Brothers in Vinyl - Page 5

Sure thing! I'll see you at the headroom tour. I'll have my car by then too.

I've got an AR-ES1/Linn Basik arm/Rega Elys cartridge, purchased in 1984 to replace my Dual 1229.

Interesting buying experience at Innovative Audio in Brooklyn, NY:
Salesman first played an lp on a direct-drive Denon table to replicate an example of typical mid-fi playback. Then he moved the same lp up the 3-model line: entry level B&O, AR-ES1/Linn Basik, and then Linn Sondek LP12. As the record moved from 'table to 'table, you could clearly hear the improvement in the retrieval of detail. Also, the price went up. At the time, the $800 for the Linn was out of my price range, so I settled for the AR and have been quite happy with it.

I've got somewhere around 1000 lp's, and around 500 CD's. Some vinyl sounds better, some CD's sound better. In my experience, CD gives you better-defined, better-controlled bass, but vinyl often has a greater sense of immediacy. I do know that it's especially difficult to spin vinyl in my car or on the train to and from the office. And the vinyl revival is terrific, but there's something galling about having to pay 30 bucks for a record that should have been manufactured properly the first time it came out. (Much of the vinyl of the '70's was horridly produced, in terms of warpage and surface noice. There was often a tremendous amount of defective product returned. Part of the appeal of CD's to the music industry was the virtual elimination of the hassle and expense of defective product. Not to mention people shelling out to replace their lp collections. And then doing it again when the remastered CD versions came out. But wait, now here's the expanded 2-CD version with a new booklet and 3 more mediocre tracks that were left off the original album because they sucked).

Anyway, it's about the music, people— enjoy.

ok...

i'm a total vinyl newbie...

i jumped off the edge and bought some LP's off of ebay...

i got a lot of 25 80's rock LPs for $5 bucks....and a few other LPs for very cheap....so far the ones i have taken a look at are in excellent condition...but a good many of them are dusty..dirty etc...in need of a cleaning badly..

i'm using a really poor turntable...its belt driver..cause i had to reattach the belt to get it to work lol....

i want to upgrade but...i'm wanting to use the turntable pretty much just with my HD600s....

i'm not sure what to get ....i'd like to spend as little money as possible and get a *decent* turntable...it doesn't have to be truly hi-fi...just pretty good....

ray

Just beacause the tt is belt drive doesn't mean it's bad. As a matter of fact, most all of the upper end tables are belt driven. They (generally) have better pace and emit less noise than direct drive tts.

thanks rickg...

just wanted to note....

i didn't mean to imply my tt was poor due to it being belt driven...

the poor qualities....

well its not exactly a standalone turntable...its one of those built into an old reciever....

basically i think its worn out...and also the knobs..on the receiver are worn out...its hard to adjust volume....etc....

i'd like to find a resonably priced....lightweight (if it exists)...standalone turntable with a 1/4 headphone jack...

thanks for the reply...

ray

Congrats on the ebay score! If you are going with a new tt, it sound as though you want the MMF 2, a budget phono stage (either ratshack or a used parasound or NAD), and a headphone amp. No decent phonostage or TT will have a headphone jack.
Another option would be to get an integrated amp with a decent phonostage and headjack. Some used NADs and Rotels will do this on a budget.

Hi Ray

I guess I'm still a little unclear about your turntable quest. Are you looking for a self-contained portable?

If so, I have one of these little jewels that I carry to record conventions, garage sales, neighborhood record shops, ...etc..

All you would need to do is add a 1/4 inch to mini adaptor to convert your headphones.

Columbia GP-3 Portable(Battery Operated) 2-Speed (33 13/45rpm) Record Players



This is a quality 2 speed record player we are importing from Japan.


Features include:



Red or Blue colors available
Includes ceramic cartridge and stylus
Built in speaker
Pitch Control
Headphone Jack (mono signal)(no headphone included)
Plays 33's and 45's
Solid Construction (Durable Plastic body)
Accepts 6 "D" Batteries
AC Cord
Clamp for hanging unit on wall to play records upright.
Extra stylus (needle) available @ $14.50 (#722-D7), 10% off 2 or more.

available here:

http://www.garage-a-records.com/gp3.html

I auditioned some more music hall tt's today....To tell you the truth...I prefered the sound of the sumikos at the same price point a little bit more. It must be a cartridge thing. I wonder what an oyster would sound like on an MMF-5.

Cool looking player. How does it sound out of the speaker?

It sounds adequate....better than you'd expect.

One thing I forgot: the headphone output is mono, so it wouldn't be a good choice if you wanted to use it exclusively for phones. I always use the speaker.

On an MMF 2.1, an Oyster left me wondering where the high end went. I had a similar reaction to the Blue Point. It's not turntable specific, as I got the same thing on my Ariston/Grado setup. I'm not a fan of Sumiko cartridges at this point.

Also got an analogue front-end here....


Used Rega Planar 3 (Old Style) with RB300 Arm and Sumiko Blue Point MC.

Coupled to EAR834p Valved phono stage. Also have a Parasound PPH100 Solid-State phono stage as a spare (picked up s/h for £50 or equivalent $70).





My second T/T is a 1980 Pioneer PL1000 Linear Tracker Direct Drive deck with an Audio Technica AT110 MM cart.

Got this one free of charge. I actually salvaged it from going in the skip at the local ham radio club. Nobody wanted it and it went on the junk sale for £1 and still nobody would give it a home. I went along 2-3 weeks later when they were getting rid of all the rubbish and picked this up.

Took it home and found that it needed all the cables replacing, which I duly did. It also needed a new bridge rectifier and a new cartridge. Once i'd spent a couple of hours fixing it up and cleaning it it worked like a "good 'un"

Just this week I offered it to a work colleaugue and supposed record collector and he tuened his nose up at it. Was only asking £40, so back in the cupboard it went. May get it out this week and have a listen.




My second system has a really old DUAL 506/II. I got this from the local cash converters for £30 about five years ago. Works quite well and is ok for the occasional LP. Probably needs a new cart as I think the one in it is the original one from new (1976? possibly).




Although a predominantly CD-man these days, I was weaned on the black stuff. My earliest musical memories go back to the late 1970s and early 1980s when my father was very fond of playing Queen and Bob Dylan LPs.

I distinctly remember him playing them on a Sanyo Music Centre
with the turntable being central and it having a cassette deck on the left. The frontage was all silver and it had an analog tuning dial along the front with two proper needle type VU meters that lit up in a neon blue.

We still have the DYLAN and the QUEEN LPs to this day.



Sound As Ever
Listening to Lone Star State Of Mind - Nancie Griffith
Rega P3 >-- EAR834p >-- Audiolab 8000Q >-- 2 x Rotel RB970s >--Spendor SP3/1s (Bliss!)

Okay...I just upgraded from an audio-technica AT110E to a Signet...OMG the difference is amazing. I mean WOW. I havn't been floored like this for a while. I think analogue is the way to go for me. I mean... yes it reveals everything wrong with my records...but the sound is nothing short of amazing.

Re: Brothers in Vinyl

I have a Thorens TD147 and am getting an AR-XA.

AM

brothers in vinyl

i guess we're not going to get those pictures of the SOTA factory?:-)