“The two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience.”
– Alex Gregory, in The New Yorker.
The last integrated amplifier I had that had a phono input was a NAD 3020. I gave it away one of the times that I moved because I had two or three other amps.
I still have a Denon DP-2000 turntable that I got from Kenny sometime in the 1980’s. There’s a Monster Cable Alpha 1 cartridge mounted on the Denon DA-50 tonearm. The Alpha 1 is a low output moving coil cartridge (0.3 mv), so Kenny also bought a SOTA Head Amplifier. Such is the era of my HiFi equipment.
When I thought about setting up the Denon with my NAD 317, I tried to take a closer look at the condition of the stylus of the Apha 1. There wasn’t one. Through years of moving the turntable, even with the tonearm tied down to the arm rest, the stylus had disappeared. (“That’s why we can’t have nice things.”)
Even the idea of low end high end stereo components has lost its interest. I bought an Ortofon 2M Red Moving Magnet Cartridge
The NAD 317 doesn’t have a built-in phono stage, so I needed a phono preamplifier. After a little research, I settled on the ART DJPREII Phono Preamplifier
After finally getting everything to work, the sound was a revelation. I have been listening to streaming audio (Google Play, SiriusXM, Spotify) through a Sonos One. The sound always seemed compressed or canned – maybe the electronic processing to get the sound out of that little speaker bothers me. In comparison, the sound out of the NAD, Denon and KEF RDM Two speakers (SP3254) is clear, open and deep.
Though that Alex Gordon New Yorker cartoon is often quoted by cynics and audiophiles, the sonic results do seem to be worth it.
