Turntable setup help

ElPhantasmo

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Hi,

I have been planning to buy a turntable (Audio Technica AT-LP5X), an amp (Marantz PM6006) and speakers (Dynaudio Emit M10) and I need some advice.

Since the speakers most probably will be placed on wall mounts and the width of the room is only 3,5 meters, do you think this setup would be too powerful for the room? Would you suggest me something less powerful (either turntable, amp or speakers)? Is it true that speakers should not be placed on the same surface as the turntable. I am asking this since the alternative for putting the speakers on wall mounts is to put them on the same surface as the turntable. The distance between them (2,5m) should be sufficient, but I am worried if vibrations could impact turntable performance. Is there a way to limit the vibrations?

Thanks in advance!


Possible alternatives to the abovementioned setup can be found on this site (unfortunately, it's only in Croatian):

Turntables: https://sonusart.hr/hi-fi-komponente/gramofoni.html

Amps: https://sonusart.hr/hi-fi-komponente/pojacala.html

Speakers: https://sonusart.hr/zvucnici/bookshelf-zvucnici.html
 
I would say that rather than mounting the speakers on wallmounts the alternative might be to mount the turntable itself on a wall- mounted platform although this may be more expensive to do.
Your combination of amp and speakers should be fine however you might be better off with a speaker that is not rear ported.
 

myrrhman

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If you are limited to the choice on offer at Sonus Art, the Q Acoustics 3030i and B&W 607 are both highly rated by reviewers, but as far as I can tell are all rear ported, so potentially having the same problems. I'd concur that wall mounting the turntable is probably the best solution, then getting stands from the speakers would enable you to bring them at least a short distance away from the wall. Good speaker stands are expensive, but to me are an obvious item to buy second hand - they are basically heavy lumps of metal and very little can go wrong with them, other than cosmetic damage.
 

rainsoothe

Well-known member
Audio Technica AT-LP5X Is a cheap branded chinese turntable
same money will get a much better built & sounding turntable from project / rega made in the EU
Table or Wall mounted VTE turntable with blutooth & Table /Wall mounted matching speakers
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I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with the AT comment both related to the product specifically AND the principle. First of all, IMO the LP5 (and the LP5X) are better than any of the Rega or project entry level turntables, especially if you're sensitive to pitch stability. Also, there are some Chinese brands that really caught up or even surpassed some western counterparts in their price brackets - Lumin and Denafrips are just two examples of companies that aren't just cheapER alternatives, but also trying to build a hi-fi legacy.

Also, ironically, Rega is one of the worst examples of quality control you can give - there's numerous reports of P6 plinths getting warped just a few months after the purchase, for instance. Or take my P6 for example - the white belt it came with was uneven and gave me horrible pitch instability (so another 10 days and 15 quid for an Edwards Audio little belter from the get-go), the fuse in the wall-wart of the Neo PSU failed one day after I got it (luckily I have a friend who managed to identify the problem and replace it, but yay, another 2 days waisted driving around), and one of the 3 screws at the base of the tonearm cannot be unscrewed unless I use one of those bonding pastes that destroys it in the process (luckily, my cartridge sounds great even without a shim). Yes, it sounds good, but for a product in this price range it's rather pathetic if you ask me.

And just for laughs, Rega couldn't even get their act together with the review sample of their new flagship amplifier that they sent to WHF - they had to send a replacement, read the Aethos review.

Or take any Naim electronic with a display from the previous generation - they fail in just a few years (my 172xs display died in 3), and replacing them requires you to send it back to Naim, which can take a while, and costs something like 4-500 quid. And this is a display that was also featured on their flagship stuff in the previous generation. The point I'm making isn't that british Hi-Fi sucks, of course, but that the country of origin is irrelevant, and products should be judged in isolation. There might have been a time when "made in China" was synonymous with cheap and badly made, but I'm pretty sure it's long gone. And the LP5X is a great budget tt, which, again, I'd pick over any budget Rega or project or whatever.
 

daytona600

Well-known member
Lumin and Denafrips are a great example of high end chinese equipment but they do cost 10 times as much as the AT turntable
LP5X prices will drop like a stone after a few years & the tonearm or bearing or motor will fail but the project & rega will keep value for years or decades The chinese do make some very good turntables Hanns , Opera
 

rainsoothe

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Lumin and Denafrips are a great example of high end chinese equipment but they do cost 10 times as much as the AT turntable
LP5X prices will drop like a stone after a few years & the tonearm or bearing or motor will fail but the project & rega will keep value for years or decades The chinese do make some very good turntables Hanns , Opera
On what are you basing the motor or tonearm failure? I just did a google search for both these issues with LP5 (which is the previous model, but apart from Bluetooth and 78 speed, identical - so more time for a fault to appear) and found zero threads on the matter. And I think that one shouldn't consider the resale value when purchasing a piece of gear, unless they suffer from severe upgraditis. Otherwise, resale value can be an indicative of more than just the quality of the product - marketing hype or snobbery just to name two.

For the record (hate using this expression in turntable threads, by the way :) ) I sold my old LP5 to a mate and it's still going like new after 3+ years and a house move where his dad forgot to secure the tonearm during transportation (which only resulted in the destruction of the stylus).

If OP had the budget, I'd gladly recommend a P3 with Nagaoka cart + external phonostage, but otherwise, I'd take the AT, at least because it's more versatile for future upgrades (adjustable tonearm height, bypassable phono pre) and better basic cartridge (funnyly enough, the Rega Carbon is Audio Technica derrived). Also, adjustable feet are less messy (I use post-it notes under two of my P6 feet).
 

myrrhman

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Personally I wouldn't buy an AT turntable (or, looking slightly further up-market, a Technics) but that is just a personal preference - in design terms I prefer the minimalist approach embodied by Rega and Project - I don't need semi-automatic tonearms (most of the time...) and don't need a built in phone stage or USB output. Based on my wholly positive experience with Project, I'd be looking to that company's products first if I ever decide to upgrade my Debut III.
However, I wouldn't put the OP off buying the AT either - it appears to be a capable turntable for the price, and avoids the need to purchase a phono stage and AD converter. Again, I'd personally prefer to buy stuff made in EU or UK, but unless you have a big budget, you can't avoid Chinese products - like my 'Cambridge' phono stage and Arcam DAC for example, both of which have been absolutely trouble free. In fact the only products which have given me any problems over the years were my Belgian-made Mission CD player and British-made Creek amplifier. As others have said, you can get good and bad products from anywhere in the world.
 
Personally I wouldn't buy an AT turntable (or, looking slightly further up-market, a Technics) but that is just a personal preference - in design terms I prefer the minimalist approach embodied by Rega and Project - I don't need semi-automatic tonearms (most of the time...) and don't need a built in phone stage or USB output. Based on my wholly positive experience with Project, I'd be looking to that company's products first if I ever decide to upgrade my Debut III.
However, I wouldn't put the OP off buying the AT either - it appears to be a capable turntable for the price, and avoids the need to purchase a phono stage and AD converter. Again, I'd personally prefer to buy stuff made in EU or UK, but unless you have a big budget, you can't avoid Chinese products - like my 'Cambridge' phono stage and Arcam DAC for example, both of which have been absolutely trouble free. In fact the only products which have given me any problems over the years were my Belgian-made Mission CD player and British-made Creek amplifier. As others have said, you can get good and bad products from anywhere in the world.
I would quite agree that buying this turntable seems to be a waste of money on the OPs part assuming he buys the Marantz amps.
He doesn't need a turntable with a phono stage built in as the amplifier has one,it also sounds like he doesn't need the USB facility. Look elsewhere would be my opinion.
 
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TrevC

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Quite so, however fitting a £150 stylus to a £44 might be a step too far for some especially as it's half the price of the turntable itself.
If you want great sound the stylus and how precisely it traces the groove is surely the most important part. The only problem is you can’t, or at least don’t want to in my case, go back to a bog standard elliptical stylus once you’ve heard one properly track those inner grooves.
 

myrrhman

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I would quite agree that buying this turntable seems to be a waste of money on the OPs part assuming he buys the Marantz amps.
He doesn't need a turntable with a phono stage built in as the amplifier has one,it also sounds like he doesn't need the USB facility. Look elsewhere would be my opinion.
Hadn't appreciated the Marantz had a phono stage, in that case it makes more sense to go for a higher quality deck with fewer features
 

rainsoothe

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Hadn't appreciated the Marantz had a phono stage, in that case it makes more sense to go for a higher quality deck with fewer features
Try to stretch to a P3 and Nagaoka or AT cart if you can - maybe you can find a good deal on an ex-dem one. The P3 has a superior arm (same one as the P6) and there's a bunch of Rega and third party upgrades you can add in time and actually turn it into a P6 (except for the plinth).
 

ElPhantasmo

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I would quite agree that buying this turntable seems to be a waste of money on the OPs part assuming he buys the Marantz amps.
He doesn't need a turntable with a phono stage built in as the amplifier has one,it also sounds like he doesn't need the USB facility. Look elsewhere would be my opinion.

Hm... What are my options, considering the offer? Do you know of any good/decent turntable w/o the preamp in that price range? I'll try to look around in other stores, but this one seems to have the best gear.
 
LP5X costs around 420 Euros and my total budget is 1.500 Euros max.
I have no concerns about your amp choice. Will have to think about the turntable.... and Euros
However. If you can stretch to a Rega Planar 2 it would be a good buy or Edwards Audio TT1 mk2 with a Goldring E3 cartridge, the problem is what we are used to buying in UK might not be available for you in Euros equivalent.
 

ElPhantasmo

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I have no concerns about your amp choice. Will have to think about the turntable.... and Euros
However. If you can stretch to a Regards Planar 2 it would be a good buy, the problem is what we are used to buying in UK might not be available for you in Euros equivalent.

OK, thank you! What speakers would you chose to fit in the budget? I have been thinking to chose one among Q Acoustics 3030i (€400), Bowers & Wilkins 607 (€560), Dynaudio M10 (€600) or Klipsch RP-600M?
 

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