Moving from CD to analog

It may be difficult today to find a dealership where you can demo and compare several turntables. There is only one guy that I know of in Cleveland. He has no storefront and works on an appointment only basis. As a vinyl novice, I might be inclined to get a good turntable, arm and matched cartridge combo, such as a Clearaudio Ovation or Performance, or a VPI Classic or Scout package. You need to read the reviews to appreciate the quality of these turntables, and your choice would likely be determined more by the matching cartridge and arm, the latter being gimbal, magnetic or unipivot. In addition to great sound, compatibility and relative ease of setup and maintenance are potential hallmarks of these systems. It has been my experience that these manufacturers are quite helpful with information regarding their products. I wish you the best with your vinyl experience. GK

It may be difficult today to find a dealership where you can demo and compare several turntables. There is only one guy that I know of in Cleveland. He has no storefront and works on an appointment only basis. As a vinyl novice, I might be inclined to get a good turntable, arm and matched cartridge combo, such as a Clearaudio Ovation or Performance, or a VPI Classic or Scout package. Hopefully you will be able to audition your tentative choices, but reviews are a good start. Regarding the above referenced tables, your choice would likely be determined more by the matching cartridge and arm, the latter being gimbal, magnetic or unipivot. In addition to great sound, compatibility and relative ease of setup and maintenance are potential hallmarks of these systems. It has been my experience that these manufacturers are quite helpful with information regarding their products. I wish you the best with your vinyl experience. GK

04-15-13: Lowrider57
The budget has got buy me a turn table, tonearm, cartridge, phono stage and cables it will soon be eaten up, I will try and buy from the used market except the cartridge this way I can access higher priced equipment for half the price.

What funds are left will indeed be spent on my favourite vinyl music.

04-15-13: Zd542
Yes I fully understand what you mean and don't worry I was not offended in any way it's great to get some honest opinions.

I'm currently listening to my brothers Rega Planar 3 and it sounds very nice so your theory is correct!

04-15-13: Onhwy61
Thank you for our kind reply.
I will eventually settle with some kind of music server as I have recently copied all my CD's to hard drive using the FLAC codec.

You are correct in that listening to vinyl requires much more messing about, I have been listening to a Rega Planar 3 during the past 2 nights and playing some 45's I have recently brought most of these only have 3 tracks on each side so you are constantly up and changing the record so I could understand how this will become tiring, but to compensate for all this up and down is the music does sound better than CD ;-)