Spiritualized

If you're on a tight budget and not sure yet if you will even use a regular amp/loudspeaker combo, here is one cheap route that would get you started (assuming you already have a relatively budget-price turntable and headphones that won't benefit much from a higher quality proper hi-fi RIAA preamp and 'phones amp). Look on eBay, Craigslist etc for a basic 2nd hand DJ mixer. This will give you 2 MM phono amps (usually switchable to regular line inputs so you could use the spare channel for your CD player, media streaming device or even smartphone/iPod via stereo 3.5mm > twin RCA plug lead) plus you'd get a dedicated headphone out with volume control, all in one one compact package.

This assumes the availability and pricing (from as little as £20 here) of such. In the UK there often seem to be plenty of cheap DJ kit people no longer want, appearing on sites like eBay and Gumtree. The latter site having the advantage of letting you search locally so you can check it works before you buy (you might find a real bargain that's being sold due to crackly pots, which you can often restore with a simple squirt of contact cleaner or possibly even WD40).

This could also be viable way of purchasing an affordable 2nd turntable - especially as even the cheapest the DJ-type tend to be much more sturdy than traditional hi-fi decks, so you could be more confident of transporting it long distances without damage from potential rough handling, as long as it's well packed!

In addition you could subsequently add loudspeakers, for example computer types if you can live with the sound quality, or a better option would be to save a while for a secondhand pair of cheap (think Behringer territory) powered monitors, perhaps sourced from someone who's upgrading the monitors in their home/project studio, that pop up in bedrooms everywhere these days, and often in my experience folks start out with budget monitors (circa £150-200 new, but usually poor resale value) that are quickly upgraded as GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) rapidly kicks in. As budget powered speakers tend to not bother with balanced inputs it would be a cheap and simple cable to connect to the line or recording outs on the DJ mixer, completing a small-scale but reasonable quality playback system for very little money.

semisynthetic wrote:16" LP's

!!!

Never even knew such a thing existed... does anybody on here have any? do they even fit on your turntables?

Very helpful though Semi, I bookmarked it. Thanks.

By the way, I was at the Stanley Kubrick exhibit at LACMA the other day (he's easily my favorite director ever... at least once a month I pick out a few records to screen with 2001 just for fun... in the past year or so I've sorta made a weekly habit of screening either a movie or an ep. of the Cosmos with the sound off and just some music, but 2001 is pretty much the only thing I repeat...), and anyways, they had the turntable Alex has from A Clockwork Orange... it's really cool... not going to lie, I had just retrieved a 7" from a friend so it was in my backpack and removing the dustcover to give it a whirl crossed my mind... In fact, I think the turntable was built by a company founded to build stuff for 2001. If any of you are in LA at any point soon, besides doing a little meetup I highly recommend you check out the Kubrick exhibit if you have enjoyed any of his films, it's great.

Here it is: Transcriptors Hydraulic Reference Turntable



But yeah, it sounds like used stuff is the way to go. I am deciding right now to try to start seriously saving for some nicer audio gear.

.
16" LP's

These were used for Radio Programs, mostly; and for speeches and other purposes. I have approximately 100; They are great, MOST of them were Radio Programs for the Armed Forces, and they were extremely well cared for; I obtained most of them from a retired gentleman from the Signal Corps.

Others are regular Radio Programs, and I suppose since they are rather obscure, (and always were, relatively) it helps explain why they are in such great condition; I recorded MOST of them off. Another, not quite finished project.

Naturally they require 16" tables.

I, too am a BIG Kubrik fan; the only disappointment I ever saw with his name on it was "Eyes wide Shut" which he, unfortunately passed away before the completion of the final editing and finished, released film.

mojo filters wrote: The latter site having the advantage of letting you search locally so you can check it works before you buy (you might find a real bargain that's being sold due to crackly pots, which you can often restore with a simple squirt of contact cleaner or possibly even WD40).

There is a Product SPECIFICALLY for dirty pots called "Blue Stuff"; but any Fluorocarbon solvent, which dissipates entirely is probably much better than WD40, which leaves an awful residue that can make the pots even Dirtier. I used Halon before it was Verboten.

semisynthetic wrote:
I, too am a BIG Kubrik fan; the only disappointment I ever saw with his name on it was "Eyes wide Shut" which he, unfortunately passed away before the completion of the final editing and finished, released film.

You clearly haven't seen AI Just kiddin' round, that obviously doesn't really bear his name (there is a For Stanley Kubrick in the end credits) at all even though it was his project initially.

Re: Eyes Wide Shut though p that last part is actually pretty significant, because on almost all of his films he demanded final cut - Spartacus was the only one he didn't have it for, and as such ultimately dismissed it... (still great though...) - but yeah, he essentially didn't have final cut for Eyes Wide Shut because, well, he was dead... so yeah, it makes sense that that's the one that stands out as not up to par for ya!

Anyways, sorry to derail the thread briefly. What are the army things recordings of? (I guess that's continuing the off-topic stuff, but oh well)

16" Records: material contained:

These discs were all music for the soldiers to enjoy; think of any popular songs, of the WWII era, they're here; along w/ many comedians, some with the kind of acts that would NEVER have been allowed "back home" because of language and the "risque" topics that were not acceptable in the 1940s and 1950s. Earlier discs are simply longer versions of popular songs, MANY LIVE, along with discussion of the musicians, jokes, and "inside jokes" that will have faded in meaning over the years; but most of these are very entertaining, sort of the "Time Machine" effect that I enjoy and have mentioned before.

There is some MENTION of the Armed Forces scattered about, but NOTHING compared to the propagandist-type recordings of a series called "Guard Scene", from the Vietnam War era; a dimwitted DJ speaking with bands and performers that you can (just hear in his voice) he does not like; but the music on "Guard Scene" recordings has GREAT appeal too me, Frijid Pink, Ultimate Spinach, and many other 1960's songsters. Anyway, this series, on regular 12" LPs is excellent. So if you should find "Guard Scene", which has (TOO MANY) MILITARY commercials, but great music, I recommend them. PLUS you don't need a giant turntable!

Alright, another transportation question - I'm in New York and hit up a couple record stores today - I have a mailer and two flats (guy at one of the stores gave it to me, said they only mailed stuff for big orders), I was wondering - if I seal the records up in there and just put it in my (not nearly full) carry on roller between some clothing, you think it will be fine? I can't imagine that being more brutal than the treatment the postal service would give it? I just would rather avoid paying for shipping, but figured I'd ask for your advice because why not. Obviously the records not getting damaged is most important.

you could carry them on too, no?

Coooool that's what I figured, just reassuring hearing that from somebody who deals with moving records all the time as opposed to me, who only ever really moves rekkerds to the studio and back.

Hofstadter wrote:Coooool that's what I figured, just reassuring hearing that from somebody who deals with moving records all the time as opposed to me, who only ever really moves rekkerds to the studio and back.

If you do use the mailer, take the LPs out of their sleeves and put them in the mailer in their inner sleeves only.. Put the covers into the mailer empty. Dunno what the theory of the whole idea is, but in practice it stops LP shaped creases being driven into the covers.

olan wrote: If you do use the mailer, take the LPs out of their sleeves and put them in the mailer in their inner sleeves only.. Put the covers into the mailer empty. Dunno what the theory of the whole idea is, but in practice it stops LP shaped creases being driven into the covers.

I think it may also help prevent the cover slick from ripping at the seams.

I've just had to move my record collection to a new flat. The old place had a couple of built in wardrobes with shelves, one of which did very nicely for storing a load of my vinyl. I now have to find a more conventional method for storing all my vinyl and wondered if anybody could recommend any specialists who deal in home vinyl storage. I've had a quick look on line and IKEA seem to be making a big thing of this at the moment, though I vowed 15 years or so ago that I would never buy anything from IKEA again (it's a long story!)

So are there still some independent companies around who make the same sort of thing, or better, than the IKEA advertised racks? I remember a few places advertising in the music monthly magazines.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I currently have all my vinyl in bin-liners at the moment and as soon as I can get get them arranged safely the better.

If you are forced to go with Ikea they do sell these very sturdy(shocker!) 5 section units that I have my vinyl in. I have 3 units together and each so 15 units.Each section hold just over 50 LPs and have a 1 inch shelf. I had used another Ikea unit. When I got home from 10 days abroad the whole unit pancaked. No records were hurt in this incident thank you.

I've used these guys, not cheap but lovely product..

http://www.i-cubes.co.uk/

I'm quite happy with the Ikea storage I bought nearly 2 years ago. They do it in various sizesI and colours. bought the following size in white, turned on its side (so its 2 cubes high, 4 cubes wide):-

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/70193745/

Ads;
I am using the same unit. I have three standing vertical. There are 5 cubes in each. I deperately need a 4th but have no room.
Look at the shocking difference in price though
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20116274/

spzretent wrote:Look at the shocking difference in price though/

What shocking difference in price? The same unit as the one I bought is $89.99 for you guys (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/produ ... #/70193745 ) which is the equivalent of approx £60 over here...£20/$30 cheaper than they charge us for it over here. Is that the shocking price difference you talk of?!

Yeah, but the item you've listed is a single cube width by five cubes high. Mine is 4 cubes by 2 cubes. I was trying to match like for like products for a proper price comparison. If I was to compare the US price to the British price for the version that you have it's roughly the same... $59.99 vs £45 (http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/produ ... #/20116274). I may be confused anyway...in your original post, did you mean that US customers were better or worse off with the price difference.

(PS: sorry if this is turning into possibly one of the more dull discussions we've had on the forum )

The lady we bought our house from finished the basement so her mother could move in. She created a large walk-in closet that has several sturdy built-in shelves, which work great for my records (although they have now started to overflow). The only drawback is that all my music is stored downstairs, while my stereo is upstairs. But, I removed the door to the closet and have turned that area into my "man cave" by painting murals on the walls, hanging posters/flyers/handbills etc. More importantly though, it stores my music and it is able to be on view. A huge difference from when we lived in the UK and we were essentially tripping over boxes of records and tapes and cd towers lined the wall.

I too have a "man cave", or as my 3 yerar old calls it Daddys House, or my mates call it The Den. May i suggest we take some snaps of our storage/hideaways/nonfemaleinclusionzones ?? I would be interested to see other peoples.

I did post pics of them on my twitter page a month or so ago @davyc1976. I will put tem up here later if I get chance

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everybody who has suggested ideas. I love the idea of a "Man Cave" but living in a one bedroom apartment on the first floor would no doubt lead to a number of potential problems!

It would appear that IKEA might be making their stuff a lot more sturdy than I remember it being. As Mr Spzretent pointed out, the word I would normally associate with IKEA is "pancake".

I do love the "Cubes" option, though. Decisions, decisions....

Thanks again, it is much appreciated.

My Man cave

And some more snaps

One More

spzretent wrote:Fopp mug?

An impressive collection nonetheless

Took my turntable down today for a tune-up. Been at least a year since I changed the cartridge. I am pretty sure I could probably get more use out of it but was motivated to do so today. Ended up getting a Rega Elys-2 cartridge. Spent a bit more money than I have in the past but, my guys at the stereo shop were raving about this cartridge. Seeing that it is sunny, it's now mid-term break here...I broke out the dough and made the investment. Had it been raining or if my wife was with me at the time I may have thought otherwise.

Olan, you familiar with these cartridges?

Supposed to be good

redcloud wrote:Took my turntable down today for a tune-up. Been at least a year since I changed the cartridge. I am pretty sure I could probably get more use out of it but was motivated to do so today. Ended up getting a Rega Elys-2 cartridge. Spent a bit more money than I have in the past but, my guys at the stereo shop were raving about this cartridge. Seeing that it is sunny, it's now mid-term break here...I broke out the dough and made the investment. Had it been raining or if my wife was with me at the time I may have thought otherwise.

Olan, you familiar with these cartridges?

/ hi fi geek mode on
I don't know too much about the Rega Elys as I believe it is a moving magnet cartridge. When I ran a rega I used ortofon moving coil cartridges. There is a big advantage to the MC cartridge in that the stylus is much narrower than a MM so in theory it should generate less surface noise than an MM. There are obvious disadvantages to the MC cartridge. They are more expensive to buy, require a complete rebuild when the stylus needs replacing and need a step up transformer or specially configured phono stage.
/ hi fi geek mode off

IIRC you run a Rega deck. Partnering a Rega tonearm and deck with a rega cartridge is a no-brainer. Enjoy yourself!

We are moving house next month. We take possession of the new place on March 27th. I am absolutely dreading the move. I have had to take photographs of my hi fi and records for insurance purposes so in the interests of the man cave aspects of this thread here is a quick snap of my approach to record storage (this is a fraction of the collection as most of it is still in storage after our last move)

A 5x5 Ikea expedit is the usual storage solution.

This is the deck I use to play the discs, a Linn LP12 with a Naim Aro tonearm and Dynavector moving coil cartridge:

The rest of my kit (electronics and speakers) are from Naim.

I'm absolutely dreading moving house. Packing up and unpacking are incredibly stressful when it is just clothes etc, but shifting everyone's toys (kids and adults) is a nightmare.

I'll take some photos of my record room and put up here. My "man cave" is in the basement but my stereo is upstairs. I turned an old walk in closet into my record room and painted on the walls, built some shelves, hung posters. Whenever friends come over they jokingly ask if it is alarmed as it is a room so obviously "me".

Anyway - yes, I have a seven year old Rega P2. Not the priciest of tables but still, over here, by no means cheap. I believe the Elys is what comes on the P3's and I have since read that the Ortofon 2m bronze is a great step up from the Elys. BUT, that particular Ortofon cartridge is more expensive than my turntable itself so no point in shelling out for that much for a cartridge. Goes back to my argument of putting a Rolls Royce engine in an old VW bug. As it is, this Elys is a decent step up and my feeling is once it breaks in, after 30 or so hours/spins, I should hear a nice mid-range that my bias needles may not have picked up as clearly.

My units themselves are a decent mid-range system, which packs a decent punch. I know I could do better but I could also do far worse. With my budget it suits me too. I have a Cambridge Audio 640A amp, Cambridge Audio CD, Cambridge Audio phono 540 amp, Sherwood 12 band/channel Graphic EQ (which I bought recently on a whim - was in a record store used for a good price), ONKYO tape deck and KEF speakers. With exception to speakers, when I moved back to the States I had to buy all new equipment because of electrical differences between UK/USA. I sold my Arkam amp, which I loved but unfortunately couldn't afford Arkam here where they are top level. Cambridge Audio is mid-level equipment here in the States so not cheap but not dear either. I've been very happy with it. Of course, if money were not an issue the first thing I would do is upgrade the entire system. But again, for my needs and budget it works and sounds good in our house.

Ready to take the dive and get a record player. Probably a Rega RP3.
What's this business about a phono stage amp? I've got a pre-amp (Conrad Johnson Sonographe) with several inputs/outputs, including one for "ph". Would this be sufficient?

Just made a small upgrade to our system.

2 x Linn LK 280's bi-wired to Linn Kan ||.

It sounds really good. Hope that our next purchase will be a LP12 (Olan, that is really lovely).

B,

M

runaway wrote:Ready to take the dive and get a record player. Probably a Rega RP3.
What's this business about a phono stage amp? I've got a pre-amp (Conrad Johnson Sonographe) with several inputs/outputs, including one for "ph". Would this be sufficient?

I don't believe that any of the entry level CJ preamps has a phono stage. You could put a high output MM cartridge on the RP3 and hope all is well. If it were me I would buy the cheap Rega phono stage as it is likely to be a better setup for a long run listen. MMs that output at line level are expensive and typically very harsh (shouty) in the treble.

olan wrote:

runaway wrote:Ready to take the dive and get a record player. Probably a Rega RP3.
What's this business about a phono stage amp? I've got a pre-amp (Conrad Johnson Sonographe) with several inputs/outputs, including one for "ph". Would this be sufficient?

I don't believe that any of the entry level CJ preamps has a phono stage. You could put a high output MM cartridge on the RP3 and hope all is well. If it were me I would buy the cheap Rega phono stage as it is likely to be a better setup for a long run listen. MMs that output at line level are expensive and typically very harsh (shouty) in the treble.

I'm running out of room in my newfangled "rack system" where all my components are stored so I was hoping I didn't have to add another component. Which brings me to my next question - would one of those sliding component shelves (on said rack system) be an OK platform for a turntable?

runaway wrote:

olan wrote:

runaway wrote:Ready to take the dive and get a record player. Probably a Rega RP3.
What's this business about a phono stage amp? I've got a pre-amp (Conrad Johnson Sonographe) with several inputs/outputs, including one for "ph". Would this be sufficient?

I don't believe that any of the entry level CJ preamps has a phono stage. You could put a high output MM cartridge on the RP3 and hope all is well. If it were me I would buy the cheap Rega phono stage as it is likely to be a better setup for a long run listen. MMs that output at line level are expensive and typically very harsh (shouty) in the treble.

I'm running out of room in my newfangled "rack system" where all my components are stored so I was hoping I didn't have to add another component. Which brings me to my next question - would one of those sliding component shelves (on said rack system) be an OK platform for a turntable?

Firstly, you are going to love your Rega when you get it. Secondly, I had to buy a phono amp for my Cambridge Audio 640A amp. I ended up buying another CA simply because it was compatible and also affordable. It's small...about the size of a standing external HD (but lies horizontal at about 5x7) so, I don't think you have to worry about space. Mine rests on top of my tape deck.

I like my CA amp but, the best amp I ever owned was definitely my Arkam.

I wonder if I shouldn't just upgrade my pre-amp. Do they make ones that have a phono stage and also an input for CDs?

runaway wrote:I wonder if I shouldn't just upgrade my pre-amp. Do they make ones that have a phono stage and also an input for CDs?

If you like your preamp then I see no reason to change it. You can get really very small phono stages that can sit on/beside. behind other components on your rack. Unless you spend a fair bit, you will typically get better value from a stand alone phono stage as the inbuilt phono stages are typically very cheap. Cambridge Audio do a 640p which is really good for the ££, as is the Rega fono. My personal favourite is the Bellari VP129 (now VP130) phono stage with inbuilt headphone amp. It is tiny so can be hidden away, sounds great and is readily available second hand.

The Bellari looks like this:


It is something between the size of a fag packet and an old cassette walkman.

As for the CD, any CDP should output at line level, so you don't need an input labelled CD, you just need an input

Thanks for the advice, that looks like a fairly simple approach.
I did some research and it turns out that my preamp was capable of having a phonostage installed in it - but it's outdated now and probably the weakest link in my system. It would be an improvement to get a better unit and hopefully one that already has a phonostage option (if such a thing exists).

Man Cave update; Due to 18 year old deciding he needed "his own space", man cave has relocated into first floor bedroom whilst he scoots outside into former man cave at bottom of the garden. So I have now more room, so 6 more record cubes are currently in manufacture, photos to follow. But its looking pretty damn good

I walked into one of my local record shops this week to trade in some uber cheap thrift shop LPs and was walking around to see what sort of trade I could get. This shop sells consigned audio equipment. I look and there is a mint Rega Planar 2 with a newer cartridge for $250. I asked the owner what the bottom line was she said $225. Which is fair but I decided to push my luck and offered $200 inc tax. The offer was accepted. So less the $50 in trade I paid $150.
I set it up at home. The Rega takes the place of a Sota Moonbeam. Both entry level high end turntables. The Rega blows the Sota away. The first three records i played were:
Exile orig Japan import.
LZ ll the new remaster
The Band- S/T Mobile Fidelity version.
In each record I heard things I had never heard previously.
Especially with Exile that is saying a lot since I have probably played that record more times than any other.
I wasn't really in a position to drop another $150 on a turntable but man am I glad I did. Now I have three turntable to get rid of. Good thing our business just opened a consignment shop. I can stock the soon to be vintage audio department. 3 turntables, 2 cassette decks. 2 pair speakers.

spzretent wrote:I walked into one of my local record shops this week to trade in some uber cheap thrift shop LPs and was walking around to see what sort of trade I could get. This shop sells consigned audio equipment. I look and there is a mint Rega Planar 2 with a newer cartridge for $250. I asked the owner what the bottom line was she said $225. Which is fair but I decided to push my luck and offered $200 inc tax. The offer was accepted. So less the $50 in trade I paid $150.
I set it up at home. The Rega takes the place of a Sota Moonbeam. Both entry level high end turntables. The Rega blows the Sota away. The first three records i played were:
Exile orig Japan import.
LZ ll the new remaster
The Band- S/T Mobile Fidelity version.
In each record I heard things I had never heard previously.
Especially with Exile that is saying a lot since I have probably played that record more times than any other.
I wasn't really in a position to drop another $150 on a turntable but man am I glad I did. Now I have three turntable to get rid of. Good thing our business just opened a consignment shop. I can stock the soon to be vintage audio department. 3 turntables, 2 cassette decks. 2 pair speakers.

Good find!

I ran your new deck's big brother, a Rega Planar 3 for 18 years, with a Goldring MM cartridge. I only had to change the stylus once in a while to protect the vinyl from needle damage. A brilliant turntable, that I regret replacing with a Thorens TD2010 that looked nice but was generated impossible amounts of static. The tonearms on the Planar 2 (RB200 IIRC) are worth £50-80 alone depending on condition. Rega Planars are wonderful, much better than the P2s and P3s that replaced them.

Anyone use CD separates? I have a Technics CD player up for grabs if anyone is interested. Few years old but in excellent condition. Plays perfectly too. Has a digital optical output socket on back and programmable sequencing too. Nice machine, but surplus to requirements. All it needs is a power lead (figure-8 kind) and a new home!

Technics CD Player
Model: SL-PG390

I also picked up an old Technics top-loader tape deck. Looks like the first tape deck ever made, but works just find and gotta love those level needles!

So it finally happened.


We purchased a LINN LP12. Waiting until this weekend to set it up and listen to a nice afternoon full of music.


Can't wait.


B,


M

MODLAB wrote:So it finally happened.


We purchased a LINN LP12. Waiting until this weekend to set it up and listen to a nice afternoon full of music.


Can't wait.


B,


M

Nice ... a veritable holy grail for all vinyl enthusiasts.

Which arm, cartridge and PS have you chosen?

mojo filters wrote:

MODLAB wrote:So it finally happened.


We purchased a LINN LP12. Waiting until this weekend to set it up and listen to a nice afternoon full of music.


Can't wait.


B,


M

Nice ... a veritable holy grail for all vinyl enthusiasts.



Which arm, cartridge and PS have you chosen?

Thank you. It's such a huge change to our old LINN Basik.

It has a LINN Akito arm, Adikt MM and the Vahalla with the Zenner upgrade. We will look for a Lingo at some point.

Wow! Jealous....me? Err.....yeah.

Worlds largest vinyl collection : http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/m ... ?CMP=fb_gu

It is very true that when people know how committed you are, (or perhaps why you should BE committed), you receive help in all manner of ways; Dealers offer the rarest and the best at enormous discounts or when the "right" people know of your interest and how important it is, will at the very least point you in the direction you need to be to find the "unfindable". You do receive gifts of ephemera and recordings; but of course it always helps to have dinero.

The big question for entry level deck buyers: Rega or a Pro-ject? I'm on the cusp of buying a second hand Pro-ject 3 from a guy on Gumtree for £130, comes with a "Ortifon Cartridge and Stylus (also includes spare)", cork mat, the only fault being a crack in the lid.

Does anyone have experience of one of these? Money is an issue for me so I'm not sure whether to stretch for a Rega instead if they are a better deck.

Upgrading my naff old USB turntable is a must as I know it's doing my vinyl no favours at all.

Cheers.

johnnyboy wrote:The big question for entry level deck buyers: Rega or a Pro-ject? I'm on the cusp of buying a second hand Pro-ject 3 from a guy on Gumtree for £130, comes with a "Ortifon Cartridge and Stylus (also includes spare)", cork mat, the only fault being a crack in the lid.

Does anyone have experience of one of these? Money is an issue for me so I'm not sure whether to stretch for a Rega instead if they are a better deck.

Upgrading my naff old USB turntable is a must as I know it's doing my vinyl no favours at all.

Cheers.

Is it a Debut 3?

It is, yes. This is the one http://www.gumtree.com/p/record-players ... 1119426508

I'm sitting at work, not working, but trawling through reviews, pro's and con's, alternatives etc etc. Head scrambling I must admit. I'm not the most tech savvy man so an easy set up would be a good thing. I have just read about the Project not having an arm clip to keep it in place when not in use, which is a bit of a worry as I have a 7yr old daughter who can run around a fair bit. We have wooden floors to contend with as well so not sure how the vibrations will affect any new turntable, plus the speakers are close to my current set up due to space reasons.

I'm considering cancelling the purchase, which is later tonight, to give me more time to ponder (ie: procrastinate like a loony) a bit more. BUT £130 for that kind of deck is pretty good, no? Rega 3's can be over £300 second hand I think.

My brother in law swears by his Pro-Ject. It sounds nice and at that price a very good deal. I would bring a record with you and test it out before you purchase. You never know if the cartridge is shot or the arm could be bent etc...

If you are going to begin to 'build' a turntable then you might want to go for the Rega.

Then again, your old school technics 1200 is workhorse.

I hope I haven't added to your conundrum. But that's my 2 pence.

Hope it helps.

B,

M

Cheers for the info, more food for thought. I haven't brought an LP with me today and I'm not sure if the guy has the turntable set up, I think it's just boxed. It would be good to see it working but then most 2nd hand online purchases are a risk like that aren't they.

Extras I'll need to get are a pre-amp, I know Project do one for around £50, plus a speed box if the manual change proves too annoying over time. I've heard the speed box improves sound too.

Funnily enough I was just looking at the Technics on Gumtree as well. Someone is selling one for £300, condition is fair.

My decision making skills just got worse!

UPDATE: just purchased a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Turntable - Gloss Black + Pro-Ject pre Amp on eBay for £220. Seems to be a decent upgrade from the Debut III, plus it comes with the Red Ortofon cartridge as standard which are about £70 anyway and the pre-amp which is £50, both of which I was going to buy if I'd got the Debut III, so it works out a cheaper deal for a better package and a better TT in general. Pretty happy I must say. Now all I need to do is await delivery, set it up and then do my usual thing of pondering what else I could've got instead........(glass half empty kinda guy I must admit).

Sounds like a good purchase, let us know how you like it!

It does! Looking forward to your review.

Will do chaps, cheers.

It'll be set up with my current system which is an old Technics midi I've had since 1990-something or other. http://www.rainer-lucas.de/xtrasystem/p ... %20(5).JPG It's pretty nifty, and has served me well, but obviously nothing special. I'm aiming to update my speakers next, possibly the Monitor Audio BX2 Bronze ones as I've read good things about those, or the Q Acoustics 2010i/2020i. Seem to be good deals where you can get them and the Denon DM39DAB for under £300. Again, if anyone has experience of these then do give an opinion, always appreciated.

In the meantime I'm hoping that the new turntable makes my vinyl come alive again, or at the very least it won't be messing with it like the old USB turntable I have is probably doing.

johnnyboy wrote:Will do chaps, cheers.

It'll be set up with my current system which is an old Technics midi I've had since 1990-something or other. http://www.rainer-lucas.de/xtrasystem/p ... %20(5).JPG It's pretty nifty, and has served me well, but obviously nothing special. I'm aiming to update my speakers next, possibly the Monitor Audio BX2 Bronze ones as I've read good things about those, or the Q Acoustics 2010i/2020i. Seem to be good deals where you can get them and the Denon DM39DAB for under £300. Again, if anyone has experience of these then do give an opinion, always appreciated.

In the meantime I'm hoping that the new turntable makes my vinyl come alive again, or at the very least it won't be messing with it like the old USB turntable I have is probably doing.

I used a pair of MA BX2 Bronze on the end on a Naim Unitiqute for several years as the kitchen/living room system. They are fabulous speakers for the money. At one stage when I was selling up all my kit I had the BX2s on the end of some very serious pre and power amplifiers with great results. OK, you don't get loads of deep bass from such small speakers, but what you do get is well worth having. Here is a before/after shot (excuse my ultra-butch curtains - they came with the house ):


I kept the BX2s. My eldest now uses them in her room. They put up a decent struggle against the ARTs, but if you want reall bass, you need to shift lots of air - hence the mahooosive speakers I use now. Otherwise I cannot think of a stand mount monitor at the price that is better.

Snazzy curtains Olan! You get some serious man points for those.

Those big speakers are BIG aren't they. What are they and dare I ask how much they were? I'd love something like that but my budget does have to be kept low or else I'd seriously skint myself. The BX2's look tiny next to them don't they.

Good to hear the BX2's are a decent pair of speakers. My friend has them too, hooked up to one of those Denon DM micro systems, and he says they're fantastic. I'll be paying him a visit soon to check them out, plus the Denon too as that gets good reviews and isn't a bank buster at all.

I notice you don't have them set up against a wall, which is good to see. My current speakers back onto a bit of open space in front of a window too. Are stands a must have accessory do you reckon? My speakers sit on a hollow Ikea storage unit at the mo. Not the best vibration wise I guess but I can't hear anything bad when I play music so it must be OK. My friend gave me a pair of floorstanding KEF Q3's but they sound too cold and mid range/high end for my liking. They're the ones in the photo. If I bought some stands it'd be a budget pair and taking a look earlier it seems you can pay mega bucks for stands, which seems a tad crazy to me but there must be some science to it.



PS: I rather like my curtains. Came with the rental.

My speakers are hand made by ART in Scotland. The model is Alinco 8 (named after the alnico tweeter). They were stupidly expensive. I had to stop driving after illness and still religously ave the money I used to spend on ciggies years ago. Selling my car and cashing in my savings provided some ££ for the Hi Fi. I wasted the rest revovating my house a bit.

The MA's are rear ported so you would need to put in the foam bung supplied with the speaker if you wanted to use them up agains the wall. I prefer them away from the wall and never have anything between the speakers (unit/system etc), it just sounds better that way to my ears. I would use stands as I would worry about vibrations from the speakers causing feedback to your pickup, particularly if you have a speaker near the turntable on the same unit. That is probably just bollocks, but seond hand stands are cheap.

Your curtains are great!

Speakers sound very decent indeed Olan.

I've never used stands and have always had speakers sitting near the hifi and turntable, never had problems with vibration or feedback, but I'll probably pick up stands at some point in the future.

The Project Debut Carbon is now up and running with the Project Preamp and it's sounding wonderful. Really happy I took the plunge into the world of a proper turntable. First on the platter was the Paris Texas soundtrack and it was full of depth and space and sounds I had never picked up on before. Marvellous! So much better than my old USB turntable. I'm a convert.

Road tested it some more last night with the Funkadelic debut, Wooden Shjips 'Lights Out' Peaking Lights remix 7", Sly Stone 'There's A Riot Goin' On', Opal 'Early Recordings', Asphodells 'One Minute Silence (Shjips remix).......all sounded fantastic and had me smiling like a happy turntable man.

Those KEF Q3s are lovely speakers, plus the coaxial mid-high arrangement gives very good phase coherence through the time alignment and the design which gives the tweeters a synergistic horn loading effect that is very desirable.

How do they sound now you have the benefit of a good turntable and RIAA equalizing phono stage?

Gear sluts. I love it.

johnnyboy wrote:The Project Debut Carbon is now up and running with the Project Preamp and it's sounding wonderful. Really happy I took the plunge into the world of a proper turntable. First on the platter was the Paris Texas soundtrack and it was full of depth and space and sounds I had never picked up on before. Marvellous! So much better than my old USB turntable. I'm a convert.

Road tested it some more last night with the Funkadelic debut, Wooden Shjips 'Lights Out' Peaking Lights remix 7", Sly Stone 'There's A Riot Goin' On', Opal 'Early Recordings', Asphodells 'One Minute Silence (Shjips remix).......all sounded fantastic and had me smiling like a happy turntable man.

Attaboy! Next thing you know you will be nearly broke buying vinyl..... . Welcome aboard!

mojo filters wrote:Those KEF Q3s are lovely speakers, plus the coaxial mid-high arrangement gives very good phase coherence through the time alignment and the design which gives the tweeters a synergistic horn loading effect that is very desirable.

How do they sound now you have the benefit of a good turntable and RIAA equalizing phono stage?

I haven't had them connected for a while as I wasn't overly keen on the sound, with vinyl and cd's too, but having read your post I'll give them another go. I'll put my hands up and say I have no idea what your description means, haha, but it sounds good! Will let you know.
The original Technics speakers that came with my old midi system still sound good and have more of a bass punch than the Kefs, hence why I stuck with them.
Cheers.

olan wrote:

johnnyboy wrote:The Project Debut Carbon is now up and running with the Project Preamp and it's sounding wonderful. Really happy I took the plunge into the world of a proper turntable. First on the platter was the Paris Texas soundtrack and it was full of depth and space and sounds I had never picked up on before. Marvellous! So much better than my old USB turntable. I'm a convert.

Road tested it some more last night with the Funkadelic debut, Wooden Shjips 'Lights Out' Peaking Lights remix 7", Sly Stone 'There's A Riot Goin' On', Opal 'Early Recordings', Asphodells 'One Minute Silence (Shjips remix).......all sounded fantastic and had me smiling like a happy turntable man.

Attaboy! Next thing you know you will be nearly broke buying vinyl..... . Welcome aboard!

Tell me about it! I'll have to watch myself very carefully now as the temptation to splash some cash on new vinyl or updating some favourite albums to vinyl is pretty immense at the moment. So far this morning I've been one click away from buying the Sticky Fingers Spanish cover deluxe 2xLP only to stop at the last moment when my inner voice was hollering "oi, you've already got the original vinyl and a cd copy too!".

I have treated myself to a copy of this though http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAMAGED-BUG-C ... 58c705b903 but via Castle Face Records as it was cheaper. It looks fantastic. Highly recommended for those Thee Oh Sees fans who like John Dwyer's off shoot projects too.