High everyone,
Every couple of years I look for a new hobby to dive into. I’ve been on the fence about starting a vinyl record collection, but I think I’m going to take the dive. I’ve never been much of an “audiophile” but have always been a fan of heavy metal/ hard rock music. Growing up, I had an incredible CD collection, but ultimately ended selling/losing most of my collection. My buddy bought a lower end vinyl player last year and has been building a pretty nice collection of records. Even though his setup is what I would consider lower-end, the sound quality still sounds blows away cd or downloaded music.
I’m looking to build a setup for around 1,000-1,200$. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.
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Honestly, just hit up a thrift store for some powerhouse analog stereo bits. Tuners are very easy to get on the cheap with nada but analog inputs, which I assume your turntable is rocking anyway. So might as well go with the absolute BEST for 20 years back! Haha!
Seriously, use that as a rule of thumb and you’ll setup a fairly dope system
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Personally I use a Technics 1210 with a shure m44 cart. I use a formula sound PM90 modular mixer direct to a C-Audio pulse 4x300 amplifier . Speakers are a studio Genelec 1094a subwoofer and that goes to Soundcraft spirit studio monitors or a pair of Martin Audio LE 400 wedges lol. All cables are Vandam touring grade. I look at it as if it’s good enough for PA rentals it’s fine for home use
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Im in the same boat as you man. Was shopping for the gear on craigslist for a couple of months intensively right before lockdown. But wow ! 1000-1200 $! You are doing way better than me ! I was looking at under $100 turntables, although I spotted some really good deals for 2-250 on nicer units. I definitely saw lots of decent tables that were moderately priced, but since I dont know squat I was reluctant to pull the trigger. I joined a forum or two so I had somewhere to ask questions. I just started to resume the hunt. Unfortunately, all of the good deals are in the more urban area’s. The Denver/front range city’s are about a 2 hour drive for me, so going to check anything out is a whole day adventure.
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This is a fantastic turntable, albeit fairly expensive to find a good one. I run the Audio Technica AT-LP120 that’s basically a new-age copy of the Technics 1200. At only $250 brand new, these things really kick ass.
You can really blow a lot of coin on this hobby. I used to be into it but since having kids I’ve gone cheap. That turntable above doesn’t need a pre-amp or anything. Just plug it into any amplifier RCA jacks.
I have mixed feelings about the whole “vinyl is better” debate. Certainly has more noise which some equate with “warmth”. It really all boils down to the love of music. So find some records you love and play them on any old system you can scratch together. Don’t fall too heavy into the elite equipment unless you got the coin to splurge. I wish I did. My kids still play with my plastic Fischer Price turntable from when I was a kid. They love spinning up the different 45’s. They’re all pretty scratched up but the kids have an absolute blast. It’s really about being present with the music, not just having it on in the background. You’ve got to be there to change records, set the needle, etc. All the cool covers and artwork, it’s just a different experience altogether from Spotify and modern consumption.
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I guess i need to clarify, my 1200$ budget is for the complete setup. TT, preamp, amp, speakers. This stuff is all so foreign to me. From what ive read, you want to spend atleast 1/2 your budget on the TT since thats the most crucial part of the system. Im pretty much dead set on going with the Pro-ject debut carbon series. From what ive been reading, its about the best mid priced turntable you can buy.
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Yea man, i kind of feel guilty, ive been such a huge metal head all my life and growing up it was a huge deal and a complete experience anticipating a record to come out from a band you loved. My cd collection used to be enormous but unfortuantly being young and stupid and good weed wasnt cheap, the used record stores found most of my collection. Once i discovered tourenting i quit paying for music, and movies. My main reason for wanting to get into vinyl is because my kids are to the age where they are starting to like music and i want to pass my love for metal down to them. No mumble rap or bro country in this household. lol
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We are probably a similar age. I grew up on metal too. Had a little collection of records, Def Leppard, Van Halen, ACDC, Iron Maiden, etc. Then a large collection of cd’s. Got into bit torrent for a while too ! It all comes back around.
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Im 33. Was really big into the nu-metal scene. My first metal album was Slipknots self titled. Once i discovered Pantera it was all over.
Maybe this isnt the exact advice you’re looking for but in my experience, even if it means going with slightly cheaper gear, having two turntables and a simple mixer will completely transform your listening experience. Obviously a great tt, pre and speaker system is a solid investment but, i think its worth considering how much fun it is having the next rec/tune ready to go while you fiddle with sleaving the last. Obviously this is not everyones priority, and having just one tt and a simple mixer is helpful for when you wanna just plug in a device to your system. Either way psyched for you and have fun.
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Well, one day I found my record collection and bought a record player, but was quite dissapointed because my discs were old and with lots of cracks, impossible to hear them.
The good thing from them was that analog sound, much warmer and spatial than the digital CD’s, so one friend discovered me the DAC (Digital Analogic Converter) and I recovered that sound.
There were the SACD, mostly dissapeared today, but now you can find many LP’s converted to DSD, or DSD music directly taken from the master tapes, so if you play them in your computer with a DAC it sounds like an LP.
Having all your music in your computer makes you forget all those towers full of CD’s, more easy to listen and share and you can connect it to your HiFi equipment throught the DAC, easy does it … 
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Damn fine jazz collection you got there, @George! At least what I can see of it. I’m a jazz fan and student myself.
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Well, my older brother had only two Jazz records: Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday, that was a good start for me 
I have a good jazz collection, it is more easy to hunt online than to buy in a store, I’ve got a server full of them sharing with people. Please mods let me know if I should edit this 
, music is also risky business online as weed …
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Years ago there was a record store close to me that had $1 bins. I found some cool records that I bought and for a player I used one of those Fisher price kids turntables. I cut the wires to the built in speaker and ran them to some RCA cables and into my stereo haha.
I have tons of records now and the majority came from $1 bins, I only have a few I paid more than $5 for. Also I now have an older tecnics 1200, aka the industry workhorse. It sounds good but I need to learn how to set it up properly.
With $1200 I’d get a decent reciever at a pawn shop or yard sale like yosoy said. Look for a good brand and something that is HEAVY. That’s usually a good sign lol. Also the switches and knobs should have a solid feel. Some of that old stuff is just incredibly well made.
I’d get a new cheaper turntable for something like $250. There are lots of decent ones that won’t fuck up your records and will sound great for any non audiophile. There’s lots of used ones around in yard/estate sales too you just have to do a bit of research before buying.
Then spend the rest (hopefully like $800) on a fucking monster set of JBLs lol
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Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more!
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I’ll be very interested 