Moving from CD to analog

04-15-13: Chayro
Thank you for our kind reply.
I live in the UK so it may be difficult for people on Audiogon to recommend a good dealer?

I fully understand what you are saying about dealers selling you what they have in their shop and that these products will usually be very good but I feel that the end users who listen to Hi-Fi equipment, the people on this very forum will hold a wealth of knowledge/information about a wide verity of components and this will be very useful information and can be shared free of charge with no pressure to buy the next new piece of equipment. Another issue I have about engaging with a dealer is you will eventually be expected to buy new products at list price and let's face it all high end audio equipment is over priced? It's very difficult to walk into a dealer and tell them I would like to listen to that new power amplifier then at the end of the listening session tell them sorry I don't want to buy it because its too expensive.

04-18-13: Gregkraus
Thank you for your kind reply.
I live in the UK and yes it is very difficult to walk into a dealer in the UK and listen to several turntables.
Matching a tonearm and cartridge is sound advise I will investigate this further, thank you.
The ease of set up and maintenance is also something I will be looking for I guess as time goes on and if my interest increases I can always upgrade to a set up that has the ability for endless settings and features?
Thank you.

04-15-13: Rauliruegas
Thank you for your reply.
I currently own a small collection of LP's these I have recently brought to experiment with vinyl.
My digital front end is currently a Gryphon Mikado Signature this is an excellent CD player which I am very satisfied with, I am curious about vinyl and would like to explore the medium in more detail.
I have recently copied all my music to a hard drive using the FLAC codec and I was looking for music server that sounded better than my CD this has driven me mad and I have given up and so would like to try vinyl.
My music preferences are female vocal, jazz and blues.

I have been a vinyl diehard for years. I keep a CD player in my system just for my visitors. CD and LP are two different formats and they sound different. Welcome to the vinyl club.

It is a good idea to start with entry-level vinyl gears. Like other hobbies, you would appreciate the improvements when you move up the chain. The so many different combos of turntable, arm, cartridges, and phonostages will definitely keep you busy. It will be a long journey to get to the high fidelity of analog. However, it will be a very rewarding experience.

Over the years, I tried many turntables. The one brand I like to stay with is Clearaudio. Most of their tables have good upgrade path and their sound quality meets my needs. But don't limit yourself. You should check out dealer's demo and friends' systems. Enjoy the journey.

I added analog to my system about 4 years ago and have never looked back. Music through vinyl was just so much more involving that CD, so much so that after about a year I sold my Meridian G08 CD player that I used in my dedicated room. As other have said good analog takes much more involvement and time but is well worth it. About a year ago I bought the Transfi Salvation TT and Terminator arm which was a revelation. If you are interested google transfi audio and check out the website.