Brand new to vinyl: Help!

If you can spend that much money down the road- save for the 4k-use a good chunk of it for a cartridge. I went from a $600 shelter to a Lyra Kleos and wow! You might have enough left over for a decent upgrade to a used turntable with arm from reputable(look at their history) sellers. Make a fair offer, don't lowball and save even more money.

Look at cartridges available on audiogon. You can see a lot of great deals on cartridges from reputable sellers either demos or only with a few hours on them up to 50%off. And read a lot about them, their qualities and what you think will appeal to you. Analytical, warm, etc...Many private sellers have a fair bit of money and get bored quickly. Thank god for that.

Then get a good clean original copy of Graceland and go to town. Great vinyl is full body visceral in an exciting way.

@stringreen  @johnmarzy @2channel8 and @vindanpar : thank you very much.

I will get the Geodisc.

Getting a new cartridge is so difficult for people like me who are not familiar with their brands, etc. A lot of research to do.

Anyone here from DC area?

@2channel8: would this be designed as it should be (XLR male to RCA male and preserve the balanced signal for the Ayre k-1xe)?

http://silversonic.com/products/interconnects/bl-1/

Set-up is crucial. You seem reluctant to do this yourself, and truthfully, there is a bit of a learning curve, so find someone in your area that can do this for you in your home. You will learn a lot about set-up, and will probably feel more confident doing it yourself in the future. The vinyl world is well worth the effort, but it's not for everybody. Some will considerer the "work" (for lack of a better term) required for proper playback. Set-up, cleaning,handling,storage, etc. etc.etc. Those of us that are primarily into vinyl accept all of this as a part of the intimate relationship with the medium. Good luck, and I hope you don't give up before you realize what good vinyl playback really is.

thyname

@2channel8: would this be designed as it should be (XLR male to RCA male and preserve the balanced signal for the Ayre k-1xe)?

http://silversonic.com/products/interconnects/bl-1/

No. To preserve a balanced signal, you'll need separate hot and neutral for each channel, and a ground independent of those separate neutrals.