Alberporter, I have no desire to have this as a saga of digital vs. analogue, tt vs. CD, and on and on. The question posed by the gentleman was put as if he were at a crossroads. My answer to him was not to look at it this way and to keep CD playback even if he chooses to get a tt. I see nothing ballistic is what I said. Granted I have never heard anything close to the expensive equipment you have, so I may have no idea how gentle your set-up might be on the fragile grooves. Insofar as a cleaning machine, which was one of the suggestions made by another poster, granted dirt and grunge in the grooves is not a good thing, but the groove once damaged never heals, unlike biological systems. The gentlemen here was not asking what to buy for 50K but with 3k, preamp included. This should give very good playback capability if he buys in the used market and if his purchases are carefully thought out. In closing, yes, I find that a noisy record is not enchantment, ticks and pops break the spell for me, and I find it disingenuous when people do not mention the shortcomings of vinyl when someone too young to remember (I presume here) when it was all that was available inquires as to taking the tt plunge, and even more so when the person intends to do away with CD altogether. I take good note of your admission that at least thirty percent (30%) of you record library is noisier than CD or SACD. It is very hard to embarrass me BTW. I take you at your word that your record playing equipment is topnotch. At this stage SACD is not a substitute for CD. At least an SACD player can play CDs, which the last time I checked is not the case for a turntable. Let's not make any of this personal. Good day.
