[Question] Vinyl's not dead - building a stereo system...

[DarkAudit]

Why? Because I can. Maybe. I finally have the time and space to put together a system the younger me could only dream of. Money is most definitely an object, so this is not going to be an audiophile level system. No ANJOU speaker cables here. It's just going to be quality gear at decent prices. Based on what someone who has ~$500 a month to play with each month after expenses are out of the way.

Here's what it is not. It is not an A/V system. It's going in it's own room separate from the TV rooms. Mostly to protect everything from the cats. The intended space (at the moment) is small, so speakers won't have to be too large (may lean towards headphone use anyway).

Here's what I've lined up as candidates for the first two components..

Turntable: Technics SL-1200 (is there really any other I could consider? This is the bedrock of this setup. It's out of production, but still readily available at decent prices.)
Speakers: Hegeman Labs Model 1 (Out of production since the 1970s, these still pop up for sale from time to time. Plus, the late Stewart Hegeman was my best friend's grandfather, so I may have an in on a set.)

Beyond that, I really have no idea what is really needed. Preamp, amp, and... ?

 

[strawman]

Nice! I don't have any recomendations, other than if you're listening to vinyl, you're doingyourself a disservice if your amps aren't tube based, or at least have tube stages. When the recordings were engineered, they were engineered with tube amps in mind. I'm not going to get into the whole tubes/transister are better than transister/tubes argumet - in this case I think it's moot.

CDs are engineered assuming a transister amp. Records were engineered assuming a tube amp. If you want to hear it the way the recording engineer meant you to hear it, you should consider this carefully.

You can probably get the same effect with a tube based preamp and a transister amp. Plug your CD collection into the transister amp, but the records will need the preamp, and the tubes will give you some small portion of the effect.

 

[sixpackshaker]

Protip for speaker cable... go to a home center and buy two wire lamp cord.

 

[PatrThom]

And that's the wire going from the amp to the speakers. THAT wire doesn't matter (much). The wires going INTO the amp should still be chosen carefully.

--Patrick