Just retired and want to get back to vinyl listening

Well, as always choose speakers first. The rest is relatively easy. And decide whether you will accept only new equipment or some used would do. And..tubes or transistors or it depends. It does take time and effort to get it right.

Before getting a TT, do you have a stable place to put it?  I have springy floors and I couldn't survive without a wall shelf.  Personally, if I were buying a tt right now and had some money, I might consider the new Technics 1200.  If I didn't have much and just wanted to get my feet wet again, I would probably try a Music Hall 7 - comes shipped pretty much ready to go with a decent cartridge installed for about $1500.  Not a bad tt at all and you can sell it later on if you want to upgrade.  

I'll second the advice to select your speakers first. Go for higher sensitivity (i.e. +92 dB) speakers - that will give you a greater range of amplification options.

There is a lot of very good value to be had in the used market, if you are patient and aren't in a hurry.

What sources will you use? You've mentioned vinyl, but do you still have a large selection left over from when you had a stereo? If not, you might want to consider streaming audio (digital files) instead.

Music servers (dedicated appliance or stand alone pc) and DAC technology have come a long way in the last 15 years.

I may be venturing into sacrilegious territory here, but digital file streaming now has the ability to match vinyl reproduction, in terms of sonic performance.

I have both. On certain (hi-res) digital files, my streaming setup can match my vinyl rig, and yet, my vinyl setup is four times as expensive.

Have fun and welcome back!  

thanks... I pretty much for last 20-25 years have only had a HT type setup with Denon receivers and NHT speakers all round with hsu VTF mk2 sub -- some music listening but not a large amount.. I built up a very large collection of DVDs and Blurays abd even rip this to large storage server for HTPC playback -- but for this project I’m going back in time when I did much more stereo music listening and want a good setup just for that...I be buying vinyl for the most part of this new phase of retro life. I also had some Time Frame 500 speakers for a while in 90’s..

so I do plan to go listen to speakers that I can.. I have good memories on the herseys and Genesis speakers, but it has been so long -- I need to relisten -- I do like the retro look of the luxman integrateds and not sure I want to get full separates for this setup I moving to Spokane Wa in 4 weeks -- from northern VA -- so will be doing the setup after I find a new place to rent in Spokane -- as my first location to live in retirement

as noted TT is hardest to work out as I have not had a TT since 1985 or so