if youre going to buy a stand alone dj type deck, expect to spend atleast $150 on a decent cartridge + phono amp. when it comes to sound quality its 1000% on the needle/cartridge you use.. a good entry level headshell is the shure m44g. a direct drive table like any 1200 is going to be loads more expensive than a belt drive table.. i would probably recommend sticking to something modern that would fit an entertainment center with its own amp and needle. tip: improve overall sound by cleaning your records with some wood glue, most wood glues will do fine but vinyl collectors recommend titebond II. that stuff works wonders.. the glue finds its way into the records grooves, attaches itself to dust/debris, then peels right off taking all that nasty stuff with it..
if youre going to spend that much on a TT, just find a used 1200.. not sure i even need to get into the quality of a 20 year old technics vs a new audio-technica.. sl1200 is legend, thats probably why the design of that lp120 is a complete rip of the technics.
If you find a used 1200 that cheap the person selling it is a ****ing idiot. Your best bet is to buy the Audio Technica replica of the 1200. Its good bang for your buck I got one last year and it sounds great.
you can find them, people dont like to dig around but i found an mk2 on CL for $100, it had some cosmetic wear nothing worth that low price drop. theres a couple on CL right now going for $350 each. $299 on guitar centers used listings. and of course ebay will have them in the 300-350 range all the time. im sure the audio-tecnica's sound great, sound quality has everything to do with the quality of your cartridge. a tt is nothing more than a device that spins the record.. the headshell is connected to copper wires, that transmit the sound to a phono amp, which its only job is to amplify the signal. your monitors and cartridge are going to be the biggest factors in sound quality.. what kind of cartridge are you using on the AT?
