SACD vs Analog

Pani,Thanks for suggesting EMT. I had a look into links you provided and it's very interesting.

It is a pleasure to be able to see a happy analogue listener. Those EMTs are legendary TTs and if by any chance you do not like listening to LPs on one of these TTs you can be sure of two things:

1. LPs are not for you (which is a very rare case)

2. You get your investment back with minimal loss, because these TTs have great resale value.

BTW, among the three EMT engineers Mr.Dusch seems to be the most popular. He not only restores these TTs to original condition but also upgrades the phonostage section to accommodate wider frequency bandwidth to cater to new age hifi system's resolution. And he also gives a warranty with all his products.

I recently took the vinyl plunge after being SACD oriented. I spent a little more than $4000, but got a used Basis 2500, Vector 4 arm, Benz cartridge and Simaudio phono preamp. I had the table and cartridge set up by a professional; I also bought a VPI 16.5 cleaning machine. I did this because I wanted to have an alternative source for non-classical music. I had basically given up listening to regular CDs.

Buying records and listening to my new analog front end is both wonderful and frustrating. My biggest frustration is that many brand new discs I have purchased have significant surface noise when in new clean condition.
It does put me on edge when a click or pop comes up repeatedly and probably always will. For that reason I listen to classical solely on SACD. And some new discs (like those from New West) just sound like crap compared to even the CD. But when the magic happens it is seductive. I bought a used copy of The best of the Guess Who at a used record shop for $4, and the pressing is immaculate with very minor surface noise. The sonics are better than I could have dreamed. Same for a copy of Al Stewart Past Present and Future. Oh well, we all have to live within these limitations until digital gets it better than analog.

Abronfer, if you realy think you have the time and patients for a Turntable - go for it.

I do not know enough about all the gear in your price range to be of real help. But would I think $4K for a TT, arm and cart can deliver a lot, esp if its used.

Eight years ago the vinyl bug hit me and I have not looked back. There has been a lot of fun that has come out of the effort/expense.

TD

For the EMT, I can wholeheartedly recommend also
another ex-EMT engineer Hans Fabritius from fabtech.de (honest, no BS, no $$$-hungry person, helped me a big big deal to put my 930 in shape...teching about the machine as well).
There is also Hans van Vliet in Holland (no persolan experience apart from few emails but sounded very right too).

Good luck!

Abronfer...I realise I may be offering conflicting advice but I would urge you not to get "hung up" on record cleaning issues at this stage.
Although I'm an advocate of cleaning LPs I feel everything has its place. In the 1980s Linn used to argue cleaning was unnecessary because the the stylus performed this task. This is obviously an "extreme" view but in one sense it is correct. If you purchased 120g LPs from new and kept them dust free, then, on a well optimised rig, many/most of them will appear to be noiseless. This is certainly the case with most of the stuff I bought back in the 70s & 80s. They can sound as good as the day I bought them (and quieter than some of the ones that have been cleaned!). However, not knowing the history of pre-owned vinyl, e.g. cigarette smokers, you may wish to clean them yourself or have them professionally cleaned for a small fee.
I don't personally clean my 2nd hand LPs but instead hive the job off a few dozen at a time to a bureaux or dealer to do it for me on a Lori or Keith Monks for £2/item.
Given that some 2nd hand LPs only cost £0-99 this is a small price to pay for not being oppressed by drudgery. 9 times out of 10 they'll do a better job than I would :) Thus you can get on with enjoying the music as life is most definitely short.

As a minimum I would recommend a Zerostat gun though. It keeps static to a minimum. Use on both sides whenever you flip, then again both sides after playing (or just pop the LP straight back into an anti-static sleeve and seal it.)
I also endorse the view that with analogue the more you spend on the arm and T/T the greater the reward. Many are quite happy to use a Denon 103 on their expensive rigs... :)
Hope this is helpful.