Would I be wasting my money to get a turntable?

@2psyop very sorry for your loss. I think your Mom would want you to listen to your stereo. Maybe even play a record of one of her favorite singers.

@immatthewj I did not want to talk about it but if you had to ask...

I in fact tried to build one. I requested a Lego figure for trump but no at the factory accepted the request for mental health reasons. 

Thanks for the visual and a good laugh, @grislybutter .

@immatthewj I have installed cartridges on my Music Hall turntable. I bought a little scale to measure tracking force. It wasn't terribly difficult, but I don't know if I had the tracking angle perfect, etc. I eyeballed it. When I bought my Hana cartridge, I had it installed by the dealer. They tweaked on it for quite a few minutes using special tools to get it to their liking.  I'm sure with a little homework (YouTube videos) and some gauges, I could do it.  It's not rocket science, but it has to be done properly to get the most out of your cartridge. 

Thanks for the info on that, @sls883 .  I had no idea that there was that much to it.  I just kind of thought that you popped one cartridge  out and then snapped the new one in.

As I typed previously, this thread is making me feel better about not doing vinyl.  

@immatthewj I can't stand how anti-vinyl you are, we are going to turntable shopping tomorrow weirdo

Well, @grislybutter , if you are going to twist my arm and insist that I use your credit card(s) and/or debit card I guess I can see my way clear and consider myself up for our shopping trip.  Are you going to also front me a few k so I can stock up on some vintage LPs?  

"I spent 90% of my money on wine and women, the other 10% I wasted". Get a turntable and be happy! Joe

@immatthewj it's not about money! On this coming Monday we will all be sooo rich anyway! 

Hello Frit, your question is, should you get a turntable even though the signal will be going through a class “D” design. So it passes through digital.  1st thing you note, even thought the analog signal will pass through a digital format, you will still hear the difference of the sound of a turntable. Of course, if you could keep the signal 100% analog, that would be the best way but if it does pass through a digital format, you will still hear much of what the sound of a turntable does.  I think the biggest question to ask is if it’s worth getting a turntable setup. I owned some of the most desirable items in hifi and I have 2 vinyl setups. Do I really appreciate their sound? Yes I do. Do I listen to them a lot?  Not really because digital is faster and easier to get going. I would recommend to anyone that if they want to hear great music, they don’t need a turntable setup. But if someone is looking to expand their system and try to get even higher quality playback, then they could explore vinyl. But vinyl is also a totally different and very complex setup to get correct. 

The M33 is a nice piece of equipment.

Get a turntable if you want one, especially if you already have records or are interested in buying some. Playing and collecting records is fun. The cover art is fascinating and the liner notes are interesting (and big enough) to read. The sound will be fine (and probably improved by the digital trickery).

For your system I would recommend a Rega or Technics turntable (there are others that are just as good but this is a good starting place). The advantage to the Technics is the changeable head shell, allowing you to easily experiment with different cartridges.

Go for it!

@2psyop 

Sorry for your loss. There is not much that compares to losing ones mother. I hope your new venture down the vinyl rabbit hole brings you the peace and closure you seek.

I agree with "grislybutter" BUT I would ammend that with at least $3,000.00 and definitely put more emphasis on fiddling or tweaking. It's definitely not a sit and press the remote thing.

I had an fairly inexpensive audio setup when I decided to get rid of my 100 or so albums and inexpensive turntable. An article by Michael Fraemer made me decide to take another look at analogue. The first thing I did was buy a better cable from the turntable to the preamp. It helped a bit, but I'd be lying if I said it sounded better than CD. Then I bought a used Rega 3 for about $500. (This was mid-nineties.) Also a Sumiko Blue Point Special. I began to hear a bit of difference, especially in the Rega's speed as a result of its glass platter. 

Fast forward through buying about a thousand albums and upgrading eventually to a VPI Prime Signature and Audio Research PH-7 with an EMT HD 006 cartridge, about $2,500 worth of gear. Now the main difference I hear with records is air. Even digital through my streamer at 192 resolution, which is damned good, lacks the air and warmth of a good analogue setup. 

My main point is whether you feel committed to investing in analogue even though it might take a long while to upgrade your system, and even when you have upgraded, to be able to hear the difference. I guess my suggestion would be to visit an audio store or a friend who could demo a good streaming system versus a decent analogue rig. See what your ears tell you. Can you hear enough difference to invest time and money?

yes

Whether to buy a turntable or not depends on the value you put on "the analog magic".  The simple answer is no, but that doesn't mean you should not buy a turntable, it is more complicated than that.  In my personal set-up, I have about $25,000 in my turntable, arm, cartridge and phono section and that doesn't include buying records.  To have a decent amount of records is another $25,000.  If you get enjoyment and you have the disposable income and you are not depriving your family or the charitable causes you support, then go ahead.

A lot of good advice here - which pretty much adds up to "The Cartoon" above - "Don’t Waste Your Money" - unless:

1. You have a pretty decent collection of vinyl albums... and/or...

2. Lots of money to invest in acquiring such a collection of "high quality" vinyl... and... the time and patience / tolerance for frustrating detail (cleaning and de-ionizing your vinyl, filtering the pops and scratches without loss of signal quality,, never-ending upgrades of all the turntable, turntable components, and phono pre-amp, etc., etc.)......

3. Are single, without children and other family obligations...

4. Have such a bad case of OCD, that you are compelled to read threads like this... and... to invest lots of your money, time and patience into very, very small refinements in your sound quality... regardless of family obligations...

and...

5. Are prepared to extend your OCD case to SET tube amps, tubes and high efficiency OB speakers to accommodate the tube amps (ala DecWare, etc.)...

Did I mention... "LOT"S OF MONEY!"

Prolly less expensive to find a good analyst to help you recover from your OCD!

rhg3 and ozzy62, thanks for the thoughts, I appreciate it. Not trying to hijack this thread at all. It’s been a tough couple of months. To the OP. I had been thinking to myself, as many of us do, where should my money go? For any audiophiles out there with pressing issues and needed to put money on necessities for the family or oneself, I would not buy a turntable. For anyone battling inner demons and possibly a drug or alcohol problem I would not place throwing money at albums or a turntable before counseling or just tackling those issues first. I have often heard the word “fun” associated with record albums and playing them. More often than with any other audio device. It’s probably true that many young people were instrumental and factored into the vinyl revival movement. So there is a part of me that says, if my issues are not too serious maybe I should through caution to the wind and get into vinyl a second time in my life. Just for the fun of it. It’s something that often we overlook… maybe because we take care of granny, or put our kids schooling first, soccer games and other people. In some cases, not all, it’s ok I think to treat ourselves and relax and enjoy our indulgences. Just a thought …

OP...If you ask the question "Would I be wasting my money to get a turntable?"....The answer is indeed YES

Somewhere the term 'emotional' was used ("friends are emotional about their vinyl). That pretty much says it all. There is nothing wrong to 'like' vinyl. But terms like 'better' do not apply in this context. 

I swore off vinyl some 40 years ago, and still have a hard time imagining how a (even small) mass (needle with coils/magnet, etc) gets 'shoved around' (accelerated, decelerated) say 15,000 times per second trying to follow the hills and valleys pressed into a tiny channel of a plastic disc, then modifying the analog output to be amplified and resemble the 'sound' of a violin for example. 

@mulveling is spot on. 

1. the lp collector's price advantage over digital long ago disappeared decades ago. Even more important, the LP has become a fetish/ fad item driving up the price further. 

2. digital playback has improved a lot

3. Driven by point 1, the world supply of original and analog represses from the era has diminished so much, except for classical. The jury is out on new LP reissues, many of which are mastered at 16-bit, 44 kHz. The AAA recordings are 50-200$ each. 

3. here is the critical point: it depends on what type of music you listen to and when it was made

- If the music was born digital, play it back on digital equipment. I agree that 70s new wave sound awesome and better on LP, because point 3. If you think analog production of born-digital sounds better, just EQ it. 

- Some music/recordings benefit from analog playback, which more pleasingly reveals the sound of the decay of instruments in the reverberant room in which they were recorded, so most classical, jazz, or folk from the 1950s - 70s. The complexity of the sound waves of massed instruments, acoustic instruments, voices, again, in a physical space, in my opinion, still isn't captured by digital recording or remastering (not arguing that the technology cannot capture it, but perhaps some other decisions are being made that produce less-pleasing recordings). Per New Wave and soul, I also love the way analog represents the artifacts of studio recordings. This is not a music snobbery argument, just a "right tool for the job" thing. If those recordings of those types of music are not important to you...

Finally, if you don't have a collection already, for all the reasons above, I would not start. 

only if you do not want to play records....

Go for it. It’s just better. Stay up late at night better. And don’t buy the BS about building an album collection. A lot of my faves came at $15-$25. Discogs is your friend.Forget about the ritual of handling the records, reading the inserts etc. Vinyl sounds better and in most cases a lot better.

Unless you have vinyl to play and WANT to play it. OR… you want to collect vinyl and WANT to play it, get a turntable, but only if you are concerned with the nostalgia you feel by playing vinyl and you enjoy the ritual of handling and playing vinyl. If not, unless your vinyl rig costs $100K, your sound quality will be better playing digital or streaming. That’s my 2 cents.

@fritzenheimer

There is conversion of the analogue signal to digital in my system. I don’t find that to be a problem. In fact, it can be a big advantage due to a reduction in noise, distortion and interference.

Only you can tell if vinyl is for you. Some of us think it is glorious. I tried to live without it for a few years, but found streaming and CD rips just didn’t give me the same pleasure. As you have seen, others have quite jaundiced views of vinyl. In reality, there are both pros and cons. It’s a matter of personal taste and judgement.

There’s no getting away from the fact that it can get very expensive both in terms of gear and discs. However, it is possible to dip your toe in the water at fairly modest cost with a ProJect turntable for example. My two sons and daughter have done just that with great success.

You don’t need a huge collection of discs. How often do you think someone with over a thousand plays every disc in their collection? Better to enjoy a few discs. I started out with just a dozen a year ago. Of course, I have many more now, but I am still a listener not a collector.

I find vinyl is a different sort of listening. I still have streaming alongside it to explore new music. I buy the vinyl version of albums that I particular like for a deeper dive into them and a more immersive experience.