Boy do i need your help......

[Redhawk]

Hello to all, first, I'm new to this but am reading as much as I can to get started.

I currently have a nice 2 channel setup that consistes of both CD and LP playback sources. I'd like to be able to get all/most of my LP's onto a computer/server that I can access from the listening chair via my laptop (not a must, but nice). I'd also like to be able to select 2 or 3 "albums" for play from the server to play thru my current system while I sit and work or listen.

 

I'm technical, but have no idea how best to do this, what hardware and software i need, or if it's possible. I welcome all suggestions and comments. Am I thinking correctly on this? or is there a better way to do it?

 

Guess i should add that I'd like to build a computer based system for a reasonable amount of money.

 

John

 

[Mr.C]

How much is reasonable?

First off, take a look at the recommended setups on this site under equipment I believe. Of the top of my head, if you're a mac person, go for the Mac mini with the Apogee duet. The duet does AD and DA, so that will fulfill your requirements for recording those records. For PC, or if you don't like the duet, I would rent a good A/D converter for a month to convert all those LPs unless you plan on recording in the future. A good choice is anything by Lavry or Apogee, or whatever your local pro audio shop recommends. You can also purchase their respective dacs for around $1000.

 

Pretty much any PC will do for music playback because it's not an extremely difficult thing for a computer to do these days. The hard part is the interface between computer and dac, and the jitter introduced there. If you are just looking to get something up and running, most motherboards have spdif and toslink outputs that just aren't connected. You may need to find the appropriate hardware (it's just a little circuit with a toslink/spdif port on it, ships with some motherboards, but should be fairly cheap to find.) The high end solution is the Lynx digital audio interfaces that run for around $700. These run into your dac.

Any playback software will allow you to create playlists into which you can put your "albums", or just individual pickings from them. Please ask more questions for better answers