Jigglybootch
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2004
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I have spent the last few hours listening to some of my father's old records on a 26 year-old Micro Seiki DD-24 turntable. It's a direct drive table and has auto return. This turntable has pretty much been sitting in the attic for the last 15 years or so. I dug it out, along with an old Yamaha C-45 preamp, hooked everything together, and played a bunch of old records, as well as my recently acquired copy of Bruce Springsteen's "Devils And Dust."
I was surprised. The turntable, IMO, sounded great overall. Granted, some of the records were a bit dusty, and the stylus wasn't actually attached to the cartridge when I found the turntable (long story), but in any case, the records sounded great, save for some crackly distortion during some complex musical passages. I attribute the distortion mostly to the age and state of the turntable/cartridge.
As I'm sure you know, I am very much excited by the prospect of getting a Music Hall MMF-5. From what I've calculated, such a turntable will fit into my budget. However, should things not work out the way I planned, I may be forced to go with a less expensive turntable, the Goldring GR-1 being my choice (unless you know of something better in that price range).
Here's my question. I think the old Micro Seiki sounds great for the most part. My father says he paid "a couple hundred bucks" for this table, which I estimate he purchased in 1979. What I'm wondering is, should I be forced to go with the GR-1, would this still be an improvement over the old Micro Seiki? I don't know how good the turntables of 1979 were, as I wasn't born until 1983. Would something like the GR-1, a ~$400 turntable from 2005 be substantially better than a ~$300 turntable from 1979?
This may sound like a stupid question, but as far as I'm concerned, if the GR-1 is substantially better than the Micro Seiki, I'll be happy, as I'm already quite pleased with the Micro Seiki, save for the occasional distortion and the fact that it's pretty much on its death bed.
Sorry about the length of this post, but I'm just trying to get a good idea about what I'm getting myself into. Frankly, I'm very easy to please. If I upgrade and it's better than what I had, then I'll be ecstatic, so long as I don't hear anything better than what I've upgraded to (which won't likely happen, as I'm the only person amongst my family and friends that's crazy enough to invest in a turntable in the age of digital). In the end, I just don't want to pay too much money when I would've been just as happy with something less expensive.
I probably should've mentioned that this question is for Todd, or for anyone else that wants to answer, but I figured since I posted it in his forum, it was pretty evident who this was addressed to.
I was surprised. The turntable, IMO, sounded great overall. Granted, some of the records were a bit dusty, and the stylus wasn't actually attached to the cartridge when I found the turntable (long story), but in any case, the records sounded great, save for some crackly distortion during some complex musical passages. I attribute the distortion mostly to the age and state of the turntable/cartridge.
As I'm sure you know, I am very much excited by the prospect of getting a Music Hall MMF-5. From what I've calculated, such a turntable will fit into my budget. However, should things not work out the way I planned, I may be forced to go with a less expensive turntable, the Goldring GR-1 being my choice (unless you know of something better in that price range).
Here's my question. I think the old Micro Seiki sounds great for the most part. My father says he paid "a couple hundred bucks" for this table, which I estimate he purchased in 1979. What I'm wondering is, should I be forced to go with the GR-1, would this still be an improvement over the old Micro Seiki? I don't know how good the turntables of 1979 were, as I wasn't born until 1983. Would something like the GR-1, a ~$400 turntable from 2005 be substantially better than a ~$300 turntable from 1979?
This may sound like a stupid question, but as far as I'm concerned, if the GR-1 is substantially better than the Micro Seiki, I'll be happy, as I'm already quite pleased with the Micro Seiki, save for the occasional distortion and the fact that it's pretty much on its death bed.
Sorry about the length of this post, but I'm just trying to get a good idea about what I'm getting myself into. Frankly, I'm very easy to please. If I upgrade and it's better than what I had, then I'll be ecstatic, so long as I don't hear anything better than what I've upgraded to (which won't likely happen, as I'm the only person amongst my family and friends that's crazy enough to invest in a turntable in the age of digital). In the end, I just don't want to pay too much money when I would've been just as happy with something less expensive.
I probably should've mentioned that this question is for Todd, or for anyone else that wants to answer, but I figured since I posted it in his forum, it was pretty evident who this was addressed to.