System edited: Upgraded my turntable. Overall sound has slightly improved. However, I prefer the Music Hall over the Thorens for a lot of reasons. Better arm, better tracking, build quality, etc.
System edited: Cheap additions keep things interesting and fun. New tuner and universal disc player to experiment with SACD and DVD-Audio. I'm still saving for a new turntable...Thorens HD 160 HD, VPI Classic or Rega 7. Any advice?? After the turntable, a DAC, and perhaps a Wadia idock (after the DAC), I don't want to spend another dime until I'm 40.
I use a Vibrapod sandwich under my cd player, and the turntable is mounted to the outside wall. A heard of elephants could run through the living room, and the record won't skip. I haven't isolated the solid sate non-spinning components, though. Good idea.
The wall shelf was a cheap shelf from the container store. It was a friend's idea (though I'd like to take credit), and it works great.
I'm not crazy about the iPod either, but it's a nice solution to have music play when we entertain. I never use it for regular listening.
The Wadia and Dacmagic are interesting ideas to which I've given a bit of thought. I love records so much that I doubt I'd use them much, though.
I mostly listen to vinyl, but I also have 1000+ cds. I'm in that weird age-group where cds seemed like the perfect replacements for tapes, but I was too young to grow up with vinyl.
A few upgrades to my turntable a year ago made vinyl the ONLY way to go anymore. I love the Rotel player (the dither control makes it smooth and not too harsh), but I still listen to vinyl 95% of the time.
I like the Monitor Audio speakers...I think they'll last me until I start spending real money on a stereo.
