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Newbie who has no idea what they're doing. I have a U-Turn Audio Orbit w/ a Grado Black1 cartridge, my receiver is a Sony TA-AX520, equalizer is a Sony SEQ-120, and my speakers are a pair of slightly worn out DBX Soundfield left and right speakers I got for free from a friend. I'm gonna buy new speakers soon as the left one is a worn out and sounds like an old radio, but I wasn't sure if I should try finding the same speakers as opposed to some of the ones recommended on the beginner's thread. I was thinking about the Dayton Audio B652 because I'm cheap (for now), but I'm not really sure how to tell if a speaker is good or not, or how to really compare them with just specifications, or how to tell if a receiver is even good, or if anything is good, and information about these DBX speakers are kinda scarce it seems. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So last year i started a new job and the owner had a turntable and played records daily. After less then a week I was hooked and wanted to start a vinyl collection and have a nice setup. Now I'm far from being able to afford a $1000 setup or even a $500 setup. Im all about being patient and looking for the best deals which is what I did. My boss bought 2 vintage receivers and gave me one for free a Kenwood KR-3600 I was excited I love the vintage look. So I wanted to get a vintage turntable. Craigslist everything was $100+ and I didnt really have it. Well one day I was talking to a guy at an auction and told him i was looking for vinyl he tells me he will sell a collection a guy gave him along with a turntable for $60 I bought it right away. It was a Toshiba SR-255 Love the look. Also at the auction I managed to pick up an Polk Audio Monitor 60 for only $20. The Toshiba had no headshell so had to order it and the stylus off amazon Audio-Technica Universal Headshell (AT-HS1) and Audio-Technica Dual Magnet Phono Cartridge (AT95E). Im just wondering how decent my set up is. and what to improve first and with what. List again Kenwood KR-3600 Toshiba SR-255 Polk Audio Monitor 60 (only have 1 at the moment) Audio-Technica Dual Magnet Phono Cartridge (AT95E) Audio-Technica Universal Headshell (AT-HS1) I do get some humming when i have both left and right plugged into the receiver from the turntable. I do have the ground plugged in. I've tried reading the forums but I get confused pretty easy when I cant ask the questions from the beginning. Here are a couple pics as well

Hey everyone. I'm buying a new turntable very soon and I've realized that I'm lacking some knowledge on tonearms, which can ultimately hinder my decision on a turntable (and can cause me to be unhappy with my decision over time and want to upgrade yet again). I've noticed that on certain models (such as the pro-ject rpm series) that price is directly proportional to tonearm length - increasing in price as length does; particularly the pro-ject rpm1.3 and rpm 3. Fidelity wise, is there a reason for this? What's the effect of tonearm length on audio? I'm also unsure how tonearm shape affects sound quality, if it does at all. I always figured that S shaped tonearms had an effect on the angle of the stylus and made certain cartridges/styli more suitable than others for turntables (elliptical, conical, linear, etc...), and were also a way to affect torque of the arm when the turntable is spinning- and as a result making them superior to straight tonearms. I've since realized S shaped tonearms are in fact longer in general (fairly obvious, but this also relates to my previous question), causing me to wonder if their entire purpose is also to increase the length of tonearms. Could someone provide me with some insight on these things? Everything I've found online looks like marketing jargon to justify substantial price increases. Thanks ahead of time for any help you may provide, and I apologize if this post was at all confusingly worded as I tend to be fairly verbose. I'm sure I'll edit this post around 50 times before I'm finally ok with it.

First time posting, been reading up on a few threads on records and turntables. I'm looking into getting into the turntable obsessions, but not sure if I'm going to stick with it so I'd like to just buy a (cheap) but good turntable. I know that many of you readers may complain, saying that I should go buy myself an ION or Crosley or something with a relatively bad quality, but I also have a small budget that doesn't allow me to get a Project Debut or Rega just yet. Preferably something under 200$, can be about 250 but really cheaper is better here. I've looked at the Audio Technica LP120, and because I don't want an automatic, I think it might be a good choice even if its a bit expensive. I also have a question about what to first dabble in: Should I buy a turntable, preamp, and speakers? Or an All-in-One setup like a Crosley that will allow me to start this endeavor? Also, for anybody who's used the ATLP120, can you tell me if its an ideal player for a beginner? Should I invest in something more expensive because it has a sh*t sound? Also, what kind of components will I need? A speaker? A preamp? If anyone would recommend a different method or cheaper turntable that won't ruin records, please reply and tell me about it. I'm mainly concerned with starting out with a real setup and actual speakers, or a speakers included portable turntable.

Brand new member to these boards, and I cannot believe I have never joined here before! So I have been into vinyl since college (about 10 years) and I have always just put most of my money into buying new records, so I have a pretty sweet collection at this point of ~200-300 both used and new. A combination of not having the money, and blowing money on records has always prevented me from building a nice stereo setup. Over the years I have gotten a few vintage pieces together to make my current setup for cheap (~$250): Marantz 6100 turntable - with pickering XV-15 cartridge (original 625E stylus) Sansui G5700 receiver Infinity RSa speakers All of these pieces are in good working order and have done a decent enough job for me for several years as a poor college/grad student, but I am now able to finally upgrade to something better. I never really paid any attention to what components would/should work together since I just bought what I could find at local shops. I am now looking for which component upgrade would give me the most benefit initially, and if any of these components are actually pretty decent and not worth upgrading. I am not really in any rush to upgrade everything all at once (it's been long enough with the current setup that I can take my time) so I would say I have about $750-$1000 budget per component stretched out over the entire upgrade process. I would ideally like to buy new and upgrade to a system that will last for a long while, and not need/want to be changed anytime soon. I listen mainly to rock from all eras and I also have a good amount of classical/jazz records that I was given. I like music to sound clean and straight forward with not too much added color to it. I like hearing what the artist intended without the stereo adding what it thinks it should sound like. Any help and opinions would be greatly appreciated with all of this.....time to put on another track now! -Z

Hello All: I've been wanting to purchase a turntable for ages, but it has been cost prohibitive until recently. At any rate, I recently came into possession of an Acoustic Research (Model AR-XB, I believe), purchased by my Dad in 1975. He had an issue with the stylus jumping back in the day, but other than that it was in great working condition. I've cleaned it up, and aside from the rubbery shock absorbtion pad adhesive dry-rotting on the outer-platter, I think it's ready to go. I plan on replacing the cartidge tomorrow (unless it would be unwise to do so), and am in need of some advice as to a quality replacement, as well as any advice as to a quality/affordable pre-amp through which to run it. I've saved my dumbest question for last: the portion of the motor that moves the belt appears to have two guides through which to run the belt. Does this have to do with motor speed, i.e., 33 1/3 v. 45? Thanks in advance! SCBobo