Aside from a cheesy plastic cheap POS player, my adventure started with an AR Turntable and a Linn Basik arm. Nursed it to health, slapped a Shure cart on...was officially in vinyl playbackland for under $150. A year an a half later, shortly after upgrading to a Clearaudio cart on the AR, I sucked it up and bought a Gyro SE, VPI cleaner and some tube amps! Worth every penny, I might add ;)
It's dangerous stuff! Listen to these guys, you'll be hooked! I want to do some structural mods to my stand, mod my tonearm, and upgrade my cart at some point and I'll be happy for a while (then I'll have time to work on getting my CD playback to some kind of "tolerable" level--I just can't stand it right now, but my player is pretty modest).
If you don't mind the attention vinyl commands, I suggest you jump in with both feet and don't look back. You'll love vinyl, and more and more new titles are becoming available along side all the old used gems out there. Just make sure you get a 'table with a good upgrade path, as you will definitely follow it, and make sure you make some kind of cleaning system part of your budget. This doesn't have to be costly, but it can be. Up to you, and how much DIY work you're willing to put in.
It's worth it! :)
It's dangerous stuff! Listen to these guys, you'll be hooked! I want to do some structural mods to my stand, mod my tonearm, and upgrade my cart at some point and I'll be happy for a while (then I'll have time to work on getting my CD playback to some kind of "tolerable" level--I just can't stand it right now, but my player is pretty modest).
If you don't mind the attention vinyl commands, I suggest you jump in with both feet and don't look back. You'll love vinyl, and more and more new titles are becoming available along side all the old used gems out there. Just make sure you get a 'table with a good upgrade path, as you will definitely follow it, and make sure you make some kind of cleaning system part of your budget. This doesn't have to be costly, but it can be. Up to you, and how much DIY work you're willing to put in.
It's worth it! :)