aussievintage Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 What's the cheapest TT that sounds OK for casual listening? Well, I would put a proviso in that it must have a proper magnetic cartridge - none of these ceramic carts with sapphire styluses. So there are a number of cheap plastic tables that use something like the AT3600L which can track 2.5 - 3.5 grams). Warning: I am not recommending this TT, just, as per the title, fooling around at the cheap end of the market. but - I was wandering through a recycle/secondhand joint and saw the TT below for $10. It's a Cord F-700, and also sold as a Welling F-700 I believe. Fully automatic, with built-in preamp that can be switched out if desired. The platter is plastic, but it is belt driven, and it has electronic speed change. Tracking force measured at about 3.75 grams, so I blue-tacked a lead sinker on the back of the arm, to bring it back to 2.5 grams. (if you look hard in the picture, you can see it poking up). It runs a little fast about 34 rpm - but maybe as it's electronically controlled that can be tweaked. Wow measures at +/-0.27%, in keeping with the cheap construction. Sound wise, because it's a AT3600L, it sounds quite good. The speed "issues" do not prevent it being usable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhonoFix Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 They’ve also been rebadged as the Audio Technica AT-LP60 and others. Identical inside. Except the AT has a better aluminium not plastic platter. Speed is adjustable via a small hole inside the DC motor assembly which contains a speed control pit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted September 1 Author Share Posted September 1 (edited) 3 hours ago, PhonoFix said: They’ve also been rebadged as the Audio Technica AT-LP60 and others. Identical inside. Except the AT has a better aluminium not plastic platter. Speed is adjustable via a small hole inside the DC motor assembly which contains a speed control pit. I did not know the AT-LP60 was the same except for the platter. Very interesting. Edited September 1 by aussievintage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LogicprObe Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 Well...........$10 sound Ok to me............just depends on what cartridge you want to put on it! You gotta get started somewhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted September 1 Author Share Posted September 1 11 hours ago, LogicprObe said: Well...........$10 sound Ok to me............just depends on what cartridge you want to put on it! You gotta get started somewhere! It's an AT3600L. You cannot easily substitute a different one, but that's OK because I like the humble 3600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batty Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 For $10 it cannot be beaten, unless......................... You get a gifted one. My Luxman was saved from the skip, but it is no longer a cheap TT as I paid $150 for an Acos GST-1 and fitted a Shure V15type III with Jico SAS stylus, 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted September 2 Author Share Posted September 2 After some discussion, I found how to adjust the speed - all good now 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted September 2 Author Share Posted September 2 Further, while I had it open I removed the power supply plug to the inbuilt preamp, and I am using an external one now. All this fun for $10 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe latte Posted September 2 Share Posted September 2 (edited) 23 hours ago, aussievintage said: It's an AT3600L. You cannot easily substitute a different one, but that's OK because I like the humble 3600. Years ago I was working away at a different fire station and in thr evening I was reading a thread about the AT3600l. Bored I ordered one and did not expect much at all I was going to listen and comment on the thread. I forgot about ordering it and a couple of weeks later when I was home I opened it and popped it on a headshell. I remember sitting down expecting utter rubbish and 10 seconds into the first song thing Holy bleep!! Yes I have much better carts some many thousands of dollars, but this sounded really good. Far better than 20 bucks has any right to sound. Chris Edited September 2 by cafe latte 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted September 2 Author Share Posted September 2 btw. I have moved this little plastic turntable into my main room and plugged it into my best system, in order to really listen. It certainly is doing a great job considering how it is built. I expected to be bothered by wow & flutter and all sorts of problems, but I would have to rate it as 'acceptable'. Certainly fulfills it's roll as a cheap way into vinyl for some people. A couple of things I have decided I like. It has full access to all it's adjustments externally from underneath. There's an adjustment hole for each speed, 33 and 45, and three holes for mechanical adjustment of the mechanism. Also, the little rubber vibration feet are nicely made and attached, and do a good job. One bad thing though is that it is not very tolerant of dirty records. I know we all clean our records spotlessly, so it isn't a real problem, but while testing it on older never-cleaned records, it did skip a few times. This is probably an artifact of the short tonearm and lack of anti-skate I suppose. Then again, if I put the tracking force back to maximum, as the manufacturer supplied it, it may well not have this problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofeline Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 I think the tracking force of the AT3600 depends on the stylus cantilever, some are designed at 3.5 and others are designed for 2.5g. This might be the difference between the AT3600 and AT3600L. But I'm working from memory here. Because the AT3600 is manufactured as an OEM cart, AT don't have much info available on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussievintage Posted September 3 Author Share Posted September 3 15 minutes ago, audiofeline said: I think the tracking force of the AT3600 depends on the stylus cantilever, some are designed at 3.5 and others are designed for 2.5g. This might be the difference between the AT3600 and AT3600L. But I'm working from memory here. Because the AT3600 is manufactured as an OEM cart, AT don't have much info available on it. They are designed for a range. As I understand it, the 'L' suffix specifies a cantilever that tracks in the range 2.5 to 3.5 grams, without the 'L' it is 1.5 -2.5 grams, same as the AT91 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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