Cost Incurred to Achieve a Vinyl LP Replay


As a Long Term user of the Vinyl LP as a Source, as well as being one who has ventured into discovering and experiencing how fellow enthusiasts have developed their own interest in Vinyl replays. I have got to a place where limited to my experiences only, most I have encountered have over many years have been constrained in their budgets for the Ancillaries required to replay a Vinyl LP.

A few have exceeded the approx' £30K mark for a TT > Tonearm > Cartridge, and fewer from this selection are using dedicated Electronics with a Value of more than £10K to support the Source. 

My most typical experiences are of Ancillaries and Electronics used to support a Vinyl Replay with a combined cost of between approx' £6K - 16K.

I have been demo'd through being at commercial events, Ancillaries and Electronics that far exceed the above Values, but as these demo's are not from a familiar system and have been quite some time in the past these experiences have not been considered as being of importance or contributing to shaping how my present methods are I place to replay a Vinyl LP. 

What I have also become quite aware of, as a result of sharing and receiving accounts of Past Experiences, is that 'dye in the wool' Vinyl Replay Enthusiasts have been active at different levels in their trying out or introducing new ancillaries to get to a place where they are believing that most contentment can be found for their own unique preferences for a produced sonic.

My own endeavours has been to remain with a Particular ancillary and look to have it overhauled, where a modern approach is used to produce a end product that has materials and electronics selected and utilised to transform the ancillary into something that is noticeably different for the better over the original. As such methods are Bespoke, it is difficult to have the methods understood by a onlooker.

My experiences shared have introduced myself to like minded individuals in the flesh and through Global Forum communications. 

I do belive adopted methods to produce Bespoke ancillaries are capable of producing performance that will be more aligned to ancillaries costing much more if using a Branded Item is the guideline, as a selection of materials and adopted methods for these materials can be found in the more recent marketed products. . 

For myself Vinyl Replay is a method to supply a form of entertainment The use of ancillaries to create this entertainment is a must. The learning that is to be attained as a result of using the Ancillaries creates what is more aligned with being a hobby.

The question that is a vaguery, is how much monies, from a range of approx', £3K ($3.2K) - (£350K ($400K) does one feel justified in spending/believes needs to be spent, to satisfy their hobby (lessons learned) needs and need to be entertained (enjoyment of listening to music) .

It is without doubt, there will be 

 fewer reading this, that will be experienced with and able to comment on the 50K and upward ancillaries, it would be good to see what is to be shared. 

 

128x128pindac

@pindac I may be getting dense in my dotage, but the ChatGPT did make sense of your question! If it was correct about your thesis, I concur with it. It is certainly possible to attain the desired degree of vinyl playback without spending ludicrous amounts of money, but in the end it comes down to aligning your expectations with your budget. I have two relatively cheap SME tables (one bought used), four excellent SME tonearms (two bought used), two cheaper Rega tonearms, a reasonable SUT, and relatively cheap Quad tube electronics. My weakness is in liking variety in cartridges, and using tonearm pods I can run six. I doubt I have the best ears around (in fact I only have one and it runs at 50%) so I'm not troubled by issues of soundstage and image, but I do like the quality of the sound to be pleasing to me.

The vinyl only parts of my setup (TTs, TAs, pods, cartridges, SUT phono stage, record cleaning machines) probably add up to about $54kCDN, and I don't feel any need to go further. In fact, all the changes made in the last ten years have been on the vinyl side; once I'm happy I stick with gear in the long term. My phono stage, pre-amp, power amps and speakers are all 16 years old.

@dogberry 

A schizophrenic AI program. Go figure. 

16 years is getting on. You might consider a new 64 bit computer to run your digital library. I did not think there was a cheap SME turntable, Rega yes, SME no. Good tables mined, but pricey across the pond. 

God bless Winston Churchill. Happy X-mas all.

And may I wish you, and all here, a merry Christmas also.

Digital library? I tried ripping all my CDs and had a disk failure in a hardware RAID array that required the exact same model of disk to replace a failed drive. They had been discontinued, so months of work for nothing. I still play CDs and SACDs.

Cheap SME tables? Mine are humble Model 10s, since discontinued. The Model 15 would be closest now (or you could use a Model 12 and ignore the built-in phono stage, as, of course, you should). I'd love to hear the more expensive models, but I did say something about aligning expectations to one's budget!

And I doubt pindac will be charitable if we start to discuss Churchill. My first 27 years were in the UK, before I came to Canada. I am a Churchillian, both by nature and conviction. Enjoy your Christmas!

dogberry

I tried ripping all my CDs and had a disk failure in a hardware RAID array that required the exact same model of disk to replace a failed drive. They had been discontinued, so months of work for nothing.

What type of RAID array did you use? If you used RAID 1, you should be able to recover your files from the disc that still works.

RAID is to protect against disc failure. It’s not a substitute for back ups.

@dogberry I have shared with you in the past on occasions about your methods used for mounting Tonearms.

Additionally, I don't remember your Brand of preferred TT being discussed, but I am very familiar with SME as a Brand. I have heard the 3009 Tonearms in use for most of my time around Audio Equipment, a friend loves to get under the hood and extract every last morsel that a 3009 can offer, I have heard these in use on numerous occasions.

The SME IV and V model TA's have been extensively demo'd and as a result I  have owned the IV Model for numerous years. It took a very long time until I discovered a TA design that superseded the IV and other owned TA's.

I have been demo'd the TOTR SME TT's on regular occasions in my days of visiting Commercial Events, it was at this time I chose to adopt a different drive TT.

Over the years I have encountered these TT's in use and not too long ago I was regularly receiving demo's of the SME 20/12 model in a system I was familiar with. 

As for your own investment of approx' CDN- $54K, this is another outlay from a 'dye in the wool' Vinyl LP  enthusiast, that is very close to the figures I have put forward.

Using my own experiences, which are made known and now using the contributions from forum members offered to this thread, there is a furthering  of reinforcement to my own notion, that suggests there are constrained attitudes expressed by individuals for their purchases. It is interesting how there is a description of offer that mirrors my own, which is not wanting to aspire to something quite different than what is already created.  

When seeing the selections made by 'dye in the wool' enthusiasts for Vinyl Replay Source Items, even though choices being made are not typical across the individuals in their Brand Selection. The accumulating monies outlaid are seen to be similar in requirement, to acquire the ancillaries that offer the individual a experience of replayed music that is meeting their unique preference.