[Manyak]

Every person you ask will give you a different answer, but I think monoprice premium cables are great (I use them for my non-critical audio stuff, like my gaming room, PC speakers, etc). I've never heard enough of a difference between those and more expensive copper cables to warrant paying the extra money. Silver cables are a whole different ballgame though, and sound fantastic. The only catch with those is that they are ridiculously expensive if you don't make them yourself.
 
Quote:

What are some good cable brands? Dont trust myself making my own. 

 

 

[Pm@c]

Any good tutorials on making your own then? I tried to follow this one:
http://diyaudioprojects.com/Power/diySilver/
 
but got confused at:
 
"Decide which end is to be the destination and cut the white wire away just where it pokes out from the heat shrink." So the destination doesnt use the white wire? You just cut it and hide it?

 

[Manyak]

http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/esantane/movies/ics.html (based on http://www.venhaus1.com/diysilverinterconnects.html)
and
http://www.laventure.net/tourist/cables.htm
 
Quote:

Any good tutorials on making your own then? I tried to follow this one:
http://diyaudioprojects.com/Power/diySilver/
 
but got confused at:
 
"Decide which end is to be the destination and cut the white wire away just where it pokes out from the heat shrink." So the destination doesnt use the white wire? You just cut it and hide it?

 

 

[Paranoid31]

Quote:

The output of the TT's preamp is analogue, while the NFB12 only has digital inputs. The component order is correct, but your specific amp won't work.

Does that mean I'll need to find a different amp if I wanted to listen to a TT? Does the preamp do anything to boost the sound of my HD600s? Maybe I should just invest in some speakers.

 

[Manyak]

Quote:

Does that mean I'll need to find a different amp if I wanted to listen to a TT? Does the preamp do anything to boost the sound of my HD600s? Maybe I should just invest in some speakers.

 
Correct, you'd need a different amp, or you'd need to put an ADC before it (which kind of defeats the purpose of vinyl, unless it's a really good one then maybe you won't notice the difference). The preamp does nothing for the headphones, it's just a converter that changes the output of the turntable to a properly equalized line-level signal.

 

[Paranoid31]

Quote:

 
Correct, you'd need a different amp, or you'd need to put an ADC before it (which kind of defeats the purpose of vinyl, unless it's a really good one then maybe you won't notice the difference). The preamp does nothing for the headphones, it's just a converter that changes the output of the turntable to a properly equalized line-level signal.

So I'm guessing the sound quality of my headphones would be a lot worse if I just used them with a preamp then (after being used to the NFB-12).
 
How would I know which amps would work? Do you have any suggestions that are affordable?
 

 

[Manyak]

You can't use your headphones just on the preamp. The output isn't powerful enough, and you might end up damaging it. Don't even try.
 
I'm not the one to ask for headphone amp suggestions though, as my experience in that area is pretty limited. You should ask elsewhere on the forums.
 
Quote:

So I'm guessing the sound quality of my headphones would be a lot worse if I just used them with a preamp then (after being used to the NFB-12).
 
How would I know which amps would work? Do you have any suggestions that are affordable?
 

 

 

[Pm@c]

Ok now so when I get this thing, do I have to buy a special instrument to adjust the arm weight to 1.75G? Or is there some way to do that without? Or is it something I should be re-calibrating on a regular basis so I may as well get the proper tools?
 
I just want to make sure that when I finally do get my TT, that I set it up properly the first time.
 
Wont be getting it for another 3-4 weeks now, since I just bought a new car (2012 Focus), bed, and washer/dryer, so cash is sort of tight at the moment.
 
Definately starting my Vinyl collection already though. Ive got Dream Theater's brand new album comin in vinyl, as well as their last 2 albums, and currently trying to get ahold of some of their older albums if possible (they are out of print, so its hard).
 
Gonna pick up some Saga on vinyl, maybe some Metallica and Smashing Pumpkins if I can find.
 
This is some exciting stuff!

 

[Paranoid31]

Quote:

You can't use your headphones just on the preamp. The output isn't powerful enough, and you might end up damaging it. Don't even try.
 
I'm not the one to ask for headphone amp suggestions though, as my experience in that area is pretty limited. You should ask elsewhere on the forums.
 


 

Okay, well I'm just going to skip using headphones with a TT for now. I am going to get some speakers instead. I was told that you should get a power amp with the speakers because the preamp > speakers wouldn't be loud enough. Does the quality of the amp matter a lot? Or is $100 sufficient to have a decent sound?
 

 

[Manyak]

Quote:

Ok now so when I get this thing, do I have to buy a special instrument to adjust the arm weight to 1.75G? Or is there some way to do that without? Or is it something I should be re-calibrating on a regular basis so I may as well get the proper tools?
 
I just want to make sure that when I finally do get my TT, that I set it up properly the first time.
 
Wont be getting it for another 3-4 weeks now, since I just bought a new car (2012 Focus), bed, and washer/dryer, so cash is sort of tight at the moment.
 
Definately starting my Vinyl collection already though. Ive got Dream Theater's brand new album comin in vinyl, as well as their last 2 albums, and currently trying to get ahold of some of their older albums if possible (they are out of print, so its hard).
 
Gonna pick up some Saga on vinyl, maybe some Metallica and Smashing Pumpkins if I can find.
 
This is some exciting stuff!

You don't need a special instrument, but it's better to have one just to be sure everything is accurate. Basically you'd want one of those small scales that jewelers use, and it has to be accurate to within 0.01g at least (so don't go running to get one from the dollar store ). You can still calibrate the tracking force without one though - you turn the counterweight at the back of the arm until the arm balances perfectly like this:
 

 
Then you set that position as 0 (turn the plastic label but not the weight). After that you just turn the whole weight so that the line points to 1.75g, and it's set. It's not a very accurate method, but it works. So it really just depends if you care for that extra level of accuracy. It's not so important with lower end carts, but you definitely need one if you end up getting hooked and start upgrading.
 


Quote:

Okay, well I'm just going to skip using headphones with a TT for now. I am going to get some speakers instead. I was told that you should get a power amp with the speakers because the preamp > speakers wouldn't be loud enough. Does the quality of the amp matter a lot? Or is $100 sufficient to have a decent sound?
 

I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but with your budget maybe you should try out a vintage receiver. Those old systems all had phono preamps built-in, as well as some half-decent amplifiers (for both speakers and headphones). So it becomes the only piece you need to buy. Here's an example of one. Pioneer, Marantz, Bang and Olufsen, and a whole bunch of others had some really good equipment back then. There's a whole thread dedicated to them here, you should check it out.

 

[wuwhere]

Quote:

Does that mean I'll need to find a different amp if I wanted to listen to a TT? Does the preamp do anything to boost the sound of my HD600s? Maybe I should just invest in some speakers.

You would need a preamp with a phono input from your TT. Then you can feed the preamp's out to a headphone amp, either by a pair of RCA cables or using an RCA to 3.5" cable.
 
BTW, you can digitize your vinyl using an ADC.
 
Nice pseudonym, Manyak.

 

[shipsupt]

X2 on vintage. They had great phono stages, sound great from the headphone out, and you can drive speakers too.

 

[Pm@c]

What are some decently priced scales that people use for calibration? Would I be able to pick one up for 50 bucks?
 
Also, I just thought, if I go from my pre-amp through my Xonar, into my PC (even though I'm doing RCA into the line-in and using the headphone out), is it going to affect quality at all since its going through my PC? Or does the Xonar skip any of that "digitization" as long as I have the HI-FI setting enabled?

 

[Manyak]

Quote:

What are some decently priced scales that people use for calibration? Would I be able to pick one up for 50 bucks?
 
Also, I just thought, if I go from my pre-amp through my Xonar, into my PC (even though I'm doing RCA into the line-in and using the headphone out), is it going to affect quality at all since its going through my PC? Or does the Xonar skip any of that "digitization" as long as I have the HI-FI setting enabled?

 
Here's a really nice one for $75.
 
There's also:
http://www.rightonscales.com/web/120z.htm
http://www.rightonscales.com/web/jcc.htm
 
That last one is probably your best bet for now - it's pretty cheap and has good enough accuracy.
 
 
As for your sound card, each one can be made differently. So maybe if someone knows about yours specifically they'd be able to help. That said, I doubt it - all computer components are designed to be "lazy" and do as little processing as possible, and digitizing it just to re-output it would be counter-productive in achieving that goal.

 

[Pm@c]

Sorry, a little confused on that last line. Does that mean I should or shouldnt use my sound card? Maybe invest in a better headphone amp?