An occupational hazard of being considered someone who knows something about one’s subject is that one tends to get buttonholed at social gatherings and asked for advice. The enquiries can range from choosing earphones for use with a phone to the merits of an obscure loudspeaker brand from the past – usually one about which the interrogator has entrenched opinions – but the basics are the same: people want high quality delivery of their favourite music, but really don’t know where to start.

That situation has long been the premise behind these Gramophone Guides, but some recent conversations have made it clear that there’s a growing interest in buying something beyond a Bluetooth speaker fed from a phone, but also a wariness when it comes to choosing equipment. That old comedy sketch featuring mickey-taking hi-fi salesmen – ‘A gramophone?! We don’t do gramophones, dad!’ – may be 45 years old, and indeed a rework of an even older radio version, but it seems to cast a long shadow, meaning buyers are still unsure what they actually need to purchase.

Only recently I have heard two linked questions: one was from a collector of ‘vinyls’ fed up with just putting them on the wall, and wanting to try actually playing the things, the other from someone with an inherited collection of records they wanted to start hearing again. But what did they need in order to do so?

Well, the good news is that the much-vaunted ‘vinyl revival’ has brought with it a wide range of devices to play what the Japanese still call ‘black discs’, be they LPs or 45rpm singles. The bad? Some of the products out there aren’t terribly good, being designed more for lifestyle appeal than ultimate sound quality: yes, you can buy a modern version of the old Dansette all-in-one record player, but such things are probably best considered as set-dressing for the ‘vinyls on the wall’ generation.

Pro-Ject Primary E

Fortunately the ‘serious’ record player has evolved, not least through the efforts of Austrian-based Pro-ject, which has – since 1991 – been making turntables to play records, starting at very affordable prices. The £200 Primary E is the entry-level model, and couldn’t be much simpler: it comes ready set-up for plug and play operation, and is ready to connect to an any amplifier or system with a ‘phono’ input.

E1 BT

But there are other models designed to further ease the path into vinyl playback: the E1 Phono model has a phono preamplifier built-in, so can be used into any system with an ‘aux’ line input, while the E1 BT has onboard Bluetooth, allowing it to transmit wirelessly to a Bluetooth speaker, a system with a suitable input, or even direct to a pair of wireless headphones.

VT-E

What’s more, if you really want to hang your turntable on the wall, along with those album sleeves, the VT-E is a ‘vertical’ version of the design, able to play records while free-standing on a shelf or sideboard, or indeed mounted on a well. And with a Bluetooth version of this one also available, the only physical connection you’ll need is power from a mains socket.

Beatles Yellow Submarine

Want something even more ‘off the wall’? The company has a range of artist-inspired designs, including one shaped like the iconic Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon prism logo, and a Beatles Yellow Submarine turntable. The latter is the fifth Beatles design from the company, and while the look may suggest this is a novelty product, it’s still built to the same standards as the company’s other models, and offers a high standard of performance – complete with its yellow Ortofon Sonar pickup cartridge.

Jukebox

And yes, you can simplify things even further: the company’s range of Jukebox players combines a turntable and amplifier in one unit, so you only need add a pair of speakers for a complete audio system. There’s a volume control on the front of the plinth, plus an input selector and display – these models also have a Bluetooth input to stream music from a phone, and a line input for a CD player, network audio device or whatever – and you can even buy the turntable in a complete package with colour-co-ordinated speakers, as the Jukebox E1 Set. And that’s the modern equivalent of the Dansettes of the past – only with greatly enhanced performance.