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Intriguing world of Analog

I am an aspiring audiophile and have enjoyed the forum postings on Audiogon over the past few months. I am impressed by the number of people with such advanced knowledge on audiophile subjects and who are willing to share their knowledge with others. I have become intriqued with the seemingly complex world of turntables, tone arms, cartridges and many other itemes related to analog music. I've seen pictures of turntables having numerous tone arms associted therewith and I am curious as to why one would need multiple tone arms. Many years have passed from the day I had a record player and we would tape a penny to the tone arm above the cartridge to keep the record from bouncing off the record. I'm sure the analogophiles reading this post are clutching their chests and gasping for air at the thought of it.

Somehow I feel another obsession coming on.

If I wanted to make an initial foray into the analog world of music what would be a good starting point? Is there a turn-key solution where you purcahse a table, tone arm and cartridge in one fell swoop? I would be willing to spend from $1500-$2,000.

My current sysem is as follows: Classe CA 200 amp, Classe CDP 35 preamp, B&W Matrix 802 series III speakers, and a Yamaha RX Z11 AV receiver. My preamp has a phono location on the source knob.

Will I need a separate phono amp or can I use my Yamaha reciever?

Your help and recommendations would be greatly appreicated.
papajoe
buconero117
2,311 posts
 
multi arms are a shortcut to using mono vs. stereo cartridges. Also when two different stereo cartridges will be used, say one a MM, the other MC.

A used VPI, with arm and cartridge installed, is the way to go, providing you can pay cash and pick up in person, wherein the seller must demo the unit as fully operational and functional.

papajoe OP
43 posts
 
Thank you all for your helpful comments. From your answers I can see there is a lot to learn. I think this calls for a trip to my local high end audio store for a rapid information download. I would like to compare MM and MC cartridges. I may have to increase my budget to include a phono preamp. I will check into the turntable options mentioned in this thread.

Thanks again!!
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rauliruegas
12,809 posts
 
Dear Papajoe: As important as is the hardware more important is the software, how many LPs do you have? enough to be worth it?

Btw, in your Classe preamp you can add a phono card that I think will be of better quality performance than the one on the Yamaha.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
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rauliruegas
12,809 posts
 
Dear Buconero117: I own several tonearms ( 20+ ) and the main reason to that is that I can match almost any cartridge to the right tonearm where I can achieve the best cartridge quality performance.

The same cartridge with a different tonearm souns different but exist one tonearm where that cartridge show its best.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
papajoe OP
43 posts
 
Raul,

How would I know if my Classe preamp has the phono card? I bought the item used on ebay so I'm not sure if it has the phono card. If it does not have the card are such cards readilly available on Audiogon?

I have numerous albums. I'm not sure if they will be of much value though. Many are from the 1970's and are of standard pressings. I'm not sure of the quality of these recordings. I also have numerous old 78 speed records that I purchased at garage sales. They seem to be well preserved but they are quite old. Many of these records are probably monaural. Many of the records are in hard-bound record albums. Again, I am not sure if these will be worthy of play on the turntable I intend to purchase. Your comments on this point would be helpful.

Joe
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