Any Hi-Fi buffs?

[SMEE]

I am looking at getting back into listening to Vinyl. I am looking at getting my hands on a turntable. Does anyone know what Rega Planar turntables are like? I have been looking at them on Ebay. I am open to suggestion to any others you may know are decent enuff

[johnnykipper]

Get down Sammy Lee's for some Technics.

[SMEE]

Sammy hasnt had his shop for about 4 yrs. With all due respect..the likes of sony etc are far from the best makes of hi fi goods

[johnnykipper]

Didn't most of the Superstar DJ's used to spin their vinyl on Technics before everything went digital, wouldn't surprise me if Sammy supplied a few of them.

What did he do with the rest of his stock?

[SMEE]

I think Sammy punts stuff through ebay now and then and carries a wee bit of stock at his home, but nowhere near as much as he had before.

[CaleyD]

All depends on what your connecting it up to....and then on what you want to spend.

Also, unless you have a hi-fi that's worth thousands, and set up properly, then you're probably not going to see any discernible difference between a ?200 turntable and a ?500 one.

You can make an "ok" turntable sound passable on a good system, but it don't matter how much you spend on a turntable if your plugging it in to a ?200 hi-fi....it'll still sound chit.

Assuming the system you have is up to the task, then not only do you have to think about the turntable (which basically just spins the record) you have to make sure it's fitted with a decent stylus, headshell and arm....watch for this on ebay as you'll often find second hand units that have been fitted with non-branded parts or cheap alternatives.

I've got a Denon DP 3000 connected to a couple of grands worth of Kenwood stereo and that probably doesn't do the turntable justice in all honesty as I would get comparable sound quality from a couple hundred pounds worth of Technics deck with a good stylus etc.

I'm not familiar with the Rega Planar stuff at all, but on having a quick look, they seem to be "one for the purists" who can't afford the real thing.

[SMEE]

I'm not familiar with the Rega Planar stuff at all, but on having a quick look, they seem to be "one for the purists" who can't afford the real thing.

Saying am a mink like?????

[CaleyD]

That all depends on which side of Telford Street your originate from

[RednBlackComeback]

That all depends on which side of Telford Street the River Ness your originate from :018:

Fixed it for ya CD ! :thumb04: ;)

[Naelifts]

I have a Rega Planar 2. 20 years old...........absolutely excellent

[CaleyD]

You must have had it modified, as they don't play 78's as standard do they?

[Naelifts]

Boom, boom

[SMEE]

I have a Rega Planar 2. 20 years old...........absolutely excellent

Im hoping to pick up a Rega Planar 3 wi RB300 arm. I hear they are very good.

[Glen Mhor]

I have a second hand Sony LBT-XB80AV which has a turntable quite adequate for playing the old vinyls. Don't knock Sony - it still works fine and the sound is really good.

[Ronaldo]

What you're planning SMEE is perfect and make sure you spend as much as you can on a decent cartridge. You cannot go wrong with a rega turntable and arm. Of the two arms I recalll, 250 & 300, one has a fixed headshell which I think is better.

Rega arms are excellent and very good value for money.

I used to be into hi fi big time but not so much these days although i still have a half decent system and play vinyl all the time.

At present, I have a systemdeck with a linn basic arm, an Arcam 7 cd & tuner and a nice old Naim nait amp. I am presently trying to pick up, on e bay, a paif of Morduant Short ms902i's speakers. I have dennon's at the moment which are actually very good. I swapped them for a listen of an old pal's linn kann's last weeknd and neither of us noticed much difference??!

Good luck!

[SMEE]

Managed to finally get my Rega Planar 3 wi RB300 arm of ebay today. So need to start collecting vinyl again. Got some at my dads, but think most have been played to death.

Also treated myself to an Arcam CD72 cd player last week, as my old player (Marantz 6000 OSE) didnt want to play CDs made on my laptop. Its allegedly a common problem with CD-R on that model. There is a fix for it, but the component I was sent was minute, so i decided against trying to resolve the issue.

No more pressies for me this year. Kids Xmas pressies are the priority now

Edited October 29, 2008 by SMEE

[Ronaldo]

Good stuff SMEE, it will also last you forever built like a russian tank!

I find most of my cd's/vinyl these days on E bay and related/linked sellers.

Good luck

[CaleyD]

I've got a garage full of Vinyl. I've thought about selling it a few times, but it took my the best part of 20 years to collect what I have and I don't know if I could ever part with any of it.....even the dross.

[SMEE]

Record deck arrived with damaged lid! Both hinges were snapped, but i was suprised to see they were made of plastic. There was also a crack in the lid. I contacted the seller, and he has been very good and has gotten on to DHL for compensation, as he had it fully insured thankfully. had to take pics of the damage AND the packaging to prove every effort was made to protect the item. Been in touch with Holburn Music in Aberdeen and they can supply a new lid for ?45.

Another downer was, I thought i could just plug and play in my amp. But my Cambridge amp doesnt have a phono stage in it, so al need to try and pick one up on ebay. need to leave it till after xmas tho. Bummer! Will be raiding ebay for vinyl tho, and the record shop on the raining stairs

[SMEE]

I've got a garage full of Vinyl. I've thought about selling it a few times, but it took my the best part of 20 years to collect what I have and I don't know if I could ever part with any of it.....even the dross.

I will be going to my dads soon and sifting thro my record collection and WILL be binning the dross! And there is plenty in there, from my days in mid to late 80s as an occasional DJ.

Am mainly intrested only in albums, but will be taking my hard to get stuff like my u2 7" & 12" stuff too.

[Ronaldo]

And here was me saying it was built like a russian tank......typial. it is a very solid deck and arm though, lid apart!

Yep some modern amps don't have a phono input, but thought all cambridges would? very unlucky.

Up until very recently I had a spare aracam I could have lent you but I sold it to a friend for peanuts, pity.

Happy listening when you get going SMEE!

[SMEE]

I am hoping to pick a Cambridge 640P phono stage after xmas. Will hopefully get one second hand off Ebay for around ?40. Alternativley, can pick a new one up for ?80ish of Richer Sounds. I had this one recommended to me, as they are apparently very good.

Am just hoping it is this i need after all, and that its not because it was further damaged in delivery, being the reason why its not giving off any sound.

[RednBlackComeback]

I recently invested in a surround sound system and was hoping to hook up my cd player and record deck to it. I had the same problem in that there's no phono input on the amp/receiver. I picked up this stereo Pre-amp from Maplin for ?20 hooked it up to the video input and it did the job just fine. Maybe not up to the sound quality you're after smee but for ?20 it would at least get you some sound before you splash out on a new amp?

[SMEE]

Thanks for that RBC, but av now got my heart set on a Cambridge Phone stage, mainly as it is the same make as my Amp AND doesnt cost a fortune.

I am thinking about trying to pick up an Audiolab 8000A amp next year, which has an in built phono stage. They are retro, but i love the 70s look to them and they sound amazing. Clear as a bell and give of a lot of detail

Edited November 11, 2008 by SMEE

[Ronaldo]

If you get a chance SMEE trying listening to some naim amps, alternativley linn or Quads are also very good. Naim's are brilliant but still hold their value, not even cheep on e bay, but you can be lucky.

The audio lab is a good amp. You can get the 8000 A&B which are a pre and poweramp set or the imntegrated version, a single amp.

And when you win the lottery buy yourself a valve amp!