Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

If you are happy with the Rega, and no reason not to be, then you just need a decent amp, possibly a phono stage and some bookshelf speakers.

Small speakers need more power. My preference is to go large on current and get the best out of whatever speakers you opt for. This amp, for example, has a phono stage in built and some other functions you may or may not need:

https://www.richersounds.com/cambridge-audio-axr85-lunar-grey.html

small speakers- lots to choose from. wharfdale diamonds were great in their day, not sure what the current versions are like. these are well thought of too:

https://www.richersounds.com/q-acoustics-3030i-walnut.html

*although rear ports may not be ideal if you want to have them up against a wall.

With similar criteria I went for a Marantz PM6007 amp and Dalin Oberon 1 speakers (needed something relatively small that could sit close to a wall).

No need to spend on turntable with a Planar 3.

Cambridge Audio, Denon, Marantz and Yamaha all do amps for roughly £300-£400 on Richer Sounds, which will all be fine. The Marantz PM6007 at £369 is pretty good, as it's got a bunch of digital in's and a sub-woofer out, should you ever want go that route.

Dali, Mission, Wharfedale, Klipsch etc all do speakers for £300 or below that should be fine. Then with the rest of your budget, get some speaker stands (if needed) and some nice headphones (I like Grado SR60/SR80, other opinions are available).

If you want to go matchy-match the Rega Io amp is well-reviewed. Not a huge number of inputs though

Ah. Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. I have some new names to google. Realise my post was a bit ambiguous. The P3 will continue duties in the living room, I only mentioned it for context. I will need a new turntable.

Proximity to the wall could be an issue. As might cables in general?

By nature I'd favour simplicity over features. This will be for vinyl only. Exclusively morose dad relaxation.

Quite a small budget these days but this is a system of components I have had in different configurations except for the amp which you could change within budget.

Rega P3 (older 2nd hand), Nad PP2, Q Acoustics 3020, smsl sa-50.

The same system with an old sonos amp makes a reasonable streaming system.

simplicity over features. This will be for vinyl only.

Could be as simple as a turntable with built in phono preamp e.g. https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/t1-phono-sb/ and some active speakers e.g. https://www.qacoustics.co.uk/m20-bluetooth-speaker.html

Mmm. That's an interesting idea. Might have to admit that convenience wins over cables. Specially for you. (Don't be fooled everyone, I still need turntable)

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Drive belt courtesy of Garmin mount.

Have you had much joy with Pro-ject kit? I've had a few bits from them and even if it's not had problems it just performs poorly for the price.

Have you had much joy with Pro-ject kit?

No personal experience, it was just an example of the kind of thing. https://www.rega.co.uk/products/planar-1-plus is another

It's appealing to anyone who wants to avoid cables. I wouldn't trust a bluetooth connection to remain simple though. Generally Pro-ject components are very cheap where they can't be seen, motors not fit for purpose, transformers that fail and generally poor design decisions in materials and poorly applied too.

The Rega I would at least expect to have decent bearings and motor.

If convenience is the ethos I'm not sure audiophile quality can be expected though. Maybe it's attainable but I've never been that lucky.

I wouldn't trust a bluetooth connection

Neither would I, which is why I suggested solutions which use wires 🙂

I thought the 'advantage' of the T1 and M20 is they can connect via bluetooth. I'm guessing they can also use cables but then why have the bluetooth capability?

I thought the 'advantage' of the T1 and M20 is they can connect via bluetooth.

The T1BT has Bluetooth, the T1PhonoSB doesn't.
The M20 does have Bluetooth, which is redundant in this case, but lots of budget active speakers do because it costs so little to implement and opens the market to the much larger user group who want speakers to go with their phones.

If convenience is the ethos I'm not sure audiophile quality can be expected

As I said 3 years ago 🙂

Cool. Let's say I'm in on the P1. The Plus is 'plug and play' directly to the speakers(?) But presumably I Loose something by not having a separate amp? And if I'm following, the speakers need to be 'active'. (I do not love the aesthetics of the Rega speakers) Do not love. Thanks, this has been super useful. Happy enough to accommodate wires.

presumably I Loose something by not having a separate amp?

Well, you lose a box cluttering up your tiny listening room 😀
Yes, there's a reason why high end systems use separate boxes for everything. You might get a slight audio improvement at your budget by going for an integrated amp and passive speakers, and that route is easier to upgrade later. It's up to you to decide whether you want minimalist but inflexible or cluttered and hackable, I don't think there's going to be much in it from the listening chair ab initio on your budget.

A lot of really good hifi seems to move toward active speakers though?
Depends what inputs the active speakers have and if remote etc is nice, but don't see why you would be missing something.

You need volume attenuation (or volume control if your prefer). Your individual records will vary wildly in volume. To compensate for this you will need an easily accessible knob to change the amp gain.

The reason I avoided active monitors in my list is the volume control. Unless you get a set with a remote volume knob (I have a set like this) but the remote will blow your budget.

Sure you could use an app but that's also often not simple or nice to use.

Main advantage of active speakers is amps matched to the drivers by the manufacturers and short cable runs from amp to driver. Overall though they are cheap class d amps and depending on the design prone to overheating in tiny speaker cabs. Also when they fail it tends to happen suddenly and completely.

You need volume attenuation (or volume control if your prefer). Your individual records will vary wildly in volume. To compensate for this you will need an easily accessible knob to change the amp gain.

M20 haz remote.

If you pick an active speaker without controls, a volume knob like mine will do

A lot of really good hifi seems to move toward active speakers though?

It's certainly possible to build really good active speakers.

Strictly speaking "active" just means crossover before power amp (at least it did when I was a boy), it doesn't necessarily mean power amps inside the speaker cabinets. On that basis, a system can hardly be called high end if it doesn't have active speakers 🙂

Hopefully your knob is passive attenuation.

In fairness leaving the bluetooth aside the M20's not a bad option if you want everything in one box. My own experience of one box solutions at that price point is they fail and when they fail it's sudden and total.

I would add that simple for me does mean a volume knob not a remote.

Hopefully your knob is passive attenuation

Yes, as described, just an Alps volume potentiometer in a box with phono sockets on the back. https://amzn.eu/d/2EnyQyf other colours and retail platforms are available

simple for me does mean a volume knob

There's no reason why you couldn't turn the volume to max on the remote/app/on-speaker control and use the knob-in-a-box as your user interface