Turntable Tone - What's the biggest factor?

[QuasarQuail]

I'm interested to gather a little input on turntables...

I am not what you'd call an audiophile. I love collecting records, I love listening to them. My rig is a late 70s Sony TT running (100% stock, original needle) through a $20 GE preamp, a $20 digital power amp, and a pair of 2-way speakers I salvaged from an early 60s JC Penney console. In other words, nothing here is primo.

To me, the biggest differentiating factor in sound quality seems to be the records themselves. Steely Dan's "Aja" sounds truly great. Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" sounds like there is a beautiful drum kit in my living room. My reissue of Big Star's "Radio City" sounds very thin and brittle. The CD sounds far superior. I'm inclined to think the buyer needs to beware when it comes to buying "new" vinyl.

The old Sony is starting to creak and moan, but it doesn't affect playing, and I can drown it out with the music. But I fear its time may be drawing to a close. I'm just beginning to wonder: if I replace the Sony with a new TT - something better than those awful Crowley jobs, but NOT one of the cork-sniffer models - can I expect a dramatic difference in sound quality?

 

[mayfly]

I'm guessing not; the biggest thing that affects the sound is the cartridge.

I've got a Rega Planar III.  It's inexpensive and works well.  And it's a low end corksniffer model.  The corksniffers that you know will say "well, it's ok I guess" 

 

[sixstringsamurai]

Hell all I have is an old Pioneer PL-200....
Supposedly these were manufactured by Marantz for Pioneer.

 

[zebra]

I recently got an Audio Technica AT-LP 120-USB. 
A very good value, IMO - a good combo of quality/features/price.
A nice feature is the USB out, so you can digitize records to MP3 or whatever...

 

[QuasarQuail]

Seriously considering a U-Turn Orbit, made domestically by a small Kickstarted outfit on the East Coast. Looks like they put great care into the arm, and the rest is as bare bones as it gets. Exposed belt drive, etc., under 200 bucks.

 

[mayfly]

That's probably a good choice actually. 

 

[Kostas]

The pressing & mastering of records is a big deal. You can easily hear that if you A-B different pressings of the same record or different formats (CD, SACD, Vinyl). If the pressing you have is dull or lifeless (no dynamics) there's not much you can do.

From there, the first thing you need to do is to have the turntable tuned to perfection. It doesn't matter how much it costs, a turntable is like an instrument that needs setup. You need a steady (thick/heavy) stand for it and to be completely leveled with the surface, a spirit level will help you do this. Then to put oil on the bearing and then to setup the tonearm. The setup of the arm is crucial because it guides the cartridge. Of course you also need to place the cartridge the correct way on the tonearm.

From there, the sound of the cartridge goes into the phono stage. I heard (easily) big differences changing phono stages. All old amps had phonostages and many of the new production have. If an amp hasn't external phonostages exist and it's the way to go for me. They have more settings to accommodate a variety of cartridges with different specs and I've never heard an internal phono stage sounding better than an external.

From there it's all about the amp and the speakers, if the amp can drive the speakers without distortion. I'm not saying you have to spend millions but a $20 digital amp and 60's speakers are not the way to listen properly. First of all old speakers (if you want to keep them) need reckoning and to change the capacitors in the crossover. Probably their internal wire too. If you don't want to spend much a pair of active speakers are a good choice. For me speakers are crucial to the tone of a stereo system. Change speakers and the sound changes immediately. The change wasn't the same when I changed amps so if I had to suggest something I would say speakers, then an amp that can drive the speakers. After that you can look if your turntable needs service/setup or to be replaced.