Wanting to get into Vinyl - Need help

Thanks for your thoughts Honest1. I'll toss out a couple of my reasons for wanting to get into a bit of analog.

I tend to agree with you on the digital aspect. Right now I have my entire CD collection ripped to a PC as WAV files using EAC. Since WAV doesn't support metadata I have painstakingly added each album to the windows media player library database. The PC outputs bit perfect digital which my Rotel AV receiver does the DA conversion. I only went this route after hours of A/B comparison againt my Rotel CD player. It's all very nice and neat, but a bit detached.

So here are my reasons..

1) Poorly masterd/remastered CD's. The loudness war and compression artifacts are becoming annoying and difficult to ignore. I do listen to a fair amount of classic rock, hard rock, and metal. Even older material that was originally recorded on analog is getting the "digitally remastered" treatment.

2) I have a number of great/cheap vinyl sources locally. It should be easy to grow a decent collection on the cheap. Of course I'll probably go broke cleaning them, but what the heck.

3) Although I don't want to have to fidget with a turntable for 15 minutes just to play a record, I do want a more interactive/organic process for playing music when I feel like it.

Right now I fire up the computer, turn on the 54" plasma, and use the air mouse to queue up a bunch of songs. It's very convenient, but a bit sterile. It's not like the old days where put on a piece of vinyl and listened to a whole side at a crack.

4) The unknown.. Who knows.. I may learn that I want/like to tweak :)

I hope this helps to know where I'm coming from.

Congratulations on your decision! There are many folks here who enjoy playing vinyl so you're in good hands; lots of opinions too you can be sure. I have owned Rega P3 ad P25 tables and currently own a Music Hall MM7. which I personally prefer over the Regas, but that's a matter of personal choice. Provided you install a decent catridge iin any of these tables, they will suit your needs well. I have also home auditioned the X-Cans phono stage by Musical Fidelity many years ago and found the sound to be highly agreeable and rewarding. I don't think you can go wrong with your proposed options. Welcome to vinyl!

Congratulations on your decision! There are many folks here who enjoy playing vinyl so you're in good hands; lots of opinions too you can be sure. I have owned Rega P3 and P25 tables and currently own a Music Hall MM7, which I personally prefer over the Regas, but that's a matter of personal choice. Provided you install a decent catridge in any of these tables, they should suit your initial and near term needs well. I also home auditioned the X-Cans phono stage by Musical Fidelity many years ago and found the sound to be highly agreeable and rewarding. I don't think you can go wrong with any of your proposed options. Welcome to vinyl!

I see we can't edit like we used to...sorry for the double posting. I was in the process of trying to correct my typos.

Expect to spend far more than you expect to spend.