MrMonger wrote:Hi all, I'm fairly new to vinyl. I was recently passed down a large sum of lps that belonged to various family members since lately I've been appreciating a lot of classic bands that sound better on the format. Unfortunately the turnrable that my parents had no longer works and from what I understand it was garbage to begin with. Anyways I've attempted researching a setup to invest in but being completely clueless I'm having a bit of difficulty. Basically I want to be able to hear the benefits the format has over cds while not going well over 1200$ US. I need the whole package which from what I understand includes Speakers, Turntable, Receiver, and pre-amp. So far I've found a turn table and a pair of speakers that have caught my attention and I'm looking to hear some opinions on how this would sound and possibly a good receiver, pre-amp or whatever else is necessary to go along with it. Thanks!
Turntable:
http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Ject-Debut-Au ... 446&sr=8-3Speakers:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000G65R60/?ta ... 8avji0jk_b
Hello. With $1200 you can have a very good system and it may make sense to match old and new. Before you do anything please consider the listening room.
The speakers you picked are tall (42 inches), very effecient (91 dB rating means they will play loud with less power applied than a less effcient. This does not mean sound better.), and are optimized for home theater (large room for 5.1 or 7.1). If you put these speakers in a small room, a bedroom, or a basement with concrete walls and a low ceiling you may not like the sound after you become acclimated to it.
My point is match too your system to the room and even to your life style (if you a college guy that moves a lot and tyou have a small room consider bookshelf sized speakers).
Receiver - A receiver will provide am/fm tuner and a preamp and power amp all integrated into one package. A vintage receiever (like Marantz, Sanui and Pioneer) will have a good phono section as part of the integrated package. A modern receiver may not have a phono input at all (or it may have an inferior one). In this case you will need to buy a phono section that converts the phono signal to a line signal that the modern receiver can use (plugs into Aux input). Some people buy hi quality phono sections as upgrades to improve their overall system. For you starting out I would think a separate phono stage could be a future upgrade thus providing more cash to spend on the basics now. If you can find a vintage Marantz or Sansui receiver on Craigslist or ebay you will get a good sound, a nice phono section, conservative rated power, and lot of people (like me) think they look cool too.
Turntable - I would go vintage rather than entry level new. Entry level new stuff looks cheap and plastic to me. In my town, craiglist has many decent vintage TT to pick from avalaiable all the time. You may need to do some cleaning, fixing and tweaking but the build quality and sound will impress you. Sometimes you get lucky and find a gem and it may come with a nice cartridge too. I would recommend a new stylus if you buy used unless you know for a fact that the stylus is new.
Good luck.
