Help!!! Wannabe Audiophile needs some help

[matthew butler]

I've bought a new house and have a 15ft x 15ft basement I'm turning into my man cave.

I Want a half decent audio setup specifically to play my vinyl on. I have about 1k to spend and would like some suggestions of what I need to buy.

I think I've decided on a project debut carbon. But what pre amp , amp, cables and speakers can I buy with the budget I have? I'm looking for really good audio quality.

 

[matt49]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Here are a few random thoughts.

1. is the cost of the Project Debut Carbon in your £1K budget? If so, that's 1/3 of your budget gone. The Project is a nice deck, but this will limit your options elsewehere in the system.

2. what do you want your system to do? Only vinyl? CDs? CD rips on a NAS drive? Streaming services? As the legendary davedotco often says (he may be along in a while), it's really important to think this question through carefully.

3. have you considered buying second hand? You may be able to double your budget!

4. I'd suggest you make cables your very lowest priority. With a budget of £1K (actually even with a budget of £10K), I think spending on other parts of the system will give massively greater rewards.

Matt

 

[jonathanRD]

Hi Matthew, welcome to the forum. Starting from scratch there are so many options. Are you in the UK and if so where? Maybe we can suggest some good local dealers you can drop into to get more of an idea.

 

[drummerman]

You would get a lot more second hand

 

[matthew butler]

For the moment I just want to play vinyl. I have no problem going second hand. My music tastes vary considerably. The last five albums I've bought are....sisters of Mercy Floodland. Ian dury New Boots. Stereo mcs connected. Led zepplin ii and. Stan Getz jazz compilation.

 

[matthew butler]

Thanks for the welcome. To elaborate I've posted a list of the last five albums I've bought. The roof in my cellar is low 8-9 ft) and there are two alcoves. Aside from a pool table in the middle of the room the only other thing I want down there is a turntable amp and speakers thought I think I need a pre amp with the debut carbon? Hope this helps with the erm helping me.

 

[drummerman]

Nothing wrong with Project Carbon, my brother has one. You could also consider Rega's RP3, available BGrade for similar money.

As a cyrus fan I would suggest an 8series integrated, a Project or Rega Phono stage and a pair of Usher S520's for a nice, small system.

 

[matthew butler]

That drip sounds good but a little over budget. At least after a quick glance at eBay

 

[davedotco]

Buying new and buying used are really two very different things.

You really need to know your stuff if you are going to buy secondhand, opportunities to audition will be minimal so you need to be sure you know what you are after. If you are, then you can do very well going down this route.

If you are not comfortable with this then a good dealer is your best friend, best to avoid the obvious chains and find an independent if there is one in your area. Get him to play you some options, it is usually pretty obvious what suits and what doesn't, buy the setup that works best for you.

A couple of final thoughts, if you are thinking about floorstanding speakers, take a good look, have a listen, then buy a pair of stand mounts, given your setup, floor standers will probably be more trouble than they are worth. Wall mount the player too, if at all possible.

 

[IPL PRO Build]

If it were me, I would listen to the advise given, its based on experience and hard learnt lessons! For me i would buy second hand. I would spend most on the speakers. I just sold my Sugden and have a stand in Pop Pulse i bought for £100 (cheers Electro) there is not much in it. If you must buy a decent Amp, I had a Leema Pulse which evidently has a good phono stage and can be had for £400 circa 2012-13 vintage. Speaker wise i would buy some second hand PMC's or older Proac's maybe some ATC's. Most most importantly spend the mony on the Speakers. Years time replace the amp, this way you will enjoy your system from day one.

 

[dim_span]

15 by 15 foot is not a large listening room.

why not look at a good old 2nd hand integrated, a headphone amp and a really good pair of headphones?

look at something like a Pioneer SA-9800 amp in good condition which can be bought for under £500 ... excellent phono stage etc ... use it for a few years, and sell it at a later stage for more than what you paid for it. you may not need a headphone amp with this integrated.

 

[drummerman]

A Rega Brio-R could be a good starting point.

It has a decent phono stage built in. Some have a hum so I'd probably buy that one new or ex-dem just in case it needs swapping.

If you fancy new, I believe Harrow Audio do a package including the Brio-R, RP1 Performance and a pair of RS1's (all Rega system) for just under £1k

 

[rainsoothe]

hi

If you can stretch your budget just a little bit and need no headphone out, you really should look at XTZ A100D3 amp and XTZ 93.23 MK II speakers with their dedicated stands. Imo there is no better for this money unless you go for active monitors, which presents the problem of needing a preamp with variable volume pre outs and phono stage or aux in + separate phono stage.

With your stated budget, I would be looking at some 2nd hand stuff as well. My personal choice would be a Musical Fidelity V-LPS II phono stage (ONLY IF the amp you go for doesn't have an integrated phono stage!!!), a 2nd hand Rotel amp (order of prefference would be Rotel RA 1062, RA 1060 (theres one on the bay atm, the 1060 has no phono), or, if you don't mind a lack of remote, RA 10 or RA 04SE), and XTZ 93.23 MK II speakers with their dedicated stands (again, they're the speakers to beat in this price range, can only be bought from XTZ online store, and you can return after a few weeks of trial if you don't like them, which is HIGHLY unlikely). The Pioneer SA-9800 amp suggested above is also a great alternative.

For a dirt-cheap, vintage alternative, you could look at B&W DM 602 S3 speakers, which are REALLY great, and a Rotel RA930 amp kind of a deal.

 

[Vladimir]

look at something like a Pioneer SA-9800 amp in good condition which can be bought for under £500 ... excellent phono stage etc ... use it for a few years, and sell it at a later stage for more than what you paid for it. you may not need a headphone amp with this integrated.

Such a waste using that beast in a small room. Although I wouldn't mind sitting close to it. Simply gorgeous!

 

[iMark]

I can't recommend any speakers because I haven't heard any recent ones.

A thing to consider is integrating your analogue and digital sources. One of the most interesting things on the market is the Yamaha R-N500, which has a decent phono stage and integrated AirPlay and DLNA. If you can find a nice pair of speakers, this will give you loads of options for listening to different sources.

 

[matthew butler]

I'll be sure to check them out and thanks for the advise. It is genuinely appreciated