From high end digital to beginners analog?

Hello Mike60, I got back into vinyl a few years back after a 20 year hiatus. I had saved my 2000 records from my past. It was the best move I made in my audio experience. For some reason, for me, the connection to the music is much better.

How are you listening to digital? What equipment are you using for comparison?

If you want a good plug and play unit it your price range I would look at the Well Tempered Amadeus mentioned above. Mount the cartridge of your choice and drop the needle. I have never heard anyone criticize its sound. There are many good choices in turntables at that price but you have to have that love of tweaking to get it right. To me its fun, to others a pain.

Danny

If I were putting together a system to "try out" analog vs cd I would stsrt with a very basic TT like a technics or similar used with arm. Find a good MM cart that matches the arm and a good pre that matches the cart. Then you will need to set it up properly. That would give you a good taste for whether vinyl is worth the hassle to you. I have a very "high end" system and one as just described. I can listen to the lower cost system for hours and in most cases find the sound preferable to red book cd. The most important part as in all things audio is good mating of the components. Read all the forums there is a lot to learn about analog set up.

You have not specified your system, I.e. What you mean by high end digital. If you already have a high end digital system, why do you want a low end/entry level analog system? With modern cd and especially SACD players, let alone even higher resolution downloads that are available you will likely have to spend 5X to get comparable quality sound.

If you just want to dabble in a hobby, sure do it! If you want to enjoy high quality music reproduction I fail to see the logic.

I did the same thing about ten years ago...although on a much smaller, meager scale, as my digital setup was much better than average...but far from SOTA...long story short...i inheritated mu old mans lps and put together a modest retro based 2nd system...its been alot of fun...and for 2-4 k you could easily get pleasure AND performance...i opted for some nice headphones instead of speakers in this application...which really accenuates the warmth vinyl lovers speak of