Which would you choose and why?

Thanks for your input/help.

Now that title may sound to some of you like a stretch, but you can see the news everywhere - now that the much-demonized music industry is already demanding an even bigger piece of the Apple pie** (The iTunes Music Store royalties pie, that is) and have been basically shooting themselves in the foot since they began taking 12-year olds as hostages for megabuck suings for filling their hard drives with illegal copies of Britney Spears pop pap.

I understand that a good soundcard and or DAC is important in the creation of a CD from LP etc. But what about the software? I can see that various software packages like GoldWave or Sound Forge have different GUIs and kinds of post processing (noise pop removel etc.) but does one software product produce a better WAV file then any other? If you select to not do any post processing, I cant see that it makes any difference?

I am considering rebuilding my Rotel RA1312 that I purchased new in 1978. It's attributes are that cosmetically it looks new out of the box and it still works. It is a Class A amp with 80W/ ch, Push-Pull configuration and has been hand assembled in Japan with point to point wiring that wraps every wire around it's solder point.There is a gentleman here in town that can replace all internal components(laser trimmed resisters,polypro caps,larger power supply caps,etc, and clean all switches.

A new reader is looking to put together a system for his office. His budget: $500.

He writes:

Quote:

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Are there any small systems, shelf systems, minisystems, etc. that you recommend?

I had asked two friends who seem to know, and one had suggested the Cambridge soundworks 740 (over the Bose Wave Music System) and the other the Denon D-M33s. I realize that they are different animals, but that should tell you something about the size and price range (300-500) that I am looking at.

Has anyone by chance auditioned this combo? What are your thoughts on the 300.2? Any thoughts on the CD3 MKII are also welcome.

What is the best TT/phone pre-amp sound for the $$$? Not $,$$$! I'm thinking of buying a TT and phono pre-amp.

It's been 15 years sine I last bought an LP but have carted around my collection for years anyways. I miss the pain of cleaning and getting up to turn over an LP ...

BTW
My last turntable (25 eyarw old?) is down cellar and not sure if it's worth resurrecting. Kenwood KD-550 with an SME arm and broken Grado cartridge. Which way should I go?