Back to plastic

dfk41

As I get older, I often think of the hundreds of LP’s I have in the loft, which have not seen the light of day for 20 years. I cannot get rid of them, but I have limited space to do anything with them as well. I wanted to have a serious think about finding a system capable of playing them. I do not mind if it is a music player or a separates system. I am certainly no purist but neither am I am cheapskate!
I wondered if any of the learned brethren on here could give me any pointers? I would rather buy from someone with a bit of knowledge than just a re seller!

JahLaza

dfk41 good man, great you have them! It depends on what you want really? Do you want to listen to your vinyl on a vinyl player or do you want to transfer it all to a digital source and listen from there? That’s the first choice, after that, it depends on what level of sound quality you desire. Separates are the way to go but if space is an issue you can get some pretty decent sounding amps and speakers these days that don’t take up half the room but the options are endless. My separates are boxed away and I listen to my music through vinyl,CD and Bluetooth from whatever device I want to through a cheap ish denon hifi unit. The sound is ok but no where as deep or round as the separates. This is because we have two young children and I don’t have the space for the separates or the time or peace to sit down and enjoy them! Once you make those basic choices you can then whittle down the choices

dfk41

JahLaza I have hundreds of gigabytes of downloaded music including much of the stuff I own. My ears are like cabbages and I cannot discern a tweeter from a twooter! I just want the nostalgic feeling, of putting a record on the turntable, accepting the awful sound quality and enjoying!

Ernie1

Vinyl is great, one of my favourite things to do is find records I know inside out from listening on CD/MP3 and (in most cases) enjoy how they sound on vinyl.

My current setup is:

Technics SL1210 Mk2

Marantz PM6005

Bowers & Wilkins 685

I’ve had the above for about 10 years and whilst it’s far from a ‘high-end’ setup, to my ears it sounds phenomenal. I saw someone on eBay selling those speakers the other day for about £150.

I always recommend 1210 turntables just because like Mazzers they’re just so flipping robust. Hi-Fi purists will probably suggest a Rega or Project turntable but I’ve always been a fan of the Technics. They can be pretty pricey these days as they’re quite sought after, I bought mine as a spares/repairs and fixed it up with authentic parts, ended up costing about £200 total.

I’m out of touch with current equipment but good sound doesn’t get old!

You just need a turntable (obviously), amplifier with an analog phono input, speakers and speaker cables.

If I was buying now, I’d probably go for a
Rega Planar 1 (£300)

Marantz PM6007 (£400)

And some used B&W speakers, maybe £150.

Edit: I’ve just looked up prices of 1210… yikes! Rega or Project is a far more economical option!

JahLaza

Those technics are Trojans, they keep going and going!

Ernie1

JahLaza

Indeed!

As a youngster I wanted one as I would see a row of them as the demo units in record shops to listen to vinyl before you bought it so I thought ‘these must be really good if they’ve got them in record shops!’

I now realise it’s because they’ll withstand scores of heavy-handed customers every day without missing a beat!

Gagaryn

Ernie1 I think this is a massively underrated feature. It becomes more important the more wine you drink while listening to your records. :-)

Gagaryn

Rough idea of budget is essential. How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go? All in one systems with turntables are thin on the ground so separates make even more sense now. Do you want to buy new or secondhand? Do you already own an amp or speakers that could be used? Have a look at the What HiFi recommendations - https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/hi-fi/best-turntables and go from there.

I have a modded old Technics SL1210 Mk2 which I am very happy with. I like these because they are remarkably well engineered and reliable. With a half decent cartridge on the stock arm these work very well - I use an AT VM740ML. Technics are still making turntables including more modern versions of the 1210.

My view (many will disagree) is that the three most important elements are the cartridge, the phono preamp (whether that is integral to the amp or standalone) and the speakers. As long as you have a turntable that rotates at the correct speed reliably and is not introducing mechanical or electrical noise it is relatively unimportant. The cartridge is essential to gather detail from the record and turn it into electricity. The pre-amp is more important than the power amp as it needs to massively amplify the tiny electrical signal from the cartridge - and do that unequally across the frequency spectrum due to the bias that is applied during mastering (RIAA curve), and speakers are what you actually hear.

dutchy101

I own a set of Technics 1210 MK5s and they are fantastic.

Technics 1210s were pretty much industry standard in every nightclub in the world before the digital era. Most clubs will still have decks and they will undoubtedly still be the Technics 1210s. They are built like tanks and have a fantastic sound.

PaulL

I can only really echo what others have said in terms of kit to look at but would add:

Buy used - let someone else take the heavy hit so if for example you chose a Rega Planar 3 the turntable and arm should be fine but make no assumption on the cartridge. I typically buy used and so although the insurance value for my system is well over £15K the prices I paid for the main items (Rega RP10, Yamaha AS3000, Rega RS10) were about 40% of that

Amp may well have a phono stage in it but do make sure as the advent of digital meant many amps omitted them around the time a trend for separate phono stages kicked off and although vinyl has supposedly made a comeback many amps will expect the 47K line inputs and won’t be able to do the necessary to the MM/MC signal and you’ll be putting your hand in your pocket again

Visit some people and listen to their systems if you can to see what your ears can hear (age plays a part) and also what level will satisfy you, otherwise its a bit like the coffee journey where you will upgrade

Try speakers at home, you may not want to become an audiophile but for me probably ther biggest lesson across the decades has been the importance of speaker/room interaction whether a budget system or an expensive one. The same speakers can sound great in one room and dire in another

It’s a pastime with as many rat-holes to get lost down as coffee! But a nice budget deck, amp that can drive the speakers with phono stage inside or an external one and speakers you like in your room is probably a few hundred pounds for something that should give you years of pleasure. And it doesn’t have to be new or recent if it’s well made and designed.

Ernie1

PaulL

100% agree with everything but especially the room size/type bit.

I originally intended to buy the 686 which are on paper a better, more premium speaker but the 685 sounded far warmer and more enjoyable in my living room which was smaller in size and obviously had different furniture to the demo room.