I was lucky enough to find a store in my area that has hundreds or even a thousand classical vinyl LPs and each is about five dollars. Its pretty hard to beat great vinyl recordings, especially for the money. I bought a stock MMF-7 and a Pro-ject phono pre-amp and th sound at least equals my beautiful Classe CDP. I say, go vinyl and have fun shopping for LPs.
Question for classical lovers
First of all, I grew up listening to classical and jazz, vinyl for the most part, I remember it being pleasant with no fatigue. Later, with low end gear, it was impossible to listen to classical CDs because of the edgy harsh strings. Now with respectible entry level or mid-fi gear that I have tried or auditioned, some of the recordings sound great but majority still suck. I have added tube preamps like AI modulus and Van Alstine in the chain but the problem still exists. So are the majority of CDs just bad digital recordings or transfers or is most gear out there just incapable of handling complex musical passages? Also, quite a few SACDs out there make me and my dog cringe!(must be the 100Khz response or whatever) Do I sell one of my cars and buy some exotic gear or ditch it all and get a TT?