arguments against starting a vinyl collection?


Hi,

I have a pretty elaborate setup for cd playback. I use the emmlabs cdsd transport and emmlabs dcc2se dac with the dartzeel amplifier and the wonderful evolution acoustic mm2 speakers with powered woofers.

I own roughly 2600 cds and about 175 sacds.

The vinyl crowd still swears of course that great digital playback cannot equal vinyl so have been somewhat tempted to dip my toes into analog and get a turntable and phono preamp. Here is what is holding me back!

Please note that I would not get vinyl to find obscure vinyl only vintage or otherwise recordings.

It would be mostly targeted at recordings that sound better on vinyl than cd.

Here is the arguments against:

1. hard to find a turntable and phono preamp that is class A and thus as good as my emmlabs cd equipment without spending serious bucks?

2. Even if I could find a reasonably priced class A turntable, the best sound requires more skill than a newbie like I would have? In other words, the better turntables are harder to setup and use?

3. A lot of heavy weight albums are double albums so you need to switch sides three times?

4. You need to clean the vinyl before every listen?

5. If you listen 15 times to a particular vinyl album you will likely begin to hear some deteoriation?

6. Even with a good setup, you will probably still hear pops and hiss on many vinyl albums even some well mastered ones?

7. I will not hear for modern recordings a big difference between vinyl and cds given that my emmlabs equipment is so good and I cannot afford a $10,000 phono preamp and a $25,000 turntable/cartridge....

thanks

Michael
128x128karmapolice

Showing 2 responses by genesis168

A properly setup $1500 TT combo (TT, preamp) will I won't say sound better than your EMM Labs but will give you a much more satisfying musical presentation/performance than any digital will. Listening to analog is an experience. IMO, digital at it's best is still music without any soul while analog at it's worst is music with a soul. That's the difference.

You might want to reconsider before taking the plunge into analog because it's a commitment. It looks like you're not ready.
Czbbcl, For starters, the Technics 12xx would be a good choice. You can get them as cheap as $399??? Do a search on the forums. It's a solid table FWIW. You can do a lot worse for a lot more $. Get an Audio Technica/Denon cartridge and a PS audio GCPH/EAR 834 phono and you have a solid vinyl playback system. This will take you a long way. I am in no way saying that this some multi kilobuck killer but it will show you what analog is capable of for so little $.

I am only recommending the Technics as an example because it is easy to setup, use, sound great and will not take the fun off spinning records.

If you decide analog is not for you, sell it and get your $ back. And if think analog for you, then you can lay down your life savings.