OT: Audiophile ???

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by IJWS

Remember your first car? First girlfriend? Absolutely wonderful experiences that ended up making you appreciate the seconds and thirds even more.

I've been in the audio industry for over 40 years and I don't think I've ever heard a more succinct analogy for guiding a purchase! That is pure gold.

[IJWS]

How did this turn out? I'm sure everyone would love to see what you went for and if you have more questions, I'm sure that better answers are to be had...

[dsimon]

Thank you everyone well I have settled on a New NAD with ELAC and i'm scanning Craigslist for a nice technics table

[djg]

Originally Posted by csiowner

Thank you everyone well I have settled on a New NAD with ELAC and i'm scanning Craigslist for a nice technics table

Cool, enjoy it. I notice that you're in Northern, VA -- there's a hi fi repair shop in Falls Church that always has some used tables -- I don't know if there are any bargains there, but it might be worth poking around. He has reasonable cartridges too, if you find something used elsewhere and find the cartridge wanting. Or, you know, CL might turn up a barely used table that's good to go.
The record store that's kinda next door also has used gear. All sorts of things -- recall seeing a Cambridge CD player for something like 75 bucks there, and some of the old school Quad speakers. Probably a table or three.

[Ken Robb]

If you're seeking a used 1200 you might be happy with an Audio Technica LP-120 that you can buy new ready-to-play for $300 +/-.

[benb]

Alternate plan:

Lossless player + quality headphone amp + gift certificate to HDtracks.com or something similar. Plus maybe a year subscription to a good streaming music source.

I sold off my nice stereo equipment a while ago and just kept the headphone setup(s). I'm fairly happy.

The value of streaming for music discovery/education cannot be overstated.

Or get him a musical instrument. A lot of audiophile stuff is tilting at windmills, no system will ever duplicate the magic of hearing an instrument in person, particularly anything that doesn't produce sound via a loudspeaker.

[deechee]

Originally Posted by benb

Alternate plan:
Lossless player + quality headphone amp + gift certificate to HDtracks.com or something similar. Plus maybe a year subscription to a good streaming music source.

Slight drift. What kind of lossless player do you use? I didn't realize that Fiio has a pretty cheap player now; debating between that and a Dragonfly DAC for my work computer.

[Tabl10s]

Originally Posted by csiowner

My Sons birthday is coming up and he is into old vinyl. I had a Technics with some bookshelf speakers growing up. but it seems I have lost touch with whats in and whats good. I would like to stay under 800. And it will be in a small Air-force Barracks apartment. Technics or onkyo with small speakers and good sound quality with wifi and a turntable. is there anything out there like that or would it be beneficial to build a group like we use to do? Thank you as always

If he has his own room, no problem. I had my high-end(not regular consumer stuff)system in Japan and stateside.