Rega Planar 1 Turntable with Premounted Carbon MM Cartridge (Matte Black)

Vinyl is one of those odd mediums where what you play it on will determine the quality of your listening experience. Too cheap a turntable and you compromise your listening experience. This is the best turntable you can buy for under 500 dollars. It is easy to set up, and sounds fantastic. It is an very clear sounding turntable, the lows are low, and the highs are high, it does not fall into that "warm (aka too much mid range)" category. The clarity is astonishing. It does not come with a built in pre amp, but for 50 dollars you can buy an Art DJ pre amp and you are in business.

Easy setup is no lie. Slide on the tone arm weight and remove cardboard from under platter. Had to move belt to 33 rpm pulley which was very simple. This doesn't have a built in pre-amp so you will need a receiver or amp with phono input or a stand alone phono pre-amp. Connected to my trusty 8 year old Denon and levelled the entertainment center. I read on a forum the turntable legs don't adjust but are vibration isolators. Slide off the stylus guard and proceed to christen your new TT. This TT is not automatic so you have to position the tone arm manually at the start and pick it up when it's done. Fine by me. I did a lot of research before jumping back into vinyl and this unit was consistently rated very highly. Yes it's not cheap but like one article said, "It's the least your vinyl deserves." I totally agree.

Great turntable for the price. Only drawback is it does not have an auto shut off.

As far as beginners go I would recommend the P1+, just because it would be simpler to set up, not having to deal with the preamp. I ran into an issue with a humming problem at first, that I was able to solve by adding a ground wire to the preamp. The sound quality is superb, even better than my expectations. Very nice turntable.

Sound-wise, the Rega Planar 1 was a such an huge step up from my old turntable that I went to several extra steps to be satisfied with it. But in the end I had to return it because it simply cannot hold a steady pitch. Its sound quality may be great, but by failing to perform one of the most basic functions of a turntable, it renders itself absolutely worthless.Naturally, the question is, how sure am I that the problem is the turntable and not something like a bad belt or tilted platform? OK, I'll tell you: I got two different Rega Planar 1s this last month, one barely used and one brand new (both from AudioAdvice - which gave me great customer service - can't fault them at all). For the brand new one, I also bought an upgrade Rega belt for $60. I have a center-spindle bubble level, and made sure that thing was dead center, not a ghost of a wobble. And for testing I have the trusty Vanguard Stereolab Test Record.In all case - either turntable, any belt - the pitch variation at 3000Hz was slightly more than a quarter-tone. About 3%. This amount of wow makes anything with any sustained tones (especially piano) unlistenable. In reality, you can hear the pitch waver on any record you play. And that makes this turntable worthless. As a comparison, I did the same test on my $200 low-end 80's Thorens belt-drive. A minute waver at 3000hz, well under 1%.So If you actually like to listen to the music on your records, don't buy this turntable. I have to wonder how so many reviewers, even professionals, failed to spot this fundamental flaw. I suspect that, like me, they were so wowed by the clarity of the sound that they didn't want to pay attention to that slightly seasick feeling. I also suspect that the two phenomenon are related - the lightweight, rigid plinth, platter and tone-arm sing beautifully together, but their light weight is exactly why they can't achieve any speed consistency - not enough mass and inertia. That's just my guess - but I am 100% certain that the speed problem is inherent in the turntable's design, not a matter of bad luck or poor setup.Caveat Emptor.

Not only does this turntable look fantastic, it’s easy to use easy to set up. Highly recommend.The sound quality is superb

I have been in bands and have heard first hand how instruments should sound , been a music producer and recording audio engineer that has always been searching for quality audio and this record player completes me! I can hear every detail in the songs I play with a very a smooth sound, not harsh... Wow I cannot thank you enough for making such a great turntable!

This is a very lightweight and cheaply-made turntable. It can't compare to my old Empire 698, and when I get my 698 repaired, this one will be retired. It works OK, but there is a pulsating noise that comes from the motor area whenever the unit is turned on, and I don't know whether it is normal (It shouldn't be). As soon as it is powered off, the noise stops before the platter stops, so I think it is related to the motor. I'm considering returning it. Unlike other reports of the Carbon cartridge, I find it to be acceptable for most music, so I won't be replacing it, especially since I'll be fixing my 698 someday.