Nice system! How about staying with "Made in the USA" precedent of your other gear and picking up a VPI Classic and the new Parasound phono pre-amp? |
You don't give a budget. So a good phono cable which you will need is a Seabreeze or Hovland MusicGroove2. Both can sometimes be found used. An entry level pro-ject, rega or similar turntable is a good start. Later when you know more that this is an area you wish to delve further into you will have learned the basics and be ready to go where only fools or music lovers dare to go. Mostly vinyl listener here. |
No problem.
Please just send me the money that you want to spend, and I will gladly pick you out an analog source system, (including a nice selection of vinyl for you to play), and send it to you as soon as I have it bought and tested.
Given your system, I suggest about $10K as a good starting figure. (Oh, and please include the additional funds for shipping and insurance though!)
;-) |
I'd suggest a Well Tempered Amadeus. Less fiddly than many turntables, and all one package of turntable and tonearm. Great reviews all over. |
Please include a budget and a brief description of what you like and dont like concerning audio,such as,,do you listen to a lot of bass heavy music,mostly classical,heavy metal,bluegrass.What do you love hearing,deep soundstage,super detail,laidback,lush midrange,what makes you happy about the sound of a system,how is your mechanical ability,do you like fiddling with things or plug n play?Are ticks and pops going to be ok,you will have some.Be ready to clean records,dust brush them,get up to change or flip records often.LOL,I love analog! You have a very nice system.If you get entry level ,it will give you a small taste and you will want to upgrade very soon,or you will decide it is not your cup of tea.JJust my 2 cents.Good luck and have fun! |
Excellent start..had some Vandersteens myself and loved them. The Quatro's must be AWESOME!
How about a SOTA/SME combo. Perhaps the Cosmos and Series 5 arm?
Have Fun! |
I want to spend less than $5000 for this . I mostly listen to Jazz and classical Music. only 5-10% of my mysic is Bass heavy. Planning to buy used equipment to start with. |
In your other post,Help me build a second system for 10,000.00,your main system consist of HT Oriented ,Paradigm S8 speakers, Did you sell them?
My main system is more of HT oriented
Paradigm Signature S8 Speakers (matching center and surrounds )
Anthem D2v
Parasound Jc1 (For Main Speakers)
Parasound A51 (For Center & Surrounds ) |
<5,000?
The Sota I own is a Star - AGon used but like new $1,250
The SME I own is the Series IV - AGON used but like new $1,000.
Retail for these 2 "like new" items about $5,000, paid $2,250. Plenty left for a good cartridge AND phono pre if needed.
Sorry for coming on strong, just a personal affection i have for Vandersteens, Sota, and Tubes (Conrad Johnson for me)
Good luck with whatever you do. |
The Sota Star/Sme4 recommendation is a solid one. Also consider VPI Classic 1 combo. The Lyra Delos is a great cartridge at a reasonable price. Other cartridges to consider in that range are Benz Micro Glider II, Dynavector 17d3, Ortofon Cadenza Bronze and 2m Black,
You will also need a phono preamp if you dont have one. there are very nice ones in the 500 to 750 range, or maybe a board for the ARC. |
Dear Veerapaneni: How many LPs do you own?
regards and enjoy the music,
R. |
0. I dont own any LPs now. |
Raul asks a very important question. My response to your answer is to suggest that you sit down, take a deep breath and do nothing for now. Let me explain...
I'm a vinylphile; I love absolutely everything about records. I love shopping for them, cleaning them, getting my set up spot on and of course playing records. I like holding the record and reading the liner notes while listening. (OK I lied, I don't like cleaning them!) But vinyl is a major committment, can be costly and requires a fair amount of space. Which leads to questions that only you can answer before making any decisions:
What are you trying to accomplish by diving into vinyl? In order for us to provide good advice, we need to understand what you are seeking... Are you unsatified with your current digital rig? Do you know if has been optimally set up?
Do you have access to the type of music you want on vinyl at prices you are willing to pay?
What level of financial investment are you willing to make. Equally important, what investment of time are willing to make? Many folks try vinyl but do not achieve a satisfactory result; oft times because they haven't been shown how to optimally set up their system. BTW, whatever your budget is, you will end up spending more ; -) |
The only reason i want to go Vinyl is because of praises i hear about them. I am totally satisified with my current system and have no complaints. As youi said might be i need to wait. |
As far as the question about how many records you own goes, while being a fair question, it's kind of a 'what came 1st, the chicken or the egg". The common train of thought is that one shouldn't have more money invested in the equipment than in the music BUT....you gotta start somewhere right!!?? You could easily go to Audio Advisor and get a decent start-up turntable AND Phono preamp on the cheap (much less than 5K!). Than you can go get yourself some records with whatever's left over. Just be prepared for the madness that will take you over once you realize you prefer vinyl. THAT's when the money starts to flow! |
The man wants to try vinyl and has some cash to do it right. Good idea. There are millions of records around, that's not a problem. Cleaning is not a problem either with a $600 machine. There are no big problems with vinyl, just some playing with the set-up. The difference with well recorded classical and jazz compared to digital should be huge.
For $5000 used there are so many options. What kind of sound are you looking for? |
Go for it. Get a VPI.
Here's my recent experience - I started from relatively zero and now have a fantastic vinyl playback system and decent record collection for under $5k (used VPI Scoutmaster, Soundsmith Zephyr, Sutherland Ph3D.)
Vinyl's gotten me both amazing sound quality and tons of fun.
You can get mixed lots of 100 classical LPs here on Audiogon for about $2/record, $5 - 10 for fancy labels. Mixed bag, but part of the fun is exploring what's there. I'd never pay $20 each for 4 different recordings on CD of the same piece. But, its easy and great on vinyl. On the other hand, the high quality reissues - Music Matters Jazz, Acoustic Sounds, Mosaic, etc - are simply amazing quality, though expensive ($50 each) |
Let's forget your statement "...to start with"
You gonna get it right once and for ever!
1) : Lenco L75 (less than $200 ebay) + (about $350 ebay) plinth with removable armboard (jec965)
2) : Zeta tonearm ($900 Audiogon)
3) : Denon DL-103R Panzerholz uwe body soundsmith level 1 ($375 Audiogon)
4) : Einstein TT CHOISE phonostage ($2650 Audiogon)
Ps : You must be very quick to grab 2) & 3) ASAP ! |
Lots of good sound advice.. Rauliruegas spelled it out perfectly...I started in the same position as you are now.
I have spent approx 15K on my vinyl system and lps in just over a year. My budget was 5K...good luck!
I hate cleaning records too! |
Correction: Jazdoc had it spot on with help from Raul. |
I can't offer much equipment advice because I've just gotten back after many years away but maybe you can learn from my experience. Two days ago I went to a Brandi Carlile show with my daughter. Vinyl gets me closer to that live sound than digital. Period. I also have an excellent system with an $8k amp and $5k DAC but vinyl is different. In addition, there is a huge amount of great music that never made it to CD that I can now explore- that's why I took the plunge. Given your current system, I advise you to avoid the very inexpensive gear unless someone knowledgeable vouches for the sound quality. I wasted lots of money going from a $300 tt to my current investment. Unless you're doing it just to explore- go for a setup that you can keep long-term. You can't lose with a VPI Scout or Scoutmaster or a SOTA. They're relatively less expensive given their quality and the companies are local and easy to deal with. It was a good deal of work dealing with MM/MC, step-up transformers, azimuth, cartridge loading, cleaning fluids and systems, etc. so a complete package with tt, arm and cartridge it might give you a starting point from which to learn more. Going piece by piece and mathching components sounds scary. I wouldn't waste a dealer's time and then buy used but you can hear lots of analog at shows. At the '07 THE show in New York, everyone who was not selling digital was showing off their equipment with vinyl-that told me alot! It's work but this is a hobby. Enjoy! |
I have been playing vinyl for almost 40 years and live in the uk. I am now lucky enough to have a kuzma XL and 4point arm, colibri and benz ebony carts. This is the most musical system I have heard. I have owned an sme 20a/V arm and a Linn ekos which are distant contenders.
You are based in the US so I would go american. I had the pleasure of listening to the well tempered Amadeus with lyra cartridge into an ARC PH 7 which sounded great. Not as much weight or as good image as with Kuzma but excellent flow and rhythm. Really good for the price even in rip off Britain.
I have also owned a BAT P10se phono stage which is excellent but now unavailable over here so when I upgraded went for an ARC ref 2 phono stage.
Maybe you could get a BAT or Arc 7 second hand to go with the Amadeus. |
