[tapehiss]

Here's my crowded apartment setup. Next month I'm moving into a bigger place though (with more than a single room in the entire place...), and will have a dedicated listening area. I can't friggin wait.

I'm very happy with this setup, but it pales in comparison to pretty much every other setup posted in this thread. It's a NAS SpaceDeck with a Morch DP-6 tonearm, and a ZYX Bloom cartridge. The phono stage is a Wright Sound WPP200C. Sounds fantastic.

Edit: the one thing I can't quite figure out is that there are some records (brand new), that when played create many sporadic loud static-sounding pops. These come in at seemingly random points and are at different locations on different plays. It's nice and humid in here, I always brush the records with a carbon fiber brush, and these pops never come up on my other turntable. I'm thinking it has something to do with the cartridge being mounted incorrectly. Does that sound possible (the sound, minus the pops, is so good that it's hard for me to believe it's mounted incorrectly)? It looks fine to me: correct overhang, parallel to the platter. Anything else I'm missing?

 

[NightOwl]

@tapehiss
Please, no false modesty. You have a wonderful vinyl setup. Unfortunately your photography doesn't do it justice

.
As far as pops go, the ZYX is actually more forgiving of these than most cartridges. It does sound like a static problem since the pops appear randomly, but it could also be dust particles in the air.
Do you have a ground wire from your turntable attached to your phono amp? If you don't, then this could be the problem. If you do and also a separate ground wire from your tonearm attached then this might cause a ground loop.
Some turntables are more prone to static than others. Wool carpets, air conditioners and felt platter mats exacerbate the problem. A carbon fibre brush may not be enough. You may want to look at acquiring a Zerostat.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NightOwl /img/forum/go_quote.gif You may want to look at acquiring a Zerostat.

Seconded. I picked one up a couple of months ago and it's been quite helpful in reducing noise.

 

[Donald North]

I highly recommend to everyone spinning LPs to buy a good record cleaning machine. They start at a few hundred $$$ and are worth every one of them. My personal favorite is the Loricraft, cleaning better than the Nitty Gritty and VPI. Also much quieter.

 

[tapehiss]

NightOwl, Erik, Donald: thanks very much for your responses. And yes, the photography isn't so good. I promise to post some better pictures when I move into my new apartment.

I liked the Zerostat suggestion, I will give it a try. The record cleaning machine sounds like a great idea too, I will investigate. The pops certainly could be coming from dust particles. Like I said, I live in a very small one-room apartment, and there are two fuzzy cats running about. I wonder if investing in a Gingko dust cover would help out.

NightOwl, what you said about grounding intrigues me. I do have my tonearm grounded to my phono preamp, however I don't have any other parts of the turntable grounded. In fact, I never even considered it. Could that be the cause of the problem? There doesn't appear to be any 'built-in' way of grounding the turntable, so I'd have to run a wire. What would be the ideal part of the turntable to ground?

In any case, I don't want to hijack this beautiful picture-filled thread, so if there are any suggestions, a PM may work better, unless it may also be helpful information for the rest of the community. Thanks.

 

[mark_h]

Wonderful vinyl rigs here! I like the NAS.

The very loud occasional pops are static build up discharging. I am not a fan of the carbon brush in my system, creates more static than it solves. I use L'art Du Son cleaning fluid, eliminates static, is biodegradable and smells really nice!

 

[zowie]

Dust will cause small tics, not loud pops.
You also could try an anti-static mat if they can still be found.

 

[Afrikane]

Got one for headphones too :tongue_smile

 

[alan_g]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Afrikane /img/forum/go_quote.gif Got one for headphones too :tongue_smile

now that is class.....goes green with envy

 

[btf1980]

Afrikane, that is simply beautiful man.

 

[omegaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Afrikane /img/forum/go_quote.gif Got one for headphones too :tongue_smile

Meaning this is not your main rig ????

 

[Afrikane]

No, I listen to my speaker rig mostly.

 

[omegaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Afrikane /img/forum/go_quote.gif No, I listen to my speaker rig mostly.

I've seen the pic's in the high end thread, Very nice set up.

One day ( insert dreaming smiley !!!! )

Still loving my 650's I won in your raffle a couple of years back. When's the next one ?

 

[Afrikane]

Really good to hear you are still enjoying those HD650s; you have assembled a sweet system to make them sing with too. Nice one.

Moar FTGH? I will definitely consider it should something ever become redundant in my system.

 

[omegaman]

Cheers, a good few upgrades before I catch you

Anyway a turntable upgrade is next on my list, so watch this thread for pics.