[Berlioz]

Well my dad seems to have noticed my audiophile craze recently. He told me to go dig out his stuff in the basement and that I take what I needed. I was pretty curious, but I wasn't expecting anything too great (aren't I grateful?). Thankfully, I was wrong!

There was a Dual 601 turntable in there. I've read that it's a pretty average turntable, but it's self balancing (???), which is supposed to be a good thing.

It didn't work at all at first. I opened it up and found the motor to be clogged with dust. After some cleaning and some coaxing, it came back to life

Apparently the motor on these things is infamous for just sucking in general.

The TT is still quite temperamental. The right channel didn't sound very loud at first, so I blew on the cartridge, and now the right channel sounds fine, but the left channel is messed up

Still, I can't get over how good vinyl sounds! For the Beatles, I only have some compilation CD someone gave me (I'm waiting for the box set), and I always thought it sounded really loud and unnatural. The LPs sounds amazing!

I set it up in my room and this is what I have so far. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them:

Attachment 18525

I close up of the turntable:

Attachment 18526

There are dozens of these boxes; I'm not sure how to store them, other than that the LP's should be vertical. Somehow I don't think these cardboard boxes are good long term storage.

Attachment 18527

One of the speakers. Notice the horn tweeter...

Attachment 18529

Finally there are these old headphones I found. They sound pretty nasty, but I think they're kinda cool:

Attachment 18528

So, this is my dilemma. I need to find a way to store these LP's, and probably a new turntable as well. I'll also need an audio component rack. I don't mind intro level stuff, as my budget is pretty tight. Maybe $500 CDN max for the TT, and as cheap as I can get for the rack and the LP storage, while still getting something decent.

The amp may need to be replaced as well. One thing that I like about it is that it has a phono stage built into it, so I may keep it for at least half a year or so while I sort out my budget on this.

It would be nice if I could get something from a store in Canada, or at least something American made so I don't get dinged with duty fees.

 

[sean3089]

I'll bet the TT is OK. Maybe a new belt and cartridge is in order. You're not going to get a TT for $500 that will sound much better. The receiver is also nice if it still works well. The speakers probably are the weak link, but if they are still solid, I'l bet they'd be OK with some decent stands. The headphones look pretty lame. Perhaps something for 300 or less would be in order. What about some Grado SR 60's?$, and those $100 stands from Partsexpess? Ortofon OM10 or 20 cartridge, Dark Side of the Moon and you're in business.

 

[memepool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berlioz /img/forum/go_quote.gif There was a Dual 601 turntable in there. I've read that it's a pretty average turntable, but it's self balancing (???), which is supposed to be a good thing.

That's a pretty nice entry level deck there. The modern equivalent Dual is 500 Euro. You should get a new stylus / cartridge first off. It sounds as though the present one is worn / not mounted correctly perhaps, and this will damage records irreparably so don't play any more until you get this organised.
A Shure M97 would be the modern equivalent to what that would have originally come with. You should check what cart is on there though as it might be a decent one worth getting a new stylus for.