't want to go browsing for second hand TTs.
I went up from an old 80's dual CS 503-1 and that was a huge leap, especially after I upgraded the cartridge and stylus to an ortofon OM40 but even more so when I got the Reflex M. Now a nice and clean well pressed record sounds miles ahead of any CD I've ever heard.
Also I think I've heard it's currently one of the best selling turntables in the world so your local dealer might very well have one of them out for auditioning.

Best wishes
Johan


Edited by suede - 27 Feb 2012 at 6:36pm

I am also not sure about buying a Technics 1200 off e-bay, as one mans "excellent condition" can be anothers "fit for the bin."

I wanted a really cheap phono stage to start off with, almost disposable, whilst I save up some more pennies for a decent phono stage that will do my recently acquired Solo UL, HD650's and the soon to be shiny new turntable, justice.