Hi everyone.

I'm hoping some of you can help me out with choosing my first record player set-up. Basically I need everything.

I'm in the UK where there doesn't seem to be as much choice of record players (and I don't want to go 2nd hand) so I've decided to go with the Pro-ject Debut III SE. I think this is a UK only table (might be wrong) but it's basically the Pro-ject Debut III with an upgraded cartridge (OM10) and I think some other upgrades to the quality of the build. It's currently £225 ($364 US).

For an amp I have a shortlist of (bold is what I'm drawn to):

Marantz PM5004 - £155

Cambridge Audio AM10 - £170

Marantz PM6004 - £250

And for speakers I have quite a long list of (bold is what I'm drawn to):

Tannoy Mercury V1 - £95

Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 - £95

Q Acoustics 2010i - £112

Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 - £130

Cambridge Audio S30 - £130

Q Acoustics 2020i - £149

Zali Zensor 1 - £180

Monitor Audio BX2 - £225

Boston Acoustics A26 - £230

Wharfedale 121 - £230

I'm not really sure what would be a suitable match for the turntable and whether the PM6004 is worth the extra £100, whether the Wharfedale 9.1s would sound great or whether I'd need to be spending double that (or more) on speakers. Do I spend more on speakers or amp, or roughly the same on both?



Room is about 11ft x 18ft but we will be about 9 or 10ft from the speakers when sitting. I play mostly punk and metal if that matters and I don't play my music too loud because I have both upstairs and downstairs neighbours.



I won't be playing any CDs or radio though it'd be cool if I could hook my laptop up to it. It'd also be cool if I could hook my TV up too cos I'm currently just using the tv's built-in speakers and they're not brilliant.



I'll probably be placing the speakers on an old pair of Atacama stands I got from a friend, on either side of the tv where there will be a good amount of space around them. In the main I've read it's good to have space around your speakers but then I read a review (I think it was of the wharfedale 121s) that said their best if they're against a wall so I'm a bit confused about placement now and whether some speakers are best placed different ways. I can't find the review now.



I'm wanting to go as cheap as possible while still getting a quality budget kit.



Any help/advice/guidance would be very much appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement