Welcome to the Vinyl Jungle

[thrice]

Oops, that's Nylon Jungle

Ahhhh the analog sounds of a rock being scraped over a piece of pressed plastic. Can't beat it. I was bound to get here at some point. I've resisted it for awhile, mostly due to cost and upkeep hassle and the pesky need to flip over something when 1/2 the album is over.

But a friend mentioned the new Rega P1 turntable, it's great price and the fact that it's plug and play...so off I went to the local Hi-Fi shop to greet my smiling Rega dealer.

Of course so thread is complete without pics:

This is my first real dive into hi-end vinyl and it's a budget entry for sure, but so far, I gotta say, not bad at all. I'm running it through my Denon integrated receiver and using the tape loop out to my SRM-1/Mk 2 into my Lambda Pros. I guess I need to build a phono stage now....it never ends

[n_maher]

Two words - Hagerman Bugle

From everything I've read it's absurdly good for what it'll cost you to build, which is about $80 including the pcb so it fits well with your budget theme. I've got the parts for mine cued up in DigiKey and have had the PCB for an embarrassingly long time.

[thrice]

Yeah that's one I'm looking at right now. I'll probably go that route initially.

[justin]

Nah....make the Pass Labs Ono!

http://www.passdiy.com/gallery/alephono-p5.htm

Or start with the Pearl Phono

http://www.passdiy.com/projects/pearlono1.htm

[thrice]

Whoa, good call man...didn't even think to check out Nelson's site for a Phono stage....have you heard either of those?

[justin]

I haven't, but I would definitely trust the Pass stuff.

[TheSloth]

Welcome to team Rega! I'm running a P3 over here with a Rega Exact cartridge. Though, I just can't get the alignment right . It seems that in principle the 3 point mounting which fixes the cartridge in a specific position relative to the tonearm should work wonderfully, but in practice at least in my system it really isn't optimal.

Makes me really miss my LP12/Ortofon MC15 supreme combination on the other side of the pond...

[humanflyz]

What kind of adjustments are available on this deck? Does it have adjustment for VTA, azimuth, tracking force? And can the tone-arm be upgraded to something higher up in the Rega line? And finally, how easy is it to adjust everything and set up?

[thrice]

What kind of adjustments are available on this deck? Does it have adjustment for VTA, azimuth, tracking force? And can the tone-arm be upgraded to something higher up in the Rega line? And finally, how easy is it to adjust everything and set up?

You can adjust tracking force, but VTA, azimuth, I don't know....probably not. There is very little by way of instuctions. The thing is plug and play. The cartridge is already installed.

I'm assuming that you can put a higher Rega arm on it since they all look very similar, but there is nothing in the documentation that indicates that.

It's super easy....I was up in running in 10 min.

[humanflyz]

Damn this is tempting, especially since I live like half an hour from Amoeba, which has some pretty good vinyl selection.

How is the noise floor on this thing? And what are you using to clean your LPs?

[thrice]

Damn this is tempting, especially since I live like half an hour from Amoeba, which has some pretty good vinyl selection.

How is the noise floor on this thing? And what are you using to clean your LPs?

Noise floor? Oh geez I don't know...I guess it's good. There are these pops and cracks sometimes in the sound...I don't get it, my CDs don't do that.

I borrowed a friend's VPI machine to clean most of my records...that worked well but was a process...time consuming and a pain in the ass. Otherwise I use a DiscWasher thingy....it's a brush covered with a velour type material and a bottle of cleaner...works well if you ask me. I also have a dry brush...usually I just clean the record with fluid once and then use the dry brush each time a play....three rotations with the dry brush, drop the arm and sip some Scotch...ahhhh.

[humanflyz]

Haha, you know what I mean by noise floor? Some turntables have less noise than others.

But yes, this is tempting...

[thrice]

Haha, you know what I mean by noise floor? Some turntables have less noise than others.

But yes, this is tempting...

Yeah no I know...it's good overall...I get a little hiss through my lambdas, but it could be somewhere else as well. I'm running the turntable through my denon integrated receiver (only phono stage I have right now). Then I have the tape loop out going to a Stax SRM-1/Mk2 or out to a Meta42 for dynamic cans.

So some of the noise could be from the amps or the integrated....it's not the best amp in the world and I've had some noise issues with it in the past.

Overall it's pretty quiet...I can't wait to get a "proper" audiophile phono stage hooked up to it.

I highly recommend it!

[deepak]

Just thought I'd bump this thread. I've so far amassed about 20+ pieces of nice vinyl I think I'll be ordering either a P1 or MMF 2.1

Pretty nice for a "budget" audiophile turntable to be made in England.

[thrice]

Just thought I'd bump this thread. I've so far amassed about 20+ pieces of nice vinyl I think I'll be ordering either a P1 or MMF 2.1

Pretty nice for a "budget" audiophile turntable to be made in England.

It is, I've been enjoying mine quite a bit. I'm waiting on a Bottlehead Seduction phono preamp kit to arrive to round out the vinyl setup. Overall the P1 is a great little TT for $350. I'm quite happy with it.

[deepak]

It is, I've been enjoying mine quite a bit. I'm waiting on a Bottlehead Seduction phono preamp kit to arrive to round out the vinyl setup. Overall the P1 is a great little TT for $350. I'm quite happy with it.

Thats cool. That Bottlehead stuff is sexy (pun intended)

As I undestand these can't be ordered online?

Rega only allows you to buy from local dealers?

[thrice]

http://www.musicdirect.com/products/detail.asp?sku=AREP1

[deepak]

Thanks. A few websites (and Audiogon dealers) mentioned they'd only sell if you didn't have a dealer near you. I'm still going to check if there are any near the Boston area, might make it easier for warranty reasons.

[postjack]

I really want to try out vinyl, but I'm having difficulty making any gear purchases because of indecisiveness. I've grown accustomed to general quality of say the Stello DA100 as a minimum. I would hate to spend a thousand bucks on a TT, tonearm, cart, and phono stage just to have it sound like mud.

So I ask you all who have experienced budget vinyl: does a budget setup truly reveal what vinyl is capable of, or does one have to spend thousands before you get a real taste?

[thrice]

I haven't spent a lot of time listening to really high end vinyl rigs, but I've been really satisfied with the P1 so far. I'm running it off the phono stage in my denon receiver right now, but when the Bottlehead Seduction preamp arrives, I'll use that ($274 for the kit, you build it yourself).

The big thing seems to be cleaning the records. Once they're clean I find they sound really quite good. I haven't done a direct comparison to my Wadia CD player though. I had a bunch of vinyl though, so it's nice to have a modest rig to play it on. I do buy some jazz on vinyl (mostly for the romantic quality of it all) but most new music I purchase on CD.

I've heard the P1 obviously and the MMF 5 and both sound good. I'm sure a higher end turntable will trounce them, but IMHO for the money they were worthwhile investments. The P1 especially, at $350 it's a steal. the ortofon cartridge, while not the best thing on earth, is good and there's a nice tidy upgrade path up the Ortofon lineup.

Hope that helps.

[Dusty Chalk]

So I ask you all who have experienced budget vinyl: does a budget setup truly reveal what vinyl is capable of, or does one have to spend thousands before you get a real taste?

You can definitely get a taste of vinyl with budget gear. I've heard (admittedly very) good turntables on very entry level phono preamps on both Juan's and Hirsch's systems, and've been impressed. The thing about analog is its naturalness. This is not something that everyone is sensitive to, but I think I am. I just find analog more coherent and...I don't know if smooth is the right word, because I've heard more smooth and less smooth digital gear...but perhaps what I'd call it is 'less digititis'.

You really need to hear an analog setup. Because you could be one of those people who just doesn't hear the difference. That doesn't make you less of an audiophile, so don't take it as a slam; I know at least two people who don't hear the difference -- one is an out-of-the-closet close-n-play listener (I.E. he hates high-end gear) who loves the convenience of CD's, but the other is definitely an audiophile.

[postjack]

Thanks thrice and Dusty Chalk for your responses. I do have a few vinyls sitting around that I bought for one reason or another, and I do think I would enjoy the "romance" of the spinning label while listening to some tunes. But like you say Chalk, I think this will be something I'll want to hear myself before spending any money on it whatsoever. Furthermore I'd have to find someplace to put it, as both my amp and source have tubes on top so stacking is out of the question, which means I'd have to invest in some sort of extra table to fit to the side of my desk, or maybe even a wall mount.

Problem with testing is that I'm not in an area close to any other audiophiles, at least not that I have met online. I suppose I'll just sit tight and wait for an opportunity to come up.

[Grand Enigma]

I'll be in the ranks of you crazies soon...

[postjack]

Anyone have any feelings about buying a refurbished vintage TT (as opposed to a brand new one) from a place like Vinyl Nirvana Think the SQ:$$$ ratio might be a bit better?

[deepak]

Thrice any pics of your Bottlehead?