Changing from Vinyl to Digital in Brave New World

Whart, Another turntable to consider, though adding active air isolation is a essential is the Brinkman Bardo. Direct Drive and no bigger than an LP. Or the Grand Prix Monoco, though I have never heard it. I prefer the SME tables to the Bardo.

For small speakers, I suggest the Magico Mini II, (which I own). They are wonderful at used prices and sound very full range and large in a small room with the right power. Also the new Magico Q1 or the Raidho C1.1, neither of which I've heard, but reviews and reputation are good. The Raidho is more efficient, so something like a Pass Labs Class A integrated with their one box XP-15 phono stage would be an excellent combination, IMO. One rack, three or four shelves and you're set.

There is a lot out there and you could have a great time in retirement, slowly sorting it all out. You can send some of your duplicate LPs to me.

Hi Bill, nice discussion here and great points all around. If you want to hear a top class vinyl and digital setup, feel free to private mail me and swing by my house in Austin. It's hard to beat my vinyl set up and even harder to beat my digital setup. This allows for easy a-b comparisons on the format...

My only point of contention on the posters above is a killer good sacd transport still beats hi rez computer, at least in my system. SACD's are plentiful if you listen to classical or a bit less plentiful on jazz. Some of my Jazz SACD's that originated from master tape are my best sounding sources.

I've heard a lot of great mini monitors...I don't think small speakers, if good, really hold you back much. However, if you're going to use a speaker stand you might as well consider Wilson Sasha's or maybe the Rockports along with the Magico's. If you haven't heard the newer Wilson's, you're in for a nice surprise...

Also, I made the move from tube amplification to solid state about 2 years ago. In Texas, the heat from my former BAT VK150SE's was a lot in the summer (actually any time other than dec-feb), and went to Ayre MX-Rs. I did loose a bit of tube magic, but gained a bit of resolution/control and they always on ready to play-so I listen more. Isn't that what it's really about?

Good luck to you, it's been a great thread and I bet more to come!

Jfrech: I agree this is a good thread. In the past I have always gotten help on A-gon, on issues as mind-numbing as component and electrical system grounding. For that I thank all of you. Some chat groups I have been part of (cars in particular) always seem to degenrate into a pissing contest, and here, even if there is disagreement, people seem pretty thoughtful. (I'll also email you separately because I'd love to talk about Austin). Peter, the SME and the Mini II sound like things I'll want to explore. Thanks for reminding of the SME and the Magicos, well, I have not heard them. I remember when the original big speaker came out, followed by the Mini, and at the time there were few small monitors at that price point. JohnnyB- will also check out the NEAT if I can; for what it's worth, the horns I am currently using don't allow a nearfield experience and the need to have a big triangle for speakers and sweet spot is part of the space problem I am concerned about.
I won't dump anything just yet. The equipment, once it gets broken down, will likely go to my dealer/friend to store, and if I say 'sell', he can do so. If I say 'ship' he'll probably just come on down to help me set up.
Rtilden: Yep, to cull, I'll have to go through them all. But, you'd laugh if you saw how quickly I was cutting through the stuff in our basement.
Learsfool, I took you seriously. My suspicion is that once I start culling, I could get rid of alot, and maybe I just separate into a few categories, box them accordingly, and know that if and when I decide to get rid of some, they have already been pre-sorted. Some are just stupid: like the complete set of RCA food themed records : Music for a Backyard BBQ will stay with me given my destination, but Music for a Chinese Dinner at Home, well, I don't think I need it. Flamenco Table Dancing cut Direct to Disc? Not alot of nuance. That Billy Holiday record recorded at an active airport, where you can hear planes taking off in the background? Not her best performance.
What about all those Harry Pearson list records- some of the Mercury's I'd keep. I think I have almost all of the Lyritas, a few I listen to. I bought all the MF half speed masters at the time they were released: Abbey Road, LZII, DarkSide, along with a bunch of other audiophile half speed masters, Direct to Disc, etc. Some of them aren't musically that interesting, although they may have audiophile value. Tons of old RCAs, Deccas, etc. some of which I'd keep. I should probably catalog them at the same time i'm going through them, but that's not likely to happen.

02-29-12: Jfrech
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My only point of contention on the posters above is a killer good sacd transport still beats hi rez computer, at least in my system. SACD's are plentiful if you listen to classical or a bit less plentiful on jazz. Some of my Jazz SACD's that originated from master tape are my best sounding sources.

Thanks for weighing in on this. I eagerly anticipated the arrival of SACDs, but I haven't been all that impressed by them. I'm probably not listening to the right SACD player. My home machines are very entry-level--a Sony changer and an Oppo DV980H. Still, I auditioned SACDs on a $5500 Linn CD/SACD player and it still sounded threadbare compared to the matching LP (played on a Linn TT through the same signal chain and speakers).

What are some good SACD players these days? Thanks in advance.

Just had to go through the same thing, and I wound up with tubes (PrimaLuna mono amps) and NOLA Boxer speakers, with a Primare CD player. I still have a turntable, but the record collection has been dramatically reduced.

CD playback has come a long, long way. I like the Primare quite a bit, and could even be happy with it as my main source if I had to.

Good luck with the quest.