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Got A Turntable...What Next?

I inherited my deceased dad's vintage TT , speakers and
large classical vinyl collection. He died in 92 and the stuff was still in his basement in perfect condition just
like he left it.I am now taking care of my 87 year old
mom with Alzheimers and decided to get his rig back up and running. I brought over an old receiver with a phono stage
and a friend lent me an AT cart just to see how things sounded. Now its three months later and the system has grown with used gear as shown below.

Thorens TD-125 w/SME 3009 II
Shelter 501 mk2
PS Audio GCPH
Decware SE 341.2 (6 watt) tube w/ NOS Amperex Holland
Altec Lansing "Laguna"
http://www.vintage-audio.com.ua/en/cat/68/1469.html

I am really enjoying the vinyl experience again, have a cleaning machine and i am doing it the right way.

My questions are:
I want to upgrade to a better sounding system.....should i keep any of my present gear? I feel the speakers are the weak link, they have a wonderful mid-range but lack a little in high end and bass.
Any opinions? My budget is 8-10k. Used gear is fine.
I listen to mostly classic rock, blues and some classical.
128x128edtyre
plato
1,543 posts
 
Before I gave up on the Altecs, I'd want to try them with a more powerful tube amp of at least 20 to 30Wpc. No offense but with only 6 watts/channel that Decware amp is probably running out of gas in the bass (maybe highs too).
mt10425
1,138 posts
 
Good to hear about your foray into vinyl. Your first purchase should be a Record Cleaning Machine like a VPI 16.5 and something to keep your sylus clean. Protect those nice inherited LPs. My system is also part vintage and part new.
restock
831 posts
 
I doubt the Laguna are the weak part of the system. A friend's Altec A7's are IMO still one of the best speakers I heard to date and that includes many modern hornspeakers, such as the Avantgarde and others.

You may want to look into modifying and rewiring the crossovers of the Altecs. Otherwise the amp may not be an ideal match, try some different SET amps if you can.

Finally the SME arm is a little lightweight for the low compliance Shelter cartridge and not an ideal match which will show in the bass most. The Shelter is a nice cartridge and the SME arm is nice too, but the match is far from ideal with respect to arm- cartridge resonance. I would consider a different cartridge for the SME arm.
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rauliruegas
13,092 posts
 
Dear Edtyre: Other that what already posted I think that you could improve the quality performance on your system through a better Phonolinepreamplifier that is the audio item/link that handle the delicate cartridge signal and where that critical signal " suffer " a heavy process where that signal can be highly degraded .

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
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