Advice on amps + speakers

LauNChPaD · #1 10-11-2003, 09:51 AM

Hello all,

I need a little bit of help...Let me first of all say that I know nothing at all about amps or speakers, I am technically illiterate in this area. That's why I'm casting about for help here.

Today I purchased a Kenwood turntable (KD-2055). It's about 20 years old, but it's absolutely awesome. However, when I arrived home I found that I wasn't able to play it through my piece of shit cheap stereo. Being the ignorant fool that I am, I thought that the left and right jacks on the turntable would simply plug into my left and right auxiliary inputs, and that would be that. As I have since been informed, I need an amp with phono inputs.

I was told that all the new amps today are not made with phono inputs. Could any-one reccomend what sort of second hand, older model amps would be a good purchase to play my vinyl through. Obviously I want an amp that I can connect a CD player too aswell. Also, I'm planning to buy new speakers, so any reccomendations here would be very helpful also.

One more question...the technics speakers I currently own are connected to my reciever by loose wire only (i.e. they are not plugged in by jacks or whatever...). Do most amps have speaker connections that allow cable wire to be hooked in, or do I need speakers that are connected by jakcs?

Any help related to any of the above would be greatly appreciated. I'm only just starting to learn about sound systems etc..., so I'll have to take it slowly. Cheers.

Oh yea, any recommendations on what would be a good CD player to buy would also be great.

Fulghum · #2 10-11-2003, 10:32 AM

There are a lot of good brands out there. Most of the upper end brands will have an auxilary input or a phono input, but they will cost you some $$$$'s. If your looking to do this cheap, hopefully you can get lucky at second hand store or pawn shop.

I have had very good luck over the years with Sansui, Dennon, Harmon Kardon, and Fischer componenets. All very well made and all have given me years of dependable service. I still have and use my original Sansui receiver that I got for Christmas in 1973 (It's on my secondary system in my den). My primary system is built around a Dennon AVR610. It's been up and running about 10 or 11 years now.

With regards to the CD players. I currently am using a Kenwood CD-223M. It has a 200 disc capacity and sounds wonderful. It's going on 5 years old and is holding up well. The only advice I would go out of my way to give on CD players is STAY AWAY FROM SONY. I have had two, and both we crap. Each one only held up about a year before problems set in. When the first one crapped out on me I had it repaced under warranty. When the second one did the same, thing, I chucked it and bought the Kenwood.

Good hunting.

LauNChPaD · #3 10-14-2003, 05:12 AM

Thanks fulghum.

Some-one told me that virtually none of the new amps have phono inpuuts, although I'm not yet sure if this is true. Can anyone confirm? If this is the case, I am definetely going second hand. My turntable won't play through a line input. Apparently you can buy off board phono stages which amplify the phono signal up the line voltage (basically a pre-amp). Basically you would just plug your turntable into the phono amp then connect the phono amp into any line in voltage. But I don't think I can be bothered finding one of these.

From what I've read on the net Harmon Kardon seems to be a good choice (although a good second hand one may be hard to find).

LauNChPaD · #4 10-14-2003, 05:14 AM

On speakers too...

Rob_Thompson · #5 10-14-2003, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by LauNChPaD
Hello all,

I need a little bit of help...Let me first of all say that I know nothing at all about amps or speakers, I am technically illiterate in this area. That's why I'm casting about for help here.

Today I purchased a Kenwood turntable (KD-2055). It's about 20 years old, but it's absolutely awesome. However, when I arrived home I found that I wasn't able to play it through my piece of shit cheap stereo. Being the ignorant fool that I am, I thought that the left and right jacks on the turntable would simply plug into my left and right auxiliary inputs, and that would be that. As I have since been informed, I need an amp with phono inputs.

I was told that all the new amps today are not made with phono inputs. Could any-one reccomend what sort of second hand, older model amps would be a good purchase to play my vinyl through. Obviously I want an amp that I can connect a CD player too aswell. Also, I'm planning to buy new speakers, so any reccomendations here would be very helpful also.

Some are made with phono inputs. It's also easy to get a phono preamp, well less than $100 here. What kind of receiver do you currently have? CD player can connect directly to Aux.

Quote:

One more question...the technics speakers I currently own are connected to my reciever by loose wire only (i.e. they are not plugged in by jacks or whatever...). Do most amps have speaker connections that allow cable wire to be hooked in, or do I need speakers that are connected by jakcs?

Home stereo speakers using plugs/jacks are cheap, low-power speakers, as far as I know. Good quality amps have some sort of spring-clip or binding post to tie the wires to. Professional speakers may use 1/4" phone plugs, but that's not what you are looking for...

Everyone has their brand loyalty, so all I'll say is I like Panasonic/National/Technics and JVC. Really, they are all very similar in the same price ranges.

For speakers, my favorite is Klipsch, but I suspect you will have a rough time finding them in Australia. If anything, listen to several sets of speakers by different manufacturers before you make your choice, as amps basically all sound the same - it's the speaker that makes or breaks your system.

Now, after you've done all that, you'll need to find a source for new phono cartridges and record cleaning supplies.

Floydianjunker · #6 03-07-2005, 03:09 AM

I've got a Pioneer SX 1050 running through 2 pairs of JBL L100 speakers stacked on each side. If you want to really experience Pink Floyd, my setup is amazing. I've heard some very high end equipment before (Mcintosh amps through 15,000 dollar Mcintosh speakers) and my system I can truly say at least holds a cande to it. HPM 100s also rock. Dont buy any new crap today whatever you do...unless its Mcintosh, but you'll need about 10,000 bucks to throw at it at least. Marantz or Pioneer recievers from the 70s through JBL L100s or HPM 100s is what i recommend, unless you've got over a couple thousand to spend

Brad · #7 03-07-2005, 03:05 PM

I have never had any problems with any of my SONY equiptmenr.
Its great!

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