Have a new (old) record player and need advice

[Jimb0b]

I’ve inherited a Dual CS 508 I would really like to use.  I understand I need a receiver and speakers and I have absolutely zero idea of what I should get or where to start. But I want to learn and use it. Any advice for a 300 dollar budget?

[8tg]

This turntable may be a bit questionable just going off of the visual conditon.

Youll need a DN 155e cartridge stylus and theyre not super common so you may need to look around for one thats not 100$+

Unless the stylus thats on there is in really good shape, but with how dirty that is and it not having the dust cover, i would be wary of it.

 

The turntable isnt so old as to need new belts unless its been stored somewhere hot and humid, so i wouldnt worry about that.

It does not have an integrated preamp so youll need one of a few options

1) a receiver with a phono input

2) a dedicated phono preamp

3) powered speakers with a phono input

 

If youre doing the turntable on its own and not integrating it into anything else, powered speakers with a phono input makes that pretty easy as you dont need a receiver or amp or anything, its all just built into the speakers.

I use a pair of Klipsch R41 PM's, theyre not fancy at all but theyre a decent enough set of powered speakers for around 250-300$ and its what id recommend for something like this, though sometimes you can get Triangle Borea BR03's for around 300$ and theyre a decent step up. Theres a lot of options for powered bookshelf speakers in that price range so compare reviews and features and find something you like.

 

[Jimb0b]

11 minutes ago, 8tg said:

This turntable may be a bit questionable just going off of the visual conditon.

Youll need a DN 155e cartridge stylus and theyre not super common so you may need to look around for one thats not 100$+

Unless the stylus thats on there is in really good shape, but with how dirty that is and it not having the dust cover, i would be wary of it.

 

The turntable isnt so old as to need new belts unless its been stored somewhere hot and humid, so i wouldnt worry about that.

It does not have an integrated preamp so youll need one of a few options

1) a receiver with a phono input

2) a dedicated phono preamp

3) powered speakers with a phono input

 

If youre doing the turntable on its own and not integrating it into anything else, powered speakers with a phono input makes that pretty easy as you dont need a receiver or amp or anything, its all just built into the speakers.

I use a pair of Klipsch R41 PM's, theyre not fancy at all but theyre a decent enough set of powered speakers for around 250-300$ and its what id recommend for something like this, though sometimes you can get Triangle Borea BR03's for around 300$ and theyre a decent step up. Theres a lot of options for powered bookshelf speakers in that price range so compare reviews and features and find something you like.

 

As far as condition it was admittedly in the styrofoam of its original box. Hopefully that means it wasn’t banged around 

[8tg]

28 minutes ago, Jimb0b said:

As far as condition it was admittedly in the styrofoam of its original box. Hopefully that means it wasn’t banged around 

Then the stylus will probably still be fine though I’d give it a proper inspection to make sure it’s undamaged. You’ll know pretty quick playing a record if it’s in bad shape as well.

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

-Moved to Audio-

[Psittac]

1 hour ago, 8tg said:

This turntable may be a bit questionable just going off of the visual conditon.

Youll need a DN 155e cartridge stylus and theyre not super common so you may need to look around for one thats not 100$+

Unless the stylus thats on there is in really good shape, but with how dirty that is and it not having the dust cover, i would be wary of it.

 

The turntable isnt so old as to need new belts unless its been stored somewhere hot and humid, so i wouldnt worry about that.

It does not have an integrated preamp so youll need one of a few options

1) a receiver with a phono input

2) a dedicated phono preamp

3) powered speakers with a phono input

 

If youre doing the turntable on its own and not integrating it into anything else, powered speakers with a phono input makes that pretty easy as you dont need a receiver or amp or anything, its all just built into the speakers.

I use a pair of Klipsch R41 PM's, theyre not fancy at all but theyre a decent enough set of powered speakers for around 250-300$ and its what id recommend for something like this, though sometimes you can get Triangle Borea BR03's for around 300$ and theyre a decent step up. Theres a lot of options for powered bookshelf speakers in that price range so compare reviews and features and find something you like.

 

I couldn't decide if I should react "informative" or "agree".  Because this is out of my realm but all of my educated guesses point to exactly your post as the solution.

 

Since you didn't touch on it explicitly, I would say that you could get some sort of amplification, whether that is an AVR or a stand alone amp.  It depends on what the OP is looking for long term.  Powered monitors could work for a more diverse setup but keep in mind that multiple in single out switches are to my knowledge not a thing.  I've even e-mailed schiit about their one in multiple out solutions asking if they work backwards and they said no, schiit is always willing to refer to other companies if it does something they don't and you need it so I would imagine this is not a thing.  So if you need or want more than one input IE: the turn table I would look into I guess an AVR.  Short of converting back to digital to get to a dac (typical input switching these days) I think you need a AVR.  Even an old one without HDMI will do the trick and allow for input switching.

 

I think dedicated powered studio monitors or and AVR are your best bet.  Unless someone knows of another way to receive and switch between analog and potentially digital inputs.

[8tg]

48 minutes ago, Psittac said:

I couldn't decide if I should react "informative" or "agree".  Because this is out of my realm but all of my educated guesses point to exactly your post as the solution.

 

Since you didn't touch on it explicitly, I would say that you could get some sort of amplification, whether that is an AVR or a stand alone amp.  It depends on what the OP is looking for long term.  Powered monitors could work for a more diverse setup but keep in mind that multiple in single out switches are to my knowledge not a thing.  I've even e-mailed schiit about their one in multiple out solutions asking if they work backwards and they said no, schiit is always willing to refer to other companies if it does something they don't and you need it so I would imagine this is not a thing.  So if you need or want more than one input IE: the turn table I would look into I guess an AVR.  Short of converting back to digital to get to a dac (typical input switching these days) I think you need a AVR.  Even an old one without HDMI will do the trick and allow for input switching.

 

I think dedicated powered studio monitors or and AVR are your best bet.  Unless someone knows of another way to receive and switch between analog and potentially digital inputs.

For the sake of multiple inputs, most powered bookshelf speakers can do that too

this just has a source selector either using the knob or the remote to choose between optical, usb, aux or rca, and then the rca input has a toggle for either line level or phono

[Heats with Nvidia]

For that low budget, i would look at used receivers and speakers. You can get a lot and pretty good quality for that amount of money. Especially used, unpowered speakers can be of incredible quality for your money. But you have the risk of defects and in most cases no digital inputs, which you might not need anyway.

[Jimb0b]

It looks like it might be a moot point. I’ve been trying to get the thing to turn on for a few hours now without luck. Could be I’m missing something dead easy but it just doesn’t turn. I opened up the bottom and it’s super clean down there though. Do you have to ground these for them to work or could there be some other reason it wouldn’t want to go?

[Omon_Ra]

On 8/6/2023 at 4:15 PM, Jimb0b said:

It looks like it might be a moot point. I’ve been trying to get the thing to turn on for a few hours now without luck. Could be I’m missing something dead easy but it just doesn’t turn. I opened up the bottom and it’s super clean down there though. Do you have to ground these for them to work or could there be some other reason it wouldn’t want to go?

By 'wouldn't want to go' do you mean the platter (the thing the vinyl sits on) won't spin? Or it won't produce sound. If the platter isn't spinning, it's either a dead/seized motor or a broken belt. You'd have to remove the platter to inspect. Typically this is done by removing the slipmat (the rubber bit on the top of the platter), and there should be some holes for you to stick your fingers into, and a way to access the belt. Don't just pull up on the platter, being that it's a belt drive, you should see a belt looping around the bottom of the platter somewhere through previously mentioned holes. If the belt is broken/missing, you'll be able to tell. This video should help with the belt replacement instructions: 

I didn't watch this next video, but this could be useful for troubleshooting it not starting up:

 

 

[Jimb0b]

3 hours ago, Omon_Ra said:

By 'wouldn't want to go' do you mean the platter (the thing the vinyl sits on) won't spin? Or it won't produce sound. If the platter isn't spinning, it's either a dead/seized motor or a broken belt. You'd have to remove the platter to inspect. Typically this is done by removing the slipmat (the rubber bit on the top of the platter), and there should be some holes for you to stick your fingers into, and a way to access the belt. Don't just pull up on the platter, being that it's a belt drive, you should see a belt looping around the bottom of the platter somewhere through previously mentioned holes. If the belt is broken/missing, you'll be able to tell. This video should help with the belt replacement instructions: 

I didn't watch this next video, but this could be useful for troubleshooting it not starting up:

 

 

Yeah. Not even trying to turn. Belt is good to go. I opened up the bottom too and it’s super clean. Nothing obviously out of place

[cmndr]

This might be slightly going over budget if you don't have all the cables/wires but:
2x JBL 305p MKII. 


Not sure if you'd need something specifically for phono out for your unit (you probably do). I view record players as a bunch of people seeking out nostalgia while ignoring the fact that records can't do proper stereo sound and ALWAYS have a small to moderate background hiss. There are instances where the digital mastering of a song is butchered while the record isn't (easy to just hit "MAX LOUDNESS") and this hurts dynamic range. This is becoming somewhat less common though and records inherently have limited dynamic range (70dB for records vs ~120dB for well encoded digital, the latter being near the human hearing threshold and with peak volumes WELL above what you can safely listen to)