2. analog
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OK, I made the leap...

Now that the kid is grown and gone (boo, hoo) I’ve decided it is time to get back into analog. I’ve been into this sport since; hum, ah, 1967, how ever long that is. I’ve had 500-600 albums, (I’m not going to count), that have been in storage since 1989. I know that year since that was the year my ex and I split the sheets and I managed to escape with the vinyl.
Anyway, I went to a used stereo store in Seattle today and purchased a used (old) turntable and a cheap phono pre, and I am like a kid in a candy store. I literally had not even looked at the albums since they were packed and stored years ago, in spite of moving several times. Holy crap, I’ve got a lot of good music. In spite of all the smoke and booze, I really did take good care of these albums. Yahoo. While I’m having a blast listening to my old stuff, it does not sound as good as my digital setup. There just seems to be no bottom end, and kind of a harsh top end. Sounds like an old receiver with tone controls that someone had turned the bass all the way down, and the treble all the way up.
Now for my question; how much do I have to spend on a table/arm/cart/phono pre setup to at least match what hear with my CD player? I do now, especially after listening to, and looking at what I’ve got, want to get back into vinyl, but not just as just a novelty. From what I’ve read here and other places, I should be able to have this sound as good or better that CD’s. All reasonable help/suggestions will be appreciated.
My system is as follows: (I can’t seem to make the virtual system thing work today)
Speakers: Osborn, Grand Monument Reference
Amp: Redgum RGH900
Pre amp: Consonance Reference 1.1
CD player: Sim Audio Moon Eclipse
Table: Sansui SA 4050C
Phono pre: God knows what it is.
Cables: Analysis plus, Harmonic Tech. Some other things I can’t remember.
bnc

Showing 2 responses by dougdeacon

dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Scottht,

Your advice was good, and well-intentioned too, but you obviously got to him too late. He's doomed.

OTOH we have another new friend on the analog forum.
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
I want to commend Rushton on the pictures thing. Damn showoff,
y' makin' the rest 'f us look lahk IDjits!

Excellent advice from all those above, particularly the part about spending some quality time in the archives before dropping major cash. I spent three months doing that before choosing my TT, arm and cartridge. As Twl rightly pointed out, component synergy is critical for an analog front end. Much more so than for digital. I've heard some very fine cartridges play pretty badly when mounted on the wrong arm, and vice versa.

I don't think anyone has mentioned that you'll have to decide between Moving Magnet and Moving Coil cartridges. MM's are less expensive, easier to set up and will match nearly any phono stage. Your flea market Sansui probably has one. MC's range from slightly to obscenely more expensive, are often very finicky about setup and require perfect matching to phono stage and/or stepup devices. Guess which type everyone on this thread listens to? It's worth the hassle, but it is a hassle.

Totally agree with AEW and Jphii on the record cleaning machine. Doing vinyl well is neither easy nor cheap. But it can be time-consuming and addicting.

Like many others here I ended up with a Teres and have no regrets at all, but there are fine tables from many manufacturers. I'll throw one possible rig out, just to give you some meat to chew on:

TT: Teres 160 ($2250)
Arm: Expressimo modded Rega RB-250, 11g eff mass ($635)
Cart: there are many good MC's < $1K (budget $750)
Phono: defer to others with more experience (budget $750)
RCM: VPI 16.5 ($500)

That's $4885, $110 less than the list price of your Eclipse. Buy some setup tools and a carbon fiber brush. I guarantee your CDP will soon have more dust on it than your LP's.
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