Joining the club and I'll be perusing through this huge thread for tips and tricks

My wife has been using a garbage Victrola suitcase record player for a few years now. It somewhat works, but even some brand new records skip and I just hate the thing since it seems to always have some sort of problem. It has zero adjustments...

Not having a huge budget, I found a sale on the Audio Technica AT-LP3BK which seems like a good entry-level player that actually has adjustments for the tonearm force and anti-skate which will be nice. I know it's not ideal, but even using the built-in pre-amp with some powered bookshelf speakers should be a nice upgrade. I considered a model with bluetooth but then realized it's best to keep this analog. I would've preferred a dedicated stereo receiver and different speakers, but for now it needs to be aesthetically pleasing to her and minimal size to fit. Eventually I may upgrade everything but I hope this will keep her happy for a while. Seems like a nice player as-is.

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I'm about 10% through this thread so far and am drawn to the hardware the most. I really love the look of these vintage '70s receivers. I imagine that rebuilding them consists of replacing caps, transistors, etc. just like a pinball circuit board so that should be easy for me if needed. I see lots of beautiful Kenwood, Marantz, Pioneer, Technics vintage receivers in here. Any general tips or tricks for someone new to all of this? I haven't even convinced the wife yet to put a big receiver in her room but I am thinking she may like one of these over a modern receiver.

Set up the wife's new stuff tonight. AT-LP3 with Edifier R1280T powered bookshelf speakers. It sounds great with these speakers in the small room so it'll be hard to justify a whole new receiver and speakers for a while!

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Looking for some general advice on speakers. I'm looking to get a deal on a Sanyo JCX 2400K receiver that is rated at 55W per channel. I am also looking into bookshelf size speakers. What type of power rating am I looking for when selecting speakers? Most of the speakers I see are rated at 100W or 200W max, so would a 55W receiver be underpowered for those?

Thanks. I am not dead-set on bookshelves, but it is most likely. I guess I'm trying to find out at what point will I have "too much speaker" for my receiver?

Thanks for the info! The speakers will be sitting in the open, probably on stands. I've been doing some research and I like these but they are pretty huge: https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-TSi200-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B0018QRO9A/

All of these below look good too but are only 2-way:
https://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-T15-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B002RJLHB8/

https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-R-51M-Bookshelf-Speakers-Black/dp/B07GDSL3NJ/

https://www.amazon.com/Fluance-Reference-Performance-Bookshelf-2-Channel/dp/B08G2X8T8R/

Trying to stay under $200 for speakers. At this point I am leaning towards the Klipsch R-51M.

Thank you for the advice! If this was solely up to me I would probably get larger, more expensive speakers and I definitely hear you. This is going in a pretty small room too.

Those 606s look nice. What receiver are you using with them?

The new speakers arrived today so I could finally hook up the Sanyo receiver I found locally. Sounds awesome and I'm glad to use a real phono input now

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Decided to re-cap the Sanyo which sounded great because I can't just leave well enough alone. Could've spent about $25 but I spent closer to $50 to get mostly "audio grade" caps with fancy gold labels which I'm pretty sure aren't much if any better than the regular caps . I figured why not, I'm probably only going to do this once so just get the fancy stuff. I have it 90% done and am just waiting on the large filter caps to do the power supply board, but the phono pcb, tuner pcb, and tone pcbs are done and it does sound better. Picks up more radio stations now too. And to finish it off a picture of the current album I'm listening to, which is the only Tool record I can afford Why does Tool vinyl have to be so expensive???
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Yikes! To be honest I didn't test any of mine either because I don't have any way to measure ESR or capacitance so maybe I got lucky. So you had some faulty brand new capacitors that weren't at the rated capacitance?

Picked this up today not knowing it contained awesome pinball artwork inside

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A tiny record shop just opened up nearby and I snagged this for $6. Been listening to it for many years but this is the first time on vinyl. Great timing with the anniversary.

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It looks like this applies to the larger Vevor units (30L capacity, 600W) and does not apply, at least not yet, to the units that are available with a record cleaning attachment (6L capacity, 180W). Let's hope... I just ordered a Vevor the other day and will check it out when it arrives.

My mother just said she had some old records in the basement. Among them are Warren Zevon, Springsteen, Paul Simon, and this which is awesome! A little water damage to the jackets but the records are in excellent condition.

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Why is it blocked?

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And I finally received the large filter caps for the power supply - so the recap is done 100% now.

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That has the be one of the coolest implementations of specially colored vinyl ever!

You may be a little crazy but that's ok I have never seen so many different pressings of one album together like that before. I think it's pretty neat.

I'm already considering upgrading my turntable but my wife would really like to retain the full automatic operation. I was looking into the Fluance models but they are only auto-stop. Are there any current offerings that are similar in quality to Fluance but still full-auto? Belt drive is fine and I don't need an integrated pre-amp. For reference I'm currently using an AT-LP3 which is GREAT except it's not very heavy and is very sensitive to vibrations/stepping on the floor near the unit causing skipping.

I'll admit I am fairly new to turntables... Personally I have no thoughts other than I thought direct drive was a premium feature that usually costs more and I don't need it...

That is awesome, thanks for the link. $1k is a bit too much for me

More music that was tucked away in my mom's basement

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I may have to keep an eye out for a good used one like these. My 6 year old loves being able to start and stop records at the push of a button (and so do I, she's my remote control) and I'm not quite ready for her to damage my stylus yet with a manual or semi-auto table

I took your advice and picked up an SL-1600 in great shape. No more skipping when someone walks around the record player! Love it.

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Budget volume limiting

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This morning's listen:
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Also upgraded the cartridge on the SL-1600 from a conical to a VM95ML microlinear with a new headshell. I am no audiophile but it sounds fantastic.
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I went with this cartridge and love it:

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-vm95ml

Love the Sanyo! They're well built and will last forever. And they usually don't have a super high price tag.