re: Audiophile/Vinyl Thread - Post Pics, Advice, Questions, Setups, etc.

On now...






Rush--"Presto"....Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, SACD, 2014.


This record has always been one of my favorites since it came out in 1989. It is just fantastic from start to finish.

The original recording was done all digital--something relatively new for rock music in 1988/89. My LP copy sounds great, but this SACD has it beat--this is about as good and clean as Rush gets!

alright, coming back to the board for headphone recs.

- Less than $500
- Purely for use at home with stereo. Not needed for travel and listening to iphone
- will be used with the built in mac headphone amp, no plans for external currently
- listen to pretty much everything except rap

excellent. i have seen a few of the akg's in my brief research, but haven't listened to any in person. i really dig their aesthetic as well. thanks for feedback.

I love my Omens

Probably not, but what constitutes "a whole setup" in your mind? Both vinyl and digital playback, or just one or the other?

There are powered bookshelf speakers that can be had for $250-300 and entry level turntables with built in phono preamps in about the same price range. So if its just vinyl a minimum system can be had for that price. Same for digital, you just have decide on what the source will be; computer, cd player, iPod, streaming. For computers, Dragonfly makes makes two USB DAC's ($99 & $199) that can be used to get a signal from the computer to drive powered speakers.

When it comes to handling both vinyl and digital, that's were it become almost impossible to fit your dollar limit because your going to need a pre-amp to handle signal switching.

Your best option is probably to scour Craiglist, estate sales and such for used equipment. Last year I found a nice little Marantz 1060 integrated amp for $25 at an estate sale that I use in a small system I have setup in my office. It has three analog inputs, plus a phono stage and an output of 30 watts/channel, which is more than enough to drive most speakers (non-powered) in medium size room.

Yes sorry just a small turntable set up pre amp amp speaker deal.

Yeah secondhand older equipment with a dedicated phono stage is always a solid place to start.

If you don’t want used, I know Yamaha still makes and sells 2ch systems with phono stages at a reasonable price.

Yamaha - Stereo Receiver w/phono $250

Klipsch Bookshelf speakers (pair): $155 I just used this as an example, there are a lot of options for a pair of bookshelf speakers in the < $200 category.

If your friend did something like that he’d have about $200 to work with for a turntable. I’m not sure what the best table under $200 is though.

Turntable with Powered Speakers - Amazon

Looks like this would be a decent starter setup.

Alright Marco,

In the near future I'll be in the market for new speakers, turntable and cart. I've decided to phase out all of my older vintage gear for various reasons, so I'm looking for models and recommendations to keep an eye out for. I'm good with buying secondhand assuming they are near mint, or new obviously. They will be paired with the MA5200.

So, budget...

Turntable: < $2,500
Speakers: < $2,500

Now those values can go up or down for each if you think it would make more sense to put more of that money towards speakers, and less towards the table. No rush, I'm in no hurry to purchase.