Speakers (and amp?) to go with record player

polydor

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Hello everyone,

I recently bought a Steepletone ST918 record player to play my old lps on. The sound this record player makes with the built in speakers isn't great, but you get what you pay for.

I would like to buy some speakers and a sub woofer (and an amp?) to use with the record player, which will hopefully improve the sound. It has a red and white 'lineout', and a sub woofer 'out'. I have no idea what speaker system would be suitable for this.

I don't have a very big budget. I just want to listen to my old lps with reasonable sound, so if I can get something half decent for under 50 quid, that would be ideal.

If you could let me know what I should be searching for in order to find suitable speakers, or if you can recommend some, that would be great.

Thank you very much for your time.

John
 
Given the very limited budget, I suggest you take a look in the classifieds here or eBay, in the hopes of getting lucky. Another possibility is a local garage sale.
 
Thank you for the reply Mark. The budget can be increased.

However, my issue is more that I don't know what I'm supposed to be buying. If you can show me what sort of speaker system would be compatible with my record player regardless of price, that would be really helpful. Thank you.
 
Thank you for the reply Mark. The budget can be increased.

However, my issue is more that I don't know what I'm supposed to be buying. If you can show me what sort of speaker system would be compatible with my record player regardless of price, that would be really helpful. Thank you.
Your ST918 has line out, meaning you can connect it to any integrated amplifier, or any all-in-one having an "aux in" connection (almost all do, but you'll need to check any specific model to be safe). It does not offer any facilities for connecting speakers, so you can't just buy a passive speaker set. However active speakers - you plug these into the main to power their internal amplification, like the sort you use on PC's - can be connected to the ST918's line out.

My guess is that although you can incease the budget, it won't be to "separates" level, so I'd suggest either a simple all-in setup (Onkyo, Hitachi), or PC speakers from the likes of Logitech or Creative.

Take a look in the local department store / PC shop if you wish to purchase something new..
 
Thank you for the reply Mark. That's the information I needed to know! I've tried using a 2.1 PC speaker setup already but it's really lacking any bass. I'll research "all-in setups" and the brands you mentioned.
 
Thank you for the reply Mark. That's the information I needed to know! I've tried using a 2.1 PC speaker setup already but it's really lacking any bass. I'll research "all-in setups" and the brands you mentioned.
You are not going to get serious bass from any speaker setup without seriously increasing your budget (an all-in-one also is going to deliver "real bass").

But more significantly, you're not getting much bass off an LP with the Steepletone to start with. Even if you were to spend sufficient money on components later down the chain, there's isn't any bass from LPs for it to reproduce.
 
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I have a feeling that you're expecting too much from your Steepletone ST918 turntable. A respected turntable manufacturer once used the phrase "garbage in, garbage out" when referring to a hifi system, the point being that if the source (in your case, the turntable) is of poor quality then you'll never get good sound from your speakers - no matter how good your amp and speakers are. I don't think anyone would disagree with that statement.

I haven't personal experience of the Steepletone but, and I'm trying not to be cruel, from what I've seen and read, it's not up to much. Out of all the usual recorded music reproduction sources available, turntables in particular need a bit of money spent on them to get good sound. I've managed to get good sound from a CD player for about £40 total but I suspect you'd need to spend at least ten times that to get a similar level of sound quality from a turntable - in my opinion, others may disagree!

Personally, I think your £50 budget (for amp + speakers) is about right - I'd certainly not spend more unless you intended to improve the source in future. I'd go along with MarkY's suggestion of a multi-media 2.1 system (i.e. two main (or satellite) speakers plus a small subwoofer with built in amplification). It would simply connect to your turntable line-outs. This unit gets decent reviews:

Microlabs FC330 Model 2.1 System Speaker: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

IMO, anything of higher quality would probably be a waste of money as it would likely show failings in the turntable. Check out the controls (and placement of) to ensure it's suitable before purchase.
 
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