wordisbond930
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Breaking into the world of Vinyl!
judicata
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Welcome!

This forum has a pretty helpful attitude when it comes to such things.

So, you ordered a P1. For the price, it really is tough to beat. You should be happy.

Now, what else do you have? Yes, you'll need speakers, an integrated amp (or separate preamp and power amp), and maybe a phono preamp depending on whether the integrated amp has one built in. Do you have speakers and an amp or receiver or something?

If not, what's your budget? What else, if anything, will you use the system for?

Buddha
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What Judicata said, and a vote from me for some time spent learning about record cleaning.

The used LP market is fantastic, and with good cleaning skills, you will be rewarded a thousand fold.

I'll look here for links on record maintenance.

Also Google Audio Asylum and head over to the Vinyl Asylum forum and just spend time reading and term-searching for words that catch your fancy.

I'm drawing a blank on other links right now, but soon other members will fill the gap I am leaving!

wordisbond930
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Quote:
Welcome!

This forum has a pretty helpful attitude when it comes to such things.

So, you ordered a P1. For the price, it really is tough to beat. You should be happy.

Now, what else do you have? Yes, you'll need speakers, an integrated amp (or separate preamp and power amp), and maybe a phono preamp depending on whether the integrated amp has one built in. Do you have speakers and an amp or receiver or something?

If not, what's your budget? What else, if anything, will you use the system for?

The system will be used solely for recreational listening, I love music, and looks and aesthetics mean nothing to me if the sound isn't there(even if the sound is there, the looks are still pretty meaningless, I mean unless I get some designer to match it with my furniture or something :P). Even though I'm currently hopelessly lost, I'm still extremely excited about listening to everything again but for the first time, if you will.

My budget is kind of reflected by the Rega P1, I don't want to buy a $20 phono preamp with some cheap speakers and have my bass line overpowered by the drums or just non-existent. But I am limited because of school, rent, etc etc. I was hoping to find some reviews of quality equipment within the $100-400 range.

If I choose to get a pre-amp and a power amp, plus speakers, assuming I find ea. w/i the price range ($100-400), that will be fine, I've read that it is better to get a phono preamp no matter what for the sake of sound quality, but I haven't looked enough into it to really be satisfied with that answer.

Again, thanks a lot for the kind replies and help

edit: and to Buddha, thanks for the link, I am currently going through topics now

judicata
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We still need to know your total budget. The best route is probably an integrated amp plus the speakers. A decent phono stage will set you back a few hundred bucks, so you may be better off going with an integrated that has a phono pre and getting a separate later.

But start with your speakers, then look at getting an integrated amp. Decide whether you want bookshelf speakers or floorstanders. Some others can recommend specific speakers, but it is best to audition some.

When you get to amps, integrated is probably the best way for you to go price-wise. For example, the Onkyo A-9555 is highly regarded and has a phono stage (less than $500). You should also check out Marantz and Jolida. Looking at used stuff that is fairly recent is a pretty good option as well.

JSBach
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Well Mike you've been given some very good advice to which there's only one important thing I want to add. The Rega you've chosen is sensitive to floor born vibrations ( feedback). This means you'll be wasting a lot of what you've invested unless you mount the turntable on a solid, non-vibrating shelf. If you've got a concrete floor and stable shelving you're in luck . If not consider the possibility of mounting the Rega on a solid wall with heavy brackets. If both of those aren't possible make yourself an isolation device on the cheap. This requires two concrete paving slabs with a partially inflated motor bike inner tube in between. Sounds weird but is sure works and costs about one hundredth of what the commercial equivalents go for. Paint the whole thing black and it doesn't look too weird.
Good luck and welcome to the vinyl obsession..Oh, and take seriously what's been said here about the importance of cleaning LP's.

judicata
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I own a Rega P2, and I can verify that they are sensitive to floor-born vibrations. You can start out with a decent audio rack (you don't have to spend gobs of money - mine was less than $300 and gets the job done), and you may soon want to look into building or buying an isolation device of some sort like Bach described. The wall-mount thing, from what I hear, is probably the best. Stay away from cabinets with glass shelves.

dbowker
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Quote:
I own a Rega P2, and I can verify that they are sensitive to floor-born vibrations. You can start out with a decent audio rack (you don't have to spend gobs of money - mine was less than $300 and gets the job done), and you may soon want to look into building or buying an isolation device of some sort like Bach described. The wall-mount thing, from what I hear, is probably the best. Stay away from cabinets with glass shelves.

When I had my Rega P2 back in the day, the absolute BEST luck I had getting rid of bad vibes was to put up standard shelf supports (except they need to be extra long) and put the Rega on a piece of plywood shelf cut to size. You could jump up and down and not hear a thing. It's one of the good things about a TT that's so small and relatively light, you don't need to add a shelf that requires re-engineering your wall!

wordisbond930
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Thanks so much to all that have helped! You have no idea how much that helped, and how many questions that cleared up. I'm still in the process of researching, and you can count on me being back often! Although the next time hopefully it won't be as helpless as now.

I'm currently awaiting for my P1 to arrive, and may consider putting my TT in a separate room, or atleast a safe distance from the speakers, for vibration purposes and have read the room acoustics sticky. I am most likely going to buy the Onkyo although I am still learning and reading about Jolida's and the differences when using a tube amp.

As far as speakers go I will probably take more time to find the correct one and will probably have to wait a week or two to save up for a pair that I really like.

Again, thanks!

judicata
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Mikej: You seem to be taking the right approach. Unless you really want the TT in a separate room, it likely is not necessary. You should be more concerned with floor-born vibrations than air-born. In my experience, you can have the Rega right by the speakers and not experience any problems. On certain shelves/flooring you just have to be worried about footsteps, etc.

I would hate having the TT in a separate room.

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