Stands, spikes and careful positioning can make a huge difference to the sound. Either way, your Mordaunt-Short MS3.3 or alternative “bookshelf” speakers should be on spiked stands, and positioned so they are not flat against a wall. The speakers make a big difference to the sound of a hi-fi system, so it’s important to listen to them before you buy. This would sound better than using the phono stage pre-amp built into your old 820AX, and allow you to buy a new amp without phono support. If you’re serious about your vinyl, Ketan suggested buying a Rega phono stage (from £85) to handle the turntable signal. The RP3 would work beautifully with a better amp such as the Rega Brio-R or Arcam A19, and so on.
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I imagine the Rega RP1 is more than good enough for your 820AX/MS3.3 system, but might not be the best choice if you decided to upgrade one or both of those. Rather than spending, say, £1,000 on a new amp and speakers, Ketan suggests you spend it on new items, and preferably on the higher-quality products that will support later upgrades. If he buys new ones, they may be more detailed, but the balance is going to be different.” The Rotel 820AX is a classic and he reckons you “should keep it, if it’s working properly, and the same with the speakers.” Ketan said: “If he’s kept them this long, he likes them. It’s tempting to replace everything with a new system, but Ketan counselled against it. In my case, it’s on a wall-mounted Target turntable shelf.
But it’s more than twice the price, so you will have to think about your budget.Įither way, the turntable must be set up so that it’s absolutely level, and insulated from whatever it is standing on. It’s a really capable product.” What Hi-Fi has given this turntable Product of the Year awards four years running. “Oh,” said Ketan, “I’d be inclined to get the Rega RP3 with an Elys2 cartridge, if your budget can stretch to it. I thought the Rega RP1 would be the obvious choice.
Even if they were, you’d be sacrificing the vinyl sound that many people love. Also, it’s unlikely that all of them are available as downloads or from a streaming service. You have so much vinyl that ripping all your records is out of the question, and the results probably wouldn’t be very good. The first step is to buy a new turntable, such as the Rega RP1 (£230), which will plug straight into your Rotel 820AX. I took advice on this from two enormously helpful people: Ketan Bharadia, technical editor of What Hi-Fi? magazine, and Andy Moore, product manager at Arcam, the Cambridge-based hi-fi manufacturer. The problem isn’t so much doing it as deciding which of the plethora of ways is most appropriate. You are not alone: I suspect a lot of Guardian readers have aging hi-fi systems that are not integrated with any newer digital media.
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There are further problems with the Sonos, which I think are due to the inadequacy of our in-house Wi-Fi and my general bafflement over how to make it work. But where?Ī sub-plot to this sorry tale is that a couple of years ago my wife acquired a Sonos, but one of the speaker units packed up. I own about 20 yards of vinyl – so I need a new turntable – and a somewhat random CD collection. What remains of the stereo system I bought about 20 years ago is a Rotel 820AX amplifier, Mordaunt-Short MS3.3 speakers and a Philips CD player.
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