| Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
May 26, 2007 - 2:26pm
#1
turntable upgrade or new speakers
| Loudspeakers Amplification Digital Sources | |
Analog Sources Accessories Featured | |
Music Columns Retired Columns | |
Show Reports | |
Features Latest News Community | |
Resources Subscriptions |
© 2024 StereophileAVTech Media Americas Inc., USA
All rights reserved
Spend teh money on better speakers, not more TT...maybe just a replacement stylus if it has a lot of hours on it, and if still available, if not a new cartridge for a few hundred....
I believe that speakers will give you the most bang for the buck.
Keep the 1200, but you do not mention the cart or what phono stage or what receiver or integrated amp you are using.
The recommendations you have gotten are good as speakers are usually always the weakest link. The amount of vinyl you play will determine whether to buy a new cart or not, but something better is always an improvement if your phono stage will let the improvement shine through.
With more info better recommendations can be made for upgrading your TT setup.
Tell us a little about your music collection. Do you have lots of vinyl that you want to play? Do you plan to buy more? What about CD's, DVD's? Are you looking to get into downloads as a music source?
This room you built, listening room or home theater? How big? How will you furnish it?
Everyone is "on a budget", but now is a real heyday for fine sounding "budget" gear, so that's not really a problem. What electronics will you be using?
You say you think your speakers, "...don't sound too bad.". Why not fire up the system with the equipment you have and see if it makes you happy? Because it's not as new as the room doesn't make it unsatisfactory. Were you unhappy with it before you stopped listening to it? If so, in what way?
I'm not unwilling to address the question that you put, but no one can give a decent answer without knowing a little more about what your situation is. Like the others who've ventured answers, my guess would be to look for better speakers first, but what kind of speakers? Setting aside the formats of your music collection, what is the content - rock, jazz, orchestral, what? Without some info regarding your musical preferences and the room size and furnishings guessing at a good budget speaker choice is pretty silly.
Gotta tell us more, and then maybe we can be of some help.
Hey, there are worse problems.
Working too many hours lately. Will post the equipment I have and the room specs tonight when I get home.
OK here's the rundown. Listen mostly to classic rock on vinyl,cd, and sacd. I have a dedicated room for this 12x9 setup for nearfield listening. Homemade bass absorber panels and I have pretty much dialed it in using a sound meter and test tones.
Amp is a Yamaha M-85, a real monster that I set for class A operation. Adcom preamp, Sony universal player.
I think that better speakers would be a better investment than a new TT. Everything I have read about the Tech 1200 has been very positive. It's built like a tank and has VERY good specs. I put a Grado cartridge on it years ago. The speakers just aren't very engaging though. After attending the audio show in NYC and coming home and listening to them...well you get the picture, like driving a ferrari and coming home to a Pinto. They do have good midrange as reported in an old article about the monitor variety of them, I think it was the RT 6. Bass is not all that great. Wondering if a sub would do the trick. You need good bass for old rock. A sub might just be the most cost effective solution. It's hard when you have a lot of interests and want to allocate funds to all of them but it's been a while since I have done anything with this system. opinions?
I'm a huge fan of classic rock too. I agree that Bass is very important for Rock Music, if your on a budget I would recommend Athena - Audition AS-F2.2 Tower Speakers. Audio Advisor has some really good deals on them. They are a two-way tower with dual 8" mid-bass drivers. I've never been a fan on a seperate subwoofer because they reproduce too much sub-sonic bass that is unrealistic for my taste. -Z
I was thinking along those lines as well. It's hard to integrate a sub. For HT use they are fine.
All things considered I'd say:
1- Replace the speakers
2- Don't fool around adding a sub to the ones you have
3- Keep the turntable and go for a new cart when the budget allows
As for particular replacement speakers, some of the guys who're more heavily into rock than I am will have ideas for you.
Good Luck,
Well I just bought an Audio Pro 400 watt sub on E Bay for $180.00 brand new. Listed for over a grand but he had 9 of them to sell. Hope this is legit, he has a 97% good rating. But I think I'll use it in the HT, the 150 watter just doesn't do the trick but might be fun to play around with in the music room. Next I'll shop around on there for some speakers. Seems like the way to go as I can't afford new ones, champagne taste on a beer budget. Have been getting lucky with some good finds. Picked up a huge Philco 38-3 floor standing radio in pretty good shape for $20.00. And an Atwater Kent model 40 plus an old RCA Victor TT for another $20.00. Now I just have to learn how to fix them.
This whole system I built up there has been pretty cheap so far. The amp and TT where free. The amp I had rebuilt for $300.00, the TT I fixed for $20.00 in parts. The speakers where $99.00 at a liquidation sale. the Adcom was $249.00, and the rack I built myself out of 1 1/4 thick threaded rod and cutting boards. that was about $100.00. I guess I could splurge for some speakers. Glad I got back into this, keeps my mind off skiing, where I spend most of my money.
The SL1200 may not be regarded an audiophile tt, but definitely it's not a mediocre machine. In fact, it's still being sought after by many. Suggest to keep but upgrade the cart. Will certainly brought about improvement.
I am using a Grado greene cart. Comparing the Tech to say a Rega P-1, would it be better? Could you really hear a difference?