presonus firebox or inspire

[loonytunes]

Hi - I'm new to the whole digital sound environment & trying to figure out what piece of kit to start with. My first 'job' is to get a load of vinyl material onto my mac (osx). I'm torn between the firebox & the inspire. I want something that will do the above easily but I would want to do some instrument/voice recording once I get a bit more familiar with the whole thing & the firebox seems to offer more scope. I'd appreciate some guidance.

Thanks. EL

 

[Monkey Allen]

I have the Firebox....and I used it to record some old records. Used a CADm177 mic....results were very good.

I don't know anything about the Inspire. But for what it's worth....the Firebox is a good unit.

 

[loonytunes]

looking at a comparison chart the firebox is clearly a more serious unit - my only question is that the inspire has an RCA(RIAA filtered) phono input. That lets me plug a phono deck straight in - can I use any of the inputs on the firebox in this way - hope this isn't a dopey question, but I don't have a mic.. at this time.

 

[flamin-gitaur]

I can't say anything about the inspire (never tried it) but I use the firebox everyday. It works very well if you only want to record no more than 2 tracks at once. The preamps in it are pretty good. And it also comes bundled with Cubase LE recording software which is nice.