Turntable recommendations

[IronPlant]

I'm about to lay down some cash to get a turntable to play my metal albums on. I was thinking of getting a MCS 6700 on ebay but wanted to know what you guys think first.

Surely in such a great and mature group of metal heads there is someone who can give me some recommendations on a good turntable.

I've been using my dad's so I don't really know much about them. Any tips in general would be just as nice.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ninkasi]

I have a Music Hall MMF-7 and like it a lot. I got it used in near mint condition on ebay. They do make a few cheaper models as well which are probably very good. I really don't know enough about any other brands to give recommendations on them.

Also, make sure that the receiver that you plan on using has a turntable preamp. Typically, there will be an input that says "phono" where you should connect it. You can't connect it to any preamp input (such as the cd or tape input) because a turntable signal requires special equalization and filtering of rf interference. I found this out the hard way with an older turntable and receiver that I tried using a while ago. The sound was so awful that I had to shut it off after a minute. If your receiver doesn't have a turntable/phono input, you will need to buy an external turntable preamp which is usually not that expensive.