2. analog
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New to forum and Vinyl

Good Morning,

  I have just recently been turned back on to vinyl.  We rented a home for a long weekend via AIRBNB and the host was gracious enough to allow acces to his lp collection.  I hadn't heard vinyl in many years and was taken by the feel and sound but also the interaction with the media itself.  Had plenty back in the 70's but fell away as 8 track, cassette, cd, and digital made music more accessible and portable.  

So,   I had a Marantz 1060 amp and a pair of really nice BIC Venturi Formula 4 speakers in my barn,  hooked it up to a professionally serviced and adjusted Technics SL-BD10 with a shure cartridge/needle I picked up for 100 bucks.   I went to the local swap-meet and picked up 50 albums, Stones, Beatles, Led Zep, Bowie, Who, stuff like that for 1-2-3 bucks each.  So far I'm into it for about 250 and it sounds really good.  

Where would you start to upgrade.  Turntable, speakers, add-ons?   I really like what I hear so far but I'm so new to this I am sure I may be missing something.  

Thanks,  Scott
slbradley
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
ML or Maggies will kill on classical or jazz if set up correctly.

On rock, they can more easily be bested by a top quality cone based speaker, as long as you spend 2x to 4x as much.

Maggies are a simple load to drive as the impedance curve is nearly straight at 4 ohms, but are not particularly efficient and do require high current output from an amp.  Electrostatics DO have a complex impedance curve and are harder to drive.

Any line source has significant advantages over a point source.

No speaker is perfect and you will need some extended listening to decide which flaws are less important to you.
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
oh yeh, add Quad to your panel speaker list
bigkidz
3,381 posts
 
Anyone in the tri-state NYC area?  I'd like to hear a few systems.

Send me a PM.

Happy Listening.
slbradley OP
5 posts
 
Goldring GR-1, supposed clone of the Rega PL2.  Would 250 be a good deal?  
2channel8
758 posts
 
@slbradley
I strongly encourage you to try and be patient. Learn as much as you can about turntables/tonearms and cartridges and their features as you can, making a list of the features that are most important to you. Listen and look at some at friends and dealers, if you can and read, read, read. Here and on other forums such as Vinyl Engine, which has a database that is quite educational:
https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable-database.php

I bought a Linn Basik when I was in your situation. Very nice turntable. No regrets. But I soon decided that I wanted to be able to switch cartridges quickly and easily. The Linn tonearm is not good for that and the Rega and Pro-Ject are worse. Does this make them bad choices? Not unless you're into cartridge rolling, and many are not.

By the way, which Shure cartridge do you have? It may be worth salvaging.

Best of luck with your new affliction, you poor bastard. ;^)
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