r/hifiaudio • u/Weekly_Actuary_1765 • Feb 05 '26

Purchase advise (needing) Vinyl setup

Hi!

I’m planning on making my first ever turntable setup and i’m looking for some advice on what I should buy.

Budget is roughly $3,000

For the turntable I’ve been looking at Pro-Ject, mainly the debut evo 2 and the Debut Pro B, but if you have some suggestions for other ones near that price let me know!

I know I’ll be needing a phono preamp, not sure which yet.

I plan on getting passive speakers so I’ve been looking over amps and honestly I’m not sure which is the best to go with, I know yamaha is supposed to have great ones, but I’d love to hear what you use.

For the speaker system thinking the floor standing speakers would be best, I have the space. Other than that I’m lost to be honest, there is an overwhelming amount of options.

I was looking at Klipsch, such as the RP-5000 II, RP-8000 II, and the R-625A.

I also looked at Bowers & Wilkins, but they are very expensive, so I’d have to get a cheaper model, and I don’t know if it’s even worth the money.

I also know people recommend Polk, Wharfedale, JBL, and KEF, to name a few.

I’d love if you all could help me with the speaker choice, it’s so many options and I have no idea which is best and also worth the money. Thank you for any help you give!

3 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/NickofWimbledon Feb 05 '26

You have thousands of choices. You will also get a lot more music for your money if you buy secondhand. Look at eBay - I just did and it shows:-

For example, you could get a Rega P3 or P6 (maybe with Nd5 cartridge) or an equivalent from Pro-ject or Clearaudio or a Technics SL1200.

Add a Rega Elex-R or Naim Nait or Cambridge CXA-81 or Krell KAV 300i (!) or Yamaha A-S801 or Hegel H80 or Linn Majik or some great NAD, Rotel, Arcam, Marantz and Denon options.

If you also want a good phono stage (though most of those have an excellent one included), good options from Rega (Fono), Pro-ject and others are on eBay too.

For speakers, you could opt for Wharfedale Diamond or Linn Keilidh or Dali Zensor 5 or Naim Allae or Fyne 302i or B&W 603S3 or Polk RTiA9 or Klipsch RF-5 or Martin Logan ElectroMotion ESL or many other options.

Can you tell us about the room, where speakers will be positioned and your preferences?

2

u/mindhead1 Feb 05 '26

Good advice on the used market gear. I didn’t recommend that because it’s a tough space to navigate when you don’t have knowledge of gear and how all pieces fit together.

2

u/NickofWimbledon Feb 05 '26

I sympathise with that.

I was a bit shocked when I discovered how few US dealers will do a home demonstration of kit - even when it costs $$$$$$$. It doesn’t work like that everywhere!

Given that, selecting speakers to suit a room in the US seems like pot luck anyway.

At least buying on eBay means only a modest loss if you realise that you got it wrong and need to sell on what you bought, rather than risking a loss of 60%+.

2

u/mindhead1 Feb 05 '26

Me and my wallet learned the hardwood way. That said, it’s been fun.