Going down the vinyl rabbit hole

viola

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I think the IKEA bamboo chopping boards are £15+ now, maybe even £20, but they would make the foundation for a very good plinth.

I agree with starting with some of the classic tables, Thorens, Systemdek, etc.
 
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Markduc

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What did you hate about the Debut 3? I have one and .. well it does what it should, just like the Planar 3 I guess.

So I’m in that £500 price bracket myself I guess and what I’d have done differently next time is, I think I’d have bought a vintage player with auto play and auto return. I kind of dislike the minimalism of the modern players.
It never seemed to sound right maybe consistent would be better way of explaining, is it wow or flutter when it sounded like it was slowing down , I tried the external power supply it improved a bit but still just not great
rega just works
i Can see the attraction to auto return especially later in the evening :D
 

DomT

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Wow. Thanks for all the replies.

To pick a few comments:

Interesting @bigrod that you think I'd need to spend more and around a grand. I think you have the Cambridge NQ (?) and so are presumably familiar with its little-bro 851N (which is great!).

Speakers are definitely not being changed. They are excellent and I don't see what I could buy that I'd like more (plus I would be unlikely to be able to afford them either).

Seems I have much to learn with vinyl. And also have to buy some.

I'll see if I can pick up a phono stage in the interim and I'm happy to start by seeing how I get on borrowing John's deck - who knows it might be a right pain, in which case at least I tried. Or alternatively it sounds like it could become a wallet-thinner quite quickly!

There also seems a large consensus that the Rega P3 is the dogs-danglies in its price bracket. So it will be great to borrow one.

The £600 budget was selected as I would like to try this without spending a fortune but doesn't have to be a ceiling if there's huge jumps for not much more - I genuinely thought I'd have wammers recommending me bonkers expensive decks after 5 mins! I know how you lot love to spend others people's dough 🤣.

Seriously though. Thank you. That is a lot of useful info and very quickly.

And to be offered to borrow a deck to try it out is just amazing.
For balance I personally have owned a Rega P9 but Rega is not for me. However Lurch is a great guy and you should take up his incredibly generous offer as you may love the sound of it. Let us know how you get on. If you love it then it’s a painless purchase and ownership prospect.
 

Lurch

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I have one of those. Max Townshend used to sell them; they were branded Elite EEI 555MCP, but I never got around to using it, What do you think of it?
Bought it last year for £70 complete with acrylic case, outer box & stylus guard, to go in my vintage 2nd system. Wasn't expecting much from it, but it's a delight on my 401/R200. Detailed, lovely mids with great timbre, took it to wizmax place a while back and stuck it on his SP10/Stax UA9 and it shocked the pair of us, being up there with Koetsu wood bodies, but then again it did retail at a similar price to the Koetsu Black back in the 80s.
The annoying thing for me is that a couple of years ago I picked up an EEI battery MC headamp (£100) for a, play but sold it on and now, can't trace who's got it, as I reckon the match with the EEI cart would be superb and would love to hear them together.
 
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JamieMcC

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I think the IKEA bamboo chopping boards are £15+ now, maybe even £20, but they would make the foundation for a very good plinth.

I agree with starting with some of the classic tables, Thorens, Systemdek, etc.

The Bamboo Boo plinth for the Linn LP12 is £1900 🤔

£20 plus a hour or two with a hand saw and some glue a wipe over with tung oil and a little wax to restore original finish to cut edges and TD150 DIY boo plinth. The boards are big enough for TD160 as well but not as straight forward and simple as the TD150

IMG_5155.JPG
 

martiansunrise

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i'd go with a PS6750 and an AT VM95 cart, with a 640P - if you dig it, you can upgrade the stylus and the phonostage (via Jez, when he does them again) and have a sweet, sweet little rig. That is exactly what i did while phonomac sorted my SL1000.
 

dhansak

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A used Technics 1200 might be a good shout. You’ll never lose money on it and might keep it even if you buy something better later. They are just classic.
 
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antonio66

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I've only scanned through this thread so forgive me if I've missed something.
£600 is nowhere near enough to get started with vinyl. Let's say you buy 5 albums to get you going, bang goes £100, then if you continue buying used vinyl you need a vinyl cleaner £200-300, then there is the turntable itself. Ok I've seen decent tt's for sale on forums for £300, some even included arm, but you then have to buy a cartridge, lets say £100. Phonostage recommended on here £150. Then you have all the ancillaries, anti stastic brush, stylus brush, tracking force scales, extra interconnect, something to stand it on, ect.
How much time are you willing to devote to listening to vinyl, even @Lurch admits to only listening to his fantastic vinyl set-up for 10-20% of the time, the remainder digitally, simply because of the ease of use. I've recently sold my tt and vinyl, couldn't be happier and this was after 50yrs with it and all the memories it holds.
Someone had to balance the scales on whether it is worth going down the vinyl route. :)
 

Non-Smoking Man

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I've only scanned through this thread so forgive me if I've missed something.
£600 is nowhere near enough to get started with vinyl. Let's say you buy 5 albums to get you going, bang goes £100, then if you continue buying used vinyl you need a vinyl cleaner £200-300, then there is the turntable itself. Ok I've seen decent tt's for sale on forums for £300, some even included arm, but you then have to buy a cartridge, lets say £100. Phonostage recommended on here £150. Then you have all the ancillaries, anti stastic brush, stylus brush, tracking force scales, extra interconnect, something to stand it on, ect.
How much time are you willing to devote to listening to vinyl, even @Lurch admits to only listening to his fantastic vinyl set-up for 10-20% of the time, the remainder digitally, simply because of the ease of use. I've recently sold my tt and vinyl, couldn't be happier and this was after 50yrs with it and all the memories it holds.
Someone had to balance the scales on whether it is worth going down the vinyl route. :)
But, David, have you seen what Wammers are paying for digital equipment these days! Ive been to Snoopdog's bake off and seen and heard equipment worth thousands and a mate has just taken delivery of a streamer that costs an awful lot of money, ex-dem!
The sort of money you are quoting for half a dozen records and a turntable is comparitive chickenfeed.
I was only thinking to myself the other day what a CHEAP option vinyl replay is.

So, beg to differ, old sport..

Jack NSM
 
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ChemMan

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I started two threads over the past four years on this very topic. I had a considerably larger budget, and the consensus was that to equal the sound quality of your digital rig €600 will not be enough. A conservative estimate from some of the forum members was €2k to equal the pimped Node 2. I also factored in my favorite 50 LPs at €50 an album. That's another €2500.

I look at the second hand market in the EU every day. I doubt I'll find anything for under €1500 all inclusive (TT, phonostage, cart, and perhaps arm) which will rival the streaming set up.

And even if you are lucky enough to find a bunch of bargains on those 50 records via the second hand market, you get pops, cicks and maybe skips, and still paid €1K. I know that @DomT bought a couple hundred second hand and found some jewels for a lot less than €1000.

Ultimately, what is keeping me away from Vinyl is the medium itself. We are constantly being relocated and the prospect of safely moving a turntable and 50 LPs around the world is daunting.

I notice you changed DACs. Would you offer a comparison between the two?
 

rabski

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The originally quoted £600 or so figure AFAIK does not include any LPs.

We do tend to get a bit unnecessary here about the level of spendiness you 'need'. To the vast majority of people, the sort of vinyl front end you could put together for £600 buying sensibly used (and a new cartridge) would be far better than good enough.

To some of us, that's about half what you'd pay just for a cartridge, but then you need to factor in the simple truth that we're totally barking.
 

antonio66

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Jack, you could spend £000's on either digital or vinyl, I'm not going to say which one is best, the op gave a £600 starting figure, I disagreed with that, I'm sure if that figure were upped to £1500, then that would be more realistic in my book. Take a look at this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403677484386, streaming doesn't have to be expensive and of course, you will get reasonable sq with this product. Add on £50 for interconnects, use an existing phone/tablet for controlling purposes and away you go. I know the op has streaming, so I would rather save any available funds and improve upon that. If he doesn't want to improve upon his streaming, spend it on something else, more sources, more problems.
 
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antonio66

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@rabski I quoted buying new vinyl just in case it was a forgotten cost when purchasing a new tt, the op does not own any. It is no good purchasing something for it to sit there as an ornament so I will disagree (I think for the 1st time on this forum :ROFLMAO: ) you have to calculate something in when budgeting. IMO you also have to think strongly about a record cleaner, I'm sure many of the members who use vinyl will second that. Perhaps a few links to what may be purchased and the total the op will need would be helpful.
 

ChemMan

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The originally quoted £600 or so figure AFAIK does not include any LPs.

We do tend to get a bit unnecessary here about the level of spendiness you 'need'. To the vast majority of people, the sort of vinyl front end you could put together for £600 buying sensibly used (and a new cartridge) would be far better than good enough.

To some of us, that's about half what you'd pay just for a cartridge, but then you need to factor in the simple truth that we're totally barking.
As said by @antonio66, I feel like it's important to lay out all the expenditures, including the vinyl itself when you don't have any with which to begin. IF someone gave me a record collection, I'd spend €1500 on gear and a record cleaning machine. And even though I don't own any records, I'm still hunting for a great deal on a TT. I can't really say why either. It's as if the deal alone would justify the cost.

Here's what you wrote to me, and although it was a lot lengthier, your advice remains true.

"Based on decades of playing around with all sorts of sources and source material, I'd suggest that if you're buying new, then £2500 is sensibly the bottom rung of the ladder. Of course you can get a vinyl front end for much less, and it will give you an idea of what it's all about. But no more than that, at least, not if you're being honest with yourself.

Yes, £2500 will do it. It will also almost inevitably lead to 'what if', followed by more expenditure"
 
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rabski

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If you want to do it 'seriously' and better (not equal) a good digital source, then I'd still say around £2500 is where you'd want to start. At £600 you can, however, put something together that will be fun and will show the different presentation of a vinyl source.

As above though, it's all insanity.
 

dhansak

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The originally quoted £600 or so figure AFAIK does not include any LPs.

We do tend to get a bit unnecessary here about the level of spendiness you 'need'. To the vast majority of people, the sort of vinyl front end you could put together for £600 buying sensibly used (and a new cartridge) would be far better than good enough.

To some of us, that's about half what you'd pay just for a cartridge, but then you need to factor in the simple truth that we're totally barking.
I agree with you.

I have a Rega RP3 with the Exact cart here that I am going to sell for less £600 and it sounds great.

I would also say that the joy of vinyl doesn't necessarily have to be about comparing sound quality to a digital rig.

It is, for me, a far more engaging and enjoyable way to listen to music.

I also watched this video last night



Apparently, Steve enjoyed listening to vinyl on a £43 cartridge.

I helped a young lad with his first vinyl system last weekend. He ended up with a new Rega P1, a used Arcam A75, and a new pair of Monitor Audio Bronze 50 - it sounded great to my ears. The whole system cost less than £700.
 

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