Help with New Setup

[GroovinHi47]

Hello,

I am relatively new to vinyl and I am interested in creating a setup for my room. I have the following equipment picked out on a prospective wish list:
Rega RP3 Turntable w/ factory installed Elys 2 Cart, Cambridge Audio Azur 551P Phono Preamp, AudioEnginge 5+ Powered Speakers with stands.

I have done some research, but I would like the opinions of some fine people of this forum! This setup will most likely go on top of a bookshelf. My was initially $1500, but with the above equipment, I am at the $1600-$1700 range. I'm not completely heart-broken over that, but I was wondering if there were some options to get the cost down that would not be too much of a downgrade (I can push the budget slightly). My room is somewhat small, but I will be able to position the speakers in a pretty ideal location, for the sake of sounstage and bass response. I was also wondering if you have any suggestions about the way I have allocated funds for the setup. Do you think I should spend less on the turntable and more on the phono preamp or speakers? Or vice versa? Or some other combination? I will be listening to jazz records almost exclusively. Thank you very much for your time and I appreciate any suggestions!

Best regards

 

[The_Lhc]

This setup will most likely go on top of a bookshelf. <snip> but I will be able to position the speakers in a pretty ideal location,

Seems unlikely to be honest...

 

[Al ears]

I can only concur with the_Lhc. There is no way a turntable is going to sound good 'on top of a bookshelf' even if you could fit a turntable there, which is unlikely. Turntables need a good support and are best mounted on a purpose-built wall shelf. Failing that at least a decent table.

In my opinion you could save money by whanging the turntable for a Project Debut Carbon USB which has an inbuilt phono stage , its cheaper than the Rega and you would save the cost of the CA Azur 551P.

Whether it would actually sound as good is an unknown as I've never heard it but I am sure they would not be too dissimilar.

Welcome to the forum by the way.

 

[GroovinHi47]

Thank you for the replies! Let me clarify a couple of things. I should have said the speakers are going on a bookshelf, the turntable will most likely go on a wall mount, which I did not include on the original equipment wish list. Also, I may ditch the bookshelf and go with free-standing speakers, but I think the bookshelf speakers will work better for my room.

Finally, I am only interested in purchasing new gear at this time.