Spec me a vinyl setup

Trifid

Trifid

Trifid

Soldato
Joined
18 Feb 2006
Posts
9,959
Hello.

I am looking to move to vinyl and was hoping someone could recommend some equipment to look at.

Currently I have:
B&W 601 S3 speakers
NAD C320BEE amp
M-audio 2496 soundcard

Budget wise I think I will set it loosely at a 'few hundred'. I understand I'll need the deck and a preamp. I'll also be ripping all the vinyl to my PC at 24/96 and want a good quality rip for general listening (car).

I've heard rips from the below setup that sound brilliant. But it is a bit expensive looking at it. I also believe belt drive would be better for listening.

KAB Custom Technics SL-1200MK2SE with a custom tonearm fluid dampening system
Audio Technica AT440MLa cartridge
Parasound Model 2100 Preamp
Asus Xonar D2X PCI-Express soundcard

Would a Project Genie III be a good start?

Cheers for the help.
 
I've always thought the Project Genie III may be a little bit style over substance but it does sound good enough to my ears. I can recommend Cambridge Audio preamps from personal experience though, the 640p does the job nicely. My feeling is with that (relatively budget) speaker/amp combo there isn't too much point spending stupid money (and I'm saying that as a C320BEE owner myself...)
 
That was one concern, but it seems to be rated quite highly for the price? My main concern is to keep the vinyl in as good condition as possible. No idea if this is the problem still?

The C320BEE is a good amp but it is outclassed easily by more expensive units. Same with the speakers. I still want the turntable to still be relatively good if I do upgrade the hifi.
 
Might be worth trying to find an older Rega P3 or similar. They can be had for under a couple of hundred and are fairly easy to setup and use. That would at least give you a feel for what you can get out of vinyl and to see whether you want to put some real effort into it.
 
Technics 1210 is an industrial mixing deck and I wouldn't recommend it as an audiophile deck

Rega planar 3 with RB300 tone arm is recommended if you can find one at a good price and in good nick , Other than that and the Project decks (genie 3) there's not a great deal of choice under you get to the real high end
 
I would say a Pro-Ject Debut III Phono SB, ...thinking of getting one myself to rip the collection :D

I had a Debut II a few years back but got fed up with the manual speed change, the sound was great though.
 
Axil said:
Rega planar 3 with RB300 tone arm is recommended
Click to expand...

There is one down the road from me for sale. Definitely the way to go?

Anyone have any other recommendations for a phono preamp to compare? Or is the 640p the best one for budget.


The TT has a Audio - Technica AT110E cartridge, is this good or should I get a new one?
 
Last edited:
On a side note, choose your pre-amp carefully, as the M-Audio 2496 has no input level adjustment. This means you need to able to get the signal levels right before it reaches the card.
 
I can only say I've always been happy with my 640P which I bought fairly cheaply a few years back. I don't get the chance to listen to a lot of vinyl these days but I've never really felt any need to replace it, a friend has the 540p too and to be honest I can't casually hear any difference. Your amp and speakers will probably make more difference until you spend loads of money.
 
my mate has the Technics SL-1210 Mk2 and they are amazing. Good set of needles and a penny ontop of each arm to help the weight and the sound is club quality perfect
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom