A friend asked my to see if I could fix her record player and amplifier setup, which I did.  I had already decided it was time I started listening to music again to relax and this prompted me to think about my own vinyl record collection.  I have a number of records that haven't got a CD version and that I would like to play.  My original hi-fi system got partly lost and partly damaged in a house move and a few years ago I tried buying turntables but didn't find any that worked well enough so gave it up as a bad job.   This time I decided to buy a reasonably high quality turntable and make a proper go of it.

MY set up is from the 1980 and the turntable can not be the same room. and have one amp to each speaker and 4 wires  to each speaker and still sound good out put of 800 watts. 6k in 1980s was a lot of money.

I found the sound quality of analogue reproduction was smoother and cleaner than digital.  As a scientist and engineer I couldn't see a logical reason why analogue should sound any better than digital - sampling rate and resolution both seemed more than adequate and yet I have found the analogue sound definitely better than digital having done a direct comparison.  I wasn't satisfied to take other peoples views on this I wanted to see for myself and now I have I'm totally convinced.

Now I have resurrected my interest in playing music and I'm really enjoying it.

Being much older and less capable with my hands I felt I wasn't up to positioning the pickup by hand, even with the ability to lower the arm hydraulically.  This led me to go for an automatic deck rather than a fully manual like I had before.  I had reservations about an automatically controlled tone arm but knew that buying online would enable me to return the deck and get my money back if i wasn't satisfied and maybe buy a fully manual one.  I needn't have worried - I am totally delighted with the deck I bought.

Here is a list of the equipment I have to date :-

1. Audio-Technica AT-LP3 Turntable.
2. Pioneer A-209R Amplifier - secondhand
3. Yamaha NSF51 Floorstanding Speakers - Black

Sometime in the future when funds permit I may buy a sub-woofer  such as :- Yamaha NS-SW300 sub-woofer - review here

Assembly of turntable.

Here's the photo series from assembling the turntable.  The drive belt is supplied installed around the platter pulley (underneath) and a red ribbon is tucked under it.  This ribbon is used to pull the belt out and onto the motor pulley.

For extending the bass response this would do me nicely :- The Epicenter 500 Subwoofer

This is what I play my vinyl (33's & 45's) on... a Michell Focus One.

note: photo for illustrative purposes only. I am in the process of re-arranging my Hi-Fi separates.

My most recent vinyl LP purchase was 'Rosetta' by Vangelis.  I have yet to play it.

The swing back to Vinyl was a big is it a mad thing to do for us Gina, we have streamed music via our Hifi set up.

Well I have to agree it's a different music, more depth and warmth to the sound.

Mde me wonder why I sold off a lot of Vinyl a few years back.

Never mind we are reinstating it again. 

I'm glad I never sold or got rid of any of my vinyl records   But I did change over to CDs when the came out and I have more of them.  The sound is definitely harsher.  I found I can play them in my Blu-Ray player.  ATM I'm playing through the television set then to my Hi-Fi amplifier but I shall connect the audio directly - need to buy a stereo phono cable.

I have ordered 3 more vinyl records from Amazon - all organ music - one new and two used in good condition.

1. Bach Organ Music from Soissons Cathedral - Marie-Madeleine and Maurice Durufle - New - I had the last one.
2. Organ music from Canterbury Cathedral - Bach, Mendelssohn and Francks - Used - they only had one copy.
3. Liszt: The Organ Of Salisbury Cathedral - Used - they only had one copy.

17 hours ago, Gina said:

I'm glad I never sold or got rid of any of my vinyl records   But I did change over to CDs when the came out and I have more of them.  The sound is definitely harsher.  I found I can play them in my Blu-Ray player.  ATM I'm playing through the television set then to my Hi-Fi amplifier but I shall connect the audio directly - need to buy a stereo phono cable.

I have ordered 3 more vinyl records from Amazon - all organ music - one new and two used in good condition.

1. Bach Organ Music from Soissons Cathedral - Marie-Madeleine and Maurice Durufle - New - I had the last one.
2. Organ music from Canterbury Cathedral - Bach, Mendelssohn and Francks - Used - they only had one copy.
3. Liszt: The Organ Of Salisbury Cathedral - Used - they only had one copy.

On the right speakers Organ music sounds stunning.

Still waiting for my organ music records to arrive!  No 1. above is coming from Italy and isn't due until the end of the month but the other two should have arrived by now but they're coming by Royal Mail and that often seems to take longer than expected.

If I decide to try a chimney sub-woofer I think this Class D sub-woofer amplifier looks a good option.  It has a variable low pass filter and gain control and has a mixer input.  Needs twin 24v PSUs which is no problem.  140W output.  The sub-woofer itself would seem to need more spent on it from what I can see - best part of £100.  All the same, that's a lot less than the Yamaha sub-woofer box at £300! and should get me down to 20Hz with luck.

Alternatively, I guess I could make my own.  I was wondering about using the PWM outputs from an Arduino to drive a push-pull MOSFET power stage.  I'm used to power MOSFETs for driving heaters for 3D printers and also for dew heaters for astro.  OTOH this would be yet another project and I have too many on the books already

I thought this looked like a suitable sub-woofer until I noticed it had a sealed back! -

PIONEER TS-W261S4 10" 1,200-Watt 4_ Champion Series Subwoofer

This looks better :-

Earthquake 10" Subwoofer, 4 Ohm V.C.

Bit small ??

Depends where I put the speaker.  Needs to be small if it went in the chimney but could be bigger if I put it in the fireplace.  Guess you'd recommend a 12" OR 15".   I used a 15" in the fireplace before.

Looked at reviews of the speaker linked to above and I see it's a shallow one meant for cars.  I definitely don't need shallow - ooodles of space   I want a normal hi-fi speaker not a car jobby!  Maybe I should look at a different supplier.

16 hours ago, Gina said:

If I decide to try a chimney sub-woofer I think this Class D sub-woofer amplifier looks a good option. 

Recalling days when folks used to build (tuned) *fireplace* chimney Horns?!

I have to admit I have never understood how anything beyond "Class B"
(push-pull) can successfully reproduce a *whole* audio SINE wave, but... 

Have fun with the Organ Music! If you haven't already bought/considered 
it: Widor's Toccatta and Fugue in F  should "Blow the dust out" of things! 

Class D uses switching at a high frequency to avoid the voltage drop on the output MOSFETs similar to how a switching power supply works.  They are even said to produce the low distortion of a valve power amplifier.

I absolutely adore Widor's Toccata and Fugue in F   One of my favourite works

1 minute ago, Gina said:

Class D uses switching at a high frequency to avoid the voltage drop on the output MOSFETs
similar to how a switching power supply works. 

I finally understand now! (Long years of "wondering about such things" are now resolved)

I've found the two records that were supposed to have been delivered last Friday were, in fact delivered, into my wheelie bin!!!!   Found the package when I went to put the rubbish out this afternoon!   I'm now playing the Canterbury Cathedral one

And now the Salisbury Cathedral one - lots of deep pedal notes on this one

18 hours ago, Gina said:

I've found the two records that were supposed to have been delivered last Friday were, in fact delivered, into my wheelie bin!!!!   Found the package when I went to put the rubbish out this afternoon!   I'm now playing the Canterbury Cathedral one

Amazon? by any chance.
A big and very expensive photography book for my wife was lobbed over our neighbours wall last Christmas, found rather dented and soggy in new year!

Yes, sold through Amazon but I think delivery was Royal Mail.  If it was, it wasn't my usual postie as he always puts the bigger items in my secure place.  I nearly said where but then had second thoughts