Wow, first let me start of by thanking each and everyone for your thoughtful suggestions. I really appreciate all the advice and thought that went into your posts. I love Audiogon and the forums, especially because there are so many with such a wealth of knowledge like all the people who responded to this post. To answer some of the questions, I am just starting out in vinyl, not getting back into it, so all the suggestions on research are helpful. I have thought about the issues, such as finding good recordings, cleaning, getting up to flip the record, and also that its not easy to skip a song you don't like. I'm going to one of the better used stores this afternoon to check out their selection and buy a few records to test out at the store where I buy my gear, which is called Soundings. The owner of Soundings says the store has a vacuum cleaner for the records that I can use anytime, which was nice. I
do have a top spot on my rack that would be perfect for a turntable, and have plenty of good storage for the records.
I don't mind getting up to change the record if the sounds is that much better. I know whether it sounds better is to some extent a matter of taste, so I am going to Soundings on Friday to listen to their set up -- Soundings has a good relationship with Boulder Amps and has a lot of high res digital recordings that the guys at Boulder Amps have given to Soundings so I can listen to those and the vinyl and compare and see what I think is better.
I appreciate that I know virtually nothing right now and appreciate everyone's suggestions that I need to do more research and go out and listen. Unfortunately, we don't have many good hi-fi stores here in Denver, Colorado, but I'm starting on Friday at Soundings and hope to listen to some more vinyl systems next week at a few of the other shops in town that I know have some higher end systems. I'll keep you all posted.
I also greatly appreciate the suggestions you have all made on hardware if I do decide after the research to go this route -- you have given me some great suggestions to research and look into. I also thought that the suggestions that I start with an inexpensive rig and then if I like it sell the inexpensive rig and only then buy a high-end rig might be a great way to try this.
I also appreciated the comment about upgrading my digital if I find that vinyl is not the right fit for me. I am always looking at that and considering ways to upgrade my system. If I don't end up with vinyl, I will definitely be upgrading my cd player and I appreciate the suggestion of upgrading my dac through the dealer that I bought the 280d from.
Again, thank you all so much for the advice and some great ideas to start my research and learning process. From someone who knows nothing about vinyl, I feel like I have a good starting point to begin researching and try and discover if vinyl is right for me and if so how I should go about adding vinyl to my system. Thank you all very much.
I appreciate that I know virtually nothing right now and appreciate everyone's suggestions that I need to do more research and go out and listen. Unfortunately, we don't have many good hi-fi stores here in Denver, Colorado, but I'm starting on Friday at Soundings and hope to listen to some more vinyl systems next week at a few of the other shops in town that I know have some higher end systems. I'll keep you all posted.
I also greatly appreciate the suggestions you have all made on hardware if I do decide after the research to go this route -- you have given me some great suggestions to research and look into. I also thought that the suggestions that I start with an inexpensive rig and then if I like it sell the inexpensive rig and only then buy a high-end rig might be a great way to try this.
I also appreciated the comment about upgrading my digital if I find that vinyl is not the right fit for me. I am always looking at that and considering ways to upgrade my system. If I don't end up with vinyl, I will definitely be upgrading my cd player and I appreciate the suggestion of upgrading my dac through the dealer that I bought the 280d from.
Again, thank you all so much for the advice and some great ideas to start my research and learning process. From someone who knows nothing about vinyl, I feel like I have a good starting point to begin researching and try and discover if vinyl is right for me and if so how I should go about adding vinyl to my system. Thank you all very much.