Agreed about the "straight arm" question. This is a confusing subject but basically tonearm design swung back toward straight tonearms in the early 80's. The Technics arm design dates from a time when all tonearms were s or j shaped. There are famous designs in both varieties that are great tonearms, the shape is secondary to the design and construction. In the case of the Technics the reason it is 2nd rate in comparison to later arms like the Rega is that it's constuction is relatively poor, having too many joints and rubber grommets used between the various parts which compromise sound quality.
The "straight arm" referred to in these links is a different design altogether and would cause damage to records if used with the wrong type of cartridge as the geometry will be wrong and thus wear the record faster.
Using the Technics for both scratch mixing and as your sole deck for just listening is going to involve compromises. You just need to work out which ones you can live with. If sound quality is the most important thing for you the OL arm upgrade will give you the best results.
You will need to choose a cartridge based on what you intend to do most of. The more expensive Stanton's are a good compromise because you can use a cheaper stylus for mixing and a more expensive one for playback interchanging them without having to remove the cartridge which is the main drawback of an arm with a fixed headshell like the Rega/OL. However what you loose in convenience you gain in sound quality as I mentioned.
Obviously scratching with your records is going to wear your stylus and records out more quickly than just playing them. Touching the playing surface at all is not good for sound quality as you leave all kinds of greasy residues from your hands. You could wear white gloves and keep it oldskool I guess!
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Originally Posted by skyskraper
isopropyl alcohol and a nice lint free no static cloth is a great way to clean your records.
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I wouldn't trust Isopropyl alcohol as it is known to damage your records. Again by how much is debateable but why risk it. Better to use a commercial cleaner like Nitty Gritty solution. And it's going to be worth spending a few hundred bucks on a vacuum cleaning machine as soon as you can afford it as this is by far the best way to preserve your records.
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Originally Posted by skyskraper
a keyboard stand will work nicely with your case, just make sure your surface ends up being level  |
It depends on your floor. If it's concrete then any light but solid table is just fine. If you have suspended floorboards though a wall shelf is a much better option. As I mentioned earlier there are many companies which have made wall shelves specifically for turntables and these turn up on ebay frequently. Look for Target, Sound Organisation, Apollo, Partington...
Have fun with your new decks.