Turntable Virgin

[Dhammavijaya]

I've had a small windfall, and am thinking of entering the world of turntables.

Looking around, I am attracted to to the FunkFirm turntables, and also to the Pro-ject Xperience superpack, or possibly the RPM6

I have a few questions though.

Is the Funk V really worth the extra outlay over the basic Funk?

Where does the best sound per pound lie? i.e. is it best to spend more money on tone arm, cartridge or the table itself?

Any opinions from those with turntable experience will be most welcome.

[Dhammavijaya]

Oops. I meant the title to be Turntable Virgin. I don't know what happened there.

[Dhammavijaya]

A further question. Are turntables really all they're cracked up to be anyway?

[Duvet]

How much vinyl have you got. If the awnser is not alot then i'd upgrade your cd spinner instead.

All the vinylheads will now be along to blow smoke up yer jacksy

[Dhammavijaya]

The answer IS not a lot. But I could always get more from charity shops and so on.

I really like my CD player, so I'd have to be convinced it was worth upgrading.

[Hawk]

Dhammavijaya wrote:

Oops. I meant the title to be Turntable Virgin. I don't know what happened there.

Sorted ;) oh and ignore Duvet he is still in denial on a number of 'issues'

[Alex A]

The safe option is to get a Project Debut or SH Rega for £100-150. If you like it and find youself listening to it a lot, build a collection, and then start looking at spending a lot more on a TT.

[Dhammavijaya]

And the dangerous option?

[Alex A]

well it's not dangerous per se, but if you drop £700 on a Funk V or something, love it at first but realise that it's not really better than a CD player for the kind of sound you're after, you'll end up with 40 records gathering dust and a TT you rarely use. Maybe sell it at a £300 loss or something.

I'm not saying it's likely, but personally speaking getting into vinyl shouldn't be about the wow sounding TT itself, it should be about whether you like the kind of sound that vinyl gives, about whether you like the experience of using records (or whether you cba). Once you know that you do (or don't) then you invest more serious money.

But that's just my perspective.

[dudywoxer]

Alex_A wrote:

The safe option is to get a Project Debut or SH Rega for £100-150. If you like it and find youself listening to it a lot, build a collection, and then start looking at spending a lot more on a TT.

get a decent basic deck as in here, see if vinyl floats yer boat, build up a small ish collection of albums, then think about a better deck. That way if vinyl is not for you, you can move it on without loosing money

[Alex A]

Yeah that Rega is an absolute bargain at the price. If set up properly, it should trounce many a CD spinner in many aspects of the sound. And it will hold its value if you look after it. A risk free introduction to vinyl replay, and far from a poor performer!

[Papa Lazarou]

Alex_A wrote:

Yeah that Rega is an absolute bargain at the price. If set up properly, it should trounce many a CD spinner in many aspects of the sound. And it will hold its value if you look after it. A risk free introduction to vinyl replay, and far from a poor performer!

An excellent introduction to the big black discs.

[Emma Royd]

Dhammavijaya wrote:

A further question. Are turntables really all they're cracked up to be anyway?

In a word Yes,some of the cd boys may dispute this,they mention mention pop/clicks etc,not necessarily the records fault.I like a lot of vinyl freaks have a lotfaultless records.Many of them have got shot of their LP's and replacement would be costly,which is understandable.

Some mention convenience of cd,but IMO that should not come into the argument ,as its the/your preferredsound qualitythat should count,not convenience.

I also would seriously consider buying a 2nd hand/ex demtt.

On a recent poll on here,Your preferred source ,there was nigh on a 50/50 split between cd/tt,bearing in mind with the advent of cd over twenty years ago and the so-called demise of vinyl,thatresultto me says it all.Vinyl has'nt and for the forseable future does'nt appear to be going away and long may itremain that way.

[TIU]

The entry level Projects or Regas are the best option to start with. If you are a natural tweaker maybe get something with a standard armboard and an RB250 or RB300 arm. THese will cope well with upgrading the cart if you decide to pursue vinyl.

Also consider whether to use an inbuilt phono stage in your amp (if it has one) or buy an outboard one.

If you're not a natural tweaker and want something that's plug 'n' play, try the Project Debut III or SE.

[reg]

Get yourself to a dealer or maybe a bakeoff to see what TT can do and whether you like it.

[Duvet]

Emma Royd wrote:

Dhammavijaya wrote:

A further question. Are turntables really all they're cracked up to be anyway?

In a word Yes,some of the cd boys may dispute this,they mention mention pop/clicks etc,not necessarily the records fault.I like a lot of vinyl freaks have a lotfaultless records.Many of them have got shot of their LP's and replacement would be costly,which is understandable.

Some mention convenience of cd,but IMO that should not come into the argument ,as its the/your preferredsound qualitythat should count,not convenience.

I also would seriously consider buying a 2nd hand/ex demtt.

On a recent poll on here,Your preferred source ,there was nigh on a 50/50 split between cd/tt,bearing in mind with the advent of cd over twenty years ago and the so-called demise of vinyl,thatresultto me says it all.Vinyl has'nt and for the forseable future does'nt appear to be going away and long may itremain that way.

Afternoon Emma;)

[PeteVid]

Get yourself along to a few Boots Fairs this summer and pick up some very cheap vinyl. You'll be surprised to see how may people flog their entire collections for a £1 per LP.

[Emma Royd]

Duvet wrote:

Emma Royd wrote:

Dhammavijaya wrote:

A further question. Are turntables really all they're cracked up to be anyway?

In a word Yes,some of the cd boys may dispute this,they mention mention pop/clicks etc,not necessarily the records fault.I like a lot of vinyl freaks have a lotfaultless records.Many of them have got shot of their LP's and replacement would be costly,which is understandable.

Some mention convenience of cd,but IMO that should not come into the argument ,as its the/your preferredsound qualitythat should count,not convenience.

I also would seriously consider buying a 2nd hand/ex demtt.

On a recent poll on here,Your preferred source ,there was nigh on a 50/50 split between cd/tt,bearing in mind with the advent of cd over twenty years ago and the so-called demise of vinyl,thatresultto me says it all.Vinyl has'nt and for the forseable future does'nt appear to be going away and long may itremain that way.

Afternoon Emma;)

Afternoon son:dude:

[Hawk]

Alex_A wrote:

well it's not dangerous per se, but if you drop £700 on a Funk V or something, love it at first but realise that it's not really better than a CD player for the kind of sound you're after, you'll end up with 40 records gathering dust and a TT you rarely use. Maybe sell it at a £300 loss or something.

I'm not saying it's likely, but personally speaking getting into vinyl shouldn't be about the wow sounding TT itself, it should be about whether you like the kind of sound that vinyl gives, about whether you like the experience of using records (or whether you cba). Once you know that you do (or don't) then you invest more serious money.

But that's just my perspective.

Firstly you have to ignore mine and Duvets banter. Its nothing more than that, and im the first to admit that Vinyl is a labour of love. I'll also concede that there are some stunning CD players out there that I could very happily live with full stop.

With vinyl you really do reap what you sow. You have to look after your vinyl, and you have to take time to set up your TT properly. Its infinitely tweakable which is fun for many, but for some the constant 'what if' can distract from the enjoyment of how it sounds there and then. I do feel that sub £1000 £ for £ a vinyl set up has the potential to sound better than a same price CDP. What you shouldn't expect though is to be able just to hit the play button to get that full potential. When you hit Wadia and Esoteric levels, 'better' becomes 'different' so YMMV.

For me I find vinyl much more rewarding, but I couldn't live with out a CDP either ;)

Best advice??? Go listen first...

Hawk

PS .....and if it doesnt sound better to your ears, you is deaf like Duvet

[Emma Royd]

Hawk wrote:

PS .....and if it doesnt sound better to your ears, you is deaf like Duvet

Did'nt realiseDanny has an hearing problem,sorry to hear that,makes more sense nowto his preference for cd ;)