You bet, it's my pleasure to help out.   If you have a good enough tonearm, you'll never need to replace it.  People generally go with more sophisticated arms because they provide smoother bearings, which in the end are said to deliver less distortion and more micro-details.   If you use...

Hey Austin,   Let's see if I can give you a brief rundown.   -Turntable - another word for phonograph, record player, etc   -Phono stage - another term for "phono preamp" - this is a unit required to take the low voltage output from the cartridge/needle, amplify it, and add the...

Stock Technics headshells are just fine, if you don't need azimuth adjustment.  In some cases the Technics headshell is the easiest low mass headshell to find, as it only weighs 7g or so.   And no, I wasn't calling your favorite cart 'cheap', as I don't even know what your favorite is!  Many...

Yes, you will need a phono preamp in order to get the proper sound and level out of the cartridge.    The 2 cables are left and right channel, and the third is a ground spade which needs to be connected to eliminate hum.   A phono preamp doesn't need to be expensive, especially if you're...

The cartridge could possibly be the culprit.   Since the internal wiring of the cartridge is very thin (thinner than human hair) coil wire, any sort of physical stress can cause that coil to break - especially if we're talking about a vintage cartridge.  

Your best bet is to see if you have a HiFi shop around town...  Check dealer lists from Rega, Pro-Ject, Music Hall.   Technics 1200 is in fact a DJ table, but you'd be hard pressed to find something built that well for under $1000.  But yes, you'll have to deal with it looking like a DJ table.

Someone get this man a dedicated turntable shelf!  That turntable is far too beautiful to sit atop a receiver like that!!   

It's not at all atypical to see these things getting far over 1,000 hours.  Shoot, there are people call me with their 30 year old MC cartridges who are just now getting around to realizing that it could use replacing.    However, since it's impossible to quantify such an elusive thing like...

  More than I have to spend, that's for sure!!   Quote:

The fact remains, cartridges are notoriously delicate instruments.  So much as dropping the tonearm and bouncing the stylus can damage the suspension, and this is true for any high end cartridge.  Furthermore, when your product is 10 times more prevalent out there than the nearest competitor...

Quote: You should be able to get an easy 1,000 hours our of a Replicant 100 if your records are kept in good condition.   As far as retipping, it varies depending on which distributor you are serviced by, but the MSRP in the USA for a retip is $2,000.  The A90 is the only cartridge...

Quote:   With all due respect, I've been with Ortofon for 4 years now and have not heard a single thing about suspension issues on the Kontrapunkt or Jubilee cartridges.  The one time I heard about this happening was with a product that was gray market and purchased from a retailer who...

Yes, I think that a Technics 1200 is a very good value especially for those just getting into vinyl.  It's built like a tank, requires little to no maintenance, and sound quality wise it's respectable.  It's not going to perform a sonic miracle, but for that price, nothing will!   1200s do...

Hey Erin,   I'm sorry if I came off like I was trying to put you in your place.  My goal here wasn't to discredit your opinions and your knowledge, but merely to make one consider the 1200 as being a reasonable piece of kit minus it's pro-audio aesthetic.  You are right about the RB series...

There are loads of great tables out there, just keep your eyes open for a bargain and be patient!

I know you have an RB-300, but if you ever have the chance to get the VTA mod kit, you could definitely make some subtle adjustments that will help to get the most out of the very extreme Replicant 100 diamond.  This might help to even out the sound a bit.   I'm sure you're already extremely...

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, of course...  Both of the tables you mentioned are great bargains for how much they do right.   But have you heard a Technics 1200 versus a Rega P2 or Project Expression?   I have, and while it wasn't an outright slaughtering by the 1200, the...

Quote: I disagree.  The Technics 1200 was the result of trickle-down from engineering on the SP-10 project.  I think they are both good options (Pro-Ject makes some great decks), but to say that the 1200 would be inferior as a blanket statement isn't really rooted in anything but audio...

Thanks again for doing this comparison.  You're right, people glance over the Ortofons because they are presumably the same as Ultrasone's DJ1 PRO.  That's truly not the case as Mythless and others have pointed out - they sound rather different.   I will certainly admit that they don't have...

Pro-Ject makes a decent USB table...   But for a true vinyl enthusiast, you'd still find better tables (even within the Pro-Ject line) which do not have USB connectivity.   For all the naysayers who don't believe in turntables, I propose a sewing needle connected to a cone made out of...

Quote:   No problem at all.  We really appreciate that you took the time to give a review and that you did a good job describing the sound of the O-One.   As far as the comparison:  I think the the soundstage is very similar to the HFI-700, which are superior to the 840s.    I...

Hey Mythless, Thanks for reviewing our O-Ones. Glad you like em!!   I have to agree with your assessment here - they are very detailed headphones, and they REALLY sound much less strident after break-in.   Two things: Firstly, I wanted to comment on your observation about the...

Oh man, this deck is so cool.  I always wanted a PDT-5000 when I was younger, and you rarely EVER see a good picture of one.  Thanks so much for sharing!   I bet that you could dampen the platter with some sorbothane as well, and I bet that it also help speed stability because of the added...

Quote:   A brand new record, when it is clean, should not have any crackles or pops - Erin is correct.   However, there are a lot of instances where you may find the record to have excess release agent on it.  This is something that is used to help loosen the record from the stamper...

Any updates?  I'm dying to hear how you made out!