Getting into analog is tough....


I have been thinking hard about getting into analog, but the more I research, the more it puts me off. First, I need a phono stage. Then, of course, I need the turntable. Then, I need a tonearm. Then a cartridge. Then a needle. Ok, now will it be MC or MM? How about the arm? Will I get a turntable without an arm? No, get a turntable with an arm because setting up an arm for a newbie can be a disaster, right?. How about the cartridge? Ok, my budget is $1500 for a phono stage and a turntable. But, a tone arm by itself might be more than the turntable and the stage. Oh, the cartridge might be more than everything, but which one? Who has a turntable I can listen to? What, almost no one I know has a turntable these days? What about the thing and the other thing and then there is this thing and that thing and cables and..........AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!

You know, my CD player doesn't sound that bad. In fact, CD players are easy. You just plug and plug and listen.

So, what was the reason I wanted to get into analog?
matchstikman
Doug, point taken. I was assuming the exclusion of live events when posing my rhetorical question of "where would we go?". However, I am shocked that it did not provoke a rather profane pun from the crowd, as it were. :-)
Yeah analog sounds better and live music sounds better than recorded. I would consider spending the time and effort going to hear live music over fretting over the "analog is better than digital" debate. Is it about the music or the sound? Digital has come a hell of a long way from the time it really had an etchy, irritating fragmented presentation of the music, prior to the early 90's at which time things started improving. The 80's were a complete bust for digital and I honestly hated the way it sounded and couldn't listen to it, it was vinyl all the time.

If you come into a batch of LP's cheap, if there is music on LP's you would love to own, if you have a lot of time to clean, fuss over and flip records and don't mind doing so, it may be the ticket for you. IT IS DEFINITELY BETTER, more continuous, more resolving yet some will be more sensitive to the differences than others and some will tell you the ticks, pops and attention to the details is not worth it. No one can give you a definitive answer, only you can find out first hand if it is or isn't worth it to you. I personally dont' have the time for analog that I once did and if I did I would probably spend more time with it. I would just rather listen and enjoy the music and not worry about the debate. You can do it with today's digital IMO, another perspective.

The BIG differences in the mediums truly separate at the upper level ($$$$) of the spectrum. I have heard some truly extraordinary vinyl playback systems that no digital I have heard can touch. It is less apparent at the lower end. You seem curious enough to investigate it further and if you find the idea appealing, I would highly recommend that you go for it. If you can't get off the fence, you need to hear some analog playback systems before making the jump.
I recently took the plunge back into analog and I agree it is very difficult to do. It took me about 6 months to purchase all the components of my analog front end which now consists of:

Michell Gyro SE MkII Turntable
Origin Live Silver arm
Shelter 501 Cartridge
Sonic Frontiers SFP1 Signature Phono stage

At the time I only had about 50 albums of 50's - 60's Jazz (which is what I really like to listen to) compared to hundreds of CD's. I now have about 200 LP's.
So far I have had the system for a month and I'm begining to form some impressions of CD vs LP based on specific A/B comparisons of albums rather than broad generalizations (since I can't say, based on experience to date, that LP's categorically "blow away" CD's in every case.) I will report on specifics in the near future.
Get a Pro-Ject Debut turntable....you cant believe the sound of this baby at that price...it sure beats my cd player, and strangely enough i think that i can even compare it to my rega3, if i install a good cartridge...just bought it 2 months ago for 100 british pounds and it still amazes me every time i put a record...