Electronics | Michele Thranes Music Vinyl LP Records Site

Archive for the ‘electronics’ tag

Audiophile Living Stereo

Audiophile Living Stereo

Audiophile Living Stereo
Setting up a stereo system with a turntable?

I have a Sony PS-LX300 turntable with a built in phono pre-amp. The speakers that I am planning on purchasing are very cheap, 120 watt Sony speakers. Do I need an additional amp to act as a go-between for the turntable and speakers, or will I be able to just plug and play? If I do need another amp, what should I be looking for? Please keep in mind that I am a college student living off ramen and I just want to listen to my records without feeling like I'm listening through a tin can. I am by no means an "audiophile," and am not particularly concerned with sound quality.

Thanks so much for any help you can provide.

I think I can help you. (-:

FIRST)
that's a piece of shit. If you paid over $5 for it, you got ripped off.

Second) cheap speakers=no good. VERY cheap=don't buy.

Third) if you are a college student living off Ramen, GO VINTAGE!!!!! Vintage gear is cheap, plentiful, and reliable. If you don't need crappy sound, you can get VERY good sound on a budget.

You will have to save a little, but about $200-$300 can get you a good system that will last for years and years and years. It's not what you are looking for now, but why waste your money on something that you will just throw away in a couple of years.

my suggested system on a LOW LOW LOW budget:
On ebay RIGHT NOW:
technics SL-D202 turntable with new stylus. In fact, it's the same turntable that I use. Gives very good performance. 1 day left.

Sansui 771. This might go low. GREAT receiver. The XX1 is a forgotten series and offeres great performance for low prices. Ignore the warning about the high powered speakers. Any speakers can be used with almost any amp. Just gotta watch the volume. You can also connect a bunch of other stuff, and don't need the cheap phono preamp that you bought. the tuner in the Sansui is also very good. I used a 661 for 2 years as my main receiver.

Speakers: get 2 pair Realistic Minimus-7's. Stack them on top of each other, 2 per channel in this arrangement:
Woofer
Tweeter
Tweeter
Woofer

Wire one set to speaker connection A and the other to B and select A+B on the amp.

Realistic Minimus-7's are absolutely wonderful little speakers that offer insane performance for almost no money. Like $15 a pair. they are also small in stature, so they do not take up a ton of space.

Rules on volume: be REASONABLE. The Realistics are NOT meant to go to room shaking levels, just great mid-level listening. I have a pair of -12's that are the slightly bigger brothers to these and they are MUCH better than the JBL 4311's I used to have.

Hope that this could help you, and get you a good system. I have had personal experience with products in the same family of what I have recommended, so I know the sound well.

If you need help balancing the arm of the Technics, set it for 2gm, and balance it using the static type instructions from here: www.theturntablefactory.com/balance.html.

ENJOY THE MUSIC, and let me know how you did.