I'm just curious how much it would cost to get the equipment required to make vinyl worth listening to. I know players are available for cheap, but would anticipate the sound quality to be the same.
What would be your recommendation to go with a system worth about $5,000 in total? Is there a significant advantage to vinyl at this level? I've heard vinyl on high enough equipment to know that at it's best it's better than digital, but am not sure what it would cost for the average joe to get a quality sound.
I was interested in finding out if it was possible to do vinyl with a budget that was within reason compared to my existing system. It sounds like it could be.
I've also noticed that I'm at a level of audio that is essentially picking up scraps from the kitchen floor compared to the average audiophile on this forum.
As I've said a $1000 set-up including cleaning equipment and some vinyl to spin would be a fair expenditure considering the overall value of your system IMO. I also think you're the type of person, based on your posts, that can be satisfied with that investment, as well as the sound it would produce, and avoid riding the escalator.
As to your other comment, let me share an experience from this past weekends Bay Area Audio show. There was a room using "scraps" that included an Audiolab 8000 integrated amp ($300 used) and a Magnavox CDP ($50 used). I won't mention the speakers, but I will say the sound in that room was in my top 3 of the whole show.
Clio9, if he does, and if he stays with it for even six months, then he'll be the first in these threads to have done so as far as I can tell.
I have faith in him :)
BTW, having owned a Technics SL-1200, I don't believe one can get a satisfying, long-term, "entry level" set-up based around this table (or a Rega P-3, or Music Hall MMf 7.1, or...) for less than $2K (including table, arm, cartridge, phono preamp, interconnects, platform/base, set-up tools, and cleaning supplies).
As you were a SL-1200 user you obviously have more experience with this table. However, it keeps getting mentioned in "budget" threads and that was my point.
I'll disagree with the Rega P-3, or for that matter the refurbed/modified AR or Thorens tables such as those that can be found on Vinyl Nirvana. As a B&O user I'll say an 8002 refurbished by Soundsmith can be an extremely satisfying table.
The operative term in the original post was "ENTRY LEVEL". I stick to the opinion that you can get very good sound from some careful choices and smart shopping. I got a brilliant Dual 721 for $20. It is in great shape. Stuck a $150 cart on it, and voila!
I'll also stick my neck out here and say that a large percentage of the population who have spent years going to clubs or live music (or with the MP3 player stuck in their ears) have such damaged hearing that they really can't distinguish the nuances that make someone spend 5K on a TT, or preamp or a cartridge.
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