In high school, I had a Pro-Ject Debut III record player, a heavily modified receiver (I swapped in some audiophile-grade capacitors, etc.), and monitor speakers. My parents had a slew of old records from college and afterward, and I added to their collection from local Boston music stores and discogs. It was a pretty awesome setup. But when I went to college, I left it all behind.

My kids are now getting into classic rock. We listen in the car together. Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones. It made me realize how much I miss the ritual of putting on a record and listening to a whole album. So I decided to treat myself to a new music setup.

I wanted to keep the budget for this project tight, so I used Wirecutter and ChatGPT to find a high quality but affordable record player (Fluance), a receiver with phono pre-amp (Sony), and bookshelf speakers (also Sony). ChatGPT was helpful to make sure everything was compatible (e.g. impedence of speakers would work with receiver; speakers would perform well in my home office given space constraints). I found a piece of furniture I could assemble myself that could hold the receiver, record player, and a bunch of records below. I connected up everything with speaker wire, calibrated the record player, turned it on, and it sounded amazing.

The project was a blast. I'm now constantly listening to records at home and have gotten to play some albums for my kids (their favorite so far is Dark Side of the Moon). Fun new chapter.