[hciman77]

Well, four weeks ago I didnt have any Vinyl capability in this country, now my wallet is substantially lighter

Denon DP35F with Signet MR 5.0 Basic $132.50
Denon DP30L Mk I with Shure V15 Mk III $56.88
Shure VN35E Stylus (clone) $39.95
Rotel RX303 Receiver $24.95
Phonopreamps TCC TC750 Phono Preamp $43.50
80 Assorted Classical LPs $9.75
50 Beethoven LPs $9.95
Taking Liberties (Elvis Costello) $5.00
Haydn London Symphonies $9.00

Total $331.48

I cant help feeling this experiment has gotten a little out of hand. I also think I am going to sell one of the turntables. As for the sound of vinyl I will reserve judgment until I get the phono preamp, the Rotel's phono stage is deradful (very very noisy) . One upside is that with a bit of luck you can get some quite cheap records.

 

[Ichinichi]

i was expecting pics of some frankenturntable...

 

[goldenratiophi]

Good job! There seems to be a lot of people on Head-Fi getting into vinyl right now. I'm still saving up for my preamp and headphone amp, but I should hopefully be fully Team Analog by the end of the summer.

Do tell how that preamp sounds, I'm very interested!

Go vinyl!

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldenratiophi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Good job! There seems to be a lot of people on Head-Fi getting into vinyl right now. I'm still saving up for my preamp and headphone amp, but I should hopefully be fully Team Analog by the end of the summer. Do tell how that preamp sounds, I'm very interested! Go vinyl!

This is by way of an experiment rather than a lifetime commitment. I just wanted to see if I could listen to vinyl again after 20+ years of being digital. I may end up selling the whole lot, but I will try and give it a decent shot. If nothing else I will have picked up some more music, maybe I will record them to CD

 

[infinitesymphony]

Be sure to invest in some wet or dry cleaning supplies (suggestions: carbon fiber brush, Hunt/EDA-style brush, Disc Doctor cleaning solution, etc.), and make sure that the cartridge is aligned and the stylus is in good condition... All of those thing will lead to improvements in sound quality. Also be sure to level the turntable using a bullseye or similar liquid gauge.

Tell us how the setup sounds.

 

[003]

For LP cleaning, you NEED a VPI HW 16.5. I'm sorry but you just have to grit your teeth and buy it. It is a GODSEND. ANYBODY who buys used vinyl for cheap (or even new vinyl) NEEDS to own one. There should be a law that says you MUST own one or your head-fi membership is revoked. Sometimes they show up in the f/s section for a discount. Regardless, you need to buy one, especially seeing how you have ~130 LPs.

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif Be sure to invest in some wet or dry cleaning supplies (suggestions: carbon fiber brush, Hunt/EDA-style brush, Disc Doctor cleaning solution, etc.),

The discs I have bought form my local store have been very clean, maybe they have a machine there but they look very clean indeed.

Quote:

and make sure that the cartridge is aligned

It still has the supplied with cart. I have downloaded and printed some protractors from the Vinyl Engine,.

Quote:

and the stylus is in good condition...

I have a magnifying glass but it may not be powerful enough to see the stylus well, casually it looks okay and it tracks well.

Quote:

All of those thing will lead to improvements in sound quality. Also be sure to level the turntable using a bullseye or similar liquid gauge.

Tricky, the TT doesnt have adjustable feet but as far as I can tell it is level, will try and get a spirit level.

Quote:

Tell us how the setup sounds.

Even with the noise from the awful phono stage (upper FR limit is 15,000

- I was shocked) once music plays it sounds pretty okay, at the weekend I will put on some classsical music which will be a better test.

My parameters for this informal test are how do these vinyl rigs stack up against my $60 DVD player and I will use the V15 Mk III when it arrives.

Even though they are far from high end TTs they were not cheap ($300 - $400 each in the 1980s) and the carts were pretty expensive too. So this seems like a decent comparison. I will also not include noise in the equation.

If I could compare the Vinyl rigs to a 1984 Marantz CD player I would but these are impossible to get at a reasonable price these days. Since my local record store has a lot of Elvis Costello I can do some A/B tests on pop. With any luck the 130 Classical LPs I won from eBay for $19.90 plus shipping will have a few recordings that I already have on CD, since 50 of them are DG Beethoven Bicentennial recordings I should have some of the Herb Von K. Symphonies at least..

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 003 /img/forum/go_quote.gif For LP cleaning, you NEED a VPI HW 16.5. I'm sorry but you just have to grit your teeth and buy it. It is a GODSEND. ANYBODY who buys used vinyl for cheap (or even new vinyl) NEEDS to own one. There should be a law that says you MUST own one or your head-fi membership is revoked. Sometimes they show up in the f/s section for a discount. Regardless, you need to buy one, especially seeing how you have ~130 LPs.

The VPI machine is ~ $500 , that is almost twice the amount I paid for both turntables plus phono stage plus replacement stylus, its madness I tell you, I have only listened to 4 tracks so far. Even used it would cost at least as much as the complete vinyl rig itself, the LPs only cost me $20. Vinyl is beginning to look more like some kind on insidious illness or psychosis, sheesh, what madness have I let myself in for.

 

[memepool]

Wow you did well on the records though. Over 100 Lps for 20USD that's under a penny each (in old money

)

2nd hand classical LPs can be a mixed bag though even if they look clean as I am sure you remember. Hence the record cleaning machine is a godsend if you decide to get back into it. Nitty Gritty make a manual one for a few hundred dollars which will work just as well as the VPI. Look out for an Allsop Orbitrac in the meantime for around 40USD. I think these are not in production any longer, but were until recently so there must be shops that still have them.

My best guess about how to make the most of what you've accumulated thus far would be to keep the DP30L/V15 set-up and ditch the other. Put the deck on a sturdy table or rack on a solid floor, or else wall mounted shelf and try to dig amongst your lp's for a clean 50's / 60's Decca recording.

This table will sound ok with pop music but will have it's work cut out with large scale orchestral works. A good recording should shine through though especially with a V15 even on a basic deck like this.

 

[003]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hciman77 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The VPI machine is ~ $500 , that is almost twice the amount I paid for both turntables plus phono stage plus replacement stylus, its madness I tell you, I have only listened to 4 tracks so far. Even used it would cost at least as much as the complete vinyl rig itself, the LPs only cost me $20. Vinyl is beginning to look more like some kind on insidious illness or psychosis, sheesh, what madness have I let myself in for.

I thought the same thing you did when I bought it. I changed my mind as soon as I got it. Get a bottle of this cleaner:
https://shop.audiointelligent.com/di...7&categoryId=1

And you're set.

When you put an old and/or used LP in the cleaner, it sounds NEW after it's done, assuming there was not any major scratches. The pops and clicks disappear.

Anybody who owns a turntable and more than 10 LPs needs that machine no questions asked.

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by memepool /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow you did well on the records though. Over 100 Lps for 20USD that's under a penny each (in old money )

Er, 15.38c per record or ~ 8p each, sadly shipping adds more than the cost of the LPs ($44) , still it is cheap overall ($64) for a collection that is as big as the one it took me 8 years to accumulate in blighty as a poor civil servant.

Quote:

2nd hand classical LPs can be a mixed bag though even if they look clean as I am sure you remember. Hence the record cleaning machine is a godsend if you decide to get back into it. Nitty Gritty make a manual one for a few hundred dollars which will work just as well as the VPI. Look out for an Allsop Orbitrac in the meantime for around 40USD. I think these are not in production any longer, but were until recently so there must be shops that still have them.

Oddly enough apart from "Mott The Hoople"(1968 - a rare record with a mispressing of "Road to Birmingham" instead of "Rock and Roll Queen") I dont think I have ever bought a 2nd hand record before, no sorry I forgot my pal Andy sold me his copy of "My Aim is true" in 1977.

The Nitty Gritty basic model is still $300+ but I will research the Orbitrac if the Missus doesnt kill me first, as I doubt that I can hide the arrival of a 2nd TT and several large boxes of LPs for too long.

Quote:

My best guess about how to make the most of what you've accumulated thus far would be to keep the DP30L/V15 set-up and ditch the other. Put the deck on a sturdy table or rack on a solid floor, or else wall mounted shelf and try to dig amongst your lp's for a clean 50's / 60's Decca recording.

Yep I dont think I can justify both but I will compare the two first before deciding whic one to sell. I am inclined to sell the DP35F simply because it should sell for more, these Servo controlled arm old Denons are selling prety well on eBay.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Agreed with the other guys... Any sort of wet-cleaning is a good idea. You could try one of the near-free cleaning formulations on TNT-Audio and use a felt or velvet brush to get the solution into the grooves and get the dirt and dust out of the grooves. This is where a dry carbon fiber brush comes in handy.

 

[tbonner1]

Those record cleaners do a good job cleaning old vinyl.

As an alternative, one of the audiophile mags suggested boiling filtered water to get the contaminents out and adding a few drops of cleaning alcohol to the solution.

You can use the solution to gently remove the dirt from your vinyl with a discwasher or other cleaning tool.

 

[003]

Doing that can help but it does nowhere near as good of a job as the machine does at removing dirt that has been crammed into the grooves by being played over and over without being cleaned or maintained.

 

[jsaliga]

I don't think it is particularly helpful to create the impression that one cannot enjoy vinyl without throwing your bank account at it. I suspect this does little more than scare a lot of people away out of fear that unless they can afford to drop thousands they throwing money away.

As someone just getting back into vinyl after being away from it for about 27 years, I am taking an incremental approach to rounding out my system after the initial outlay for equipment. I spent most of my budget on a turntable and cartridge that I bought used on Audiogon. I bought an inexpensive though highly regarded phono preamp to complete my system. I picked up both a Audioquest and Hunt EDA carbon fiber brush. Finally, I opted for the Disc Doctor system with a pair of "A" brushes and a pint of cleaning fluid.

I can always buy a better phono preamp and Nitty Gritty or VPI machine later at a time when I can budget for these additional expenses. But I won't let that stop me from spinning and enjoying records now. And who knows, I may not find it necessary to upgrade my phono preamp or buy a RCM since it is not a forgone conclusion that I will do either.

--Jerome