CABLES

Any HiFi system is only as good as it's weakest component, and in the majority of cases that's the cables used to connect your equipment. My advice here is general, but I always avoid using any thin and cheap cables that you get included with your turntable or speakers. Most people can't hear the difference between good cables and audiophile ones - so don't splash out on expensive ones either.

I usually go for pairs of well-shielded and highly-rated cables from places like Amazon. £15-20 mark. You want them to be as short as possible - to prevent signal loss or noise - however very short ones will limit the distance between the components.

Most turntables and speakers (active) are connected with male-to-male RCA cables; right and left channel.

If you went for an amplifier with passive speakers you'll want to get pure-copper 'speaker wire' that's shielded and has a gauge rating. 16ga or 14ga will do most systems.