I have one daughter in college and another in private school so I understand your situation. I think one of the best routes for an inexpensive turntable is a nice circa 80's Thorens or AR. The ARs are easier to upgrade arms. Both are suspended table designs so they need to be isolated from footfalls. These table have soul and have glorious midrange with the right equipment and cartridge. You can find nice AR ES1s or "the turntable" with many different arms that are ultimately manufacured by Jelco in the $500 range. You can slowly upgrade the table over time as budget allows. Spend some time at the Vinyl Nirvana wesite. Many will regale you with Rega and the Rega upgrade path. Personally I am not a Rega turntable fan. Different strokes for different folks. BTW, with your musical tastes you should really consider a tube integrated amp!
Advice on a turntable for a clean midlevel system
Any opinions on a turntable to fit my system; a work in progress? My consideration:
I have 2 in college, so i need to be cost effective. Thus, I am not in the $10,000 plus spectrum.
My Likes: a system that has lots of detail with sweetness in the midrange (the better to hear Coltrane's tenor and Madeleene Peyroux's vocals) , some sound-stage, I like everything from folk, jazz, classical and rock.
Current system: Panasonic techniques turntable from 1975 with Grado Gold cartride (this I want to give to one of my sons), California Audio Lab DX 1 NAD Integrated amp- plan is to upgrade to a Creek (5350) or Bryston, Tetra M1200 speakers- they fit my listening space well.
I have 2 in college, so i need to be cost effective. Thus, I am not in the $10,000 plus spectrum.
My Likes: a system that has lots of detail with sweetness in the midrange (the better to hear Coltrane's tenor and Madeleene Peyroux's vocals) , some sound-stage, I like everything from folk, jazz, classical and rock.
Current system: Panasonic techniques turntable from 1975 with Grado Gold cartride (this I want to give to one of my sons), California Audio Lab DX 1 NAD Integrated amp- plan is to upgrade to a Creek (5350) or Bryston, Tetra M1200 speakers- they fit my listening space well.