Turntables — Page 2

The other thing is that if you have a good turntable with a good cartridge, you then need a good amp (and possibly a pre-amp, although it's easy to avoid) and then good speakers. Last summer I invested in a pair of really nice Klipsch speakers and it really changed my entire listening experience. Even Youtube sounds nice hooked up to these things. If you only have one set-up like me that does everything--records, cds, computer, movies--I would stay away from anything that is a multi-speaker "home theatre" package, especially anything with a subwoofer. Subwoofers are now manufactured to try and hide the fact that the speakers they come with sound like shit. If you ever need a subwoofer for anything other than watching DVDs and Blu-rays it is a sign you don't have correct speakers, and even with movies you don't need a sub if your speakers are high-end quality. You sort of have to build everything in small pieces I guess, otherwise you'll be plunking down $1000 and asking why you are wasting so much money when you have more important bills to pay.

I recently got into vinyl as well and have a cheap Jensen deal that has speakers on the sides (http://www.amazon.com/Jensen-3-Speed-Stereo-Turntable-Silver/dp/B000UVKE2I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329422229&sr=8-1) It still goes for what I paid for it, right around 45.

Im working on my surround sound in my media room and have a set for 5.1 speakers by Definitive Technology. Still working on the avr (prolly getting onkyo nr709) but I have hooked up two of the sats to the turntable and it sounds amazing compared to the speakers built in, I never knew vinyl sounded that great till then.

How big is everyones vinyl collection? I have maybe 20-30 records, the coolest stuff being Johnny Cash American 3,4,5, and 6 (want 1 and 2 but both are 100 plus) Star Wars original 1977 record (need to find a better one, one I have is pretty scratched) and lastly a double Red vinyl Red Dead Redemption soundtrack to the videogame. Really awesome soundtrack and looks friggin awesome (have two copies, one unopened). Oh I also have Tron Legacy on vinyl too. THAT sounds absolutely AMAZING. Even better than the BluRay.

Also anyone planning to do Record Store Day this year? Its in April I think.

captainsolo said:

This!

Although I sometimes like to add in a little sub kick for vinyl. (Little!) Out of curiosity, Zombie what Klipsch do you have? I've got my whole 5.1 setup by them and my mains/surrounds are the KG.5

I couldn't say at the moment what model they are. I got into Klipsch because my dad is a real audiophile and he came home one day with the biggest speakers I have ever seen in my life--to this day--in his van and they were $4000 Klipsch towers. Before that he had really good Mission speakers (another great brand that doesn't get much recognition) but these things were so monstrous that my jaw dropped just from seeing them and let me tell you, they are the best speakers I have ever heard, anywhere, ever--and they were in my own house! When you cranked those up and put on some Zeppelin it would make you cry from the clarity and bass and power. I hooked them up to my TV at one point and put on Terminator 2. It was just a VHS tape, nothing fancy at all, but I remember there is the scene where Arnold comes in on the Harley Davidson and the bass was so intense it was like having a bike in the room. We had a motorcycle in the garage and even the real thing didn't have that much kick! Since then I've never owned anything but Klipsch. The ones I have are much cheaper but they have so much kick that I often have to turn down the bass, lest my neighbours complain (which they have!). That's why I am always apprehensive about subs. Sometimes they provide a little help, and movies (and also sometimes electronic music) have subtle low-frequency things that are designed to roll through the room and provide a physical sensation, but more or less if you have good speakers I find they just muddy the sound or get lost in the mix.

On an unrelated note to anyone interested in vinyl, I will say that you really need to get a vintage receiver/amp to go along with it, even if your turntable in modern. Modern receivers, while fine as they are, cannot compare with good vintage equipment. This is because modern receivers and vintage receivers are not built the same, nor use the same parts--unlike turntables, which today are just more advanced versions of the stuff from yesteryear. But receivers of the 70s and 80s used tubes and not digital microchips, and it's an entirely different engineering design--it's like comparing helicopters and jet airplanes. Some commonalities, but also fundamental differences. That's why so many serious musicians plug their guitars into tube amps. For home theatres, you have to use modern receivers, but if it is possible, investing in a good vintage amp/receiver is as important--maybe more important--than the turntable itself. There is still some debate about this, but ignore it--the manufactured parts are totally different, so it makes sense that it would amplify the sound in different characteristics. Not all vintage amps/receivers are better than modern ones, but in my experience they usually are. That's the problem and the advantage of analogue sound--the sliding scale. If you have really good equipment at every stage of contact--turntable, cables, amp, and speakers--it pays off big.

Don't invest in used speakers though. There's only bad things that come from that. Speakers wear out from use and can't be cheaply repaired. And the main fundamental--the way the technology is built--has basically not changed, just improved, so new speakers blow away used ones. When it comes to amps and receivers though the technology has not improved--it's just changed. And with that change comes different characteristics. New ones are more convenient and serve modern needs better (like multi-channel output, programmable buttons and decoders) but often don't sound as good. My vintage 1973 Sansui (which may sound weird since this brand went out of business in the 80s but was usually very good in it's day) broke down last year and I spent $200 fixing it because it was a much better investment than anything new. It only outputs 200 watts. Know why? Because they didn't need more watts back then. The 1000-watt digital receivers of today are a joke in comparison; they only were invented in the 90s because that is when digital technology took off, but older ones with a fraction of the wattage outperform them pretty consistently. The parts they used made it so that it outputs a signal of much higher quality and volume--and after 40 years my Sansui still works, with a bit of love. I took it to a high-end audio dealer (the same place my dad got his luxury Klipsch from) and what do you know, the technicians there owned the same piece of equipment! They even did all this extra work for me like changing some bulbs because they don't get much of these in these days. Invest in speakers and amps/receivers, not the turntable itself.