Here is some simple advice.. Do not get the str8-50's... they are belt driven and will be very hard to learn on!.. try getting direct drive tables with high torque. Also don't get the str8-60's either.. they are too light and don't absorb shock to well and the tone arm is straight.. that is good for skip protection but nasty for record wear! The numarks are ok.. but the really don't have good torque, I heard that some gemini (higher end) tables are ok.. and even citronic tables. I recently heard that Pyramid has a line of DJ turntables too, someone told me the specs and the looks look identical to the 1200's.. maybe they are techs with a cheaper name .. oh well hope that helps!

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Darkevil / Philippe Lam
U N I T E D P R O D U C T I O N S
SUSHICREW / BOODANG / UNDERGROUND

go for the straight 80's or 60's if you don't have the budget for 1200's...
the str8-80's aren't bad at all

Actually I forgot about those stantons.. but don't get the str8-80's, get the st-100's...
http://www.stantonmagnetics.com/stingray/tt_st100.asp
that one has a s-curved tone arm and will help keep yer records from wearing fast! I heard those tables have a better structure and have better torque.

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Darkevil / Philippe Lam
U N I T E D P R O D U C T I O N S
SUSHICREW / BOODANG / UNDERGROUND

It's generally advised to stay away from the cheapest tables on the market, especially the belt driven ones. If you are really into spinning you could outgrow them quite quickly.

I haven't had any time on any of the stanton tables myself, but I can give a very good recommendation for the Numark Pro TT-1 as a solid mid price range table. They list for $270 each on 123dj.com

What kind of price limits do you have?

someone should compile a list of turntables and specs and make a sticky thread about them, just to aviod having to go through this every week
i'm not knocking anyone who posts a thread about this, i'm just saying that it would be easier to have a bunch of stuff up so we can compare turntables and figure out which ones work best for our needs

i'm gunna shut up now..

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Tony Morello Dot Com
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Sounds like a good idea. We should have some sort of turntable deathmatch where we would (hopefully) agree on a few ideal turntables/mixers to buy at different price points.

I guess I have a very biased opinion......I say hold out for Technics 1200s. I've had mine for about 20 years now and they work just as good as the day I bought them (I did have to change the little light on them once but that's it).