need help on minimal analog set-up

Get yourself a used NAD 3020. It's phono section is very respectable. I still have mine and I use it in my study office. It can drive any speaker system to decent levels without strain and accomodate most cartirdges. It sounds great with Spendor/Rogers Harbeth 3/5's and I took it to a freind's house and drove his Turntable Cartridge through Thiel 1.5 to a more than sufficent satisfactory level.A NAD 3020 goes on the net auciton houses for around $100 - $200. With the money you save you can upgrade turntable and blow the rest on records! The 3020A and the 3020B are the same except the 3020A has a mono switch. You won't be sorry. Has all of your other requirements.

thanks a ton for the great ideas.
i had a thought.
what if i do a turntable + phono stage + headphone amp + headphones.
take it one step further, make the phono stage and headphone amp battery op, like the grado head amp. i know that there is some battery driven phono stage out there, some paranoid driven box that deals with ac interference...

thanks again,

gary

Hey Gary:

I'm with Dave, I think that's a great recommendation! You might also consider an SF Line 1 or 2 in place of the Melos as they employ the Headroom headphone circuit. This will be a great foundation for you to add an amp and speakers to when you're ready. (Hint: You might be tempted to swap the Rega and the Music Hall, you never know!)

Best,
Mario

Rats, I now only think the Anthem Pre-1L and Pre-2L have the built in headphone amp. The original Pre-1 does not. Still the 1L and 2L are great pre's for the price, but will need a separate phono stage/preamp.

Music Hall MMF-7 with supplied Goldring cartridge
Melos Sha-Gold
Lehmann Black Cube
.5 meter Harmaonic Tech.Pro-Silway MK2 interconnect
Grado SR-225 phones
Buy used and you're way under 4 grand.

I believe the discontinued Anthem Pre-1 by Sonic Frontiers has phono and a headphone amp. Used probably +/- $500.

Thanks for the input.
The room is 12'x 16'. concrete floors, 3' concrete low wall, 3' of glass above that, and a hard gabeled ceiling.

Phono set up? headphones? Tubes?

Monolithic Sound PS-1, Melos SHA-1/2/3 tube headphone amp/linestage pre & some decent used SS amp.

Speakers: how big is the room? Will near field speakers do the job?

TT: bring your Rega...