I think I take what you would consider to be a very disciplined and controlled approach to vinyl playback. Inclusive of one cartridge and including the turntable, tonearm and phono stage I have spent a total of $35,000. IMHO spending more is an ego centric thing and is unlikely to gain much in performance. I might also add that I can afford to buy any turntable made and available today, but since I am not susceptible to to cost and looks traps I do not see the value in it. I'd rather buy music or another mode of transportation. I also have no problem with high resolution digital and I do not think Vinyl playback is inherently better.
Cost Incurred to Achieve a Vinyl LP Replay
As a Long Term user of the Vinyl LP as a Source, as well as being one who has ventured into discovering and experiencing how fellow enthusiasts have developed their own interest in Vinyl replays. I have got to a place where limited to my experiences only, most I have encountered have over many years have been constrained in their budgets for the Ancillaries required to replay a Vinyl LP.
A few have exceeded the approx' £30K mark for a TT > Tonearm > Cartridge, and fewer from this selection are using dedicated Electronics with a Value of more than £10K to support the Source.
My most typical experiences are of Ancillaries and Electronics used to support a Vinyl Replay with a combined cost of between approx' £6K - 16K.
I have been demo'd through being at commercial events, Ancillaries and Electronics that far exceed the above Values, but as these demo's are not from a familiar system and have been quite some time in the past these experiences have not been considered as being of importance or contributing to shaping how my present methods are I place to replay a Vinyl LP.
What I have also become quite aware of, as a result of sharing and receiving accounts of Past Experiences, is that 'dye in the wool' Vinyl Replay Enthusiasts have been active at different levels in their trying out or introducing new ancillaries to get to a place where they are believing that most contentment can be found for their own unique preferences for a produced sonic.
My own endeavours has been to remain with a Particular ancillary and look to have it overhauled, where a modern approach is used to produce a end product that has materials and electronics selected and utilised to transform the ancillary into something that is noticeably different for the better over the original. As such methods are Bespoke, it is difficult to have the methods understood by a onlooker.
My experiences shared have introduced myself to like minded individuals in the flesh and through Global Forum communications.
I do belive adopted methods to produce Bespoke ancillaries are capable of producing performance that will be more aligned to ancillaries costing much more if using a Branded Item is the guideline, as a selection of materials and adopted methods for these materials can be found in the more recent marketed products. .
For myself Vinyl Replay is a method to supply a form of entertainment The use of ancillaries to create this entertainment is a must. The learning that is to be attained as a result of using the Ancillaries creates what is more aligned with being a hobby.
The question that is a vaguery, is how much monies, from a range of approx', £3K ($3.2K) - (£350K ($400K) does one feel justified in spending/believes needs to be spent, to satisfy their hobby (lessons learned) needs and need to be entertained (enjoyment of listening to music) .
It is without doubt, there will be
fewer reading this, that will be experienced with and able to comment on the 50K and upward ancillaries, it would be good to see what is to be shared.
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@mijostyn Your Post has steered the thread back into the intended direction. Your description given has almost mirrored my own limited experiences, where an individual known to have a long term enthusiasm for Audio Equipment, and a very keen interest in using Vinyl LP as the source, has discovered that an outlay of around £30K, has been found to supply the sonic that suits their own personal preferences. My own referencing in the OP, much more expensive equipment used to replay the Vinyl LP, points out the demo's received were in unfamiliar surroundings through unfamiliar systems. Even though a Google search might show images of particular events attended and assist with reminding me of a Design and Aesthetic seen during a demo. The memories recollected strongly suggests nothing notable occurred on the day.
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@pindac I may be getting dense in my dotage, but the ChatGPT did make sense of your question! If it was correct about your thesis, I concur with it. It is certainly possible to attain the desired degree of vinyl playback without spending ludicrous amounts of money, but in the end it comes down to aligning your expectations with your budget. I have two relatively cheap SME tables (one bought used), four excellent SME tonearms (two bought used), two cheaper Rega tonearms, a reasonable SUT, and relatively cheap Quad tube electronics. My weakness is in liking variety in cartridges, and using tonearm pods I can run six. I doubt I have the best ears around (in fact I only have one and it runs at 50%) so I'm not troubled by issues of soundstage and image, but I do like the quality of the sound to be pleasing to me. The vinyl only parts of my setup (TTs, TAs, pods, cartridges, SUT phono stage, record cleaning machines) probably add up to about $54kCDN, and I don't feel any need to go further. In fact, all the changes made in the last ten years have been on the vinyl side; once I'm happy I stick with gear in the long term. My phono stage, pre-amp, power amps and speakers are all 16 years old. |
And may I wish you, and all here, a merry Christmas also. Digital library? I tried ripping all my CDs and had a disk failure in a hardware RAID array that required the exact same model of disk to replace a failed drive. They had been discontinued, so months of work for nothing. I still play CDs and SACDs. Cheap SME tables? Mine are humble Model 10s, since discontinued. The Model 15 would be closest now (or you could use a Model 12 and ignore the built-in phono stage, as, of course, you should). I'd love to hear the more expensive models, but I did say something about aligning expectations to one's budget! And I doubt pindac will be charitable if we start to discuss Churchill. My first 27 years were in the UK, before I came to Canada. I am a Churchillian, both by nature and conviction. Enjoy your Christmas! |
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