Turntable to match current setup

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Hi all,

I have recently dipped my toe into the joyous world of hifi audio and seek some advice on what turntable to put into my current setup.

My kit consits of B&W CM8's with a Kandy K2 amp.

Can anyone please suggest a suitable turntable. I understand that the K2 has a "phonostage" though this information is lost on me i am afraid to say. Ergo, some expansion on what this is and if this is sufficient would be most welcome.

Thank you :)
 
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Anonymous

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£4-500 would be the cutoff.

I am currently listening to my collection through an imac and airport express and really loving the sound. However, i am told by a friend who turned me on to the whole proper hifi bug that nothing quite compares to the sound of vinyl. He also seems very confident that with my current amp and speakers that the sound will be quite impressive.

Is the difference from lossless to vinyl that great?

The fact of replacing lots of the colleciton with vinyl is fine by me as i can then just get the albums that i listen to time and again.

Thank you for any info :)
 

DandyCobalt

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I've found that the difference with vinyl (with a good turntable and cartridge) is amazing - even my teenage children are now buying vinyl. The sound seems so much fuller. Whilst I have a good universal player for CDs etc, nothing compares to vinyl.

Many vinyl releases also have a free MP3 download voucher - so you get the best of both worlds.

It seems strange to be teaching the children how to use the turntable correctly and carefully - a bit like showing them how to use sharp knives carefully. If you don't teach them, they'll just try for themselves when you're not there (with perhaps catastrophic results for the cartridge - not so worried about the knives :)
 
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Anonymous

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Vinyl's main advantage over any digital format is its believability. More specifically it does have a truly three dimensional quality I've rarely heard from any other means of Hi Fi/ music reproduction other than master tape. I have heard some really well produced CDs that match vinyl in these areas, but it requires careful engineering (rare these days) and mixing to achieve this. Also many original vinyl recordings are remastered either for modern tastes with things such as dynamic range and EQ adjusted, or to better suite digital media. From my recent experience with an ABBA collection the results are not always pleasing (to me at least) and why change what the original artists thought was the best end product? Vinyl has its own drawbacks and flaws, its far from perfect but nothing lets you get to the heart of the music better, just many opinion.
 
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Anonymous

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The so called advantage vinyl has is a sticky area. Given a well recorded CD and an equally well recorded piece of black plastic, I believe the CD is better sound quality (and thus so is the lossless rip). Vinyl gives you the hands on touchy feely stuff, and the occaisional crackle, not to mention a nice cover and something big and pretty to hold. But it can sound very good of course before anyone leaps down my throat.

The problem for CD/CD rips is the number of very badly recorded, highly compressed examples there are out there...

Personally I'll never use a turntable again... No "real" quality advantage, and having no more than half an album to listen to before having to get up... Me I'll select my tunes from my Android phone, or computer, all my collection at my fingertips :)
 

DandyCobalt

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Even the best CDs don't compare with good vinyl - CDs just sound flat and 2-dimensional. The limit for a Cd is approx 700MB, and so represent a very compressed format.

Spin both side by side on good systems, and you'll hear the differences pretty easily.
 
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Anonymous

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Nothing sticky about it, in terms of the soundstage being 3 dimensional and conveying the palpable illusion of being in the presence of real solid musicians I'm afraid its no contest. This is vinyl's very "real" quality advantage and I've yet to hear a digital source even close to conveying this.

Digital certainly provides acceptable sound for most people who are prepared to compromise for the sake of convenience and thats okay, but please, Android/ Computer v's Michell Orbe? Its like comparing the pictures from an iphone to a Hasselblad.

:)
 

DIB

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May 21, 2009
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DandyCobalt said:
What's your budget? I'm enjoying a rega p3-24 with my cm8s, though I understand that the new rega rp3 is even better (about £500).

I trotted down to my local hi-fi emporium yesterday armed with a handful of LP's (John Martyn,Pink Floyd,Doors,Al Green, and Wings) to have a listen to the new RP3. Not thats anything wrong with my current set-up, far from it, but my deck is 27 years old now and is making a few odd noises lately, so I'm thinking to the future. I've worked out that should I break it down and sell on its individual components I could almost fund a brand new RP3.

I asked to have it set up with a Marantz amp and with a similar sized pair of floorstanders, so I ended up with a RP3/PM6003/Rega RS5/Chord Odyssey 2 set-up. The RP3 was fitted with a standard Elys 2 cartridge.

First thing I noticed was how quiet it was in comparison with my Systemdek, as I fully expected to be honest. A very simple design, considerably less bulky than my springy Systemdek.

I played tracks off all my albums and was very impressed, though to be honest I reckon a lot of that could be to do with the RS5 speakers which I was very impressed with. The soundstage and punch were excellent, though I felt that the sound was a touch brighter than I'm accustomed to, not too bright but definitely not quite as "warm" as my current set-up. Thats where the difference between the Elys 2 and Goldring 1042 probably comes in, but the salesman said that it would be no problem just buying the deck without the Elys2 and fitting my own fairly new 1042. Also to be fair the RP3 had not been played very much prior to my demo so the cartridge probably needed more running in time.

One very strange thing though. All my LPs were clean, no gunk etc. but when playing the track "Echoes" of Pink Floyd's Meddle LP, there was so much noise and distortion, that I had to remove the arm. It just would not play that track. I tried it on my deck when I got home later and it played fine. Very strange indeeed, as it was only on that track that that occured.

The issue with Echoes aside, I was very impressed with the RP3. Should I be looking in the near future to move on TT wise then I would certainly look at the RP3, £500 ish being the maximum I'm looking to invest in any new TT.

A couple of other observations.

1) What a great little amp the PM6003 is. Available now for little more than £200 new, they really are a bargain.

2) Rega speakers, well the RS5 I heard anyway, offer superb soundstage, nice controlled bass and great detail. I'd always imagined them as being "Bass light" but from what I heard driven by a 45W budget amp, not at all.

Just my observations folks.

.
 

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