Here's what to look for when buying your first turntable.

Buying your first record player? Here's what to look for!

The "old-fashioned" vinyl record has become increasingly popular in recent years. Many people are skipping Spotify and are once again looking for the most beautiful physical gems. This is also reflected in the strong growth in the sale of records and record players. Tracking down the right albums is a fun search, but finding the right record player can be quite difficult. What exactly should you pay attention to when buying a record player, and which one suits you? We have a few tips that can help you with this!

What is your budget?

As with other hobbies, you can make it as expensive as you want. Very rarely do you come across a gem of a player in a second-hand shop or at a flea market for a reasonable price. Often, however, the pick-ups have been poorly maintained over the years, so that a lot has to be replaced to hear any sound. If you do not have any knowledge of this, we recommend a new turntable with a built-in preamplifier. Fear not, we explain what a preamplifier is in this article. It is good to know that the price of most players starts from €100 - €150.

A record player with built-in speaker?

High-quality turntables almost never have built-in speakers. The quality of these speakers does not come close to a real setup. There is simply not enough space to hide a good amplifier and speakers in a turntable. In addition, high volumes can cause vibrations, which is not good for the record that is spinning. If you only want to play a record every now and then and the quality is less important to you, then built-in speakers might be an option. In all other cases, we recommend a turntable without built-in speakers. This also ensures that more budget remains for the quality of the player itself.

Should the player have a preamp?

There are a few technical things you need to know before you can connect a turntable. A turntable needs pre-amplification to make the sound it produces sound good. Older amplifiers often have a "phono" input to which you connect the turntable. If your amplifier does not have a "phono" input, you will need a separate pre-amplifier. Fortunately, most modern turntables have a built-in pre-amplifier, so you can skip this step. If that is the case, you can connect the turntable directly to the amplifier or active speakers with an AUX or tulip (RCA) plug. An amplifier or active speakers are always necessary, because the signal is too weak to play directly on passive speakers. Active speakers have a built-in amplifier. So always check carefully whether your turntable has a built-in pre-amplifier, otherwise you will have to budget for it.

Video explanation of preamplifiers

Which drive is best for a turntable?

When we talk about the drive in a record player, we are talking about the technology that is used to make the record turn. The two most common drives are the belt drive and the direct drive. With the belt drive, the motor is a short distance from the record and is driven by a belt. This ensures that the motor will never make the record vibrate. With the direct drive, the motor is directly under the record. This is ideal for DJs, because the records can turn at high speed, have more power and last longer. If you are not a DJ, we recommend a belt drive record player in this case.

A manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic turntable?

The name already gives away the differences a bit. It is good to know what suits you best before buying. With a manual turntable, you place the needle on the record yourself and take it off again yourself. A few actions that belong to a classic turntable. However, it is important to place the needle carefully on the record to prevent damage. With a semi-automatic turntable, you place the needle on the record yourself, but the player takes it off when the record has finished. A fully automatic turntable does all the work for you. There is no 'better' or 'worse'; it is purely about convenience.

A turntable with Bluetooth?

Have you just bought a nice Sonos or Bose set, only to find out that you can't connect a record player to it? No worries, because there are enough record players with Bluetooth these days. Not every vinyl lover wants to admit this, but the quality of these players comes awfully close to the traditional, wired version. However, the players are often a bit more expensive due to the Bluetooth function. If you can connect your record player directly to your amplifier with a cable, then we recommend this of course. The quality of the cable remains king!