vinyl advice

[punio75]

The better half is getting me a turntable for Christmas as I expressed an interest in getting back into vinyl.
That leaves me to find a suitable amp and some decent speakers.

Wondered if anyone here had any recommendations as I'm not really sure where to start!

[speedlolita]

If you just want something compatible grab an older integrated amplifier and some random speakers from the likes of Tannoy, B&W, JBL, Mission etc.

Or go new if you can afford to.

If the amplifier doesn't have a phono input you'll need a pre amp for the turntable though.

[djjimbob]

Summat cheap:

http://www.richersounds.com/products/hi-fi-separates/separates/amplifiers-receivers

And as Speedlolita says... if it doesn't have an input for 'Phono', then you'll need a seperate pre-amp - also available at Richer Sounds.

[charlesr]

I got my sister a cheap Rotel (?100) many years ago (and some mission speakers). It finally gave up recently and so I suggested she got Cambridge also now around ?100, since they seemed to be getting rave reviews. However, it doesn't sound nearly as good... Really flat and dull, with not nearly as much controlled bass. You'd think after all that time, tech would have progressed at the price point, not gone backwards.

[punio75]

Rotel's seem to have a really good rep.
Might keep an eye out on ebay.

[speedlolita]

My Rotel RA-921 was ?50 and it pretty amazing.

[Charlie]

If you can afford it, I thoroughly recommend a valve or tube amp which compliment the rich, warm analogue sound of vinyl perfectly. They ain't cheap, but provide a beautiful velvety sound that you can listen to for hours at a time without listening fatigue. Alternatively go for a class A amplifier as opposed to the more popular class B. Class A amplifers run hot and are very inefficient (they use up a lot of electricity) but generally produce a more natural sound that isn't as hard or cold as that produced by modern amplifiers.

As for speakers, it all depends what amp you go for, and usually boils down to a matter of trial and error but a good dealer will let you take speakers home to trial them in your system. I remember testing a pair of highly rated B&W speakers worth ?2K which won several awards from very respectable sources, but they sounded awful in my system, and very artificial. I ended returning them and trying a number of other speakers, finally settling on a pair of sublime ProAcs.

Basically, building a hi-fi system is a little bit like making a cake - not all ingredients mix well together.

[charlesr]

You might want to include interconnects and speaker cable in your "leaves me to find" list