Marantz hifi + Pro-Ject TT setup and advice

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I am aquiring a Marantz PM 4001, CD 5001 and Modaunt-Short 902i speakers from my dad in the next couple of weeks, in trade for my Sony Gige-Juke all in one system. The Marantz system used to be mine until I moved into a pokey flat and we swapped systems. Now I've moved into a bigger place I'm getting my system back. I also have a Pro-Ject Debut 2 turntable.

It's been a while since I've listened to the hifi and thought about setup. So I was wondering if anyone would be so kind to help me with a couple of questions I have.

1) I will need to think about some speaker stands. Does anyone recommend stands? I have about 50 quid to spend on stands.

2) The Pro-Ject TT has been stored away for a long long time. It's hardly been used, and my dad has informed me that the string and weight has come off and knotted. Is it worth replacing the string and weight and the cartridge on the TT? I really want to try the Vinyl sound again, but there's no point in doing that if the sound will be far inferior of the CD player that I have!

3) I currently listen to my music via an Airport Express. Although this is acceptable at the moment - the Sony has such a terrible sound anyway, you really can't tell you are listening to lossy music! I'm worried there will be compromises when upgrading to the Marantz. Would I need to consider a DAC for this? Or am I better off avoiding the iTunes thing and sticking to CDs + Vinyl?

I hope you can help!

Thanks!

Chris.

 

[pwiles1968]

I'm no TT expert but I would say as long as it has been stored correctly then the needle should be fine, mine just looks like fishing wire on the anti skate weight, would assume a bit if that will do as a replacement. WRT Airport Express are you using lossless files if not you may want to re-rip them start with a couple of CD's see if it worth while to you but I can hear a difference between MP3 and ALAC when I play them back to back, the SQ should be reasonable even through the line out on the AE with good files, though a good dedicated DAC will sound better, I would have a listen first and see what you think before you consider any updates.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Most of the music is 256k AAC (with some in lossless) that I have bought from iTunes store. The rest is all on CD, so I'll be using the CDs directly over the AE.

Do you have the Pro-Ject Debut 2 model? What do you make of it?

Thanks,

Chris.

 

[Greenwich_Man]

I used to have a Debut 2 - and now have a Debut 3.

I like the debut, it's a good value turntable, and I'm happy with the sound of my vinyl.

However some here don't think much of it. It seems to me that a turntable that was getting 5 stars in WhatHiFi reviews for a number of years can't be all that bad.

 

[Anonymous]

I bought the Debut 2 because I thought it was excellent value for money and the reviews were very promising. I can't comment on whether it's good or not as it's the only turntable I've tried. Probably certainly good enough to get me started with Vinyl, at least.