Hi Steve, I've got to add my $2. Congrats on making it through your illustrious career. I retired several years ago to pursue other opportunities. I got back into analogue audio about three years ago. I have spent more money than I care to count trying to satisfy my lust for good sound.
I'm not going to tell you what brands to buy. I will just relate some of my experience. Peter Lederman told me the speakers and turntable/cartridge are the most important. In that order. You can match the electronics to those. I use a 35 yo Conrad-Johnson PV6 and an Acoustat TNT120 for the amplification. They sound as good as anything for my speakers, ATC SCM19s. You need to match features that you need with the performance necessary for the speakers. Your phono stage should match your cartridge, not the other way around. Pick speakers that will sound good in a variety of locations, so if you decide to move into a different room you don't have an acoustic nightmare, like I did.
As you are aware, there are literally 100s of cartridges and everyone will tell you to buy what they have. A really good one is going to go for $1K - $10K. Just remember that in spite of advancing age and the subsequent hearing loss, the best possible sound will be enjoyable even if you need hearing aids to have a conversation or watch TV. You will put them aside to listen.
The turntable needs to be able to track the better carts, specifically the cart you have chosen and most will do a fine job. I've heard VPI bandied about in this thread. If you don't mind tinkering and tweaking, the VPI is a very fine turntable. I have a Prime Signature. It sounds wonderful with my Sound-Smith Voice.
I had no idea though, the amount of continuous tweaking that is needed. Everything is adjustable, which is good, but there is a compulsion to tweak it to squeeze more, better sound out of it. Or you'll notice a bit of sibilance and after spending hours if not days trying to find what has caused it you find a tweak will help. You can buy tools and what not to help in the tweaking, but you are still tweaking. You'll need a Fozgometer and test records. You can adjust the azimuth with that. A lot, they say, do it by ear. Great! I can tweak and listen, then tweak and listen some more, etc., etc. Oh, and anti-skate. That's a whole education in and of itself.
So you've got to ask yourself, "do I want to just listen or do I want to spend my retirement tweaking?" I personally would prefer to set it and forget it so I can just listen. The VPI is hands on at all times.
You've heard what everyone else has recommended, mostly hardware, but I thought a bit of my personal experience might help too. Once the equipment selection is done, you'll want to listen and enjoy. If you've done a good job selecting you'll have years of pleasure in your retirement. Best of luck on this new adventure, bring the Dramamine. And, happy listening!
Peace out, Len
I'm not going to tell you what brands to buy. I will just relate some of my experience. Peter Lederman told me the speakers and turntable/cartridge are the most important. In that order. You can match the electronics to those. I use a 35 yo Conrad-Johnson PV6 and an Acoustat TNT120 for the amplification. They sound as good as anything for my speakers, ATC SCM19s. You need to match features that you need with the performance necessary for the speakers. Your phono stage should match your cartridge, not the other way around. Pick speakers that will sound good in a variety of locations, so if you decide to move into a different room you don't have an acoustic nightmare, like I did.
As you are aware, there are literally 100s of cartridges and everyone will tell you to buy what they have. A really good one is going to go for $1K - $10K. Just remember that in spite of advancing age and the subsequent hearing loss, the best possible sound will be enjoyable even if you need hearing aids to have a conversation or watch TV. You will put them aside to listen.
The turntable needs to be able to track the better carts, specifically the cart you have chosen and most will do a fine job. I've heard VPI bandied about in this thread. If you don't mind tinkering and tweaking, the VPI is a very fine turntable. I have a Prime Signature. It sounds wonderful with my Sound-Smith Voice.
I had no idea though, the amount of continuous tweaking that is needed. Everything is adjustable, which is good, but there is a compulsion to tweak it to squeeze more, better sound out of it. Or you'll notice a bit of sibilance and after spending hours if not days trying to find what has caused it you find a tweak will help. You can buy tools and what not to help in the tweaking, but you are still tweaking. You'll need a Fozgometer and test records. You can adjust the azimuth with that. A lot, they say, do it by ear. Great! I can tweak and listen, then tweak and listen some more, etc., etc. Oh, and anti-skate. That's a whole education in and of itself.
So you've got to ask yourself, "do I want to just listen or do I want to spend my retirement tweaking?" I personally would prefer to set it and forget it so I can just listen. The VPI is hands on at all times.
You've heard what everyone else has recommended, mostly hardware, but I thought a bit of my personal experience might help too. Once the equipment selection is done, you'll want to listen and enjoy. If you've done a good job selecting you'll have years of pleasure in your retirement. Best of luck on this new adventure, bring the Dramamine. And, happy listening!
Peace out, Len