09-27-2017, 06:24 PM
I've been trying to find a decent portable record player for my girlfriend as a Christmas gift. She lives in a small studio apartment and doesn't have a lot of space for hi-fi equipment, so I was researching the suitcase style all-in-one units you can find online (Crosley, Ion, CMC, etc.) I'm finding a lot of people online commenting that these are basically all cheapo junk that will damage your records over time due to lack of tone arm counterweight, etc. So, I decided against buying her one of those. We (especially I) often buy pricier, rarer records, and I wouldn't want them ruined.
It made me wonder why someone hasn't made a decent quality portable record player with adjustable counterweight, quality magnetic stylus (standard or P-mount). I thought that maybe I could buy a reasonably ok turntable, add a phono preamp to it and build a small case to hold it which would allow her to store it away when not in use. I actually have the phono preamp already, purchased many years ago for an old LP to digital file conversion project.
What do you guys think of this? What would be a decently-priced, not extremely heavy turntable with a tone-arm lock that I could pick up to modify into a standalone with preamp and bluetooth? I should add that we both love music, but we're not highly-selective audiophiles, so I'm not in the market for something like a Thorens TD-160. On the other hand, I'd like it to be shorter overall than the Garrard 42M I use at home.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
It made me wonder why someone hasn't made a decent quality portable record player with adjustable counterweight, quality magnetic stylus (standard or P-mount). I thought that maybe I could buy a reasonably ok turntable, add a phono preamp to it and build a small case to hold it which would allow her to store it away when not in use. I actually have the phono preamp already, purchased many years ago for an old LP to digital file conversion project.
What do you guys think of this? What would be a decently-priced, not extremely heavy turntable with a tone-arm lock that I could pick up to modify into a standalone with preamp and bluetooth? I should add that we both love music, but we're not highly-selective audiophiles, so I'm not in the market for something like a Thorens TD-160. On the other hand, I'd like it to be shorter overall than the Garrard 42M I use at home.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Greg
"We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."
![[-]](https://philcoradio.com/phorum/images/bootbb/collapse.png "[-]")
