[secretagent44]

Alright, I'm looking to take the next baby step in this expensive world of hi-fi. The options I'm thinking about are as follows:

1.) Buying a turntable - probably the most likely upgrade, and my Dad's currently non-working one may be restorable. Only problem is that CD's will most likely dominate my collection just because good vinyl shops are hard to find. Also I would have no idea how to go about fixing the broken one.

2.) Buying Grado SR-80's - I think the 'warm' sound would compliment my current V6's nicely, but you can only listen to one pair of headphones at once! I'm afraid I'll wind up listening to only one pair and let the other collect dust.

3.) JMT amp - I have yet to ask JMT about this, but the more I read about his fantastic amps the more excited I get. Any ideas on how much improvement it will give to my already easy to drive Sony's?

Any help you folks can give me is greatly appreciated!

Joe

 

[gloom]

The V6s don't benefit too much from an amp. They'll sound a little smoother, but it's not a night and day change like with some headphones (Sennheiser HD580s, for instance.)

If your dad already has a turntable, he probably has a stockpile of music, some of which you may like. You also have the resources of the internet at your disposal for acquiring more (though it's less convenient than a walk-in store for hearing things in advance.)

I think I would give the SR-80 a try. It has a very different sonic signature than the V6 (I own both.) You may like it more, depending on what kind of music you listen to (if you're a classical buff, though, the SR-80 isn't ideal.)

My approach to headphone listening has been to try different headphones first, to find a kind of sound I like. I found it in the Senn HD580. I think all headphones will reveal something of their nature even with the worst source and without amplification. When one finds a character one likes, the next step is to enhance it via amp and source upgrades.

Lastly, if those are your headphones in your avatar, please remove the tacky red stickers that say "for digital" on the earpieces. Thank you for your consideration.

 

[CaptBubba]

I don't know if this will influence your decision, but IMO, V6s just seem to mesh with LPs. The v6s did benifit some when I built an amp, but not as much as listening to them with LPs, there was just something about the combination.

Maybe I just love those big black disks....

 

[Audio-Me]

nt

 

[Hirsch]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio&Me do #1!

This really reminds me of my sister trying to potty train her kids

 

[mbriant]

Unless your budget allows for a high quality turntable/cartridge, I wouldn't bother. You will likely be disappointed.

Here's another member who recently tried.

http://head-fi.com/forums/showthread...threadid=10606

 

[secretagent44]

I think my situation is quite different from the guy in the other thread. He's comparing it to DVDA and other more expensive products than I own, plus the problem seems to be in the record more than the source. I'll definitely try restoring the turntable. My dad said today that it probably only needed a new stylus, and I'll probably pick up a cheap A-T cartridge for it. It's an old (late 70's?) Yamaha (I don't want to hear any groaning, high-priced turntable owners!), but should definitely be an upgrade to my early 90's Sony PCDP.

Thanks for the advice,
Joe

 

[jopi]

Turntables are a lot of fun. Most of us here are into tweaking and a turntable is the perfect playground for that.

Ebay has thousands of records for sale and I drive around the neighborhood every Saturday for garage sales.

I don't think you need an expensive turntable to have fun. Violins on my 20 year old $100 Marantz turntable still sound more like violins than the ones I've auditioned on a high end Sony SACD player a couple of weeks ago (might have been the recording though, but I really don't want to no. Ignorance is bliss in this case).