Vinyl Records & Set ups!

[heartben]

I would have loved to find one of those babies for that price. I have to admit my TX-1500 isn't perfect but boy does it sound good. I got it pretty cheap off ebay as well. For some reason NOTHING good here comes up on craigslist. I am hoping maybe I can find a nice sansui receiver and some decent speakers locally sometime.

[retinal orbita]

My wife and I bought a house this summer and one of the things I was really gunning for was a record room/studio and low and behold, not having children means I get a spare bedroom for myself!! Here's my collection, I pruned about 200 LPs in the past year to bring my collection down to a reasonable level - cassettes and CDs are in boxes right now as I'll have to build a wall mounted unit for them down the line.... 7"s are in the wooden box on top. I've pruned about 500 of those out of my collection, down to about 300 or so.... I also sold a ton of CDs so while there are a lot (I'm no CD hater) my collection is... small-ish compared to what it used to be....

I also inherited my wifes grandmothers couch - everyone but me hates the colour, I personally love it and I've had many a delightful beer and hungarian food fueled nap on this couch over the years....



Stereo: reciever and CD player are NAD, speakers are PSB, both Canadian made and are excellent. Record player is a Technics direct drive from the 70's I had cleaned up and restored, cassette deck is an ancient Sony but I'm shopping around for a new one....

It's still pretty messy as we're renovating the whole house and there is dust everywhere, plus I haven't put up any pictures yet, and I just bought a bunch of plants to liven the place up. I'll have to update these pictures....

Bonus pictures:

Moving day:


Stripping wallpaper day:

[theactionindex]

I recently finished my Thrice discography capping it off with The Alchemy Index, Beggars and Identity Crisis. I think I only have 3 more 45's to get before I have all the records they are on.

Siiiiick. Love me some Thrice.

I'm trying to finish off my Appleseed Cast discography, but Mare Vitalis seems to be somewhat elusive and I'm usually too cheap to pay what people are asking for it.

As far as a set up I honestly have no idea where to start. I've been stuck with a shitty Crosley turntable for way too long, but wasn't too sure what brands to look into, etc., etc. Any suggestions are more than welcome.

I love The Appleseed Cast! I only have Peregrine ‎and Illumination Ritual though. As far as brands to look into I think in general almost any Technics is pretty good but there are a lot of solid brands. If you go on craigslist you can more than likely find something for a fair price. If you want the audiophile-y looking tables the Pro-ject Debut III and the Pro-ject Debut Carbon are pretty popular. If you are ok with waiting you could also check out the U-Turn Orbit (its about 200 dollars and you would have to wait awhile to get it)

Thanks for the info, I'll look into it and see what I can find.

[D.o.S.]

Also, Important has a pretty rad REGA bundle if you get down with their discography. Plus they're local-ish.

[Uncle Grandfather]

Nobody else listens to records

[Mudfuzz]

Nobody else listens to records

there are more here.. we've had other threads… but it's been awhile… that reminds me…

[bob the r0bot]

This

SPOILER : show

Into

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driving some shitty realistic speakers

My actual record collection isn't to impressive, just two or so milk crates.

[Mudfuzz]

My actual record collection isn't to impressive, just two or so milk crates.

That's bigger then my collection, I'm too picky and what I want usually cost too much so it's slow going [but hey I think I have almost everything melt banana ] .

[heartben]

I like the look of that receiver!

[Wes Mantooth]

Can't believe I didn't find this thread until now.

Really got in to vinyl last Spring so I'm really late to the party, but I truly do feel it is the best (or least my favorite) sounding medium, I put FLAC and CD audio at a relatively close second but nothing beats vinyl for me. I'll take some pics of my collection eventually. It's quite the eclectic mix. Lots of doom, some black metal (it's just about winter here basically so I'm stocking up on more bm), some surf rock, hip-hop, and a few Sunn0))) and Earth Albums.

Some favorites:
Sleep- Dopesmoker (on green vinyl)
Wolves in the Throne Room- Celestial Lineage (180 gram black)
Between the Buried and Me- Alaska, Colors and The Great Misdirect (all pressed on identical pink vinyl)
Sunn0)))- Black One (grey) Oracle (translucent blue)
Electric Wizard- Dopethrone (180 gram), Black Masses (pink and green swirl)
Deafheaven- Sunbather (red/yellow)
Earth- Angels of Darkness I and II (I on black 180 gram and II on red 180 gram)
Youth Lagoon- Wondrous Bughouse
Beach Fossils- s/t and Clash the Truth
POS- Never Better (clear) We Don't Even Live Here (pic disc)


This summer I picked up a nice turntable for my room, a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon. Sadly my other components are lacking

I'm running the Debut into a Pro-ject Phono Box S Preamp and then in to some Audio Engine A2 powered speakers. I'm hoping after graduating from college this Spring I can start saving for some better components. I want to get a new integrated amp and some floor speakers.

Anyone have some recommendations?

[Uncle Grandfather]

I want to get a new integrated amp and some floor speakers.
Anyone have some recommendations?

Just some ideas, you're money will go a lot farther if you get a quality set of "bookshelf" and a nice set of stands that you can mass load...with leadshot or sand....than going with a set of floor speakers.

Merlins tsm are superb speakers and usually show up on audiogon.com for very reasonable prices. They use 6.5 Morel woofer and Renaissance silk dome tweeter in a sealed box enclosure.

As you upgrade your other components you won't have to worry about upgrading these speakers.

A great integrated amp, made in Spain, that happens to work superbly with the merlin spkrs is the Ars-Sonum Filarmonia SE. Merlin is the US distributer of the amp as well.

Check out merlinmusic.com for details, but i'd search on audiogon.com for good prices on secondhand models.

[Wes Mantooth]

I want to get a new integrated amp and some floor speakers.
Anyone have some recommendations?

Just some ideas, you're money will go a lot farther if you get a quality set of "bookshelf" and a nice set of stands that you can mass load...with leadshot or sand....than going with a set of floor speakers.

Merlins tsm are superb speakers and usually show up on audiogon.com for very reasonable prices. They use 6.5 Morel woofer and Renaissance silk dome tweeter in a sealed box enclosure.

As you upgrade your other components you won't have to worry about upgrading these speakers.

A great integrated amp, made in Spain, that happens to work superbly with the merlin spkrs is the Ars-Sonum Filarmonia SE. Merlin is the US distributer of the amp as well.

Check out merlinmusic.com for details, but i'd search on audiogon.com for good prices on secondhand models.

Will do, thanks for the advice

I know guitar amps and effects well enough but when it comes Hi-Fi I am completely lost

[hazelwould]

Hey there.

I've dedicated two rooms for my stereo's, been working on the rooms all year during the free time and almost done One rooms all tubed gear, the other solid state. I've completely rebuild the rooms with a professional room treatment plan and changed the dimensions for better acoustics. Also dedicated electricity for digital and analogue etc. I'm a geek when it comes to listening to music I've also got a pretty substantial record and cd collection. There are three really great record stores within walking,biking distance with great selections of new and used records/cds.

Tube room:
Merlin VSM-mx loudspeakers
Atma-sphere m60 OTL monoblocks
Atma-sphere mp-3 fully balanced OTL phono/linestage
Audio Aero Capitole mkII se cdp w/tube output stage
VPI TNT mkV hr turntable
Lyra Helikon cart
ALL cables are Cardas Golden Reference. Even all the signal wiring inside the amps/preamp/tonearm/crossover is cardas.


Solid State Room
Avalon Radian HC loudspeakers
Spectral dma 180 sII amp
Spectral dmc 20 sII pre
Spectral sdr-2000 dac
Spectral sdr-3000 transport
ALL cables are MIT/Spectral
MIT power isolation and filtration products

Avalon, Spectral, and MIT worked together to make a synergistic whole system, deemed the 2c3d...two channel three dimensions. sounds good.

Headphone listening uses audio aero capitole mkII as cdp or preamp for listening to vinyl
Audeze lcd-2
Hifiman he-500
Hifiman he-400
sennheiser hd650
beyerdynamic dt900 600ohm
grado 325is
akg 702

woo audio wa22 tubed headphone amp
bottlehead crack OTL amp
antique sound labs mg head otl/transformer coupled amp
beta 22 solid state amp


Audeze LCD-2 planar magnetics with bamboo sides


Hifiman He-500 planar magnetic


Hifiman HE-400 planar magnetic


sennheiser hd650



Beyerdynamic dt900 600ohm premiums



My Grado 325is.



Akg k702



Akg k702 with Antique sound labs mkIII amp w/separate power supply. uses 12ax7 and el84 output tubes.



My Woo Audio Wa22. Uses Sophia Princess Mesh Plate 274B rectifier, 6sn7 driver tubes, 6as7 power tubes....or 7236 power tubes for 2 watt output.

Are you the one lawyer that got away...? (From TGP)

But really I am curious what you do for a living.

[hazelwould]

And maybe not the most popular option... But Parts Express sells affordable amps and speakers. I got a Dayton T-Amp and Bookshelf speakers for maybe $100ish. Sounds really good and clear. I could use more bottom end... But for the money I'm pleased.

Otherwise I use my Grado SR-60's and am happy and "Hi-Fiish"

[Uncle Grandfather]

Hey there.

I've dedicated two rooms for my stereo's, been working on the rooms all year during the free time and almost done One rooms all tubed gear, the other solid state. I've completely rebuild the rooms with a professional room treatment plan and changed the dimensions for better acoustics. Also dedicated electricity for digital and analogue etc. I'm a geek when it comes to listening to music I've also got a pretty substantial record and cd collection. There are three really great record stores within walking,biking distance with great selections of new and used records/cds.

Tube room:
Merlin VSM-mx loudspeakers
Atma-sphere m60 OTL monoblocks
Atma-sphere mp-3 fully balanced OTL phono/linestage
Audio Aero Capitole mkII se cdp w/tube output stage
VPI TNT mkV hr turntable
Lyra Helikon cart
ALL cables are Cardas Golden Reference. Even all the signal wiring inside the amps/preamp/tonearm/crossover is cardas.


Solid State Room
Avalon Radian HC loudspeakers
Spectral dma 180 sII amp
Spectral dmc 20 sII pre
Spectral sdr-2000 dac
Spectral sdr-3000 transport
ALL cables are MIT/Spectral
MIT power isolation and filtration products

Avalon, Spectral, and MIT worked together to make a synergistic whole system, deemed the 2c3d...two channel three dimensions. sounds good.

Headphone listening uses audio aero capitole mkII as cdp or preamp for listening to vinyl
Audeze lcd-2
Hifiman he-500
Hifiman he-400
sennheiser hd650
beyerdynamic dt900 600ohm
grado 325is
akg 702

woo audio wa22 tubed headphone amp
bottlehead crack OTL amp
antique sound labs mg head otl/transformer coupled amp
beta 22 solid state amp


Audeze LCD-2 planar magnetics with bamboo sides


Hifiman He-500 planar magnetic


Hifiman HE-400 planar magnetic


sennheiser hd650



Beyerdynamic dt900 600ohm premiums



My Grado 325is.



Akg k702



Akg k702 with Antique sound labs mkIII amp w/separate power supply. uses 12ax7 and el84 output tubes.



My Woo Audio Wa22. Uses Sophia Princess Mesh Plate 274B rectifier, 6sn7 driver tubes, 6as7 power tubes....or 7236 power tubes for 2 watt output.

Are you the one lawyer that got away...? (From TGP)

But really I am curious what you do for a living.

I am the one that got away.

Musician.