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My son, who goes to school at Columbia University, wanted a nice system to play back vinyl in his dorm room. I put together the following; AudioEngine 5s ($400), Music Hall MMF2.2LE table ($500), Ortofon 540MkII ($400), Simaudio LP3 ($300) and Wellbourne Labs PSU (to replace the wall wart that comes with LP3-$200). Most of this is trickle down stuff from previous gear I had on hand and not bought just for this project. I removed the $75 cartridge that came with the table (Sumiko Oyster) and aligned the much more sophisticated Ortofon 540 with Project's universal alignment gauge and then leveled the table and set VTF with the help of a digital VTF scale. That's all I did-I have a Fozgometer but did not worry about exact azimuth. I relate all this because I am shocked how good this little system sounds. There is some serious synergy going on here. You see it set up on our kitchen table because, well, that's where I tend to do my cartridge installs. My son pulled out an original pressing of The Beasties' "License to Ill" to play first. Funny, but hearing many of the same cuts over the radio in honor of Adam Yauch recently, I thought how dated and derivative this stuff was. Funny how source and set-up and overall system makes all the difference in the world-on this rig every cut of "License to Ill" sounded fresh and vibrant and reminded me much of Mikey Fremer's recent article on his new website (that vinyl brings a three dimensional quality to sound that digital often kills). My main rig easily costs 10 times what this little system costs and the differences are not that great.
Edits: 05/30/12 05/30/12Follow Ups:
I got those same AudioEngine speakers (with bamboo cabinets) for my girlfriend, and they sound amazingly good playing our Apple Lossless files on iTunes.
Also got a pair of the smaller AudioEngine speakers for my son...alas, he uses them almost exclusively for video gaming (hooked up to my old Musical Fidelity CD-Pre24).
"Your liver suffers dearly now for youthful magic moments...so rock on completely with some brand new components"
When I went to college I rolled down to Lafayette Radio in Syosset NY and bought my first stereo- a Lafayette brand record player. It had a nasty little changer atop a vinyl-clad box containing the amp and 2 separate, wide-range speakers with about 6" drivers with whizzer cones. The rig cost me the astronomical sum of $88 in 1969. Using the NASA inflation calculator, that amount is equivalent to $613 today (2012 est.) You went over the top! I do love my Audioengine speakers and you've selected good, basic components that will serve your son well as the years go by.
That is cool. Did you think about handing off a copy of Avalon also ? Historically, a game changer in many a dorm room, when it comes to two people interested in each other.
...sometimes it is satisfyingly close. All it takes is synergy ...which for me is more often brought about by dumb luck than careful planning.
The table looks sweet in red.
Nice to know there are still vinyl rigs in dorm rooms.
Dean.
reelsmith's axiom: Its going to be used equipment when I sell it, so it may as well be used equipment when I buy it.
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