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July 24, 2012 - 10:17am
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Looking for Intro Setup Advice
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My first inclination is that you probably want to preserve your investment in the active monitors and just get a turntable to get your feet wet. The Onkyo P-301 has a phono input so to get started you would just need a turntable and CD player. I believe an entry level turntable starts with the Music Hall MMF-2.2 or the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon. Forget the Rega RP-1 and Pro-Ject Essential or Debut III. For $404 new, the Emotiva ERC-2 is an outstanding CD player. The Spin Clean is a good low cost system to get used vinyl in shape.
Cool. Thanks for the suggestions. I'm really liking what've I've read over the past 24 hours about the Pro-Ject Carbon. Initially what I was seeing was a lot of people suggesting the Rega P1, but you say forget it?
My budget for the turntable / cd player is about what you've posted. Around $400 for each. The room is ~ 20'x20'
The Music Hall MMF-2.2 in basic black for about the same price has a better cartridge than the RP-1 and adjustable VTA should you ever want to upgrade to a different cartridge. The Pro-Ject Debut Carbon has a good tonearm and a better cartridge than the RP-1. About the only thing the Rega RP-1 has going for it is the 9.3" RB-101 tonearm.
The Emotiva ERC-2 CD player is a great deal at $404.10
http://www.stereophile.com/content/emotiva-erc-2-cd-player
I suggest the Music Hall MMF-2.2 turntable, for around $450 including cartridge. I suggest that you get a dedicated Phono preamp, and the Musical Fidelity V-LPS is excellent for around $170. While your preamp does have a phono stage built in, those seldom sound all that good due to poor-quality RIAA filters.
I suggest that you buy the OPPO BDP-93 which is $499 direct from OPPO online. It is an excellent CD and SACD player, as well as a DVD and Bluray player.
It sounds better playing audio discs than any of the CD players you can get for $500, and does a lot more too.
I guess you will just connect the preamp directly to the active speakers and set the power amplifier aside.
The power amplifier will always be there if you want to invest in some high-quality passive speakers later.
Jackfish, I took your recommendation and went with the Pro-ject Carbon. I also decided to build a pair of speakers b/c my significant other complained enough about the cannary yellow of the KRK's, ha. Those will have to be my new computer speakers :) . I've gotten everything setup and having some sound issues with the turntable. I posted about it here: http://www.stereophile.com/content/vinyl-playback-fuzzy-distorted-first-system.