Help educate Analogue rookie

Unless you have a collection of vinyl, I would seriously question getting into vinyl. The $2,500 could get you a nice turntable/arm/cartridge and a handful of records, but you'd probably be better off spending that money entirely on new music. In other words, you could spend the next few months enjoying listening to 200+ new CDs or spend that time figuring out the intricacies of turntable vibration isolation and cartridge alignment while listening to a small number of vinyl records. The upside is that those few records could sound wonderful. I'm not saying either choice is wrong, but it is something for you to consider. If you read the archives you'll see that not every convert to vinyl was entirely happy with their attempts. If you still want to go with vinyl my recommendation is a used Well Tempered turntable and tonearm. Can be had for less than $1,500 and there are numerous upgrades and tweaks available.

If you are saying that you want no background noise at all then I would recommend that you pass on vinyl. Yes, background noise is a vinyl reality. However, except for some occasional ticks most of this noise is only heard between tracks and sometimes during very quiet passages. It depends on the condition of the LP and/or how well it is cleaned. It depends on the quality of the bearing and how well the table sinks vibrations. It depends on the stylus shape and tracking parameters. It depends on many things. Vinyl is a commitment of time, effort and money. When one get's it right, nothing comes close to vinyl playback short of reel-2-reel. Not HDCD, SACD, DVDA, etc. I suggest finding someone close to you with a decent vinyl setup and try to arrainge a few listening sessions. Decide from experience as it were. If you do choose to give it a try you will find many good people here that will be happy to help you along.

As you noted, immediacy is a big one. Detail is another. The good folks above are right; they are experienced, well informed and intelligent. From your point of view, I can lighten up a little. I guess you do not want distracting or diminishing levels of noise, rather than no noise. The committment stuff, time, money etc is such a Calvinist approach to joyful noises unto the lord. I appreciate what Dan says and what it infers about his meticulous habits. But we are talking music, not penitential flogging.

I started my 78 turntable collection from nothing and it is a happy addition to my Linn LP12 and my cd, dvd, sacd. You know your budget and you have plenty to work with.

I myself recommend that along with your turntable,etc purchase, you focus on good set-up tools and keeping things clean. You will be a happy guy and progress nicely at a comfortable pace.

Again, these fellows are very good and honest truly. Just too heavy from their levels of expectation and struggle. Its vinyl, not the Marine Corps or Ballet Russe. You go there in your own sweet time.

There is a good VPI in the 1500 range, and rega and music hall. I like my Linn. Plenty of fine cartridges to match. But you need cleaners for the records and the stylus. And a brush for clean records for future plays. Clean once and brush after (before) every meal.

The clicks and such are minimized with proper set-up and cleaning. Geo-disc is a great and simple tool.

Absence of ticks and pops is what sold the majority of folks on CD in the first place, I was there watching the whole world jump on the great Perfect Sound Forever bandwagon. "Damn the music, give me blessed silence!" the crowd cried, and the music was damned. If you love music and music reproduction, then you owe it to yourself to try good'ol analogue to see what all the fuss is about. A rock being physically dragged through a groove will never be as quiet as a laser-beam recording dots and dashes, but it will be a helluva lot more satisfying. I have a record-cleaning machine and rarely use it (also rarely use my CD player), I get by just fine with my walnut-handled Discwasher brush, used dry, no pain or rituals. I use the following procedure when buying used LPs: I pull them out of their sleeve and look at them in the light. If they look cruddy and scratched, or either of these, then I don't buy them. If they look pristine, into my shopping cart they go. I also don't buy on ebay. And there's lots of new vinyl these days, something of a renaissance in fact: safe to buy this on the 'Net. Loose tonearm bearings emphasize surface noise, but in your budget range this shouldn't be a problem. Bright electronics also emphasize surface noise, so avoid tinny phono stages. If you aren't actually looking for problems - i.e. actually listening for the noise rather than the music - then the noise, what there is of it, won't bother you. And if you decide you love the sound of vinyl, then it will bother you less and less. Finally, there are some rigs/systems in which noise is all but inaudible, and with a record in good condition I often wonder if I forgot to lower the tonearm, before the music starts. It'll probably take a while of hit and miss before you assemble such a rig/system, and by that time you may no longer care. Give it a go, life is about experience!

Thank you all for accurate and insightful info. It sounds like background noise is MOSTLY between tracks, while clicks and pops could occur any time! I think the common theme is proper minimum vibration or vibration free set-up and cleaning routine is the protocol for minimizing this unwanted noises. Aceto, thanks for lightening it up a little. But go on- you guys can tell me like it is. I can take it :~).