Turntable or Not ?

[Narcisus]

A year or so ago I had to downsize everything so my old Hi-Fi was sold and I purchased a pair of KEF LSX speakers that i've been delighted with.

I mainly play FLAC files from the PC with an optical connection to a decent Creative card, stream from Amazon or play CD's on my original Technics CD player I bought in 1989 !

The thing is I have about 200 records that I collected from around 15 years old ( i'm now 52 ) they are all in excellent condition even at 15 I was using a carbon brush !

I have picked up the cd versions of many but still hanker after playing the vinyl.....

If I did decide to pick up a turntable to replace my trusty ( and now sold ) Ariston Q-Deck it would have to be blue tooth.

So the questions are -

1) Is it worth it or not would like to hear pro's and cons

2) Would using Bluetooth negate any of the benefits of listening in good old analogue or in these days of dsp's does that really matter now anyway ?

Budget would be around £300

Cheers

[jodypress]

Narcisus said:

A year or so ago I had to downsize everything so my old Hi-Fi was sold and I purchased a pair of KEF LSX speakers that i've been delighted with.

I mainly play FLAC files from the PC with an optical connection to a decent Creative card, stream from Amazon or play CD's on my original Technics CD player I bought in 1989 !

The thing is I have about 200 records that I collected from around 15 years old ( i'm now 52 ) they are all in excellent condition even at 15 I was using a carbon brush !

I have picked up the cd versions of many but still hanker after playing the vinyl.....

If I did decide to pick up a turntable to replace my trusty ( and now sold ) Ariston Q-Deck it would have to be blue tooth.

So the questions are -

1) Is it worth it or not would like to hear pro's and cons

2) Would using Bluetooth negate any of the benefits of listening in good old analogue or in these days of dsp's does that really matter now anyway ?

Budget would be around £300

Cheers

I was in a similar position a few years ago. I went for a nice turntable setup with valve pre-amp stage and a valve amplifier with old school speakers too. Sounds lovely.
The main advantage I find is that you actually sit down and listen to the music (whole album) rather than the odd song then skip, then next then skip etc you might do when using digital players, whether Spotify, PC etc.
I also found that the records from the 70's/80's were written to be played on vinyl so 22 mins each side and they flow together much better as a full album. I also love the warmth of vinyl whether it's Supertramp or Jimmy Smith
I've since moved my turntable onto a wall bracket as was getting a bit of vibration when on previous cabinet setup

I've since added an active sub to just added a bit of depth (which works a treat)

[Narcisus]

That looks like a great setup !

[CeramicMX5ND2]

I can understand you wanting a turntable again - if you have around 200 records in excellent condition.

I sold my turntable in 1987 and went down the CD route, selling most of my vinyl which I didn't have much of anyway..
And to this day CD is my source of music.. I used to like flicking through the vinyl records back in the early 80's and always preferred handling them, the gatefold sleeves etc and lyrics printed big enough that you can read.....! More "tactile" than CD's.. I'd recommend you checking turntables made by Rega - Always been good quality and value..

My system is Marantz CD6004 Player, PM6004 Amp and Monitor Audio Bronze 5 Floorstanders..

[P700DEE]

It has to be bluetooth!! Don't bother as bluetooth turntables are not good. Get a decent second hand table, buy a cheap phono stage like a Little Bear and use the analogue connection to your amp?

[toon10]

I'd say that it's worth it. I upgraded my amp/streamer at Christmas. I have a budget turntable (Pro-ject Debut 3 SE) and had it connected to my old amp which had a built in phono stage. I rarely used it and just streamed or used my FLAC collection instead. Since the upgrade, my speakers have completely come alive and I'm listening to music much more than ever. My new amp doesn't have a built in stage so I'm bidding on a couple of preamps on eBay. I really thing with a dedicated preamp and my Naim Nova, my record collection will sing again. Looking forward to the family going out for their daily exercise so I can get an hours worth of LP playing in.

[jodypress]

Narcisus said:

That looks like a great setup !

Cheers, apart from the TT (which I got at a very reasonable price) everything I bought was second hand and that was at least 5 years ago.
The speakers are Wharfdale E50's (think I paid £50 for them) and they seem to be going for a lot more than that now. Got lucky with teh Icon Audio amp and phone pre-amp (originally ran it through an old AV amp I had which had phono - sounded fine and a good starter)

Finding the time to actually listen to it now with a 3.5year old and everyone at home isn't easy.

I'll never forget about 20+ years ago My then 7 year old nephew asking my brother when he whipped out an original Dark Side of the Moon album what those big black CD's were....lol.

[AndyTR]

That's not an ideal situation to get the best out of your vinyl, but if bluetooth is the only option then I'd have a look at the Pro-ject Essential III Bluetooth. Little over budget, but the essential is a good turntable and personally I would upgrade the stylus in the future.

Edited to add - there are various essential model turntables, only the BT model has bluetooth, so check before purchasing.

Edited by AndyTR on Tuesday 26th January 17:29

[Glosphil]

I kept my old Technics SL20 record deck & now play it via my Marantz NR1509 that has a phono input for a record deck. I use my Sony DVD player for CDs also via the NR1509 which also has optical input for the TV & Bluetooth plus other features including DAT radio. Speakers are B&W D5s.

[VEX]

Why is there a need for Bluetooth?

Lets understand that requirement before anything else.

V

[AndyTR]

The KEFs have a TOSLINK and Aux input. If the CD has TOSLINK then you could line in a turntable with preamp or a separate preamp. If the CD is line out only then a multiline in preamp with optical out could be an option.

[Narcisus]

Hi all this is how I’m setup at the moment .... PC is using the optical input and the Technics CD ( which does have toslink ) is using the auxiliary via a phono to 3.5mm jack.

I didn’t really want to use any kind of switching device on the aux input which is why I was leaning toward Bluetooth.

As far as I know ( I’m no expert ! ) I don’t need a preamp if I did use the aux input.

[AndyTR]

By preamp I meant phono stage, so either a deck with one built in or a separate phono stage. The challenge is that you have 2 inputs and 3 sources. I'd consider streaming from the PC and connecting a turntable to the aux. I had a rega with a built in phono stage for years, but it was rather noisy and I recently moved over to a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo, amp, speakers, cd transport and all the associated bits and ditched the sonos. I had the old deck plugged into a Play 5.

Edited by AndyTR on Tuesday 26th January 22:07

[Miserablegit]

Get a toslink switch for the pc and cd to share the toslink input - there might be an improvement in the cd sound as well.
Then buy a turntable with a built in phono stage to connect to the aux input.
I’ve got a Sony ps hx500 at the office and that has a good sound feeding an audio lab m-one via phono .

[kingston12]

I'm a big fan of vinyl myself. Virtually 100% of my listening is my record collection since lockdown/WFH ensued.

I always struggle to recommend it to new users though just because of the time/cost/hassle in building a collection big enough to make it worth it. In this case, I'd definitely recommend it as an existing collection of 200 is in place.

I'd be interested to see what recommendations there are to get around the bluetooth issue.

[AndyTR]

On budget (ish) Project Essential III £250, plus Pro-Ject Phono Box E £50 and a toslink switch £15-20
Double the budget, Project Carbon Debut Evo £450 and a Schitt Mani phone stage £145, it's not PH without a little scope creep.
Alternative would be to go with a turntable with a built in phono-amp, personally I prefer an external as you can always swap it out later if your system builds up over time.

[Narcisus]

Thanks guys.

AndyTR / Miserablegit this sounds like a good solution re roslink switch ... One of the CD phono sockets is a little dodgy anyway ...

OK Had a google so now understand what the phono stage actually is / does ...

I'm in a very small room so would prefer to keep extra wires / box's to a minimum.

So looks like i'm in the market for a toslink switch and a turntable with phono stage ditching the bluetooth idea. I've had a look at a couple and would really like to avoid one that has to be manually changed for speed.

Edited by Narcisus on Wednesday 27th January 11:42

[VEX]

How about this as an alternative, staying on the Project Theme.

Audio Source Expansion, taking Phono and 3.5mm Jack inputs, with Phono and 3.5mm output
https://www.henleyaudio.co.uk/products/Switch-Box-...

Deck with built in Phono Stage.
https://www.henleyaudio.co.uk/products/Primary-E-P...

Could certainly be managed to be close to budget, if you know who to ask

[AndyTR]

The Pioneer PLX500 has good reviews and all the features you could ever need...and it looks funky to boot!

Edited to add in the Audio Technica AT-LP5X as an alternative, just had a price drop to £300 and again very good reviews on avforums.

Edited by AndyTR on Wednesday 27th January 13:20

[Miserablegit]

The only downside is the pioneer seems to have captive cabling so there’s no chance to upgrade the interconnect with exotic “110% copper hand-rolled by virgins “ alternatives.

The Sony I mentioned doesn’t have captive cables.