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Bronze Member Username: UnderarockMilwaukee, WI USA Post Number: 17 Registered: Oct-06 | New to this particular forum, although I've posted a bit on the "Speakers" forum. I've run across many posts here and there where it seems that phono is not dead. that they are even coming out with remasters of LPs. Or am I mistaken? I myself have a cheapie Radio Shack turntable I picked up a few years ago, just to record my records (many of which will never make it to CD) to my own CDs. Perhaps, I should upgrade the cartridge on it, and listen to the LPs again... Or am I really missing it? |
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Gold Member Username: Stu_pittIrvington, New York USA Post Number: 1479 Registered: May-05 | Vinyl is far from dead. A lot of people, myself included, believe that it sounds better than digital. To my ears, it sounds more natural. A lot of the new re-mastered LPs are phenominal. I've recently bought some new re-mastered Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Doors on vinyl. Here's a great link to vinyl stuff on-line - http://www.musicdirect.com/Default.asp If you need a new cart, table, etc, I'd suggest going the local route because they'll be better at helping you set stuff up. I bought a bunch of new vinyl from Music Direct, and they're great to deal with. |
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Bronze Member Username: UnderarockMilwaukee, WI USA Post Number: 19 Registered: Oct-06 | Hey Stu Thanks for the reply! Now my name isn't "under_a_rock" for nothing! I have been hibernating for probably 20 years or more, when it comes to the "hi fi" game. First, one of my speakers blew out on one system (no, I didn't have a Black Sabbath party one Saturday night), and one of my speakers is crackling on another system. That got me on the eCoustics message board to begin with late last week. So, now my preconceptions are about to change again. Am I going to need to change my turntable? Probably not, at the moment. I'm not that sophisticated. I may want to modify the cartridge, but that won't be a cheap proposition, either. As with everyone else, budget concerns are always primary! And here, I was going to dump both of the turntables I have. Not so fast. Thanks, again, Stu. underarock |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 9202 Registered: May-04 | . Many of the best ears in audio believe the best place to begin building a system is with the source. This logic says the system downstream from the source, no matter how good the components might be, cannot replace information the source has left out or distorted. Garbage in = garbage out. Therefore cheap turntables tend to sound like cheap turntables just as cheap receivers and cheap CD players tend to reflect their price/quality also. Further, most folks who own cheap turntables tend not to deal efficiently with system set up. By their nature these inexpensive tables, that are far more prone to feedback and distortion, are placed in set ups that by their nature introduce more feedback and distortion into the loop. Finally, tables that have cheap components are always less efficient at tracking and tracing the record groove. When the stylus can't follow the record groove, whether due to a cheap tonearm combined with a necessarily cheap cartidge or feedback and distortion introduced by poor set up, the stylus will create a way to get through the groove. This usually means the stylus scrubs vinyl off the groove which results in information that is permanently damaged if not entirely removed. Often the complaint of people moving up to better tables is the disortion they hear when playing LP's that have been damaged by a cheap table. Alternatively, the benefit most folks hear when upgrading their tables is the stylus plays vinyl that hasn't been touched by their old stylus. Whether this dissuades you from adding a turntable to your system is up to you. There are several well designed tables that can be had for not much money. The pre-owned market is usually the best place to begin your search for a better table as the folks that are moving up in quality are selling a product that typically doesn't have quality control problems or mechanical wear. You can shop on line locations such as Audiogon or Audio Classics for good deals on tables. New vinyl is doing quite well in reintroducing classic albums to the market. Most of these albums are pressed on top quality vinyl and do represent improvements in the sound over the mass merchandised product of a few decades ago. The prices of these new LP's reflects the quality and low volume sales of the new vinyl market. It is not unusual to pay $30 for an album and never less than the price of the CD equivalent. On the other hand, there is still a large quantity of pre-owned vinyl that sells for a few dollars per album. . |
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Bronze Member Username: UnderarockMilwaukee, WI USA Post Number: 20 Registered: Oct-06 | Jan Thank you very much for your explanation. I used to have a better turntable in the "olden" days (back in the 70s), not an audiophile quality one, but good. Can't remember the name of the cartridge I put on it anymore, but it was excellent, at least to my ears, although a bit cooler sound the original one that I had on the table. The last I remember out turntables, people were moving away from the belt drives (not to mention the older mechanical ones), and into disk driven tables, the theory being that their speed accuracy was much better and more consistent. Is this still true, or there yet newer technologies out there than I'm not aware of? As for tonearms, all I new that they had to track light (1 g or so, depending on the cartridge). A good table doesn't necessarily mean the tonearm is any good, correct? Anyway, thank you very much for your time and input! |
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Gold Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 9205 Registered: May-04 | . For the most part, belt drive tables dominate the audiophile grade products. Direct drive has some fans but not many as the problems of motor induced noise outweigh the issues of speed stability in most modern designs. Direct drive tables usually rely on servo mechanisms to maintain accurate speed. There are problems with low priced servos. Tracking too light will cause more damage than tracking too heavy. Tonearms don't exactly determine tracking force. That value is determined mostly by the cartridge and the mass/compliance of the tonearm/cartridge combination. It's better to look at a system that tracks well at two grams rather than poorly at one gram. In the lower price ranges, if you are looking at tables marketed as lower priced audiophile grade products, the tonearm normally comes with the table,and your choice in such a combination is the cartridge. As a package, the tonearm will probably be of about the same quality as the table so as to not upset the balance of the system. . |