£600-£800 budget for turntable, amp and speakers

Hi there,

I'm rather new to the vinyl scene and I'm currently looking to invest in my first record setup

From what I've read online the Project Carbon DC sounds like a fairly decent turntable to start with, would anybody agree? I have a £600-£800 budget for the turntable, amp and speakers.

I'm completely unsure as to what amplifier and speakers I should opt for. Not having a wealth of knowledge in the area is proving problematic and I would greatly appreciate any advice you may have to offer.

P.S. I'm predominantly into metal music!!!

Cheers.

 

Well, i put a system together for a relative and it sort of blew everyone,s mind.
It cost £200.
It consisted of a thorens TD 166
Complete with Nad 9200 ( or 9100 not sure but made by ADC) cartridge
The Amp was a Denon PMA 350
Mk1.
I'm not so keen on mk'2,s or special editions but they are still the buisness.
Later one,s phono stage is optional.
The phono stage is really good.
I actually bought one as I fell in love with it.
This little gem pushes out 50watts into 8 ohms and 88 into 4 ohms.
It will drive anything.
It has tone controls which can be switched out of circuit.
The speakers were Monitor Audio's
Cannot recall the model.
In any case with this kind of power
You are spoilt for choice, as to what you fancy depending on your listening
Room
Of course used turntables will need TLC
This is where you start to learn
There are people around who can help
But this type if turntable is in the top bracket in my opinion
Food for thought.
I wish you very good luck!

 

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I would recommend a Rotel integrated amp from the 90's the 9XX series. They sound excellent and are really cheap. Use the internal phono stage for now and upgrade to a expensive external one later on.

A good pair of used Rogers/ Spendors speakers.

As Thorensman suggests a vintage Thoréns turntable, or maybe if you don't want to get your feet entirely wet a P-mount turntable. The latter requires some googling and reading up on what to buy. Many P-mounted tables from the 80's are rubbish but don't let this scare you. There are some gems too.

At this price point you must cheap out on something. It has to be the cart. I would recommend buying the AT-92 ECD (~30 $ + P&P on ebay/amazon). The cartridge fits both P-Mounted tables and has an adapter for SME-type headshells. Although the AT-92 is cheap you will still get the gist of vinyl and what higher end cartridges may offer.

Interconnects buy cheap/ low cost, or use whatever comes with used equipment. Audiophiles that are scaling down their kit often own too many cables and usually you can have good ones for next to nothing.

Speaker wire: Make your own using non-soldering banana plugs. It's really easy to buy good quality copper or silver wire and braid your own "high end" cable. Looks good too!

Edit: I missed that the OP listens to metal. Might I suggest this amp Rotel RB-980 - Manual - Stereo Power Amplifier - HiFi Engine » 120 pure watts and a pair of Klipsch or Cerwin-Vega to fully rock out and come as close as possible to a concert with Disaster Area. Cheers!