Well, what the heck-- it's late on a Saturday night, I figure it's a good time to tell a story.
I'm sitting in my home office spinning some extremely vintage vinyl. Currently the sounds blasting out my HD800s is the Stones "Let it Bleed". This is a true original London blue-label pressing. Heavy & thick, the way they used to make great records. This particular record is in M- condition, though the cover isn't what it used to be. Of course who cares when the upper left corner has Keith Richard's autograph. I managed to get two of my early Stones albums signed by him back in the early 90's when he was playing with the Winos. He was doing a concert for the TV station I worked at-- WTTW in Chicago. Anyway-- I asked and he obliged-- I think it makes the record sound much sweeter.
I'm in mid-turntable replacement. Last weekend I finally started unpacking my vinyl collection after a long long hiatus (think: years). The first two records I played on the old Sony sounded positively horrible. I've never listened to the TT on my HD800s, I'm driving them with a Woo Audio WA5LE-- and perhaps the cartridge is just shot-- or sitting in a box in the garage did really bad things, I'm not certain. But when something isn't working just right-- that usually means I'm going to spend a lot of money in short order.
The phono stage isn't the best-- It's a Rotel RQ970. It needs an upgrade, but it will do for now. But the turntable and cartridge have got to go. I started my research and through a head-fier I struck a deal for a VPI Scout. It will be here Monday, but I needed the cartridge, too. I went through a bunch of recommended components lists Stereophile, etc., and the cartridge that kept bubbling to the top was the Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood. Clearaudio has a killer phono stage that will likely be a great match for it, but that will have to wait.
The cartridge arrived Friday. I hooked it up to the Sony, and set the tracking force with the scale I purchased with the cartridge. I don't have a good anti-skate gauge, but If you drop the needle on a record, you can see if there's a lot of force on the needle toward the center-- I just backed it off until the needle didn't bend when dropped in the groove. Seems to be a good adjustment. I eyeballed the alignment as best I could-- that gauge was still in the mail somewhere and played a few sides for fun. Sounded pretty good, though the bass was a little thin.
Today the alignment gauge arrived. My eyeball job wasn't so good, imagine that? I straightened it out and viola! The bass suddenly extended way way down in the spectrum. Anyone who says the HD800 can't do great bass is sorely mistaken. With the right amplifier, the bass extends to the depths of the range. Most people underpower it-- then complain the bottom end is light.
I've got over a thousand lp's. Not all are in great shape, but I really was quite the collector back in the day. I even purchased every Mobile Fidelity album I could get my hands on when they announced they were stopping record production back in the day-- bought them retail and shelved a bunch of Beatles albums, still sealed, for a retirement fund. A few are worth $500 and up. Not a bad ROI.
So I'm re-discovering my vinyl, and it's quite fun. The MoFi records are simply stunning-- and I don't have the VPI Scout in the mix yet. Should be quite an awakening come Monday night. Meanwhile, Mick, Keef and the boys are telling me it's time to flip to side 2. Alright boys, it's the least I can do...
