Just ordered my first turntable!

marjen

I just sold the bellari and ordered a bugle2 for now using an old pioneer receiver. Bellari was a little too noisy. Still getting a lot of noise, pops and stuff. Some say it's the records but not sure?

marjen

So have had some time to play with the setup and the new u-turn orbit. Been trying to get some time with a record or two each night. The u-turn seems very solid and depending on the record seems capable of putting out good sound. I recently purchased the bugle2 phono pre amp. It seems really solid. It is feeding an onkyo 787 right now. Hoping to get a dedicated phono amp or stereo amp that can power both the cans and speakers. Any advise on a solid, lower cost stereo receiver that sounds good?

mrussel1

marjen said:

So have had some time to play with the setup and the new u-turn orbit. Been trying to get some time with a record or two each night. The u-turn seems very solid and depending on the record seems capable of putting out good sound. I recently purchased the bugle2 phono pre amp. It seems really solid. It is feeding an onkyo 787 right now. Hoping to get a dedicated phono amp or stereo amp that can power both the cans and speakers. Any advise on a solid, lower cost stereo receiver that sounds good?

What's your price point that you're trying to stay within?

marjen

Maybe $300-400. I really just need something to provide the following features: 2 channels of power for speakers, input for 2 RCA sources, good headphone amp abilities. Thats it. Would love to hook up the u-turn plus my squeezebox and be able to listen via speakers or headphones.

marjen

Here is a pic giving some pj a spin.

mrussel1

Does that turntable have a built in pre-amp? If not, I think you would have to hook it to a receiver that has a phono input and many very nice receivers don't have that input.
You definitely don't want to go cheap on the receiver. Your music quality is only as good as your weakest part of the link. And the receiver is critical. My advice would be to look at an older (2-3 yrs old) Pioneer Elite receiver (to get you in price range, or even used).
And if you want 'basic functionality', you can even go with this:
pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Elite+Amplifiers/A-35R

I have one myself that I use to drive my zone 2 music and it is fantastic. It's not widespread and can be hard to find (got mine from ebay) but it's a gem. It has a phono preamp, headphone out, zone a/b. But it's only for music and only 2 channel. $200 new but you should be able to find it for 150-175. You can also use the analog hook ups on your squeezebox to use that.

I run an Integra amp, an Elite receiver and other assorted equipment, and this is my favorite little piece that I own. I admire it every day that I use it.

mrussel1

Looks like they have a newer model with slightly more power. Looks really nice. Elites are always clean sound.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Elite+Amplifiers/A-20

marjen

You actually reminded me that I had a pioneer VSX-1018ah just sitting in the basement collecting dust SO the onkyo is out. The pioneer sounds better, but think the speakers are the weak link.

Though I really wish someone would come out with a small unit that only had 2-3 inputs (phone, aux, usb) and could power 2 speakers and have a good headphone amp for a couple hundred bucks. I big receiver with a hundred inputs, 9 amps and 30 sound modes is such over kill for a nice little two channel setup and takes up too much space.

marjen

I might actually give that A-20 a try it looks really nice. Seems totally geared to a basic music setup. Thanks for the heads up!

Thinking about Chane 'Arx' A2rx-c center / LCR speakers for the setup. Never heard them but seem to be getting some good reviews.

mrussel1

I have read good things about those speakers but have never listened to them. I just picked up some def tech bp8b speakers for 199 a piece on new egg. They were normally 600 each. If you are a def tech fan (I am), they also have studio monitors that are super discounted right now.

marjen

I ended up purchasing a pair of the def tech studio monitor 450s from amazon. SO far so good. I still was not liking the sound of my pioneer av receiver for music so I dug up my emotiva lmc-1 pre and I connected my little icon amp to it. I am liking the sound in a near field config.

I am really liking this whole vinyl thing. Since my turntable is totally manual I do not like to lift the arm mid side so its forcing me to listen to entire sides of records which is a different experience than just throwing on a tune or two and then switching to something else. Forces you to have a longer attention span. I am really like the sound quality on the mad season reissue. I had not listend to that in years and I play it almost every day now.

PJ_Soul

Tim Simmons said:

marjen said:

Thanks guys. I am going to resist paying crazy prices for vinyl,

Ha. good luck with THAT.

Lol. That's what I thought too!
X_X )

mrussel1

marjen said:

I ended up purchasing a pair of the def tech studio monitor 450s from amazon. SO far so good. I still was not liking the sound of my pioneer av receiver for music so I dug up my emotiva lmc-1 pre and I connected my little icon amp to it. I am liking the sound in a near field config.

I am really liking this whole vinyl thing. Since my turntable is totally manual I do not like to lift the arm mid side so its forcing me to listen to entire sides of records which is a different experience than just throwing on a tune or two and then switching to something else. Forces you to have a longer attention span. I am really like the sound quality on the mad season reissue. I had not listend to that in years and I play it almost every day now.

Well shit, you have an Emotiva sitting around? I'd definitely be using that. Does your icon amp degrade the quality? I'm sure that's a much better and higher end set up than the standard Pioneer.
I'm glad you are enjoying your vinyl. I just sold all of mine off. I was driving a Pioneer Elite SC class into some Def Tech 8060St's, then tried with the BP8B's (with Dayton sub) and I could not get the vinyl to sound any better than the FLAC digital music (Burr-brown DAC). In fact, I thought the FLAC's sounded better. I REALLY wanted vinyl to win, but it didn't, so I just sold the records. I found myself buying vinyls of my favorite albums of all time, when I already had them in FLAC. It became obvious this was going to be expensive, and I'd rather buy more speakers, subs and amps to be honest.
Maybe it's because I grew up on CD's and I'm more used to that sound? Dunno.

marjen

Thanks guys. I am going to resist paying crazy prices for vinyl, At least thats my plan. If I cant get it for retail forget it. Which means I wont be listening to a lot of PJ material unless they re release all their middle albums.

Well that just went out the window last night. I spent way more than I said I ever would for a record and picked up a white backspacer for $130. I think i should just sell it all now before I get myself in trouble :(

This is a dangerous hobby.

tempo_n_groove

marjen said:

Thanks guys. I am going to resist paying crazy prices for vinyl, At least thats my plan. If I cant get it for retail forget it. Which means I wont be listening to a lot of PJ material unless they re release all their middle albums.

Well that just went out the window last night. I spent way more than I said I ever would for a record and picked up a white backspacer for $130. I think i should just sell it all now before I get myself in trouble :(

This is a dangerous hobby.

Oh Boy... The flood begins. Dangerous road!

I just bought a Pro-ject Carbon debut. My deal fell through for the Marantz amp i looked at so now I am in the market for one...