Turntable and active/powered speakers for £500 - where to start?

[hybridauth_Facebook_1345601795457364]

Hi,

Due to space restrictions I'm looking at the most simple set up of a turntable and active/powered speakers for a total of £500.

Speaker-wise I've been looking at the Ruark MR1s and the Roth OLi-POWA-5 which seem to produce sound of a good enough quality (judging by the reviews I've read on whathifi.com )

For the turntable I have nowhere near enough room for a standard size amp so I guess a turntable with either a built in pre-amp or a small phono pre-amp is needed?

This will sit on a very solid unit in my dining room. It's not a den or a listening room so super-duper hi-fidelity is not required at this moment. Well, until the kids move out and one of their bedrooms eventually becomes my bolt-hole...

However, I need something space-saving which ultimately has a quality to the sound that will tide me over for a few years. Build quality and durability is also important.

Oh, and they need to be white 🙂

Any help and advice would be much appreciated thanks

 

[knaithrover]

Hi,

Due to space restrictions I'm looking at the most simple set up of a turntable and active/powered speakers for a total of £500.

Speaker-wise I've been looking at the Ruark MR1s and the Roth OLi-POWA-5 which seem to produce sound of a good enough quality (judging by the reviews I've read on whathifi.com )

For the turntable I have nowhere near enough room for a standard size amp so I guess a turntable with either a built in pre-amp or a small phono pre-amp is needed?

This will sit on a very solid unit in my dining room. It's not a den or a listening room so super-duper hi-fidelity is not required at this moment. Well, until the kids move out and one of their bedrooms eventually becomes my bolt-hole...

However, I need something space-saving which ultimately has a quality to the sound that will tide me over for a few years. Build quality and durability is also important.

Oh, and they need to be white 🙂

Any help and advice would be much appreciated thanks

Rega RP1 - £250.

Project Phono Box - £50

Audioengine A2+ - £150

All 3 in white and the combination sounds ridiculously good

 

[Al ears]

Hi,

Due to space restrictions I'm looking at the most simple set up of a turntable and active/powered speakers for a total of £500.

Speaker-wise I've been looking at the Ruark MR1s and the Roth OLi-POWA-5 which seem to produce sound of a good enough quality (judging by the reviews I've read on whathifi.com )

For the turntable I have nowhere near enough room for a standard size amp so I guess a turntable with either a built in pre-amp or a small phono pre-amp is needed?

This will sit on a very solid unit in my dining room. It's not a den or a listening room so super-duper hi-fidelity is not required at this moment. Well, until the kids move out and one of their bedrooms eventually becomes my bolt-hole...

However, I need something space-saving which ultimately has a quality to the sound that will tide me over for a few years. Build quality and durability is also important.

Oh, and they need to be white 🙂

Any help and advice would be much appreciated thanks

Rega RP1 - £250.

Project Phono Box - £50

Audioengine A2+ - £150

All 3 in white and the combination sounds ridiculously good

Sounds good to me, always assuming the OP owns some vinyl. 🙂

 

[davedotco]

Hi,

Due to space restrictions I'm looking at the most simple set up of a turntable and active/powered speakers for a total of £500.

Speaker-wise I've been looking at the Ruark MR1s and the Roth OLi-POWA-5 which seem to produce sound of a good enough quality (judging by the reviews I've read on whathifi.com )

For the turntable I have nowhere near enough room for a standard size amp so I guess a turntable with either a built in pre-amp or a small phono pre-amp is needed?

This will sit on a very solid unit in my dining room. It's not a den or a listening room so super-duper hi-fidelity is not required at this moment. Well, until the kids move out and one of their bedrooms eventually becomes my bolt-hole...

However, I need something space-saving which ultimately has a quality to the sound that will tide me over for a few years. Build quality and durability is also important.

Oh, and they need to be white 🙂

Any help and advice would be much appreciated thanks

Rega RP1 - £250.

Project Phono Box - £50

Audioengine A2+ - £150

All 3 in white and the combination sounds ridiculously good

Sounds good to me, always assuming the OP owns some vinyl. 🙂

And assuming the user does not mind reaching behind the master speaker speaker for the volume control.

Personally this is one ocasion that I would not go down the powered/active route.

Richers will sell you a ProJect Essential, a Denon PMA 520 and a pair of Q Acoustics 2020i for about £450. I would start from there.

 

[drummerman]

QAcoustics BT3 white, £279

Project Genie (or Debut) Carbon white £325

s/h Project or Rega stage £ ?

This will take you a few quid over your £500 but probably worth it in the long run. Has a nice Ortofon Red cartridge too worth 80 quid.

 

[Al ears]

Hi,

Due to space restrictions I'm looking at the most simple set up of a turntable and active/powered speakers for a total of £500.

Speaker-wise I've been looking at the Ruark MR1s and the Roth OLi-POWA-5 which seem to produce sound of a good enough quality (judging by the reviews I've read on whathifi.com )

For the turntable I have nowhere near enough room for a standard size amp so I guess a turntable with either a built in pre-amp or a small phono pre-amp is needed?

This will sit on a very solid unit in my dining room. It's not a den or a listening room so super-duper hi-fidelity is not required at this moment. Well, until the kids move out and one of their bedrooms eventually becomes my bolt-hole...

However, I need something space-saving which ultimately has a quality to the sound that will tide me over for a few years. Build quality and durability is also important.

Oh, and they need to be white 🙂

Any help and advice would be much appreciated thanks

Rega RP1 - £250.

Project Phono Box - £50

Audioengine A2+ - £150

All 3 in white and the combination sounds ridiculously good

Sounds good to me, always assuming the OP owns some vinyl. 🙂

And assuming the user does not mind reaching behind the master speaker speaker for the volume control.

Personally this is one ocasion that I would not go down the powered/active route.

Richers will sell you a ProJect Essential, a Denon PMA 520 and a pair of Q Acoustics 2020i for about £450. I would start from there.

It's a compromise that's for sure. One I personally wouldn't even contemplate if wanting to hear my vinyl at its best.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_1345601795457364]

Many thanks to you all for the advice.

£500 is the absolute maximum and I don't have room for an amp so turntable and speakers it is.

Any thoughts on the Flexson Vinyl Play? Rega components and a phono stage seems to make it good value?

 

[TomSawyer]

If £500 is genuinely a non negotiable maximum, I'd go with Q Accoustics BT3 for £280 and an Audio Technica LP120 for £210 (B-stock). It's not the best turntable in the world but I've compared it to a Project a Debut II running the same AT95 cartridge and there was little to choose between them and it has the advantage of coming with a built in phono stage.

 

[luckylion100]

what about...

The new Audio Technica AT-LP5 (£330) paired with some Presonus Eris E 5's (seen for £178 and free delivery) A tenner over budget... I'm unsure about connecting the two though, would a 2 x RCA to TRS cable do the trick? I seem to recall using this once for an old pair of M-Audio actives I had...

I also think it would be a great looking combination but just seen you only want WHITE, so scrub that idea! ;-)

 

[The_Lhc]

Hi,

Due to space restrictions I'm looking at the most simple set up of a turntable and active/powered speakers for a total of £500.

Speaker-wise I've been looking at the Ruark MR1s and the Roth OLi-POWA-5 which seem to produce sound of a good enough quality (judging by the reviews I've read on whathifi.com )

For the turntable I have nowhere near enough room for a standard size amp so I guess a turntable with either a built in pre-amp or a small phono pre-amp is needed?

This will sit on a very solid unit in my dining room. It's not a den or a listening room so super-duper hi-fidelity is not required at this moment. Well, until the kids move out and one of their bedrooms eventually becomes my bolt-hole...

However, I need something space-saving which ultimately has a quality to the sound that will tide me over for a few years. Build quality and durability is also important.

Oh, and they need to be white 🙂

Any help and advice would be much appreciated thanks

Rega RP1 - £250.             

Project Phono Box - £50

Audioengine A2+ - £150

All 3 in white and the combination sounds ridiculously good

 

Sounds good to me, always assuming the OP owns some vinyl. 🙂

You'd like to think so, given he specifically asked about turntables. It 7% that buy vinyl without owning a turntable btw, rather than the other way around.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_1345601795457364]

Hi, yes - I do own vinyl 🙂 Some old and some new. Space is still the challenge so I need the speakers to be as compact as possible. I'm going to get out and about to listen to a variety of combinations. I'll let you know what I eventually buy. Thanks for the great advice!