Moving into a new apartment can be difficult for true music lovers. Having to let go of your trusty old turntable or speakers, dealing with new neighbors and quiet hours ordinances, and carefully relocating priceless records can all be a substantial challenge for the passionate music listener. If you’re looking for a first-apartment record player that can help you rise to all these challenges, here are some ideas.
Curate your listening space
You can dampen echoes in your apartment with heavy curtains over windows, padded furniture, rugs, full bookshelves, and mounted canvas paintings. You can also enhance how you hear a record by eliminating excess noise in your relaxation spot.
A set of speakers will sound different in every room, but proper soundproofing can change the way your stereo system sounds in your listening room. There are also several kinds of speakers with tons of sonic variation.
When figuring out the placement of items in your apartment, keep in mind that a record player used to be a centerpiece in the home like a TV is today. Knowing this fact can come in handy as you organize and make space for a turntable stand, one or two speakers, and your records. Your speakers shouldn’t be blocked by anything, and they should have plenty of room to project sound outward into your listening space, living room, or dining area.
Active listening is meant to be an emotional, perhaps meditative experience and can be the source of endless fun. Vinyl records are fun and engaging because they need to be flipped or restarted when a side finishes, meaning you need to really pay attention to keep the listening experience going. You’ll want a comfy chair or couch close enough to your turntable so that you can lay back without having to get up and walk across the entire room to flip a record.
Choosing a turntable
For some, there’s truly nothing like the warm, crackling sound of the grooves in a vinyl record. If this sounds like you, the good news is that record player technology, like all technology, has changed and become more compact. Today you can choose between something more sleek and modern or something more classic, both sonically and visually. For a cleaner sound, you’ll want to look for a belt-driven turntable.
Personal preferences
The kind of music you like to hear should influence what kind of speakers you want the most. If you like your music bass-heavy, you should consider newer speakers, as they have a wide range of replicable frequencies and extend further into the low end. If you’re into orchestral and symphonic music, or even classic rock and jazz, older secondhand speakers might give you a more authentic listening experience due to their more limited range.
Have you figured out the right record player for your apartment? What types of record players do you like? Sound off in the comments!
