How Much To Rival Good Digital Playback


I would like some opinions as to how much one would have to spend to buy a turntable/cart system that would rival good digital playback. Any ideas as to what that price point is and the equipment that would do it?
fxhanson

Showing 1 response by twl

While you can rival good digital playback for a very reasonable sum with analog, the lower priced analog systems may be a little higher in background noise than you may be used to hearing. Quieter analog systems may cost a bit more, and generally require a good moving coil cartridge, heavy platter of appropriate material, and a good phono stage with high overload margins.

I think you can get nice results for about $1k, especially with used turntables(assuming you have a phono preamp). But to get into the really quiet performance levels, you may need to go to $3k-$5k. And of course the records should be kept nice and clean for wear and quietness purposes.

I'm not going to make any equipment recommendations, since that can be very dependent on taste. But it can be done at those prices, and you can get even better if you want to spend more.

I would look at the expenditure in the same way as you look at purchasing a digital player. Get the best you can for the money, and if you spend the same amount as you did on your digital player, you should get better overall results, musically.

However, there are some people who have become so accustomed to dead quiet backgrounds from digital, that they have a hard time adjusting to the clicks and pops in analog systems. You'll have to determine whether this is acceptable to you, since there always will be some kinds of noise associated with it, even if small.