Agiaccio: I have a few questions for you:
You suggested a couple of rigs from Rega and Clearaudio in the $1500 range.
1) If your bro-in-law has only 50 albums and no intention of expanding that, why would he want to toss that much money just to play 50 albums?
2) What type of system does he have?
3) Is he open to the possibility of expanding his collection?
4) Does he have the space and inclination to provide a proper platform for the turntable?
If so, fine, but otherwise he'd probably do well with the Audio Technica PL-120 for $219.95 from LPGear. It's a well-executed solidly built (weighs about 26 lbs) Technics SL12x0 knockoff that plays 78s and has a built-in phono stage. For cartridge I'd go for an Ortofon 2M Red. Put Vibrapod #2s under the feet, or put the turntable on a butcher block cutting board and put Vibrapods under the cutting board to isolate the turntable and lower the noise floor.
For an outboard phono stage, the Cambridge 640P is pretty good and does both MM and MC, but I've found that for high output cartridges, the built-in phono stage of my Onkyo A-9555 integrated amp is significantly better. If he's in the market for electronics, this integrated would provide an excellent phono stage.
You suggested a couple of rigs from Rega and Clearaudio in the $1500 range.
1) If your bro-in-law has only 50 albums and no intention of expanding that, why would he want to toss that much money just to play 50 albums?
2) What type of system does he have?
3) Is he open to the possibility of expanding his collection?
4) Does he have the space and inclination to provide a proper platform for the turntable?
If so, fine, but otherwise he'd probably do well with the Audio Technica PL-120 for $219.95 from LPGear. It's a well-executed solidly built (weighs about 26 lbs) Technics SL12x0 knockoff that plays 78s and has a built-in phono stage. For cartridge I'd go for an Ortofon 2M Red. Put Vibrapod #2s under the feet, or put the turntable on a butcher block cutting board and put Vibrapods under the cutting board to isolate the turntable and lower the noise floor.
For an outboard phono stage, the Cambridge 640P is pretty good and does both MM and MC, but I've found that for high output cartridges, the built-in phono stage of my Onkyo A-9555 integrated amp is significantly better. If he's in the market for electronics, this integrated would provide an excellent phono stage.