Beginners turntable setup. Any advice appreciated!

[LarsPetersen]

Hey Everybody,

Completely new to this forum - so bear with me.

First off.. I'm a total newbie to the wonderful world of turntables. Even though it might seem strange, I've been collecting vinyls for a couple of years now and occasionally enjoyed them together with friends that own turntables. Finally I'm able to afford a decent beginners setup in order to enjoy my growing collection.

I've been gathering information for the past couple of weeks and spend the better part of 10-15 hours reading about which equipment to invest in. I'm on a fairly low budget and want to spend my money right - without having to regret my purchases and know I got a good starting setup to last for many years. Furthermore I very much believe in recycling and see no reason why I should buy brand new hifi equipment. I very much want to buy second hand. I live in Denmark and the market here is somewhat narrow since we're a small nation. And getting stuff shipped here is quite expensive I guess - so I try to be patient and by the right stuff once it shows up.

The music I listen to ranges from 70's classic rock to psych rock, over the slow and heavy genres of stoner rock and so-called "doom". Basically rock and metal and the occasional classical, folk and acoustic music.

My combined bedroom/living room is going to be the scene of my vinyl-listening. It's not very big - around 200 sq ft / 18 m2.

The setup I've been looking at and put together from various reviews and pages like this one is as follows:

Rega Planar 3 TT - haven't paid much attention to which cartridge yet..

Dali Zensor 1 speakers to be put on my wall.

Rotel RA-930AX integrated amplifier

All of this stuff I've found used - haven't bought any of it yet though. Thought I'd get some inputs before I do. I have no clues as to which components go well together and if they at all are recommendable my musical taste taken into consideration.

Any and all advice will be very much appreciated! I'm really looking forward to be able to enjoy my vinyls at home in the near future and I'm very eager to learn more about this new world.

Thanks!

Lars Petersen,

Denmark

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Everybody,

Completely new to this forum - so bear with me.

First off.. I'm a total newbie to the wonderful world of turntables. Even though it might seem strange, I've been collecting vinyls for a couple of years now and occasionally enjoyed them together with friends that own turntables. Finally I'm able to afford a decent beginners setup in order to enjoy my growing collection.

I've been gathering information for the past couple of weeks and spend the better part of 10-15 hours reading about which equipment to invest in. I'm on a fairly low budget and want to spend my money right - without having to regret my purchases and know I got a good starting setup to last for many years. Furthermore I very much believe in recycling and see no reason why I should buy brand new hifi equipment. I very much want to buy second hand. I live in Denmark and the market here is somewhat narrow since we're a small nation. And getting stuff shipped here is quite expensive I guess - so I try to be patient and by the right stuff once it shows up.

The music I listen to ranges from 70's classic rock to psych rock, over the slow and heavy genres of stoner rock and so-called "doom". Basically rock and metal and the occasional classical, folk and acoustic music.

My combined bedroom/living room is going to be the scene of my vinyl-listening. It's not very big - around 200 sq ft / 18 m2.

The setup I've been looking at and put together from various reviews and pages like this one is as follows:

Rega Planar 3 TT - haven't paid much attention to which cartridge yet..

Dali Zensor 1 speakers to be put on my wall.

Rotel RA-930AX integrated amplifier

All of this stuff I've found used - haven't bought any of it yet though. Thought I'd get some inputs before I do. I have no clues as to which components go well together and if they at all are recommendable my musical taste taken into consideration.

Any and all advice will be very much appreciated! I'm really looking forward to be able to enjoy my vinyls at home in the near future and I'm very eager to learn more about this new world.

Thanks!

Lars Petersen,

Denmark

The P3 is a decent TT and can be easily upgraded. Can you get to listen to any of the s/h stuff that would really help.

 

[stevebrock]

hate to sound like a broken record - but Rega TTs are VFM and easily improved even though the plinths are made of chipboard!

 

[Anonymous]

hate to sound like a broken record - but Rega TTs are VFM and easily improved even though the plinths are made of chipboard!

It's amazing what a decent arm can do

 

[stevebrock]

hate to sound like a broken record - but Rega TTs are VFM and easily improved even though the plinths are made of chipboard!

It's amazing what a decent arm can do

The 303 is a peach apparently!

 

[Anonymous]

hate to sound like a broken record - but Rega TTs are VFM and easily improved even though the plinths are made of chipboard!

It's amazing what a decent arm can do

The 303 is a peach apparently!

Well people keep slating rega tt's but a lot of other manufaturers use there arms!!

I love mine and did before the mods, just love it more now

 

[LarsPetersen]

Thanks for your inputs so far.. It seems I'm on the right track.

 

[DIB]

Yes a P3 will do the trick nicely to start off with, and as you're in Denmark why not be patriotic and use an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge?

I used to have one of those Rotel amps a few years ago, as long as it's in good nick and working correctly then nothing wrong there either.

.

 

[chebby]

Thanks for your inputs so far.. It seems I'm on the right track.

You'd better wait a bit.

'Floyd Droid' will - inevitably - be along to #### all over those 'Rega fanboy' recommendations...

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

The OP seems to want to buy second hand, and I think he may struggle to find a RP3 in the second hand market.

There are lots of good turntables out there in the second hand market, Thorens, Dual etc, but most are quite old, and will need a certain amount of knowledge to set them up and get the best out of them.

I have Pro-ject Debut III, a decent starter deck, easy to set up, and available in some quantity on ebay etc

I'm not sure how much you want to spend in total, and specifically on the turntable. Can you clarify your budget?

 

[floyd droid]

Thanks for your inputs so far.. It seems I'm on the right track.

You'd better wait a bit.

'Floyd Droid' will - inevitably - be along to #### all over those 'Rega fanboy' recommendations...

Nope. The guy states that he is on a fairly low budget so all looks fine to me.

 

[LarsPetersen]

Once again - thanks to everybody!

Further research has shown, that it might indeed prove difficult to acquire a P3 on the second hand market. I wrote a seller of one yesterday, but no reply today and the TT is not shown on the site anymore. Probably sold.

I might "downgrade" and look for a cheap, but functional, Planar 2 or P2 instead - depending on the market.

My budget is around 300-400£. Currently waiting for a reply on the Rotel integrated amp - any suggestions on alternatives if I shouldn't get it? Speakers - a pair of Dali Zensors are paid and getting shipped my way at this moment.