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Vinyl - anyone still buy it?


philpy

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So looking at about £200 for the deck, about £100 for the amp and £100 for the speakers for a decent starting point?

Sounds about right. I used to be (aherm) a right nerd and buy all the hifi mags but I've lost touch lately. I'd stay away from flashy Japanese stuff and stick to specialist British makes.
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Been keeping an eye out for second hand gear.

Reckon I could get a not bad starting set-up for under £200.

£60 for the deck (Dual 503-2) German made, looks like a pretty straight forward turntable so not much to go wrong.

£50 Amp - Denon PMA-225UK

Speakers - £35 wharfdale Diamond MkII

£60ish for new cart/needle

Really tempted to take the plunge, only issue is room in the flat, would need to go in the living room and it would totally spoil the look of the newly decorated room. Might need to get a bigger house first.

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Ha, nah i wont be buying anything like that.

Reckon im going to have to go down the brand new route as it needs to be aesthetically pleasing as well as sound decent. Which means ££££££'s.

Project Essential 2 turntable - £210

Cambridge audio amp - £80

Whardale Diamond 9.0 speakers - £60

Is the cheapest set up i can see, the only problem being the turntable doesnt have a cover which is not good when there are cats in the house.

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Ha, nah i wont be buying anything like that.

Reckon im going to have to go down the brand new route as it needs to be aesthetically pleasing as well as sound decent. Which means ££££££'s.

Project Essential 2 turntable - £210

Cambridge audio amp - £80

Whardale Diamond 9.0 speakers - £60

Is the cheapest set up i can see, the only problem being the turntable doesnt have a cover which is not good when there are cats in the house.

Im lucky that I have a small spare room where my system is as Mrs Boo wouldn't be happy with it in the main lounge. She would like me to get rid but that aint happening.

Never heard of Pro-Ject but it gets good reviews and looks very similar to Rega Planar 3 which is twice the price. It looks like it might be fiddly to set up but it'll be worth the effort. My Linn Sondek is the vintage...mid 80's....where you have to lift off the platter and physically move the rubber drive belt to play a 45 RPM record!!

Cambridge are a long established quality British hifi company. They used to be A&R Cambridge and I've had their A60 amplifier for 30 years now which is still going strong and has never let me down.

Wharfedale are another British company well known for producing quality speakers at the budget end of the market and again they were my first pair of 'proper' loudspeakers.

Don't forget you will need to budget for an appropriate platform to place your turntable on and interconnect cables but for a budget system that shouldn't be too expensive.

The theory is 'rubbish in rubbish out' so you need to get as much out the vinyl in the first place as no amp or speakers will make up for lack of quality signal later on in the chain,

To address your initial question of an analogue system to sound better than CD is quite difficult and very subjective as everyone hears music differently. I always wanted Linn gear as at the time it was considered the best sound quality money could buy and it was made in Glasgow!! Quality hifi shops have purpose built listening rooms where you are encouraged to bring your own favourite records which you know inside out and let them demonstrate the gear you're considering. I did that in Glasgow and Edinburgh before committing to my current set up which was most helpful and that's how they get your repeat business when you get the inevitable bug and go back for upgrades. Not all vinyl records are automatically better quality than the CD equivalent though as it depends on the analogue production quality at the time. My favourite for a demo was Street Survivors by Lynyrd Skynyrd which sounded so impressive on a quality system and I could follow every instrument in minute almost 3D detail......in fact im away to put it on now......

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Got a basic Sony deck, Fatman valve amp and a pair of TDL floor standing speakers, lovely sound. Keep meaning to complete The Smiths album set, (original vinyl) as at the moment I only have The Queen is Dead and Hatful of Hollow, might post pics of the set-up later.

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Cheers for the info Jimmy. I'll be back picking your brains if I decide to take the leap.

No problem mate your more than welcome. I may have droned on a bit and it took me ages to post in between playing Lynyrd Skynyrd records....which was YOUR fault!! I did have a good night to myself though:D
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Got a basic Sony deck, Fatman valve amp and a pair of TDL floor standing speakers, lovely sound. Keep meaning to complete The Smiths album set, (original vinyl) as at the moment I only have The Queen is Dead and Hatful of Hollow, might post pics of the set-up later.

Go on Biggy, flash us yer deck, I want some ideas for what to get me self.

Cheers

Grimbo

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There's a new saleroom opened on Musselburgh high street, a whole unit full of vinyl albums for a quid each, box sets included. The usual, some shite, some treasures.

I need a trip to Muzzy soon. Ta for the up Philpy.

Grimbo

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Here's the set up: (sorry about the crap photography) Fatman valve amp that doubles as an ipod dock, Little Dot valve headphone pre-amp, basic Sony record deck (think I spent about £30 on the cartridge) Sennheiser headphones and the TDL floor standing speakers.

post-12506-0-78861500-1450203591_thumb.p

post-12506-0-21819900-1450203631_thumb.p

post-12506-0-65217100-1450203677_thumb.p

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Here's the set up: (sorry about the crap photography) Fatman valve amp that doubles as an ipod dock, Little Dot valve headphone pre-amp, basic Sony record deck (think I spent about £30 on the cartridge) Sennheiser headphones and the TDL floor standing speakers.

I love yer speaker(s), can't see the deck nor amp very well, nice selection of Smiths & Moz cds, where's the vinyl?

Grimbo

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