STAND AND DELIVER

Our second turntable set-up includes classy standmounters

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To go along with our turntable and floorstanders set-up on p36, here we present an alternative offering, with different electronics and some stunning standmounts.

A good pair of speaker stands is vital, and when you are investing this sort of money in your music, it would be foolish not to allow the loudspeakers the chance to shine. So allow a bit more for a decent set of stands.

So why plump for this system with the smaller speakers over the floorstanders in our alternative set-up? Well, the character of the sound each system produces is, of course, different; but just as important is the fact that this set-up, with the Prodigy 1 standmounts, is more suited to small to medium-sized rooms, where the Q Acoustic 5050 floorstanders really need a bit of free space to inhabit before they will give their very best.

It doesn’t really get much more old-school than this: a turntable, amplifier and speakers has been the go-to hi-fi set-up for the best part of a century. Technology and innovation improve all the time though, of course – as is clearly highlighted by the Rega pairing we suggest here.

Rega has been making brilliant record players for many years now, and the Planar 3 has won Best Buy Awards from What Hi-Fi? in the past. This year, though, it is available with a new cartridge that replaces the Elys 2 that did such sterling service in the previous iteration. And such is the success of this new combination that the Planar 3/Nd3 pairing has not only won a Best Buy this year, but it has also taken our prestigious Product of the Year Award to go with it.