The Love of Turntables and The Organization Of An Audio Room

Less is more in my estimation. Having a big dedicated room helps. But there is an aesthetic to this that may be in conflict with gear-headedness and clutter. To me, interior design is a very personal reflection and I don’t mean that in terms of Architectural Digest type layouts-some people hire decorators and their rooms (not necessarily audio centered) have all the charm of a 4 Seasons hotel room.

I decluttered a couple days ago because I’m an accumulator-- spare tubes, phono front end tools, I like books and instruments and good rugs. But, I’m leaning towards "spare" - more space, fewer objects. I get the question I think the answer depends on you, no?

PS: I didn't focus exclusively on the turntable issue but I think that is partly a question of having space (big room) and layout--easy to access and not looking cluttered? I find cluttered spaces to be almost claustrophobic but again, it comes back to an aesthetic thing in my estimation, not entirely driven by ease of access and operation of gear.

I love turntables as well and would probably own more than one if I had the space. As it is, I've shoehorned my audio system into a relatively small spare bedroom that also doubles as my photography studio. It works, but just barely. Still, I'm thankful to have a system at all after losing my previous dedicated listening room to a whole-home renovation ten years ago (happy wife...).

This time around, I vowed to keep things super simple: a turntable, an integrated amplifier with an internal phono stage, and a pair of stand-mounted loudspeakers. I don't know whether it's simply the joy of having a system again or the dumb luck of component synergy, but the quality of sound I'm getting now seems leaps and bounds better than before - and this system cost about one-third as much as my previous setup.

So I'm happy. But at the first opportunity, I'm going shopping for a second turntable  

@neonknight You are not going to get any help from me AT ALL!  Quite simply the very idea that it is even remotely possible to have too many turntables is an oxymoron in my book.  Carry on and keep up the good work!  I would encourage you to consider my rule of thumb:  Whenever possible it is optimal to limit your self to one tonearm per turntable.  So, one for each: Stereo (mm), mono (mm); stereo (mc), mono (mc).  Then there is DD and BD to add variety, linear tracking.  Different arms of different lengths.  We are working on a second house now to accommodate, but I don't recommend that, traveling back and forth is getting to be a hassle.  Anyway, it is a form of dementia.  It takes one to know one. ;-)  The important thing is to have fun.