Analog newbee looking for advice

If you can get a VPI MK3 with a decent arm this should give you a solid performance without investing to much money into an Analog rig.I bought mine with a Morch Arm for a little over 1k,But you have so much to choose from if you want to get your feet wet.

There are decent virtual plug-and-play units that will give you good sound. Some of the Rega units come to mind. If you buy something new from a good store (of which there are very few) they can assist in picking a product and setting it up.

If you are on your own, this can be a time consuming and frustrating endevor.

Ultimately one does not need a state of the art vinyl setup to exceed the sound quality of a SOTA digital setup.

Check into the Rega or VPI units that come with their own arm. Rega sells good cartridges also which will not require as much dedication to install and set up as a system of seperates.

I agree with the comments of the posters although I think some are far too negative. The many rituals that pertain to playing LPs become enjoyable after a while.

What you do need to consider in a good phono stage. As somebody that ‘roll-my-own’ when it comes to amplification, I have ample opportunity experiment with a number of different amps, pre and phono’s (since I build them myself!). I have come to realize that a good phono stage is really key I getting good results from analogue.

So budget for the phono when considering a TT/arm/cart.

Regards
Paul

Hey Dburdick!

As a fellow Resolution Audio afficionado, (I own the Resolution Audio Opus 21, btw), and a fairly recent returnee to the land of vinyl, (about 3 years ago now), I can offer you my opinions.

First, the Opus 21 is a great cdp. (Although, it is not quite the equal of the very best cdp's, notably the Audio Aero Capitole II, it comes quite close. But then again it costs about one-third the cost of the Capitole II, so for a bang for the buck aspect, it is almost unbeatable. However, the sound from vinyl is better still.

Second, it is not cheap to get better than Opus 21 cd sound, IMHO. I would guess it will take somewhere in the $2,000-3,000 range. Also, as AlbertPorter says, get something that is relatively plug and play. (This will eliminate most of the fiddling that DoudDeacon is referring to, so you can sit back and enjoy the music.)
I would recommend buying a "lightly" used turntable and arm, and something easy to setup, like a Rega P3, or better yet, something like a VPI scout, or a Basis 1400 (I started with the Basis myself. I recommend used, because if you don't like the hassles of vinyl, and let's face it-some don't, you can get out for almost no money lost.) I do recommend getting a new cartridge though, to avoid the possible problem of buying a damaged cartridge, and having to install it yourself. Plus, by buying a new cartridge, you can take the table, (and arm, if not already mounted to the TT), to your local dealer and have him mount the cartridge for you, thus avoiding the biggest hassle and pitfalls of setting up a proper analog system. (Again, this is what I did, and it made my life so much easier.)

Third, the biggest factor in going to vinyl is CLEANING the vinyl. This is a necessary requirement, and there really is no getting around it. Either be prepared to spend a lot of time cleaning records by hand (not really fun), or bite the bullet and get a cheap used record cleaning machine like a Nitty Gritty, or a Record Doctor, to help you clean/vacuum the records. (If you can afford the VPI units, they are better built, and a little easier to use, as you clean the record on the platter, as opposed to cleaning it on a separate table and then vacuuming it dry.) I went with a used Nitty Gritty 1.0 myself, (Yeah, I'm cheap!) and have no regrets. It works just fine, despite being one of the cheaper RCMs available.

Fourth, don't forget that in addition to the turntable, tone arm, cartridge and cleaning supplies, that you will need a phono preamp. Don't cheap out here! Spend the bucks and get a decent phono preamp, (Yeah, used of course!) Something like an Ear or an ARC work just fine and you can really hear the difference between the cheaper preamps and the quality preamps. (I started with an ARC PH-3, and it worked fine. I eventually went solid state, as I discovered that I really don't like the sound of tube rushing, but that is my personal taste. Most people barely hear it, so I recommend going with a tubed phono preamp first, and then if you don't like it, go with something else. Besides, the good solid state phono preamps seem to cost more than the good tube phono preamps, IMHO anyway.)

Well, good luck and don't be afraid to ask questions!

I have to join in agreeing with Albert and Doug. Plug 'n play is an oxymoron in analog replay. You have to teach yourself and be really up for experimentation and tweaking. In fact that's part of the attraction.

There's a wealth of excellent knowledge available on this board and to be had from a few hours googling and it strikes me that if you are too lazy to do some searching then you haven't got the right mindset for getting the best from vinyl replay.

I would suggest that you check out the "high end turntable from home despot" thread here and pick up some decent classic of arm/cart geometry adjustment and get to appreciate the audible differences from adjusting VTF, SRA, azimuth and bias. And that's before you begin to adjust cartridge loading on your preamp.

In analog a $200 cart in a $400 arm, if set up well, can sound better than equipment costing 10 times more that's set up poorly. Set-up is key and you have to be self-sufficient in doing it yourself because, in most cases, there aren't many retailers who know vinyl set-up any more.

The Rega arms are a good starting point, any cartridge and phono stage will suffice to start. However you can achieve a lot in terms of teaching yourself about vinyl by buying an old direct drive table.

Only when you understand how to get a table sounding the best it can, should you go on to more expensive equipment.

If you are determined to buy a new plug and play rig then I would suggest that you check out the Avid range. They are unique in that the dealer can set up the arm and cart to survive shipment.

On balance though I'm tempted to recommend that you stay with digital and spend your analog budget on increasing your cd collection.