Thanks for the info on the Oracle: I will definitely look into that. So much great information and help from everyone on the turntable. As an update, I took your advice and have gone to a few other stores here in town to listen to other turntables. I have heard a couple other systems at some of the other stores here in town: a Pro-Ject Extension 10, a few other Pro-Jects that were less expensive, 2 VPI's and 2 Regas. However, the systems I was able to hear them on were all different (the speakers, amps, preamps, phono stages, cartrdiges etc differed) so it was hard to compare. However, they all were an improvement over what I was hearing with digital. I think the system at Soundings sounded the best, but that may be because the rest of the system they are using costs in excess of $150,000 and was better than the other systems and it may not be because the turntable there (the Woodpecker) was better. Hard to know, but I'm having a lot of fun researching it and also looking for LP's at my local stores and online. I really like discogs.com for finding out of print and hard to find LP's. I've already bought about 20 LP's.
As I've been researching this and going to the various stores, I've also been learning more about cartridges and phone stages. I didn't realize that different cartridges have different gain levels and some cartridges won't work well with some phono stages. Yikes, I am a definite novice :)!!! In addition to the Boulder phono stage at $13,000, Rod at Soundings thinks a ARC PH9 would fit nicely and costs $7,500. But I can find an ARC 2SE on audiogon for a few thousand less,but have no idea which might sound better (Rod doesn't have a PH9 or a 2SE for me to try). Rod hasn't heard either of them but says he spoke to Dave at ARC who says the PH9 would be better, but its hard to know as the PH9 just came out and the 2SE was just replaced by the Ref 3. I've also heard a Lohman (not sure if i spelled it right) that sounded pretty good for $2000. I may make another post just about phono stages to get some more ideas on what I need to be researching and looking for because I know so little.
Thanks everyone for all the help. I am very much enjoying the journey into vinyl and all the posts here have been tremendously helpful. I greatly appreciate every one taking the time to help me out with all the amazing insight and advice.
As I've been researching this and going to the various stores, I've also been learning more about cartridges and phone stages. I didn't realize that different cartridges have different gain levels and some cartridges won't work well with some phono stages. Yikes, I am a definite novice :)!!! In addition to the Boulder phono stage at $13,000, Rod at Soundings thinks a ARC PH9 would fit nicely and costs $7,500. But I can find an ARC 2SE on audiogon for a few thousand less,but have no idea which might sound better (Rod doesn't have a PH9 or a 2SE for me to try). Rod hasn't heard either of them but says he spoke to Dave at ARC who says the PH9 would be better, but its hard to know as the PH9 just came out and the 2SE was just replaced by the Ref 3. I've also heard a Lohman (not sure if i spelled it right) that sounded pretty good for $2000. I may make another post just about phono stages to get some more ideas on what I need to be researching and looking for because I know so little.
Thanks everyone for all the help. I am very much enjoying the journey into vinyl and all the posts here have been tremendously helpful. I greatly appreciate every one taking the time to help me out with all the amazing insight and advice.