I remember back about 20 years ago telling my wife that I absolutely needed to purchase a CD player because it would sound soooo much better than the turntable that I had. Just think of it, we can listen to music with no annoying pops and crackles. She reminded me of that Saturday.
My conversion to the Vinyl Mafia was completed this weekend (Friday actually). I received my SOTA Comet table with a Rega RB300 tonearm and a Grado Sonata cartridge. I enjoyed my Thorens TD190 when I first received it from Tuberoller about a year and a half ago, but CDs were still my media of choice. I thought it rather ridiculous to pay the kind of scratch that quality record vacuums cost so I got one of the Orbitrac Systems and figured for my old records it would suffice.
I then picked up my father in law's collection and figured the first thing I needed to do was to clean them all. Using the Orbitrac for 500+ albums was not an option, so my wonderful wife purchased a VPI 16.5 for me for Father's Day (I so love that woman). After listening to a few albums, I heard what the difference a truly clean record makes. Mind you, some of these albums that I have are 30 - 40 years old, and those that are not damaged sound absolutely fantastic. It was then I decided that a table upgrade was inevitable, so why fight it. I had a budget in mind and after many PMs and e-mails to Todd and Tubes, I decided on the SOTA/Rega/Sonata combo.
I have been listening to this set-up for two straight days. I even missed watching The Open Championship either because I stayed up late the night before (listening) or I was listening rather than watching. This was the first time in I don't know how many years that I missed watching a major golf tournament on T.V.
In a few weeks I hope to put my listening notes together and post a review. In the meantime, I have discovered two local used record stores in my area. I have purchased 10 new albums in the last three days.
My conversion to the Vinyl Mafia was completed this weekend (Friday actually). I received my SOTA Comet table with a Rega RB300 tonearm and a Grado Sonata cartridge. I enjoyed my Thorens TD190 when I first received it from Tuberoller about a year and a half ago, but CDs were still my media of choice. I thought it rather ridiculous to pay the kind of scratch that quality record vacuums cost so I got one of the Orbitrac Systems and figured for my old records it would suffice.
I then picked up my father in law's collection and figured the first thing I needed to do was to clean them all. Using the Orbitrac for 500+ albums was not an option, so my wonderful wife purchased a VPI 16.5 for me for Father's Day (I so love that woman). After listening to a few albums, I heard what the difference a truly clean record makes. Mind you, some of these albums that I have are 30 - 40 years old, and those that are not damaged sound absolutely fantastic. It was then I decided that a table upgrade was inevitable, so why fight it. I had a budget in mind and after many PMs and e-mails to Todd and Tubes, I decided on the SOTA/Rega/Sonata combo.
I have been listening to this set-up for two straight days. I even missed watching The Open Championship either because I stayed up late the night before (listening) or I was listening rather than watching. This was the first time in I don't know how many years that I missed watching a major golf tournament on T.V.
In a few weeks I hope to put my listening notes together and post a review. In the meantime, I have discovered two local used record stores in my area. I have purchased 10 new albums in the last three days.
I think I'm a good father, but I got nothing for father's day- and you got a VPI record cleaner! Sheesh!
