Auditioning Turntables/Speakers - where do you start?

[august18]

I am not even sure I am expecting an answer to this but let's imagine you arrive at this website and want to audtion the highest rated (according to What Hi Fi) equipment...have you tried looking for a Clearaudio dealer who can also include ATC SCM11s in the audition? Buying decisions are obviously personal but it would appear common sense that most hi fi shops are only going to be able to sell you what they have...presumably I am not the only new/returning vinyl fan who has no idea where to start. I would surmise ( come on guys be honest) that most people at one point or another have simply taken a punt on at least part or all of their set up?

If there is a question here, its where the heck are you meant to start?

 

[chebby]

Advice I remember from school, 'read around the subject'.

Not just about the WHF? highest rated equipment but also things like what will suit your listening room. Springy floorboards and joists with a large void underneath could play havoc with floorstanding speakers and/or non-suspended turntable designs unless they are on solid wall mounted supports.

Try and get some background on the history behind a product and it's manufacturer's design principles (if they have any). Think about what you could really live with for the next 2 or 5 or 10 years and what you value most if compromises have to be made. (Compromises always have to be made whatever the budget.)

Match up the manufacturer's values with your own and explore. For instance some manufacturers deliberately build to appeal a traditionalist market or to a valve enthusiast customer base. Some turntable makers adhere to a lightweight, minimalist approach and others add weight and damping wherever possible. Another bunch will stick with a 'floating' sub-chassis design. Very few of them dreamt up these different approaches yesterday or purely on a whim. They all have their merits. Are any of them going to be important for you?

Listen to as many different types of system as possible with an eye to your own room and it's limitations or quirks and your own taste.

What kind of listener are you? Headbanger? Radio 4 drama nut? Someone who wants to join-in and dance, or play air-baton, air-guitar etc? A bit of quiet jazz?

These are all factors too.

Do you, or your partner, care what this stuff looks like? (Some don't, some do.)

Don't be scared to buy the occasional item without listening first. (It's not always possible.) As long as you have the option to return without any complications after trying.

 

[MajorFubar]

Start with the best turntable/arm/cart you can afford. Digital levelled the ground massively, but from an analogue perspective, garbage-in/garbage-out still holds true. Then it used to be about buying an amp with a great phono stage that could realise the potential of your investment up front, but these days you can buy great amps without phono stages and buy great phono stages that plug into any amp. To confuse matters further you can even buy turntables with pre-amps built in. Allocate 1/3rd to half your budget to speakers; my opinion, others are available and no less valid, but the speakers ultimately dictate what your turntable and amp sound like. It's all very well pairing a £1500 tront end and a £900 amp with £150 speakers but ultimately they're letting the side down compartively.

 

[friendly_ghost]

I actually had another question about auditioning turntables.
How do you exclude cartridge choice from the audition? Do you try to get the same cart installed on every turntable (risking a bad match with the tonearm)? Or do you go with a cart suggested by the HiFi shop (comparing carts as much as turntables)?

To the OP: try to visit different shops to audition as much gear as possible. When you get a shortlist, try to find a dealer that will give the best side-by-side comparison possible...

 

[Al ears]

I actually had another question about auditioning turntables.How do you exclude cartridge choice from the audition? Do you try to get the same cart installed on every turntable (risking a bad match with the tonearm)? Or do you go with a cart suggested by the HiFi shop (comparing carts as much as turntables)?

To the OP: try to visit different shops to audition as much gear as possible. When you get a shortlist, try to find a dealer that will give the best side-by-side comparison possible...

In my opinion you cannot really seperate the turntable as what you are primarily auditioning is the cartridge itself or more to the point the arm / cartridge combination and this really is what it's about.

Towards the budget end you may tend to find different manufacturers use the same cartridge (normally the Ortofon 2M Red) making life a bit easier, but others do crop up to confuse matters.

If you basically assume that, to some degree, all turntables do is spin a platter then it is the tonearm / cartridge partnership that really sets one off against the other.

This is, of course, rather simplifying matters.