Reddit mentions of Sony MHCEC709iP Mini Hi-Fi Shelf System (Discontinued by Manufacturer),Black

Just get a portable stereo. If you really need it to fit into a briefcase, yes you can use car speakers. The sound quality won't be that great though because the stereo separation will suffer. The bottom line is you'll get much better sound out of a typical stereo. Not that it's impossible to get good sound out of something smaller but you'll need a more powerful amp and a nice solid construction that won't absorb the sound. You're going to want to re-enforce the construction of the case with thick fiber-board or a pre-made PVC speaker box that fits

Make sure the box with the speakers is sealed. I wouldn't bother using a car stereo to power the speakers because you'll have to also buy a converter to convert the voltage to 12v, high amp that the stereo is built to run on and they are generally not cheap (car stereos or the converter). Instead, do a Google search for 'stereo amplifier kit' that will run right of off line voltage. It will probably still use a transformer plug (those big black box plugs) If you're comfortable working with circuitry, I'd try to get the line voltage unregulated right into the box so you can power your other stuff with it.

If your goal is to have a good quality sound system and save money, you'll end up spending less for a manufactured stereo like I liked up top. There's a lot of stuff about home-made amps on Make Magazine If you want something really unique, check out the Tube Amp guide on there. That would pretty cool to open a brief case to see a bunch of old glass tube transistors in it.

First Vinyl Setup Help

Hey guys, I have recently been really interested in getting into the vinyl scene and had a couple of questions about my set up. Here is what I have so far:

Turntable: Technics sl-j3

Speakers: Sony MHCEC709iP Mini Hi-Fi Shelf System

Questions:

1. From my understanding, an average set up looks like this "Turntable -> preamp -> power amp -> speakers". I know that I definitely need a preamp but do I also need to get a power amp? I was thinking of connecting the RCA from turntable to preamp and then using an RCA to AUX from Preamp to the speakers since they don't have an RCA input. From your experience and looking at the products linked above, will that work or would I be better off using a power amp then connecting to the speaker system?
   
   
2. The cartridge currently on the SL-J3 is an Audio-Technica LT111 and from reading the posts from the "Links and guides:" sections of this post, I realized the importance of a good cartridge so I was wondering if you guys could give me a suggestion on which one to buy. I understand this is a linear turntable so I am a little confused as to which cartridge would fit best with it.
   
   Thank you so much in advance for your time in reading and responding, I really appreciate it. Have a wonderful rest of your day!