Portable TT - which one ?

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  • FrankFrank 2,379 Posts
    I've said it before in numerous old portable threads, there's no better turntable than the various old Philips models from the 70s. Super sturdy, loud, easiest and fastest set-up with speaker in the lid. I had various models with me in Africa and before leaving deposited them at several hotels in Benin and Ghana so I can fly over anytime without even having to bring one. You can also still buy replacement needles online. Only downside is that there's no headphone jack but I never needed one anyway since I don't dig at record shows.


    http://cgi.ebay.de/Tragbarer-Philps-Plat...A1%7C240%3A1318
    http://cgi.ebay.de/70er-Jahre-tragbarer-...A1%7C240%3A1318

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    Just to add something to Frank's post: those old Phillips models are also straight up triumphs of design for their era. Really striking and beautiful and much more interesting than the GP-3, Vestax, Numark, etc.

    And any record player with a speaker can be fitted with a basic headphone jack very easily.

  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts
    Yeah, I've been quite happy with the industria brasileira Phillips I picked up here in Rio, pretty much the same design as what Frank posted.

    Best portable turntable I've seen was with a certain celebrity diggeur...really slim white and red design with a custom headphone jack...might have even been a Fisher Price, just one I hadn't seen before.

    Someone really needs to do some clever engineering and design a really small/slim portable tt that's more rugged than the soundburger.

    I always felt like the tracking force of the GP3 was a little excessive.

  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    If it was red and white, that sounds like a Fisher Price. I've had a few of those and like I said, cheap to stick a headphone jack in it.

  • jammyjammy remixing bongo rock... 813 Posts
    i CAN say for a fact that the silver finish on the numark looks ass after a long while. gets weird old looking grime stains on it that don't come off.

  • Sony PS-F5

  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    I have a related question: Which portable is the best for home listening? I occasionally have need for being able to listen to records in a relatively static fashion while in the kitchen, on the back pworch, on the lanai (RIP, Bea), or wherever, so I'm not looking for some warhorse portable that can withstand the rock 'em sock 'em trials and tribulations of "digging" "in the field"--I really just need something that 1) will play my records with decent, representative sound, 2) won't fucking bulldoze them, and 3) isn't some gargantuan Philco type shit that I'll have to put a doily over when not in use. Is Vestax the move?

  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts
    I have a related question: Which portable is the best for home listening? I occasionally have need for being able to listen to records in a relatively static fashion while in the kitchen, on the back pworch, on the lanai (RIP, Bea), or wherever, so I'm not looking for some warhorse portable that can withstand the rock 'em sock 'em trials and tribulations of "digging" "in the field"--I really just need something that 1) will play my records with decent, representative sound, 2) won't fucking bulldoze them, and 3) isn't some gargantuan Philco type shit that I'll have to put a doily over when not in use. Is Vestax the move?

    You are better off buying one of those cheesy new vinyl to mp3 decks like the Numark or Audio technica. They have a built in phono pre amp and you can hook it up to laptop speakers, or get some cheapie monitors. Either way, much better sound than the portables, and you can decide on a needle that won't scrape your records into Dynaflex.
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