Clueless Analog Newbie, Looking to Buy

Srwooten-- I have yet to look into that table, though I've seen it listed on a few sites. Appreciate the recommendation, I'll plan on checking it out.

Riley-- Yes, and that was two years ago; things do change over time. Thanks for the constructive comment though, appreciate it.

Analog is expensive. Turntable, cartridge and the phonostage are all important.

I'm learning that right now. It's worth it, I suppose. I think it's fun just to handle an LP versus a CD, but I suspect that just to get the sound that all those on this forum rave about, you'd need to spend the following (used prices/ best bang for buck, just do your research and be patient):

Turntable: $600 - 1000

Cartridge: $250 - 400

Phonostage: $300 - 500

Maybe someone with more experience will chime in, and this is FWIW, my uninformed opinion, but the following gear gets mentioned a lot and is pretty popular, so you should have no trouble re-selling it for around what you paid if you don't like it:

Tables: Rega P3 or P3-24 ($500-750), or at least a P2 with an RB250 arm. The arm is very well thought. Michell Tecnodec w/Michell RB250 arm ($1000). They're all easy to set up and don't require a lot of maintenance.

Cartridges (you might want to buy new to be safe):

Dynavector 10X5, Audio Technica (AT) 150 MLX (these two are High Output Moving Coil and Moving Magnet carts. and should work well with amps that have built in phonostages). If your old NAD has a phonostage, stick with these carts. I did.

Denon 103 ($150, very well regarded), or the ZU 103 ($400). These two are Low Output Moving Coil carts. and require a heavier counterweight and some research on your part because the signal from them is very low.

Phonostages: I have a built in one, don't forget to include the price of a good set of IC if you want a separate phonostage.

I guess my point being, if you cheap out anywhere, you're always wondering where the weak link lies. Or maybe it's just me. It can get expensive.

For more info about Vinyl, read this guy:

http://www.furious.com/Perfect/vinylanachronist.html

His name is Marc Phillips. He's a super nice guy. If you email him with questions, he always makes it a point to reply.... he also writes for Tone Audio (great E-Zine..and free):

http://www.tonepublications.com/

Good luck, and you're going to get lots of opinions. If it was me, I'd either go for a sub $100 TT like a Dual on Craigslist, or spring for the Tecnodec. Don't bother with the middle ground, you'll never get your money back if you buy a new P1 or anything in that range and you'll listen to your CDs because it's got convenience going for it.

Also, you have to clean your records (half the fun is getting cheap cheap vinyl), read this:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1192142257&openfrom&1&4&showques&st50

Record cleaning machines are $300+. The steamer is $30. If you want to make a DIY cleaning fluid, send me an email, I have some surfacant (Triton X-114).

Enjoy.

my own experience says that if 3-400$ is a bite for you, stop and do not pass go. the analog route is, imho, expensive compared to digital, and even more so to get good sound. now there are people who are very good at tuning old tables and for them not so much. i suspect you are not one of those people.

In response to any naysayers, I say go for it. If you've been itching to try vinyl for so long, you'll always remain curious as to how it may sound if you don't indulge. Prepare yourself for what you're about to get into; save up the money if necessary so that you can afford the table, arm, cart, and accessories. I took the plunge a little over a year ago, and yes there were things I had to buy that I was not expecting (good cleaning materials, DIY vibration isolation, etc.). But it's all just part of the fun. Digital is ok if you don't want to spend time with audio as a true hobby. But if you find yourself saying "hmm I wish I had another hobby", then vinyl is it. Going to used record shops on the weekends to score records, tweaking the performance of your system through your own various inventive methods, learning from others how to add further tweaks and tune in your system, these are all things that keep me very busy with the hobby. But I will absolutely agree that you can easily end up spending more money than you originally thought. It all just depends on how far you want to take it.

I recommend you do what I did: buy one of the "all-in-one" packages that include tonearm and cart, and preferably have it setup by your local dealer. This way you can quickly jump into listening and not have to worry about setting up a turntable with no knowledge at all. Then as you progress, you may find that you want to make minor tweaks to the table, at which point you'll be gradually learning. I personally went for the Music Hall mmf-5.1, but they also make an mmf-2.2 which I believe is in your price range.