Tell us about your listening preferences. Music genres, loudness, flavor, etc.

And finally, is the $2,500-$4,000 for turntable/cartridge, phono stage, preamp, amplifier, speakers and prehaps a subwoofer?

The Rega RP1 is a good choice, or the Music Hall MMF-2.2; both very good.

The Clearaudio phono preamp is fine, but for half the price the Musical Fidelity V-LPS may be even better. IMO the V-LPS is one of the best phono preamps for under $800, and it only costs $200.

A really excellent integrated amplifier is the Creek Evolution 2. It has great sound quality and enough power to match well with those speakers. For only $1200, it is a very fine component to be the heart of your system.

Those units will make a very high-quality system when mated to the Magnepan speakers.

(An integrated amplifier, by the way, has a power amplifier and preampllifier combined in one unit. Some also have an included phono preamp, although most do not. The Creek Evolution 2 has an optional plug-in phono preamp module available, but I would recommend the V-LPS rather than spend the money for it).

Just to clarify teminology; the Clearaudio and Musical Fidelity units are a phono preamp (which includes the essential RIAA equalization circuit). They ARE NOT a "preamp with phono stage", which would be something like the Audio Research SP17.

megcellent wrote:

Hello all, I am currently looking to acquire my first entry level Hi-Fi system. I have hit a road block in my research because I simply don't understand all of the in's and out's of audio. I have an ever growing collection of vinyl that I have been playing on a USB turn table and budget Audio Engine speakers. I have found that I have invested about $4000 into my vinyl collection and I feel I should really reap the rewards of such a collection. Currently I am interested in the Rega RP1 with performance pack as the TT. Next, I am fairly confident with the Clearaudio Nano as the Preamp with phono stage. I have quite the interest in Magnepan MMG's as I have heard them and I think they're brilliant. Other than that I have little to no idea when it comes to receivers, amplifiers, and cables. I am entirely open to different suggestions when it comes to the preamp and speakers but not so open to other turn tables. I like the idea of a very minimal and simple TT. I would appreciate any help, guidance, or information in my exciting entry into the Hi-Fi world! (Also I am well aware these are all budget components and true Hi-Fi setups cost tenfold more. Cheers!

the music hall mmf 2.2 ($450) over the rega. i had the rega rp1 and i like the music hall a lot better. it has better bass. then i would go with the musical fidelity VLPS 2 phono pre amp ($200). for a pre amp i recommend the emotiva XSP-1 for $899. then for amps i would go with emotiva XPA-100 (they are 250 watts) and go for $449. emotiva is the "bang for your buck" leader. this equipment comes to $2450 which would leave you roughly $1500 for speakers. good luck!

Being a former Maggie owner, I can attest that Maggie's are power hungry. The Creek wouldn't be my first choice. Question- when listening what is is important to you? Remember that all amps sound different. Creek is British, and so is its sound signature . I would look into amps with 150 plus watts into a 4 ohm load.

You need the Creek Evolution 2 AND the V-LPS PHONO preamp; plus speakers. (you can buy both units online or by phone at Audio Advisor and other stores).

The PHONO preamp boosts the cartridge output signal and performs RIAA equalization on it BEFORE it is ready to go into the integrated amplifier.

The cables from the turntable go to the INPUT of the phono preamp, and then cables go from the OUTPUT of the phono preamp to one of the integrated amplifier inputs.

IMO the Creek is much better-sounding than the Emotiva gear. For a person who is a music lover, this is a major difference.

The only real downside to the Magneplanars is that they are large and don't go real low in the bass.

A good alternative would be a pair of Monitor Audio BX-5 speakers, which you can get for $750 per pair.

megcellent wrote:

So I could go:

Rega TT > The Creek Evolution 2 > Speakers 

OR

Rega TT > Musical Fidelity V-LPS > Speakers?

music hall mmf 2.2 > VLPS 2 > XSP-1 > XPA-100's > speakers. i think you will be happy with this.