Thinking about buying my first turntable... am I crazy?

[Maxf]

We got our first CD Player in '86, when I was 9 so all of my music has been on CDs, and more recently digital... but I've got a burning desire for a turntable.

I think it's a case of hi-fi-upgradeitis, and I'm imagining sitting down and actually listening to an album (well half of it, before turning it over), rather than flitting between tracks as streaming music seems to encourage me to do. I'm a bit of a 'collector' too, and the idea of a tangible record collection is one I link.... probably a slippery slope though.

Have other people done this and started from scratch? I expect I'll continue to download/buy CDs for most of my music, and probably rebuy some classic albums which are recognised as being 'good' on vinyl.

Mental or not?

[jmorgan]

Absolutely not. Some will take to it, others not so.

Budget might limit you, that is between you and your better half etc.

Going to probably need an amp with a phono input or buy the phono input separate (I prefer a one box solution) so got an Arcam.

Food for thought

https://www.whathifi.com/products/hi-fi/turntables

[Maxf]

Thanks - I'll just need the turntable and phonostage. My pre-amp doesnt have a phonostage and can't power one, so I'll need that - which is fine.

It's more the logistics of 'starting from scratch' in terms of music which is worrying me... for a period I'll only have a small selection. I do like the idea of mooching around record shops again though.

[jmorgan]

Other might suggest a choice of amp etc.

For music, HMV seem to be taking the old vinyl to heart, they have a good selection and I usually come away with something. I never really gave up the turntable so have a selection going back some, though probably not as great as many here.

There are other outlets selling records, but it depends on what you like. e.g. I like ELO, Out of The Blue is superb on vinyl. However that is my set up. If You like Pink Floyd, then Wish You Were Here, Led Zeppelin (or rather Jimmy Page) has remastered a lot. Then there is The Who...... what floats your boat?

[Maxf]

jmorgan said:

There are other outlets selling records, but it depends on what you like. e.g. I like ELO, Out of The Blue is superb on vinyl. However that is my set up. If You like Pink Floyd, then Wish You Were Here, Led Zeppelin (or rather Jimmy Page) has remastered a lot. Then there is The Who...... what floats your boat?

I'm a pretty big Pink Floyd fan - Bowie - The Beatles... and more modern stuff too. I'm getting into Jazz and blues as well, slowly. About the only genres I don't sit and listen to regularly are classical and 'dance' music.

[jmorgan]

Joe Bonamassa has an excellent recent offering on vinyl, Live at Carnege Hall, three records in that one, acoustic set. The Who live in Hyde Park is also a three record but as it is live, the vocals are perhaps not at the best. Not age related I think.... but still a good belter of an album. Three recon sets seem to be coming in? Not sure how many others there are.

Pink Floyd has pretty much all their albums recent re mastered to vinyl (Dark side was done on its anniversary, 2013?). My original Wish You were Here I can see through it now it has been played so much, the re mastered comes with all the posters and cards etc.

[legzr1]

There are turntables available with phono stages built in, effectively offering line level outputs that will plug into any phono / RCA input.

Charity shops to start off your collection of albums.

[Lazadude]

No meaning to hijack the thread, but I've been debating exactly the same thing!

However, after lots of internet browsing, There's a school of thought about there only seems to be a sound difference for records recorded originally in an analogue studio compared to modern digital ones.

Granted there's the feeling of loading the record, and the extra bits and bobs.

Also worth noting, the majority of all current records are put onto vinyl too. Amazon has a huge selection on prime, and they are even sold in supermarket audio aisles now as I think they are becoming more mainstream again.

[Maxf]

I guess I'll need a dedicated rack, rather than just plonking it on top of my amp (I've been avoiding this as they seem rather fugly not to mention expensive... I also turn off when reviews suggest a different rack makes the vocals of an album sound different). That's something to bear in mind.

I think I need to hear a couple and see what I think. I'm upgrading my pre-amp so now's the time to do a deal really.

Reading about the PF re-masters, many people say they aren't great and to find the 30th issue, or originals.

[counterofbeans]

legzr1 said:

Charity shops to start off your collection of albums.

They will be completely fked and quickly remind you why you ditched vinyl in the first place

[jmorgan]

Maxf said:

I guess I'll need a dedicated rack, rather than just plonking it on top of my amp (I've been avoiding this as they seem rather fugly not to mention expensive... I also turn off when reviews suggest a different rack makes the vocals of an album sound different). That's something to bear in mind.

I think I need to hear a couple and see what I think. I'm upgrading my pre-amp so now's the time to do a deal really.

Reading about the PF re-masters, many people say they aren't great and to find the 30th issue, or originals.

Re rack, I have been looking for one for a number of years. The deck is sat on the same shelf I had when I bought it, 1998 or 9 or something. You could get all fancy and try to suspend it on polished unobtanium hover disks or just play the thing.... Seriously though, I need to get a rack because I need to get rid of this shelf.

Worth plonking speakers on spikes though, that is probably one of the better upgrades I ever did outside kit purchase.

Re Pink Floyd. Mine sound good enough. I just play the records. Your ears will tell you if it is good.

[Maxf]

jmorgan said:

Worth plonking speakers on spikes though, that is probably one of the better upgrades I ever did outside kit purchase.

Yes - I agree - mine are on spikes on top of granite slabs (well, granite bread boards from sainsbury's at £15 each to be exact... vs £100 for a 'hi-fi' one).

[jmorgan]

My floor protection cost eight pence.

[Maxf]

jmorgan said:

My floor protection cost eight pence.

More left over to spend on unobtanium speaker cables.

[legzr1]

counterofbeans said:

They will be completely fked and quickly remind you why you ditched vinyl in the first place

Like I said, it's a start.

[ReaderScars]

counterofbeans said:

legzr1 said:

Charity shops to start off your collection of albums.

They will be completely fked and quickly remind you why you ditched vinyl in the first place

That's not true - maybe some or perhaps most but not all - anyway, just gives you the determination to keep digging in the charity shops and thereby find more gems/germs.

[C&C]

Maxf said:

I guess I'll need a dedicated rack, rather than just plonking it on top of my amp (I've been avoiding this as they seem rather fugly not to mention expensive...

Or get a good wall mounted shelf provided you've a well built wall to bolt it to.

That's what I did with mine when the unit I initially put it on proved nowhere near stable/isolated enough.
Now it's rock solid (used I think 150mm window fixing things into the brick wall).

TT1 by conradsphotos, on Flickr

[Maxf]

[quote=C&C]

Or get a good wall mounted shelf provided you've a well built wall to bolt it to.

That's what I did with mine when the unit I initially put it on proved nowhere near stable/isolated enough.
Now it's rock solid (used I think 150mm window fixing things into the brick wall).

TT1 by conradsphotos, on Flickr


[/quote]

Lovely! How do you find the quality compared to the sonos (I assume you stream FLAC/Tidel)?

[kingston12]

Maxf said:

We got our first CD Player in '86, when I was 9 so all of my music has been on CDs, and more recently digital... but I've got a burning desire for a turntable.

I think it's a case of hi-fi-upgradeitis, and I'm imagining sitting down and actually listening to an album (well half of it, before turning it over), rather than flitting between tracks as streaming music seems to encourage me to do. I'm a bit of a 'collector' too, and the idea of a tangible record collection is one I link.... probably a slippery slope though.

Have other people done this and started from scratch? I expect I'll continue to download/buy CDs for most of my music, and probably rebuy some classic albums which are recognised as being 'good' on vinyl.

Mental or not?

It depends what you are looking to get out of it. If you are looking for a nice way of playing a number of favourite albums, then it is a great way to go.

If you are looking for other benefits, I'd be careful.

There is a lot of conflicting information regarding the sound quality of records, both positive and negative. In my opinion a lot of it is wrong!

I have got a lot of records that sound better than the same album on digital formats. This is generally because they are different masters from the CD/download version - either the recording has remained in analogue all through the chain, or because a different digital mastering has been used.

I have also got records that sound worse than the digital counterpart and others that are near-indistinguishable from it.

The other issue is the equipment itself. If you have got a reasonable CD player/DAC, a cheap turntable set up is likely to not sound as good. I spent several times the value of my DAC on my TT/stage/cartridge before it equalled it.

Then there are the records themselves. Buying second hand is a bit of a lottery as somebody mentioned above. Buying new is also a lottery, not because of the condition as much as the fact that a lot of the new issues and re-releases are very poor quality, seemingly rushed out because of the rise in popularity of the format. Most are £20ish for albums that you can pick up second hand on CD for pennies on Amazon.

The slippery slope that you mention definitely happened with me. I have always had a reasonable record collection, and that made it an easier decision when I decided to buy a new TT and get more serious again a few years ago. My collection now contains thousands of albums, which is great, but it is a lot of money and a lot of space to tie up when most other people have got all of their music stored on a couple of HDDs!

Hobby-wise, it is one of the best things I have done - there is always a record shop to have a look around when I am away on a business trip or just shopping locally, and it is fun tracking down the rest of the albums I want online.

[C&C]

Maxf said:

We got our first CD Player in '86, when I was 9 so all of my music has been on CDs, and more recently digital... but I've got a burning desire for a turntable.

Have other people done this and started from scratch? I expect I'll continue to download/buy CDs for most of my music, and probably rebuy some classic albums which are recognised as being 'good' on vinyl.

Mental or not?

I don't think so.

I bought my first proper Hifi in '87 and didn't have much vinyl at the time so just went with a CD player, amp and speakers.

I only bought my first turntable around 10 years ago, and recently added the one in the photo above (so yes it can be a slippery slope, although not bought new so good value).

There is something nice about putting an LP on and having to listen to a whole side rather than flitting from track to track.

There is some truth apparently in some of the more recent re-issues on vinyl being digitally remastered removes some of the analogue sound. Having said that, it would be a case of listening to them and seeing what you like.

In terms of getting hold of vinyl (apart from stuff available new), I've had some success with charity shops, although going through a load of records, picking the ones you like, then pulling the vinyl out to see it horribly scratched in many cases can get a bit tiresome. If you buy from a charity shop, only ever buy if the record looks flawless - no scratches at all.

The record collector grading system is pretty useful (although open to some interpretation).
Basically there are 2 gradings, first for the sleeve/package, the other for the vinyl.
So VG, EX would be sleeve in very good condition, vinyl in excellent.

Personally, I'm not too bothered about the sleeve, as for me it's all about listening to the albums, so I'll generally only ever buy Ex graded vinyl, with maybe VG+ if a particular album I can't get as Ex.


Other sources of decent vinyl have been:

eBay - provided the seller has good feedback and follows the standard record collector grading system you generally can get good quality albums. There are also a lot of albums which don't sell at all - sometimes it's useful to search for vinyl that is under say £2 and has less than 2 hours to go - some bargains to be had there.

Some of the hifi websites have classifieds sections. There's a guy sells vinyl on the Pink Fish Media website - he updates a list of stock every Sunday evening around 6-7pm. Worth keeping an eye on, and almost all is Ex/Ex. If you see stuff you like, post a reply asking him to start a new pile for you and he'll hold them until you've enough to fill a mailer (6 or 7 albums), then mail them all together if you want to save on postage. He'll also (for a small charge) run them through a professional record cleaner before sending them out.

Other useful site to check out if looking for specific albums is Discogs which lists stuff from all over the world. Look to have 25 million vinyls listed currently.

Also record shops do seem to be making a bit of a comeback, but judging from recent experience visiting a record shop/cafe in Watford, there seems to be a certain amount of cashing in on the fact vinyl is currently seen as being a bit hip and trendy. Their stock for standard type albums seemed to start at £15 and go up, so I didn't spend long there. Other record shops may be more reasonable.

.... so no, I don't think you're mental considering starting with vinyl now. Good luck and have fun.