keppa
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2012
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Congrats on the RS-1, they sure are pretty!!
I too think that the RS1/2 are one damn pretty pair of phones. Have though so for years!
Congrats on the RS-1, they sure are pretty!!
My RS-1 are a lot darker than that - they look like they were soaked in whiskey or something before being stained.
Hmm, a terrible waste of whiskey.
Dang Stacker, if I ever get over to France, I need to come visit....you have some DAMN nice gear! lol And I agree, the only vinyl rigs I've heard were both really expensive and really nice. The sound was just amazing....this last time, at my local Grado dealer, you could easily discern the differences between the vinyl sound and the digital sound. Digital still sounded great, but wow, the analog tracks were really something. I keep hearing about those Ortofon carts, too. The table that has been recommended to me most often for $500 is the Pro-ject DEbut Carbon....it comes with the 2mRed cart, I believe. Supposed to be a very nice entry level table. Several people have suggested I "do it right, or don't do it" though, so I'm also looking at the better Rega tables and the VPI Traveler. I'll be in research mode for while yet, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can. I can't wait to hear the Grados with vinyl....that's going to be amazing!
France!, who are you going to visit in France, i'm in Canada.
Quote:
Dang Stacker, if I ever get over to France, I need to come visit....you have some DAMN nice gear! lol And I agree, the only vinyl rigs I've heard were both really expensive and really nice. The sound was just amazing....this last time, at my local Grado dealer, you could easily discern the differences between the vinyl sound and the digital sound. Digital still sounded great, but wow, the analog tracks were really something. I keep hearing about those Ortofon carts, too. The table that has been recommended to me most often for $500 is the Pro-ject DEbut Carbon....it comes with the 2mRed cart, I believe. Supposed to be a very nice entry level table. Several people have suggested I "do it right, or don't do it" though, so I'm also looking at the better Rega tables and the VPI Traveler. I'll be in research mode for while yet, but I'm trying to learn as much as I can. I can't wait to hear the Grados with vinyl....that's going to be amazing!
France!, who are you going to visit in France, i'm in Canada.
They're are many reasons why i like vintage gear so much, first, i think it looks good, second, it's obviously built to last, and third, if you don't overpay for your gear, not only can you sell it for the same price you've paid, you might even make some money from a sale.And feeding the beast doesn't have to be expensive, old LPs are often cheap as dirt, heck, you might even get some for free from friends and family.
Plus, the satisfaction you get when you finally aquire that vintage piece you've been searching for, especially if the price was right, case in point, my Marantz 6350Q, mint examples of these are pretty rare, and i got mine for about half of what i should've paid for it,i still get warm and fuzzy inside everytime i use it.
If someone would have told me i'd be listening to vinyl with my Grados one day, i would've said they were crazy,with Grados beeing so forensic, i would have tought it'd be unlistenable.But the reality is, if you can get over the few tick and pops, you'll be rewarded with a very lush, organic sound and a wider, deeper sounstage,than any CD can provide.
I know a lot of peoples really like Ortofon cartriges,and with good reasons, but to be honnest, if i had bought my $50 Audio-Technica AT95e cart before my 2M Blue and my 2M Black, i'd never could have justified spending that much on cartriges, especially the Black. Withe certain vinyls i actually prefer the sound of my AT95e to that the Black, wich is very analytical and sounds less musical than the AT95e.
If I were you, Focker, I'd look for a deck just like Stacker's. The Technics are excellent direct drive decks, that were made for DJs. The result is that they are damn near indestructible. They also sold like crazy, so they pop up on craigslist for ~$200-$400 often. If you can find one of the high end Regas, they're great, easily on par or better than a good Thorens or Lynn, they're all just different. The Technics was not designed to be an audiophile deck, but it has been widely adopted by audiophiles. I recently found the 1600 on craigslist for $75. If I had the time to run out there, and $75 to burn, it's a steal. The lower end of the 2M line is getting great feedback, too. The Red and Blue (I forget which, but one of those is ~$100) are supposed to be great. Another cart I hear great things about is the AT 440, I think, it's a very inexpensive high-output moving coil. I switched to HOMC a year or two ago, and love it. Also, the Denon 110 is awesome for the money, about $140. To be honest, Shure makes great stuff for the price. The lowest model Shure, the M92E, is pretty nice. It used to be easily found for ~$25. I put it on a Lenco (rebadged as a Bogen-Presto), which was popular with radio stations, and it sounded pretty great. Not quite on par with some of the others here, or even the venerable V15, but it's certainly no slouch, and isn't that far from their top of the line, M97
EDIT: In that ~$100 price range, the Sumiko Pearl sounds AMAZING!
Going vintage, if done right, can be a tremendous value. I've honestly not been so fond of the Pro-Ject decks I've seen/worked on, I'd take the Technics, or an older Lynn or Thorens any day. Not to say that they don't make good products, or aren't worth the money, I was just less impressed. I have seen some vintage decks that were pretty inexpensive which I found the be about on par with the newer Pro-Jects. I rebuilt a mid-80s Yamaha that was really nice. Also, the earlier Pioneer tables were great. There are tons of great decks out there, and if you find a great vintage one, you could get equivalent performance for a bit less.
On the SR-325, the 325is were never available in gold; the color variations also indicate model changes (SR-325i were done in gold as a 50th anniversary thing, 325is exist in both matte and chrome). However a lot of retailers seem to have not changed their stock images with Grado's latest revisions - it's only been what? 3 years?
Grado's website still shows the older chromed version, too.