2. analog
  3. 141645-34305

Turntables

I am kicking the idea of trying out vinyl. It’s been a long time since I had a turntable and it took a lot of thought whether I can deal with what always seemed like the snap, crackle & pops of an album. Anyway, I’ve decided to take a plunge after all the buzz how awesome it is. Of course before I make any final decisions, I always turn to the Audiogon community for their expert thoughts, opinions and education. I’m also looking for suggestions for a nice affordable table with tone arm and cartridge. Being the fact this is new to me and I may hate it, I’m looking for suggestions on the best affordable set up I can do for a new or used in the price range of $1000/$1500. I’m sure I can get a better bang for the buck going used. I just don’t know anything about these animals. My system is older but I still enjoy it which consist of a Mark Levinson 23.5 amp, Proceed AVP 2+6 used for 2 channel audio, Audio Acoustics model 9 speakers, Ayre DAC for digital with Transparent Audio Ultra mm2 cables. Any input is greatly appreciated!
luvrockin

Showing 2 responses by jasonsim

jasonsim
113 posts
 
I honestly recommend that you don’t get into vinyl. I started five years ago and if I had to do over, I probably wouldn’t. The money I have spent on vinyl is nuts.

I would take the $1500 and upgrade your DAC or CD player.

Not to mention the frustration with hit or miss reissues, poor pressings, weeding out what was mastered from digital, having to send records back when they have defects, paying the shipping back and forth, etc.

With many of my favorite albums becoming available in hiRes MQA on Tidal, I rarely buy new records. It has to be something really special any more to get my wallet open. Mostly the ultradisc sets from Mofi.

If you dont don’t have a streamer, I suggest getting one like a BlueSound Node 2 or one of the Auralic streamers. My choice is a PS Audio DirectStream Junior. This is an upgradable FPGA DAC with a built in bridge for streaming! I know a dealer that sells them at a heavy discount ( there is 50% markup on all this audio gear).
jasonsim
113 posts
 
I didn’t mean to be a downer for the original poster. Just wanted to give some bigger perspective. Now that I have over $5k in audiophile reissues that I painstakingly put together, I am kinda stuck.

Each time I upgraded my DAC and CD player, I found myself having to upgrade my analogue front end. It has taken a $20k rig to top my $10k Esoteric SACD player.

The analogue rig consists of a VPI Classic 4 with a 12” 3D reference tonearm. An Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge to a Bob’s Devices Sky 20 SUT to the phono stage built into my Luxman L-590ax Mark II integrated. All wired with Transparent MusicLink Super cables. Stillpoints record weight and VPI perifery ring.

To clean those precious plastic discs, I picked up an Audio Desk Gläss ultrasonic record cleaner.

I didnt even factor the cost of record storage racks. And my last point, I had to move to a larger house to keep growing my collection.

Well mastered records sound awesome! Magical even.

Though I’ve had MQA Tidal cuts and CDs that also sound magical.


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