How should I go about setting up a record player?

This is what I own. It’s my dad’s old one: http://img189.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=img0988t.jpg

You just want to listen to vinyl? You need a pre-amp, and amp, some speakers and a turntable.

Or, some people are no making turntables that you can connect to a compter with a USB Cable.

Or you gen get a receiver with a Phono Input, and some speakers and a turntable.

Okay, cool. I think I’ll either do the first or the third. I have the turntable. About how much does a low to mid-range system cost?

Look on ebay. You can get a nice MacIntosh Receiver with tubes from the 1970s for a few hundred bucks. Far better than the shit you can buy today. The big problem is speakers. That is such a personal issue, and good speakers can run into big bucks. The best thing is to read a lot of reviews, audit a lot of good speakers in shops, and then find a site where audiophiles are selling off their old gear.

RadioShack – you’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.

(that’s one of the lamest slogans I’ve ever heard!)

1)
You need a either a phono pre-amp, or an old receiver/amplifier with a ‘Phono’ input’ (turnables have a lower output than almost everything else you might plug into a stereo).
Amazon.com has a guide – Learn All About Phono Preamps

2)
You can get powered speakers for the simplest setup: turntable + pre-amp + speakers.
There are tons of choices starting below $50, going to $400 Bose systems and beyond.

Otherwise, it’s: turntable + pre-amp + receiver/amplifier + speakers
Advantages are multiple inputs, a receiver includes FM radio, it’s typically louder.

3)
It looks like you have a cartridge (the part with the needle). But if that needs replacing, this page from garage-a-records.com has a great variety. Below $50 I have had good luck with Audio Technica. Between $50 and $100 I like Grado.

Like any other hobby, learn by trying different things. There is no one best thing, and everybody has different likes/dislikes/opinions/budgets. Don’t be talked into spending more than you want.

Oy. “No highs, no lows: Bose.”

@pdworkin – is that a slam on Bose?

It sure is.

Do expound, brutha! I thought they were good speakers, but it sounds like you’re a bigger audiophile than me.

He was among a few audio engineers who solved the problem of getting more bass out of a smaller enclosure back in the ‘70s, but his solution wasn’t necessarily the best, nor has he changed it much in the ensuing years. That little ditty that I quoted has been around a long time among audiophiles. The main objection to Bose nowadays isn’t that they are so terrible (though they are certainly not great) but that they offer so little for the price. Bose is marketing. marketing, marketing, with little research and development, and very inflated pricing.

Yeah, you’d think they would’ve recovered the money they spent on R&D YEARS ago.

copy “overpriced”!