The best way to start adding A=analog to my system

This may be a small thing, but take it or leave it:

I’m not sure if Mike Fajen is still the customer service representative at Clearaudio’s American distribution company, Musical Surroundings, but he has been nothing short of tremendous with answering my questions and, all in all, providing unimpeachable customer service.  Just fantastic.

When I play fantastic pressings on my Concept Wood/Carbon Fiber Satisfy/Concerto v2 setup into the Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+ phono stage, I’m quite a happy camper, FWIW.  The noise floor of the Phonomena II+ may leave something to be desired @ $700 MSRP.

We all have different ears, but to mine the vinyl sound is unique but not nearly as convenient as digital. You might consider a rega planar 6 with the Ania cart and rega phono stage. I have owned that in the past and while you can certainly do better, I thought it delivered a lot of performance for the cost. I thought there was a pretty big jump in performance from the 3 to the 6. Good luck!

If you like Clearaudio, look into a Marantz TT-15S1. It is made by Clearaudio and comes with the Satisfy arm and the Virutoso Ebony Wood cartridge. It is similar to the Clearaudio Emotion but with a better arm and cartridge.

@sns 

An idea.  Since you consider digital sound beats analogue, why do you remain heavily invested in analogue?  You say you would sell up if you didn't have ~3k albums.  But selling up is logical for you.

Record to digital all the LPs you don't already have on digital or can't hear for free on the internet.  Then sell all your analogue kit plus all the albums.  This will realise many $10,000s.

Results

1.   You will be a lot richer

2.   You won't be wasting space storing 3,000 LPs

3.   You will have better sound (in your opinion)

What's not to like???

@saulh

I wanted a TT so I could listen to my father’s albums

Went with the Clearaudio Concept and think it was a great choice. Plug and play, and lovely sound (it’s comparatively modest compared to my digital path, so that’s my reference re: enjoyment)

When I want to upgrade, I will buy a better Clearaudio cartridge as a start (their MM cartidges range from $250 - $2,000)

I’ve had it for about five years. If I decide to do a serious upgrade (say $10 - $15k), now I have some experience to guide me. I am glad I kept it to $2,500 on the first experiment. Why spend $15k on a first turntable? I would not have had any frame of reference. Now I do. My pre has a good phono stage for a TT in this price range

Just what worked for me - one could do the same with any number of TT brands. At that price range, my guess is everything “sounds good”. Get some experience first, then up the budget

I am glad I kept it simple, and can spend my time listening to music. I am glad I did not spend much time making the decisions

Keep it simple, and start listening this weekend

Let us know what you decide!

Have a great day