There's been a few threads on born-again record listeners and beginner turntable set ups, I'm adding to this, but with a caveat - I can't hear properly.
Mrs Wax is going to buy me a cheapo turntable set up for my birthday, mostly to play my old collection and I suspect so that her and the kids never have to think of a present ever again as they’ll just buy me records. Not sure if she’s turning into a Six music dad or likes the idea of records on display as some sort of interior design feature. It’s not something I would buy myself tbh, so it’s a nice thought as a present. Music collection is reasonably varied in terms ov volume and style, grindcore, hardcore, metal, 90s trip hop, 90s hip hop, drum and bass, loud/quiet whatever. Not all of it available via streams. Unsurprisingly it stops at about 2003 as stuff went online. I’ve got loads of CDs as well gathering dust, but let’s not worry about them at the minute.
Now, the not hi-fi bit of my question: I have a hearing impairment, with a hearing aid in one ear so there’s no point in having a super sounding set up. I’d prefer a Bluetooth turntable, connected to BT headphones (some of my music taste is not received well by the rest of the house) or a Google Nest speaker. We have Google speakers in the rest of the house, so a new one would be nice but not essential. I can stick more than one in the room and group them to improve the sound a bit. I know a wired speaker system would be better sound-quality wise, but I’m genuinely not sure I’d notice the difference.
After about 2 minutes of Googling, I’m looking at the Sony PS-LX310BT, it’s about £190, then a new Nest speaker for about £80. Lets say budget around £300. Any alternatives would need speakers etc. as there’s nothing other than streaming options in the house.
I have no experience of BT turntables, so don’t know if they’re a faff, genuinely shit sounding or OK for a bit of evening and weekend listening. Any thoughts on other turntables to look at, BT or not?
Make sure itis big and strong enough to test if a helicopter can take off from it
There's some bundles here :
https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/hi-fi-separates/hi-fi-system-deals/?sort=PRICE_ASC
I've got that turntable as my second system in my office. I'm no audio expert but it sounds pretty good to me and decent just press play turntable.
I've also got some of these https://www.richersounds.com/edifier-r1280db-black/ which do a decent job as well.
I bought both off ebay and got for about 50% of shop price.
I have got one of those Richer Sounds audio-technica turntables (not bluetooth - the basic one) and does a decent job. No complaints. One of those with an active speaker set up like those bundles would be good.
I know nothing about them, but can you get something which connects to the hearing aid?
https://rnid.org.uk/information-and-support/technology-and-products/assistive-listening-systems/
Ta Cougar - my current hearing aid is a bit old, but newer ones are Bluetooth enabled, so thinking of that in the future. At the minute, with my 'aid and ears I can hear alright, I'm probably more concerned about the Mrs spending money on somthing that'll sit there not getting used, hence keeping cost lower by having the BT connection to a smart speaker, rather than passive
More fourm weirdness, the layout of this thread AND you can't select and copy (or Google) text from it with a mouse! Just wanted to google the Sony TT , see if it was the same as the one I was using for years, I guess I'll have to type it in!
It's not the same, but similar - they are solidly built and not like some of the cheap lightweight junk. Mine did last me about 10 years before it started randomly playing too fast (there was a fix on the 'net but I couldn't get it sorted so bought a direct drive Pioneer). Ah, I didn't use the Bluetooth functionality so can't vouch for that!
Came here to suggest a turntable but I once sat next to a chap on a plane who had a BT hearing aid, he reckoned to stream music to it from his phone the sound was amazing. This one was a hearing aid attached to the skull, I m sure he said it was free if you had some sort of condition, or reason why you couldn't have a conventional one.
Good luck with the vinyl, it's pretty addictive.
AirPod Pro is now accepted as usable as a hearing aid device, but they may be a bit pricey.
- I've got the Sony turntable. Bought it for the wife a few years ago to see if she enjoyed having a vynl option in her music collection. It's easy to set up and sounds good. I had it Bluetoothed to a Sony sound bar I already had. She loved it and bought loads of records so we upgraded to a proper amplifier and speakers, same turntable. Sounds amazing now. If you've got a richer sounds near you they can demo stuff before you buy.
Thanks all, sounds like a blue tooth set up in this case would be fine, might try it with our existing Google speakers and upgrade if needed. Ta for the hearing related options too - I can hear OK with my 'aid in, but there's some limits so not worth spending loads on amazing sound reprodcution when I wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway
I wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway
Not many, who pretend they do, actually can mate 🤣
I'm probably more concerned about the Mrs spending money on somthing that'll sit there not getting used,
How much is an annual subscription to Spotify Pro these days?
