Reliable turntable under $200

[JDub_68]

I'm just looking for a turntable strictly to play records, no fancy DJ'ing or anything.

I bought an PL-50 and it worked great for literally a day and a half and then all of sudden the motor slowed and played the vinyl like crap...

Any suggestions? Turntabe under $200 that is purely reliable...

 

[Guest]

The Pioneer PL-50 is a belt drive turntable and a pretty ancient one at that. Could the belt have simply perished through age and stretched when you used it ? You might try looking for a replacement belt on e-bay.

There are lots of high quality turntables still being manufactured but not so many in your price range.

I would go for a seconhand Japanese direct drive model -- this may offend purists -- but it should work without much attention being needed.

Personally, having owned many wonderful sounding but wobbly belt drive Thorens and AR models, I currently use a Technics SL (the disco model). The Technics arm is basic but I like the CD-like speed stability of direct drive -- plus the instant start (and lack of wobble) which makes cueing up when transcribing vinyl to a CD recorder much easier.

Good, used, SLs are not cheap generally, but a friend recently found a perfect one for around $150 in a flea market.