College Kid Seeks Turntable

Next year will be my sophomore year at college. In preparation for that year, I'm purchasing some audio equipment, as I was sorely lacking what I wanted last year. I've picked out my receiver and my bookshelf speakers (the PSB Alpha B1 I saw promoted here all throughout past pages), and now I'm looking for a turntable.

I have about 200 dollars to spend, though I could go a little higher if I needed to, and I was wondering what the greater community would recommend I buy.

Is the price cap I set on it unreasonable?

What do I need to know about buying a turntable?

boosting the signal from an mp3 player

Although I do enjoy listening to my old LPs, I also like the portability, playlist feature and spontaneity of my mp3 player - and the ability to hook a friend's (or my son's) player to my system. I've noticed, however, that plugging the player directly into the aux input of my old Fisher receiver requires me crank up the volume much higher than when I'm playing a CD or LP - which led me to think of how I could boost the gain.

New System

I am looking at a surround sound system for the first time.

I have just received a quote from a local dealer for the following system. I am interested in if this is a good system for first time.

Marantz SR 4001 receiver
Paradigm Atom Speakers
Paradigm Cinema center channel
Paradigm PDR-8 subwoofer
Paradigm PV60R ceiling surround
Total @$1,500

I am also considering Onkyo TXSR605 receiver and BW 300 series speakers.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Old Boston Acoustics, Proton, Nakamichi

New to the group, here. Lots of questions. I'm seeing a lot of stuff on Paradigm, Klipsch, etc. I am an old (relatively cheap) audiophile currently rehabbing a pair of 1989 Boston Acoustics A60's, series II. In the 80's, they were the best sounding speakers I could find for the price as I detested bass reflex speakers. What about BA now? And what about replacing the woofers on my old pair (only going to cost $80)? They were powered by a Proton D540 (also may need replacement) with a Nakamichi deck and Sony CD player (need to find a new one of those, too).

The Final Word: Yo Yo Ma Live

The Final Word: Yo Yo Ma Live

I sometimes do crazy things to experience live music. In my late teens I met a woman&mdash;a friend of a friend of my girlfriend&mdash;who was a flautist attending the Mannes School of Music in New York City. She was a classic New Yorker, from a classic New York family. Though apparently demure and retiring, she had fearlessly ridden the city subways since childhood, taking the Broadway line at any hour of day or night (her stop was Dyckman Street, above 200th). All of her parents' money and energy, such as it was, had gone into their daughter's musical career, and I was so inspired by this level of focus and devotion that I hitchhiked from Boston to New York and back in order to attend her first concert, a performance of the two Mozart flute concerti. My presence was remarked upon as the act of a true friend, but <I>I</I> was the beneficiary: It was a great concert, and a good start to a life of experiencing the "call" of live music.

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