And like said above, if you just start with a turntable, a Audio Technica LP120 will be good enough (as long as you don't use the internal preamp, it's absolute crap) for starts and as good as that Project you suggested (for a fraction of the price). A technics is a lot better and worth their price, but no project or other similar hifi turntable. But as starter a AT is good enough (and for many it stays good enough for the rest of their life).
Me loves vintage Duals (and I have a few as well - cough), but my 701 remains in the main rig - it's overall around Rega 6 level, the arm may be not as good but drive and isolation tons better
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If you're thinking original mid 1970s SL1500, I'd agree as I can make it sound as good or better than anything under a grand at least these days and maybe beyond. However, time may be the issue. I have an SL1500 here belonging to a pal who asked me to store it while he moved. That was five years or so ago and it sits there with a dicky main switch, the bad contacts within causing the speed to jump up and down all over. It's definitely the three position switch and Technics no longer stock spares. Maybe an alternative can be sourced although I haven't tried, the only other option may be to remove it and soak it in an alcohol bath or something to trey to clean the sealed internal contacts as switch cleaner is difficult to spray into it?
With cables, just look for a semi-reputable brand, good construction, and the proper length.
Part of my answer should also have been that I find the dusty groove shops like RRRecords (Lowel) and 8mm (Porto) and the associated not so hi fi approach to playing vinyl more appealing than the audiophile version, which seems no fun and a losing proposition to me. I know how to get great audio and it's easy but it's really hard with vinyl. Otoh, I fully support playing with vinyl as a hobby (especially when avoiding new record releases) so a cheap DJ deck seems like the ideal compromise for someone to get started easily, have fun and not have to invest into the terribly serious Rega, Pro-Ject, VPI, Stereophile lifestyle treadmill of gear worship.Me loves vintage Duals (and I have a few as well - cough), but my 701 remains in the main rig - it's overall around Rega 6 level, the arm may be not as good but drive and isolation tons better
@56suited I am sorry if we did anything that will cause you to delay the project. It can be like that here. By being flippant and long winded I played my part. (´;︵;`)
So much helpful info - thank you very much. Interesting point of view on larger woofers/need for a sub-woofer. This makes me feel alright then with a 5-7" woofer (ex: Kali IN-5, Adam Audio A7V, Neumann KH 120 II, etc.). I might even switch it up and go for Adam T5V, T7V, or T8V with the T10S sub. That sub is made specifically for the T series, and sounds like something a rookie can handle on a bargain. Lots to think about.I'd second the advice from most here to select (much) cheaper cables and a cheaper turntable.
WiiM Ultra already has a built-in phono input so I'd drop the separate phono box completely. WiiM products also implement both Room EQ, bass management and even a manual 10-band PEQ - I don't believe you would necessarily get any better results with miniDSP.
Loudspeaker placement near the wall behind them is not an issue (actually it is usually even preferable in such small rooms - see this article by Genelec).
Regarding speakers - for such a small room and short listening distance, I believe ~5" woofers should be perfectly fine - assuming you don't plan to blast it to very high listening levels. Even 4" woofers might work, depending on how loud you listen and whether or not you have a sub.
Here's my view on woofer size, which I guess some will see as controversial: going up for a 7" or 8" woofer on the loudspeakers won't provide as much additional bass extension as you may think, and IMHO doesn't ever truly replace a subwoofer. In this case a bigger speaker mainly means it can play louder without noticeable distortion.
So you'd need to know how loud you want to listen (and how far away you want to sit) to make an informed decision if you need a bigger speaker or not. E.g. Neumann and Genelec both have official guides on speaker size selection which are based on listening distance and required SPL.
To illustrate, here's an example of Neumann KH 120 II vs KH 150 (source) - you can see that with the larger woofer you'd get only 5-6Hz lower extension:
View attachment 391816
A subwoofer on the other hand should gives you an extra octave below, and it can also be used to offload the bass from the loudspeakers, smooth out the upper bass response and in some cases even to combat SBIR effects (I wrote about this a little before). Here's how adding a tiny sub helped me greatly reduce audible bass-suckout in my desktop system.
With multiple subwoofers (optimized with measurement and DSP) you can even achieve a consistent bass response across a wider listening area - though this is not necessary if you have only one listening position.
All of the above can go a long way towards taming the undesirable room effects on the bass, which has a significant influence on sound quality.
However, properly integrating a subwoofer for the first time is not trivial (there's a learning curve to it), and could lead to less-than-desirable results if done poorly. But it is important to understand that it is possible to do it well, and your room size would not necessarily be an issue.
If you want to have room correction and a well integrated subwoofer, how much you need to spend will also depend on how automated you want this process to be.
You could get away with a cheaper system, but then you need to learn more about in-room response measurement, manual room EQ and subwoofer integration as you will be doing all of that manually.
For a higher price you could get slightly more automation and ease of use (e.g. have a look at Genelec GLM and Neumann MA 1 solutions), but that would probably break the budget, and especially if you also need an additional streaming box and a turntable.
All that being said, for simplicity (and to avoid being overloaded with new information), it may indeed make sense to start without a sub, learn to measure and do room correction, and add a sub later.
Hope you'll find some of the information interesting and useful. Good luck and have fun!
Not falling for lies. Going in with eyes wide open, purposely wanting to build a vinyl collection because I miss having one. That's illogical perhaps, but it makes me happy having a routine of going to a record store, crate diving, finding a gem, bringing it home, and physically interacting with the medium while I read the jacket notes.
Holy s**t. At that price, I'll buy them and just stare at them every day until I can afford a source to feed them. That is way too much speaker for me. That's like Sofia Vergara when all I can actually feel comfortable with is a Julie Bowen.
I'm gonna second the cable comments - you are planning to pay at least 3x what I would.
