What would you get?

While driving my daughter to rehearsal, she asked me how vinyl records work. How cool is that? I even knew the answer. She tells me the reason she asked is she put vinyl records and a turntable on her wish list for Christmas.

She’s 15 1/2, so stylish is as important as sound quality. Small room, low volume, so bookshelf sized speakers. Klipschorns or Maggies wouldn’t fit even if they didn’t break the budget.

I'd start looking on Craigslist for vintage stuff.
If you start with new current 2-channel it will be crap or cost a lot.
.02

Studio monitors.

Marantz turntable.

Nakamichi integrated amp.

Or a Sansui AU9500 and TU 9500.

Have all caps replaced.

I'm sure people here will offer great product recommendations - this is SIGFORUM.

I would just consider minimizing the budget for the turntable. And also get a receiver that allows streaming from a phone. Turntable may be a fad for her, not a long term commitment. If you don't need phone connectivity, then there is probably a ton of used adcom stuff out there (on CL) that would fit these needs on a budget - if in good shape, decent quality at reasonable prices.

Oh, and Focal Chora 806 are decent bookshelves

Trapper - You might want to consider looking at Wal-Mart at their Bluetooth turntables and Bluetooth speakers.
This past Christmas I purchased a Audio-Technica(spelling) bluetooth turntable and a Klipsch bluetooth speaker for my 28 year old son and he LOVED this set up. Total cost was about $250.00

Just an idea for you to consider…..

just a turntable,

find a local vintage or audio store (some cities have them, we do in RVA) and get a turntable, amp, speakers etc,

or a console ,

I have a nice 59 vintage Zenith we play once in a while,

and I also have an older Onkyo receiver and Dual turntables,

that's Dual the brand, (I have 3)

I have a pair of 80's Advent bookshelf speakers that you can have for the cost of shipping. They work but need new foam

Yamaha A-501

KEF Q150 Bookshelf speakers

Rega Planar 1

Should book out right at $1500 and will punch way above its weight. The Yamaha has some connectivity options and its own DAC. 85 wpc, which is plenty for college.

I looked into the price of my top 20 records,
I am not selling my car to buy records.
I must have given away $3,000.00
Worth of vinyl

ranger312 - I appreciate the offer, but I think I’m going to take her to listen to some speakers to see what she likes. These will follow her to college.

konata88 - you are probably right. A good turntable was the one piece of gear I never got around to before all my gear, CDs, and vinyl was stolen in 2014.

sigarmsp226 - you are probably right as well. That’s all she probably wants.

I’ll talk to her some more about it on the way home from rehearsal. It’s for her, not for me.

I looked at craigslist and the only thing that jumped out at me were a pair of Klipschorns on the other side of the state in Ormond Beach, but those won’t fit in her room or any room we have.

Totally agree with konata about a receiver. There she can get an radio signal and bluetooth capability from streaming when she's not using the turntable. Way more flexible.

My daughter at about the same asked for same thing. I got decent separates for her for Christmas, and, I hate to say, she was disappointed. She wanted something more basic, so I got her one of those Best Buy/Walmart phonograph, which actually sounded pretty good.

I’m out of vinyl now, and I stream or listen to CD or ripped CDs. However, there is something neato about the physical analog format.

I follow a guy on YouTube called TechMoan. He reviews new and old Hi-Fi gear.

Techmoan turntable videos.

He has some videos on new production turntables that don't break the bank.

quote:

Originally posted by ftttu:
My daughter at about the same asked for same thing. I got decent separates for her for Christmas, and, I hate to say, she was disappointed. She wanted something more basic, so I got her one of those Best Buy/Walmart phonograph, which actually sounded pretty good.

I’m out of vinyl now, and I stream or listen to CD or ripped CDs. However, there is something neato about the physical analog format.

Ya, I told her what I was thinking, she laughed and said, “Dad, I don’t need all that, I just want a record player!”

There really is something special about analog.

How about a pair of Sonos ERA 100's in a stereo pair and use the line in for a turntable with a Sonos dongle.

I can say from personal knowledge sigforum has some amazing helps even for the vintage stuff. While my vintage endeavor did not pan out and I wound up buying new I am very happy with my setup.

I did disappoint with my choice of turntable because its output is not truly analog but goes through circuitry even to the pre-amp output (I did not realize this when I bought it).

Anyway, What I have learned. Most all of the new production vinyl's are from digital source material so their literally is no advantage over streaming it or listening on CD.

BUT

I am finding the 'hunt' for vintage albums at yardsales and flea markets to be a lot of fun. I have found Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison" Elvis "Live at Madison Square" to be two of my favorite finds. There are folk with literally 1000's of records that are being sold off and much of this music is incredible. I also find the original recordings to be better in many cases. Elvis "live at Madison Square" is a prime example, it just sounds better than listening to it streaming. The brass is punchy and deep and it just sounds amazing. Online is just 'meh'. Anyway, Live albums are fast becoming our favorites.

My purpose here is that my daughters and I have discovered our love of the 'hunt' looking for new 'old' finds. "Dad, I found the original soundtrack to Fiddler on the Roof AND that Stevie Knicks album you have been looking for . . ." ANY chance I get to connected with my girls is awesome and treasured.

Check out Crutchfield.com for speakers and amp/receiver.

Many bookshelf speakers have the port to the rear, which means they need to be at least 6 inches from the wall, which means they don't fit on a shelf very well! So you will likely want to get front ported speakers. The Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2 Bookshelf Speaker is under $300 for a pair and get rave reviews. Floor standing speakers are generally a lot bigger, not necessarily any better sounding, and probably more expensive.

Placing the speakers on a stand or an acoustic foam wedge to isolate from the surface will make a big improvement. Amazon sells speaker isolation pads for under $20 and they do a good job.

Used speakers are a real crapshoot, so probably best to avoid.

I'm still using my 1978 turntable so I can't opine on any new offerings. Direct drive was better than belt drive back then.

The cartridge is super important, the needle pretty important. Turntableneedles.com is a good source.

Denon and Yamaha rate well for reliability and performance. We're running Denon and are very satisfied. When we move next month I will be equipping that house with Denon receivers.

Be careful when selecting an amp. Most modern amps in the budget do not have a built in phono pre amp. If they do it’s limited in its capability to support moving magnet (MM) or moving coil (MC) carts, often not both, with no impedance adjustments


Now that said…. I have a Pro-ject pre-amp I’m not using, I’ll send you once a decision has been made. Just email me. It’ll open up a little more in the budget, would just need an aux input

https://www.project-audio.com/...roduct/phono-box-s2/

Remember, dorm rooms are not secure.

While I'm "old school", you can't go wrong with Bose speakers.....
We have some "old school" turntables and the sound is just great with Bose....