Record (vinyl) turntable. I'm needing your advice.

[ColinJ]

I think the best experience you can have listening to music is with a pair of good quality headphones. No need to worry about upsetting the neighbours too.

I often watch TV between midnight and as late as 04:00. I always listen on headphones. Not only do I not need to worry about annoying my neighbours but the sound quality is great too.

 

[GuyBoden]

Although RN's comment still stands as correct imo.

In general, a lot of cheaper equipment simply has 'unusable sound' - once the sound volume starts to increase and goes beyond a certain level then noticable distortion kicks in and you need to throttle back.

An inexpensive 300Watt Class D amp and good quality wide range 400Watt speakers is all I need. I plug what'ever I need into it, Blueray, Stingray, CDs, Irish electronic uilleann pipes and my old scratched BBC sound effects records of tweeting birds of the British isles .

 

[MontyVeda]

A mate of mine spent £500 on his pair of loudspeaker cables...

Seriously!

a member of the 'more money than sense' brigade.

Theres wisdom in that. Quite a few hi fi enthusiasts do seem more interested in listening to hi fi than listening to music

They don't even listen to hi-fi, they're mostly interested in trying to impress people with how much they've spent.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Although RN's comment still stands as correct imo.

In general, a lot of cheaper equipment simply has 'unusable sound' - once the sound volume starts to increase and goes beyond a certain level then noticable distortion kicks in and you need to throttle back.

A lot of audio equipment is marketed on the "mine's bigger than yours" principle, where the selling point is the power output wattage. However this stuff mainly operates in what is known as Class B, where the waveform is split in two and each half handled by one of a pair of push-pull amplifiers. The problem is the bit where the two outputs join up often isn't aligned and you get a lot of distortion which makes high volumes so unpleasant you can't listen to the equipment turned right up even if your neighbours are OK about it.
On the other hand a Class A amplifier, which are often valve, may not have very impressive output numbers on paper, but they'll go as loud as they can go without the sort of harsh distortion that makes your ears jangle. All the watts are useable.

 

[swee'pea99]

As others have mooted, ebay + online research + patience. £500 should get you a setup that sounds lovely.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

A lot of audio equipment is marketed on the "mine's bigger than yours" principle, where the selling point is the power output wattage. However this stuff mainly operates in what is known as Class B, where the waveform is split in two and each half handled by one of a pair of push-pull amplifiers. The problem is the bit where the two outputs join up often isn't aligned and you get a lot of distortion which makes high volumes so unpleasant you can't listen to the equipment turned right up even if your neighbours are OK about it.
On the other hand a Class A amplifier, which are often valve, may not have very impressive output numbers on paper, but they'll go as loud as they can go without the sort of harsh distortion that makes your ears jangle. All the watts are useable.

Yes, I agree.

Fortunately we live in a detached house so we can go really loud.

Previous amplifier was Sugden Masterclass which is Class A (notional 33w) as you will no doubt be aware. Heat output was like a mini radiator.

We also have a Sugden A21a (which I really ought to sell) which was part of a secondary system - notional 25w and also Class A but it has some serious low distortion clout when wound up.

The Masterclass was replaced with a much more compact offering from Cyrus - this also goes very loud into 6 ohm Dali Oberons - not a Class A amp' but it has some clever design features to minimise distortion. We play a lot of EDM!

 

[raleighnut]

An inexpensive 300Watt Class D amp and good quality wide range 400Watt speakers is all I need. I plug what'ever I need into it, Blueray, Stingray, CDs, Irish electronic uilleann pipes and my old scratched BBC sound effects records of tweeting birds of the British isles .

My QUAD 303's are only 45 watts per channel, admitedly I use 2 of them (bi-amped so that each drive unit has its own channel) but they gp plenty loud enough,

 

[SpokeyDokey]

My QUAD 303's are only 45 watts per channel, admitedly I use 2 of them (bi-amped so that each drive unit has its own channel) but they gp plenty loud enough,

You forgot to post your picture of them. 😅

Nice kit!

 

[raleighnut]

You forgot to post your picture of them. 😅

Nice kit!

normal set up

bi-amped set up

 

[SpokeyDokey]

View attachment 626448
normal set up

View attachment 626449
bi-amped set up

That's better. 😁

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Hey everyone,

I had some really good advice on here about a dash-cam I was buying last week so am asking the same question about getting back to playing vinyl records again.

Things seem to have changed so much since the olden days (1980/90s). I went into a branch of Richer Sounds yesterday hoping to leave with a suitable system but came out more confused than when I walked in. All this pre-amp stuff was a bit too much for my simple mind so anyone here with some advice would be gratefully accepted.

Firstly, the system recommended by the Richer Sounds guy wasn't in stock so I'd have to buy it on line. Secondly, the cost seemed OK to me...until he announced I'd need speakers to go with it and the ones he suggested were more expensive than the turntable taking the cost of the whole set up to over £1,000!

Looking on Amazon is doing me no good because, like with the dash-cam, there are just too many pages and so much conflicting advice/suggestions. All I want is a record player than will allow me to begin playing 12 inch albums again.

So if anyone has a system they like and sounds great, please let me know and I'll gratefully receive all forumites' recommendations.

What about a nice Dansette?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255327906867

 

[bitsandbobs]

I have a old Planar 3 too , the mains driven model. In need of a new cartridge really but still sounds nice .

Planar 3 is quite a bit superior to Planar 1. If you are in any way prone to "upgradeitis", Planar 1 is not a good buy as it's really not worth upgrading, whereas you could have some fun messing about a Planar 3 and get it sounding better. I bought a Planar 1 a year ago and regret it!

 

[FishFright]

Hands up those who criticise high end audio and have actually spent anytime listening to any .

 

[FishFright]

Planar 3 is quite a bit superior to Planar 1. If you are in any way prone to "upgradeitis", Planar 1 is not a good buy as it's really not worth upgrading, whereas you could have some fun messing about a Planar 3 and get it sounding better. I bought a Planar 1 a year ago and regret it!

Mine was a gift from a friend with some lovely high end stuff.

 

[bitsandbobs]

Mine was a gift from a friend with some lovely high end stuff.

Nice friends you got!