Any DJ's here?

[Sheynkman]

Originally Posted by lini

Oh, that's bad news (new for me, at least...) - I don't remember the Concordes to break that easily in former days...

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

well.....they are really good...and sound awesome....


but they wear out the records and themselves much faster in the process

[skyskraper]

they shouldnt wear the records out if theyre setup correctly, i find ortofons do some of the least damage on records. that said im not happy with the geometry of the concorde body. always buy the ortofon OM's theyre so much better.

[Mecc]

If you think about it, the Concorde pack comes with two styluses and the OM comes with one. Which makes them roughly the "same" price.

Even though I said I'd get things in two weeks, I've already dropped about 1k on my "starter" set. I bought the used set off of a DJ (surprise) on EBAY for around $850. S&H was 20% of the total!~ I'm getting

2 used 1200mk2
2 used ortofon nightclub carts + needles
1 used Pioneer DJM 300
1 used Grundorf DTTR-D case
25 LP

I also purchased two Ortofon "qbert" styluses to scratch with. Just gotta buy hd25's, and I guess I'll get the JBL control 1. Get more records. I'm wondering if I should invest in a cleaning solution. I read that people just use alcohol mixed with distilled water and wipe with lint free cloth. Upgrade the mixer down the road and replace the arms with modded OL's...

The OL tonearm upgrade is bugging me.
Check out this article.

It says not to use elliptical carts with the straight arm, but on the bottom under "a few final notes", it states "1. Were discussing Scratch DJ straight pivoted underhung tonearms, not linear tracking straight tonearms nor straight tonearms with proper overhang and the offset angle in the headshell."'

Does the OL/RB250 mod arm fit into the same catagory as the Stratch DJ arm?

Read this Thread

This thread

and this long thread

From what I'm picking up, elliptical needles sounds better than spherical and wears the record less, but I'd want to use an OM cart with a spherical stylus on a straight arm. You don't want to use an elliptical stylus for scratching which is why I bought the qbert styluses.

Any experts on the regamod want to chime in on which cartridge you should and shouldn't use?

then spend however much it costs in your area (it varies greatly depending on geographical area) to get a service with calibration etc (removing that god damn quartz lock)

Is there a specific place for this? Like with certified Technics people? There's an audio shop not to far from where I live that has lots of vintage receivers, headphones, and misc items. The owner does have a solding iron and a small table where it looks like he does repairs on. I guess I could go there and ask, but I think he'd try to swindle me. Would I be able to calibrate it myself using the manual?

Now that I think about it... I should buy some sort of stand or table to put the TTs on. I guess a keyboard stand should do the trick. I'm always forgetting something.

[skyskraper]

you got a good deal. now relax and just get mixing, you'll realise that a tonearm upgrade is amongst the absolute last things you need.

invest some money in a spirit target level and stylus alignment guage, should only cost a few pennies and will help you get your decks setup.

isopropyl alcohol and a nice lint free no static cloth is a great way to clean your records. there are so many different methods of cleaning that get debated ad nauseum around the net. in 10 years of use over thousands of records and more hours behind the decks then i care to remember, isopropyl alcohol and a good cloth has worked flawlessly for me.

the rega/ol arms have proper geometry in terms of length and headshell angle. its just the stanton/vestax/etc etc straight arms are junk that attempt to solve a problem with the marketing department rather then with good engineering.

ellipticals sound better but track poorer, mainly on the back cue. they wear less, but again thats relying on correct setup.

service and calibration can be done at a regular technics/panasonic service centre but what i'd do is ask the guys at your local record store where they take their decks. i guarantee theyve all had to get them worked on at some point and there are a lot of techs like us who go out of our way to setup the gear properly and ensure maximum dj operability rather then just putting it in spec. at the same time you should get the cables replaced (its a matter of time before they fail) and get the ground wire removed, a good tech will do it for you.

a keyboard stand will work nicely with your case, just make sure your surface ends up being level

[memepool]

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!

Originally Posted by skyskraper

isopropyl alcohol and a nice lint free no static cloth is a great way to clean your records.

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.

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.

[skyskraper]

see cleaning is so subjective, ive used it for a decade with no ill effects. similarly i have plenty of friends who have used it for twice as long with no ill effects either. yet other people will disagree, i can only advise based on my experience. all the damage that has occured on my records is due to either dead stylii, poor balance/setup, or operator error (poor storage, drunken heavy handedness etc etc etc).

agreed on the playing surface. i much preffer a proper table to keyboard stand setup. but it's a cheap and easy way of getting started considering he already has the coffin that will just sit on top. i have a wooden floor in my room, great for general listening but horrible for isolation and levelness. i put down a layer of rubber matting (roof waterproofing type stuff) underneath some concrete pavers, then a thin layer of high density foam, then marble tiles on top. THEN my custom built hardwood table (which is nothing special, just the width/height/depth that i want and some storage for records underneath)