I have an early 80's Gemini DJQ 1200 that I picked up from Craigslist Dude for $20 a few years ago. Like this one:
It's a solid, reliable turntable. It's direct drive, and it sounds pretty good, even through the ancient cartridge that's on there. I love the thing.
I had it running through a late 70's Technics receiver until about 6 months ago when it started getting weird, so I replaced it with a Sherwood RX-4109 receiver I picked up at a thrift store, also for $20:
The Sherwood is pretty solid and sounds killer. I'm running it through some early 80's Mirage bookshelf speakers that I got for free years ago. So, total investment: $40. 
My Dokken and Ratt vinyls never sounded better!
mtn
MegaDork
1/27/17 10:08 a.m.
ultraclyde wrote:
I don't know that I could call vinyl sound "better" on my very pedestrian equipment, but it is different and I like the ritual of dealing with the physical representation of the music. It creates a certain focus on listening instead of the tunes being more background noise. I also like the more forced album-length experience. I really enjoy the design and aesthetic choices that go into the albums, too. Some of that you got with CDs, but not as much. With digital files you don't get any of it but there are other benefits. Almost everything I buy (new) on vinyl includes an mp3 copy which lets me listen on the move as well. Best of both worlds.
I grew up listening to music through my dads kick ass system--the aforementioned ReVox, Marantz, Amber, and Audionics of Oregon (now Rockford Fosgate). I think maybe a Rotel and some other high end component made their way in there at some point as well. All of this through Thiel speakers. So I never really paid much attention until I didn't have it.
When I set up my own system, using some of dads old components and some of my own, my wife thought I was being silly. Until she heard the vinyl. It was eye opening (or ear opening) for her how good it sounded. It was then that I realized that it probably wasn't just me, and vinyl did sound better. Most of the time anyways.
trucke
Dork
1/27/17 10:40 a.m.
I've still got my Dual 1229Q (Q for Quadrophonic, that did not take off). This is not mine as mine needs to be refurbished. Not sure what needle I've got in there. I do have a pulley to run on 50hz as I bought it while my Dad was stationed in Teheran, Iran.
In reply to mtn:
PM sent. Also, does that "bridge" on the Revox turntable swing out of the way somehow?
mtn
MegaDork
1/30/17 1:05 p.m.
RexSeven wrote:
In reply to mtn:
PM sent. Also, does that "bridge" on the Revox turntable swing out of the way somehow?
Got it. I'll reply tonight.
The bridge is actually the tone arm. The way it works is that you manually move the whole tonearm--it has two positions, one over the record, and one at "home". So you move it to the spot over the record. Once in place, you press the button to lower the stylus, and magic happens. Press the button to raise it, and it goes up.
This is not my video, and not my dads record player, but it looks like a good demo of it. (Just watched it, didn't listen to it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXSn2p-PKgw
Jay
UltraDork
1/30/17 1:28 p.m.
