Key Takeaways
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Depending on your goals and level of commitment to hi-fi or casual listening, start with your ideal setup in mind.
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Budget and plan for several components in your setup, understanding that the turntable is only one part of the equation.
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High-fidelity playback involves physical wear and tear on parts like the stylus tip and record, so be prepared for maintenance.
Buying your first record player can be difficult because there are so many different brands, styles, models, and price ranges to choose from. Your head can spin faster than a 7-inch single. As a vinyl enthusiast, we’ve put together a list of things to consider before choosing a turntable.
I traded in a $450 turntable for a $300 model. Here’s what’s going on:
The $300 Fluance RT82 should deliver exactly what it costs, without skimping on sound or features.
One Start with your ideal setup in mind.
Do you want something upgradeable, or just something for casual listening?
Only 50% of vinyl buyers in the past 12 months owned a record player, Luminate (2023 report). Many people choose to collect records and then hang them on their walls, either for aesthetic purposes or as a sort of ‘merchandise’ from their favorite artists. Or display them around your home. For others, it’s a full-fledged Hi-Fi hobby, so the question arises what their goal is in finding their first record player.
If you want to play records naturally without worrying too much about Hi-Fi (high fidelity) or audio technology, you’ll likely enjoy a simple turntable with a built-in preamp or Bluetooth connection. That said, it’s not important to fuss over whether the cartridges are upgradable or not.
Why not use an Audio-Technica turntable?
There’s a reason the AT-LP120XUSB is available, even though it’s three years old and still not out of our budget.
However, if you’re already considering your first turntable as your first step into the world of hi-res and vinyl collecting, it might be a good idea to buy a table that can grow with you. This is most easily achieved by purchasing a table that does not include a built-in preamp, or at least allows you to bypass the preamp entirely in favor of your own external preamp.
You could spend your life upgrading and learning better preamps, so this versatility will be helpful. The same goes for tonearms on tables that don’t use fixed cartridges. Ultimately, you want a turntable that allows you to upgrade cartridges as your tastes and ears change.
2 The turntable is just one part of the equation
A perfect vinyl setup requires several songs working together.
Author’s Regafono MM MK5
When budgeting or planning for your first record player, it’s important to keep in mind that the turntable itself is only one component of an overall record player setup. Depending on whether you buy and use a record player with a built-in preamp, even a beginner setup could allow you to use up to four separate units.
Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up the Perfect Turntable: 4 Essentials
Based on my years as a vinyl enthusiast, here are four accessories I like to build a beginner’s vinyl setup with.
So, if you take up this hobby, it can take up a lot of space both on your balance sheet and in your living room, so you need to budget and plan your space accordingly.
three The high fidelity of analog means physical wear and tear.
The life of some parts may be limited.
As you look at dipping your toes into the deep pool of Hi-Fi, keep in mind that this is an analog way of playing music. There are physically moving parts, each with a finite lifespan, that are used to reproduce sound on a record. The most notable examples are the stylus and the record itself.
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If you listen carefully, these speakers will impress you with both their sound and style.
The act of the stylus pressing into the grooves of the record ultimately causes wear on both parts of that equation. Most entry-level oval stylus tips, commonly found on entry-level tables, are rated for about 300 hours of play, while higher precision (more expensive) MicroLine styluses are rated for about 1,000 hours. Depending on how often you play records, you may need to replace your stylus once a year or once every two years.
4 Hi-Fi listening changes everything
High-quality music is a vast world that can keep you interested for years.
One final thing to consider before going down this route: it’s entirely possible that you’ve never listened to music in high quality before, especially if you’re under 35. Aside from live music, of course, the only music you’ve ever heard has come from highly compressed digital audio files.
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Stepping into the world of Hi-Fi music, whether lossless file formats or vinyl records, means realizing how music recorded in the studio is actually intended to sound. Listening to Stairway to Heaven for the first time, playing it on an old vinyl record through high-end bookshelf speakers and absorbing every string sound, the resonance of Robert Plants’ voice, and the staccato pop and thump of every percussion beat, is a transcendent experience. So, it’s important to consider that high-quality audio is an addictive hobby and a potentially expensive rabbit hole. All these things to say, you won’t regret it.