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3k budget for Turntable and Phono Noob- do I need external power supplies?

Good Day All,

Trying to put together a vinyl rig for the first time, the local shops all have Rega and Project so will likely land there however open to suggestions

Is it worth adding a $500 Sbooster or IFI Elite to either the TT or phono or both?

or should I up budget to 4k without them?

I was thinking either Rega P3 Special edition with their Aria phono or Project X1B with their balanced phono

thanks in advance

 

audiocanada
audiocanada OP
216 posts
 

thanks very much

thus far the advice seems clear, put my money into the equipment first

I'll do just that

is it worth considering the various Project balanced setups?

I do much prefer running into the XLRs on my amp generally speaking

 

dynacohum
654 posts
 

I tried a balanced connection with a Thorens TD1600, an AT-OC9XML, and Pro-Ject PhonoBox DS3.  I didn’t find it to be superior in any way.  When I switched to a Technics SL100C with unbalanced connections, I got lower noise with all my cartridges.  Not a panacea, at least in my experience.

audiocanada OP
216 posts
 

thank you

dealer offered me a good price on a project x2b with mc cart, alongside the entry level project balanced phono

have been considering it, he also offers good prices on all rega prodcuts

 

 

lewm
13,254 posts
 

All modern phono cartridges can run in balanced mode. The TT has nothing to do with it. Any tonearm with 4 leads out can be wired to an XLR. 

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,959 posts
 

NO I wouldn’t waste my money on S-Boosters, or similar premium PSUs. I actually have two: a 24V DC unit for very high end Clearaudio Master Innovation (which shockingly ships with a very cheap wall wart SMPS) and a 24V AC unit for a Benz PP-1 phono stage. Don’t ask why I did this experiment twice. No change to sound quality, in either case. There are a plethora of other things you can do to actually affect the sound of vinyl playback - have fun!

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