Playing Vinyl records

Hi
Retrieved a load of my old LPs and EPs recently and I bought myself a cheap,stand alone,record player online so as I could play them.To cut a long story short I was hooked,Beatles,ELO
Ultravox,all memories of my exploits as a young man came flooding back to me,past romances etc etc,you know what I mean,right,back to the present,I have started to buy a lot of my favourite LPs from secondhand shops building a collection of 70s and 80s hits.
What I want now is a better way to play them as my little record player is, to be honest,basic,I would like to build a little HI-FI system to play my vinyl and also my CDs too,so what do I need to improve my listening pleasure.
Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • Chris FrostChris Frost Posts: 11,015
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    Well, without a budget it's difficult to give you specific advice. But if we assume you'd like something decent without spending a lottery win then here's a couple of sensible entry-level solutions that'll knock your socks off...

    New - Budget approx £550 with cables
    Project Essential turntable complete with cartridge - £155

    ONKYO A9155 with built-in phono stage - £120

    Canbridge Audio Azur 350 (£100) or Onkyo DX7355 (£120) CD Player

    Tannoy Mercury V1 speakers (pair) - £95

    Pixel T50 speaker stands (pair) - £40

    QED Micro or Cambridge Audio Symphony Speaker Cable @ £1.99/m + Cambridge Audio 100 stereo interconnect (CD to Amp) @ £10

    Secondhand - £300~£560
    Rega Planar 2 or P2 Turntable with cartridge £100 - £140 You'd have to spend the thick end of £400 new to match the sonic abilities of these litte Rega decks. Buy, use, sell & upgrade for little or no loss. Depreciation-free hi-fi.

    Creek CAS4040 amplifier with built-in phono stage £60-£80
    Classic British Hi-Fi amp with tremendous resolution and great enjoyment factor. Bit of a bargain too as the sheep pay silly money for old Cyrus amps. Equiv new amp today - £500-£600 new.

    CD Players - too many available to be specific. Budget around £60 - £100 and look up the reviews for likely candidates. Cambridge Audio are in reasonably good supply.

    Speakers: The world is your Lobster ;) There's some late 80's stuff which gets overlooked: Celestion DL6, Castle Kendal, Royd speakers, Ruark speakers. The sheep chase Mission and B&W. Budget anything from £30 if you're lucky, up to £150 of you like to bleat.

    With speakers look for something with reasonably high sensitivity; something 88 - 91dB. That will help get far more volume from each watt of amp power.

    Speaker stands - £10~£20

    Speaker cable - Buy new. Fisual S-Flex 2x1.5mm isn't bad. £1.50/m

    Interconnect - Chord Crimson or Chord Chrysalis are nice if you can find them used. Or maybe something by QED. Budget £30.
  • misarmisar Posts: 3,015
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    What I want now is a better way to play them as my little record player is, to be honest,basic,I would like to build a little HI-FI system to play my vinyl and also my CDs too,so what do I need to improve my listening pleasure.

    You do not seem to be an audiophile so I assume you do not want to spend hundreds of pounds nor to have the pleasure of watching the vinyl spin on the turntable and reading the sleeve notes while you listen.

    My advice would be to buy a modest turntable which you can use (probably with a PC) to convert the vinyl tracks to mp3. These can then be stored on hard disk, USB stick, SD card, CDs, mp3 players, etc, allowing you to listen to all your old records on almost any modern HiFi as well as anywhere else at any time.

    I did this and also photographed the covers to add to the mp3 files as tags. A big job but I spread it over about a year and now I listen to my old records more than I ever did when they were new.
  • emptyboxemptybox Posts: 13,917
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    misar wrote: »
    You do not seem to be an audiophile so I assume you do not want to spend hundreds of pounds nor to have the pleasure of watching the vinyl spin on the turntable and reading the sleeve notes while you listen.

    My advice would be to buy a modest turntable which you can use (probably with a PC) to convert the vinyl tracks to mp3. These can then be stored on hard disk, USB stick, SD card, CDs, mp3 players, etc, allowing you to listen to all your old records on almost any modern HiFi as well as anywhere else at any time.

    I did this and also photographed the covers to add to the mp3 files as tags. A big job but I spread it over about a year and now I listen to my old records more than I ever did when they were new.

    I get the impression that the OP does want to read sleeve notes etc. Otherwise they wouldn't be out buying new vinyl from second-hand shops. ;)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 128
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    Hi Chris,misar and emptybox,
    Thanks for your helpful replies,all of which I will take notice of.
    Actually emptybox your dead right,I do like reading the sleeves,most of which are very imformative about the artists,especially the ELO records which give a full breakdown of the members of this great group,also gives the words of the track in question,all great stuff,so really I DO want to watch that old vinyl going round on the turntable;)
    Thanks again.
    Rich
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 128
    Forum Member
    Hi Chris,misar and emptybox,
    Thanks for your helpful replies,all of which I will take notice of.
    Actually emptybox your dead right,I do like reading the sleeves,most of which are very imformative about the artists,especially the ELO records which give a full breakdown of the members of this great group,also gives the words of the track in question,all great stuff,so really I DO want to watch that old vinyl hoing round on the turntable;)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 128
    Forum Member
    sorry for the double post
  • Glawster2002Glawster2002 Posts: 15,189
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    Bit of a bargain too as the sheep pay silly money for old Cyrus amps.

    But then you can get a secondhand Cyrus IIIi reasonably cheaply these days, the IIIi has a Phono stage, and if it is boxed, and you wish to at some point, you can send it off to Cyrus to get it serviced for @£150 and have a very nice little "as new" integrated amp with a 3 month warranty.

    I know a few of the Cyrus sales guys and they tell me that the likes of eBay has seen a rapid rise in the amount of people who take that route, something they are very happy to do because it brings in work for them. ;)
  • Chris FrostChris Frost Posts: 11,015
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    But then you can get a secondhand Cyrus IIIi reasonably cheaply these days, the IIIi has a Phono stage, and if it is boxed, and you wish to at some point, you can send it off to Cyrus to get it serviced for @£150 and have a very nice little "as new" integrated amp with a 3 month warranty.

    I know a few of the Cyrus sales guys and they tell me that the likes of eBay has seen a rapid rise in the amount of people who take that route, something they are very happy to do because it brings in work for them. ;)
    Granted, if you can hit Ebay at just the right moment then a Cyrus III for £150~£160 could be considered a pretty reasonable buy. Equally though I have seen them fetch £250~£280 for the i version. I have also seen original Cyrus 1 amps going for £100. Given that back in 1984 I parted with £150 for the as-then new Cyrus 1 I think that's a bit on the high side. I also take your point about having one serviced. However, I'd need a lot of persuading that a s/h Cyrus 3i with a 3 month warranty is worth up to £400 when there are so many other good amps out there.

    But the real point relates back to the OP, who has bought a cheap TT and has been bitten by the bug. The cheapest Cyrus is the 1. A Cyrus 1 is going to cost more than a Creek for no discernible benefit just because it is fashionable. IMO the Creek also has a superior phono stage which is useful.
  • Glawster2002Glawster2002 Posts: 15,189
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    Granted, if you can hit Ebay at just the right moment then a Cyrus III for £150~£160 could be considered a pretty reasonable buy. Equally though I have seen them fetch £250~£280 for the i version. I have also seen original Cyrus 1 amps going for £100. Given that back in 1984 I parted with £150 for the as-then new Cyrus 1 I think that's a bit on the high side. I also take your point about having one serviced. However, I'd need a lot of persuading that a s/h Cyrus 3i with a 3 month warranty is worth up to £400 when there are so many other good amps out there.

    But the real point relates back to the OP, who has bought a cheap TT and has been bitten by the bug. The cheapest Cyrus is the 1. A Cyrus 1 is going to cost more than a Creek for no discernible benefit just because it is fashionable. IMO the Creek also has a superior phono stage which is useful.

    I was just saying that a Cyrus amp at the right price is worth considering, although as you say they do sell for remarkably high prices!

    As I say I think that is because you can get them refurbished, or upgraded, by Cyrus and it seems quite a few people are getting in to Hi-fi that way.
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