New to Turntable - what're involved in playing LP?

Remember, there were a FEW HUNDRED MILLION record players around before the advent of CD. They were not all owned and operated by rocket engineers. To be brief, it goes like this: disengage arm from rest, lift , and place on record. Reverse this process at end of side. This covers the essentials. As to the subtleties; that is a little harder. You will need a decent alignment device; a paper protractor will do and can be downloaded free from several sites. VPIs, which I sell, come with a good alignment gauge which is easy to use. Set up can be time consuming at first but as you learn how to do it becomes much easier. These days LPs take more commitment than CDs as they are more expensive and have many fewer choices available. I would set up my system for CD first and then decide whether to add LP. I myself still find LP to be the superior medium but CD can be very good also.

I should have mentioned that there is a good DVD explaining set up in detail by Michael Fremer; I would get that and watch it before making a decision.

Great little speaker you have.

find someone locally who has one and check it out first. it's helpful to have someone who knows their way around, especially if they can help with tracking force and such.

I am not sure that Fremer's video would not discourage a neophyte from going anywhere near a record player. Maybe the best advice is to purchase a player with a built-on tonearm (so no installation and alignment necessary) and then ask your dealer to install your cartridge of choice, or a knowledgeable friend. Then, enjoy. If you are smitten, you will take it upon yourself to learn more about the art and science of record playing. If not, you won't.

You will also need a phono stage; the signal that comes out of a phono cartridge is tiny in magnitude (voltage) compared to that which comes from any sort of silver disc player (CD/SACD/DVD), and it needs to be equalized, which is the unique job of the phono stage. Decent ones can be bought for well under $500. (Check out phono stages on Audiogon.) For a cartridge, I recommend any of several good "moving magnet" (aka MM) cartridges. As a class, MM cartridges work best and sound best with those low cost phono stages mentioned above. Shure, Grado, and Ortofon, among many others make good MM cartridges.