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What would you recommend to a young person interested in a new stereo?

70'sMusic

70'sMusic

Well-Known Member
Hi Everyone,

Was recently talking with a few friends and wanted to ask the collective wisdom of this group a question. As we know many young people simply stream their music to their phones. But, there are many millennials who are getting into vinyl. I'm curious, what beginning/entry level setup would you recommend to a millennial interested in purchasing a stereo?

I'll kick it off with my recommendations - everything depends on budget but if you can put these components together I think you will have a great start to a nice sounding system at a relatively reasonable investment.

Preamp/Amp:
https://www.psaudio.com/products/sprout/

Turntable:
https://uturnaudio.com/pages/turntables

Speakers (I recommend starting with bookshelf units):
https://www.klipsch.com/products/reference-premiere-bookshelf-speakers
or
https://www.elac.com/product/debut-b6/

What do you think?
 
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Young people tend to be cash strapped, and showing them the cost of new equipment tends to just turn them off before they ever get started. I'd probably just sell them some of my spares, and backups at cost, or close to it. Or help them scour the local classifieds.

Recently, I helped a friend get started, for $100 I gave him the following.

Technics SL-1500 mk1 - $50 + $7 dust stanton dust cover + new RCA/ground cable (free from stash)
AT3600 - $13 from ebay
MCS 2250 (Technics Z400) - $15 from goodwill
Polk Audio RT5 - $15 from goodwill

Sure most of the stuff had some cosmetics issues, but I verified everything working, and repaired what I could.
 
70'sMusic said:
Hi Everyone,

Was recently talking with a few friends and wanted to ask the collective wisdom of this group a question. As we know many young people simply stream their music to their phones. But, there are many millennials who are getting into vinyl. I'm curious, what beginning/entry level setup would you recommend to a millennial interested in purchasing a stereo?

I'll kick it off with my recommendations - everything depends on budget but if you can put these components together I think you will have a great start to a nice sounding system at a relatively reasonable investment.

Preamp/Amp:
https://www.psaudio.com/products/sprout/
Click to expand...
Sorry but I don't think I would ever buy or recommend a amp called Sprout.o_O
 
TomB19 said:
I'd recommend a cheaper hobby, like meth.

Just kidding. .....
Click to expand...

c042.gif
 
I sell alot of systems to people my age (early 20's) They usually go for vintage gear because it's cheaper and generally outperforms modern budget stuff, god bless the creator of the Technics SL BD20/22, people absolutely love them!
 
70'sMusic said:
Hi Everyone,
....... snip..What do you think?
Click to expand...
I think it's pretty good, especially for someone just getting their feet wet in this hobby.

New components, reputable brands, no fuss set-up, versatile amp, all under warranty.

It should sound pretty nice. :thumbsup:

Yes, there are other choices, both new and used, as well as budget. Different strokes for different folks. But if you're asking me what I think, I like your selection.
 
Depending on their wants/needs--dorm room, apartment, parent's basement, or frat house party--I'd just rifle through my garage, basement, and storage room and cobble something together out of my "spare" stuff at little to no cost. Certain stuff might have to be purchased, but I'd be more than happy to point them in the right direction.

As for vinyl, I'd hook them up with a vintage table, make sure I serviced it for them, put a decent cart on it and set it up correctly for them. Let them go through my crates of "duplicate" albums, and hook them up with some basic cleaning supplies. I went through this recently (posted in another thread) selling a used table to a couple 20 year-old college roommates for their first table--set them up right, so they wouldn't be disappointed with their first foray into vinyl.

If they want new, and provide a budget, I'll work with them to find a "deal" on what they need within their budget range, but I think most would jump at cheap or free vintage stuff.

I feel that it is important to help out the "youngsters" with a good start in this hobby--almost an obligation as a "curator" of this hobby. I'd hate to see them have a "bad" experience with a first system that would drive them back to their phone/iPod/tablet and a BT speaker and earbuds, and away from "real" audio.
 
Plenty of used gear selling on eBay are offered with a warranty so that's a non starter in my book.

That said I just recently helped a young friend getting into vinyl so I know exactly what I would recommend.

A mixture of new and used
A) TT was a pristine Technics SL1200 MKII / Shure Me95ED with a new stylus, all in $360
B) Speakers were Dayton Audio T652Air towers new from Parts Express $99
C) Sherwood RX4109 new stereo receiver with phono through Amazon $125

$584 All in, not chump change but a real TT, full size amplifier, and tower speakers. Not a final destination for most here but a great starter system and possibly the bees knees for many without our sickness lol, I know Cooper was happy with his new rig.

If this is over budget, there are a plethora of schveet vintage Sony direct drive turntables available on eBay in the $100 range, with this the bill of fare would be a whopping $324 all in. I originally suggested a nice Sony to Cooper but his criteria included a "WOW" factor so I showed him the Technics. It was over his original budget but he got a great deal on it so.........

20171014_144547.jpeg 71sfw0wLfwL._SX425_.jpg rx-4109-stereo-receiver.jpg
 
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If my daughter, (20 years old) asked me to get her a stereo set up for records, I'd dig through my closets for this setup.
HK330c receiver
Sanyo Q40 Plus Turntable
And her choice of JBL L16 Decades, or ADS L400's, or Phase Tech PC60 speakers.
 
If the system is Vinyl only, and lack of space is a challenge, then I'd get a U-turn with built-in preamp, directly into active speakers.

Headphones only, in a dorm room, for example? Same table, small head amp, into headphones. I have a Nobsound HP amp that sounds very good, once I switched out the junk, stock tubes. Replacements were $2 each for RCA black-plates.

No turntable needed, and you want speakers? Yamaha makes tabletop systems that have surprising performance, and wide-ranging capabilities. Digital input, network streaming, Bluetooth, WiFi, radio tuner. MCR-N560, for example. I heard this, and thought to myself, that most people would find this to be their last purchase.
 
First thing I would do is ask them if they want a Commodore VIC 20 with cassette tape drive to go along with the TT. Since I haven't played an album since 1987 they would be on their own. Vinyl is for pipes, fences,and windows :p

Second thing I would do is point them to a used Yamaha networked AVR since the better ones have the appropriate phono input for the obsolete TT technology and the modern stuff like streaming, internet radio, and HD radio that they will actually use. I would toss in a USB thumb drive with a few dozen FLAC rips of classic albums for reference. I would consider giving them my # 3 AVR so I could justify pulling the trigger on a new unit for the # 1 position.

Third thing is I would do is consider giving them my ewaved JBL L36 if they have room for them. Otherwise looking for budget bookshelf speakers on-sale at BestBuy (or Amazon) and a DIY subwoofer.

If they already have a PC setup for music/gaming I would point them to powered monitors similar to the JBL LSR305/308 and subwoofer.
 
So far I haven’t heard anything that beats 70s analog vintage sound.

Anything with IC digital crap in it is throw away consumable. If it fails, it’s trash.

If the interest is vinyl, a decent turntable and something with a good Phono amp. The Yamaha Natural Sound seems to outshine most of everything else. I am not in love with the Natural Sound or Yamaha, I only set one vintage piece aside to restore for myself.

Yamaha maintained a Phono input all the way up through AVR and many AVR brands have Phono. The digital AVR world seems cleaner and clearer so for Phono it works better, I think.

So, a good turntable, some decent speakers are key. The actual receiver or amp can be “replaceable” and swapping cheap thrift store stuff allows for easy replacement.

Once serious about the addiction, they can move up to restored 70s vintage or higher dollar things.
 
If thry are just dabbling, then I would suggest their first system be a vintage receiver, locally sourced, same for speakers. The cost will probably be less than the options selected. Plus, the receiver will most likely have a built in phono stage.

As for turntables, I'd go for the same.

Once they decide this is really what they really want, then start going for the new stuff. Heck, they might be satisfied with streaming.
 
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