TEAC TN-300SE & TN-350 Turntables

they are better than those Uraban Outfitter hipster turntables. But I've also seen more than one review knocking the build quality on these. There is one in the comments here talking about misaligned head shell. Which is a fatal flaw. I have a theory about manufacturing. That if the item being manufactured isn't in use in the country of origin, you are going to get an inferior product. So for example, if the skill and tooling is the same, I'd expect a guitar from Mexico to be superior to a guitar from China. Given that guitars are pretty well known in Mexico and uncommon in China. Point being, do they still make records anywhere except for nostalgic Americans? I'm not sure anyone in China has a clue about what a record player does anymore. And at this price I'm certain that is the country of origin. I follow a few Japanese bands, and know they put out vinyl for JDM. And hifi is and always has been big over there. So a Teac from Japan would possibly be great.

Don't get me wrong, I couldn't agree more that crappy record players eat records and a crap turntable is in general a false economy, but I'm not sure why you think these turntabes falls into that category! These turntables are generally well thought of with a half decent stylus (Audio Technica’s AT95E) from a giant of Japanese audio and the price is very, very good. I think I would be encouraging neo-vinylites to buy this sort of thing over the deluge of Crosley players. If my nephew was interested in getting himself a first turntable I would definitely tell him this was a decent choice at a price that is just crazy.