Turntable help Please

It won't hurt to try it, you may be pleasently surprised. You may want to try it with a fairly inexpensive cartridge like a Shure or Grado. Then you could get a good inexpensive phono stage like a Rotel or Nad. Then if you decide you like analog, you can trade up when you can afford to. You could change arms but it would probably be better to sell it and get something else.

I don't remember the Philips 777, although this choice in the era of Duals, Thorens, and Denons suggests a certain frame of mind. In my opinion, bang for the buck in vinyl goes cartridge, arm, table, preamp, and cables, in that order. Ultimately, you may want to buy them all. Since your question suggests you want to go incrementally, I recommend replacing the cartridge with a decent moving coil like the Sumiko Blue Point or, for more money, the Micro-Benz Glider. You'll need a phono preamp; try the Lehman Black Cube for not a lot of money -- it's gotten good reviews. If you go this way and get to thinking about replacing the arm, I would consider replacing the table at the same time, saving the trouble of ripping out the old arm and trying to get a new one to fit. I would recommend brands like Rega, VPI, and Basis. If you replace the cables, try to get ones with decent shielding to avoid RF interference. Good luck.

The Phillips tables have more issues with the electronic switches etc than just sounding good. If it spins fine, use it! Get a phono stage, nothing too fancy(radio shack's aren't bad) and run it into the ground. Have to be careful of matching tone arms etc. Some great tables can sound really bad when mismatched. Takes a long time to know what works best with what unless you have DEEP pockets. Keep it simple & enjoy your LP collection with that 777.

As a first step I would recommend getting an inexpensive phono preamp. I bought a ProJect phono box running into my ARC LS-8-II and am satisfied. Then I would connect the old tt and give this a good listen. Only if it convices you of some sound quality you like and that you find is subjectively missing from CD would I continue along the analog trail. If you convince yourself that analog is for you, a new turntable/arm/cartridge combo should be considered. With the renewed interest in analog there is more to chose from now than a few years back. I would look at REGA first, with a Sumiko or Audio Technica cartridge. There are other tts, arms and cartridges at the lower price levels of analog I would look at way before spending for higher end used. With used analog, the stylus is always a worry. I still wonder what this renaissance is all about, since you will have to work mighty hard to feed this contraption. If you kept your vinyl and it is still in good shape, your effort in reviving analog in your system may be better justified.

Pops,

As for a phono stage, NAD, Parasound,and Creek all make MM phono stages for less than $200. I'm using the NAD which I bought here for less than $100.