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Post by milsap195 on Jun 25, 2014 20:37:24 GMT -5
I guess what makes it hard is the upfront cost. By the time I purchase a nice starter table and accessories, $1000 or so, I think about all the hi Rez music that buys. On the other hand I know I will love the hunt for albums and enjoy the art. For me that is half the draw. It sucks being a collector.
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Post by Andrew Robinson on Jun 25, 2014 20:59:32 GMT -5
I guess what makes it hard is the upfront cost. By the time I purchase a nice starter table and accessories, $1000 or so, I think about all the hi Rez music that buys. On the other hand I know I will love the hunt for albums and enjoy the art. For me that is half the draw. It sucks being a collector. Why don't you buy a nice vintage table in good shape for like $100 and just start there? It's what I and a lot of other folks here at the office have done. |
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Post by milsap195 on Jun 25, 2014 21:14:35 GMT -5
I guess what makes it hard is the upfront cost. By the time I purchase a nice starter table and accessories, $1000 or so, I think about all the hi Rez music that buys. On the other hand I know I will love the hunt for albums and enjoy the art. For me that is half the draw. It sucks being a collector. Why don't you buy a nice vintage table in good shape for like $100 and just start there? It's what I and a lot of other folks here at the office have done. What are some of the players that you all have purchased? |
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Post by siggie on Jun 25, 2014 21:55:11 GMT -5
Ease into it. I just got an 80s Pioneer TT for $5 (actually, my friend bought it and I owe him a beer) and a $20 Behringer preamp from Amazon. It is a lot of fun
siggie
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Post by Priapulus on Jun 25, 2014 23:08:25 GMT -5
I'm very pleased with my 1985 Acoustic Research turntable.
/b
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Post by GreenKiwi on Jun 26, 2014 0:19:43 GMT -5
Or pick up a U-Turn Audio table for around $200.
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Post by yves on Jun 26, 2014 5:51:03 GMT -5
just ask your audiologist  |
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Post by bluemeanies on Jun 26, 2014 7:03:30 GMT -5
I agree with Green Kiwi...http://uturnaudio.com/ Or maybe Project www.project-audio.com/main.php?info=turntables&Cannot tell you not to pull the trigger since I am considering purchasing Headphones possibly a headphone amp and a turntable. I want to ease into the turntable market since I am not familiar with TT's since I sold my Thorens back in the 70's. Both Uturnaudio and Project have a good reputation. Uturnaudio is made in the USA while Project I believe are made in the Czech Republic. |
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Post by thrillcat on Jun 26, 2014 7:48:56 GMT -5
I guess what makes it hard is the upfront cost. By the time I purchase a nice starter table and accessories, $1000 or so, I think about all the hi Rez music that buys. On the other hand I know I will love the hunt for albums and enjoy the art. For me that is half the draw. It sucks being a collector. You don't have to spend anywhere near $1K for a nice starter table. Look at Pro-Ject, Music Hall, U-Turn... FWIW, I don't have CDs anymore. I have close to 1000 LPs and digital files. When I want to really listen to music, it's on vinyl. But I also dig having 20K songs on my phone that I can access at any time, wherever I am. |
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Post by boscobear on Jun 26, 2014 8:07:45 GMT -5
Like most items we buy, pets especially, the initial cost of the hardware is the cheapest investment. With turntables, the hidden cost is the source material. If you're not a long time collector holding a volume of LPs, buying , and starting a stockpile of choices of new or good quality used, unscratched vinyl albums can cost many times the price of the beginner turntable.
What do we believe the best turntable is for DJ scratching..... oh those DJs, that have violated the hallowed devotion of pure scratch free vinyl. My blood runs cold when I hear that scratch sound. A sound liken to the drag of a finger nail across the blackboard. Or is it a new type of percussion musical instrument ?
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Post by Andrew Robinson on Jun 26, 2014 8:15:48 GMT -5
We've bought AR, Technics, U-Turn and a Bang & Olufsen, though I cannot recommend the B&Os, for despite being cool and sounding good, if you get one with a bad cartridge you're SOL. Or at the very least you're going to have to spend likely 2 to 3x what you spent on the whole table itself for a NOS replacement or compatible SoundSmith cartridge. There are a TON of Technics turntables on ebay and the like and they're like wood burning stoves -they just work. I bought mine for $75, replaced the cartridge for $50 and it sounds as good as any turntable I've heard this side of spending crazy money. Same with the AR table, Nick bought for a few hundred bucks.
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Post by Boomzilla on Jun 26, 2014 8:37:11 GMT -5
What kind of records you listen to? At one time, ALL my music was on vinyl (since about Junior High School). My tastes in music were broad (and still are). The best vinyl rig I owned was an AR turntable with a Black Widow arm running a Denon 103s cartridge through Sony step-up transformers into a Van-Alstine modified Dynaco PAS tube preamp to an Adcom GFA-1 power amp to a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10a speakers. At the time, it was a profoundly impressive system. It had all the shortcomings of vinyl - out-of-round records, warps, tics & pops, lack of true deep bass, stylus cleaning, record cleaning, etc. When I went to CD, I cried for the loss of sound quality. Fortunately, over time (lots and lots of time), CD mastering and playback have gotten much better. I don't think that CD will ever equal the best of vinyl - the data isn't there. Higher resolution digital, though, has the ability, IMHO, to match vinyl's sound quality without its shortcomings. Of course, by the time my entire library is released in HD, I'll be too old to appreciate it. Sic transit gloria mundi. Boomzilla |
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Post by thrillcat on Jun 26, 2014 8:51:52 GMT -5
Like most items we buy, pets especially, the initial cost of the hardware is the cheapest investment. With turntables, the hidden cost is the source material. If you're not a long time collector holding a volume of LPs, buying , and starting a stockpile of choices of new or good quality used, unscratched vinyl albums can cost many times the price of the beginner turntable. Absolutely, though deals can easily be found... I rarely purchase new LPs. Only actual new releases do I purchase new. I have been able to amass a fantastic library (about 1K albums) without spending much money at all, simply by watching Craigslist and flipping the bargain bins at my local record shops. Life has surface noise, so I'm okay if my albums do, too. I don't want them to be scratched up, but learning to clean them properly can easily make a $1 or $2 album sound great. Part of being a vinyl collector is the dig. It's flipping through countless albums and coming across that record that you remember from when you were a kid. I love coming across someone on Craigslist who is selling a big box (or boxes) of records for a quarter a piece. I'll buy most of those up in a heartbeat. Last winter I bought a box of close to 100 LPs for $20. Every one was mint condition, and there was tons of great 80s new wave in there, some Pink Floyd, lots of good stuff. Would've been about $750 to buy all of them at a record shop, but being willing to take the entire box off their hands pays off. Estate sales, auctions, garage sales, they're all great places to find stuff and build your collection. Don't be a record snob, buy up what you can, pull what you want, and pass the rest on to someone who will listen to them. For my table, I have never not had one...most recently I had a B&O Beogram RX, which I replaced a couple years ago with a Pro-ject RM 1.3. The thing is beautiful. It's just as nice to look at as it is to listen to. |
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Post by aud on Jun 26, 2014 9:20:25 GMT -5
What kind of records you listen to? At one time, ALL my music was on vinyl (since about Junior High School). My tastes in music were broad (and still are). The best vinyl rig I owned was an AR turntable with a Black Widow arm running a Denon 103s cartridge through Sony step-up transformers into a Van-Alstine modified Dynaco PAS tube preamp to an Adcom GFA-1 power amp to a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10a speakers. At the time, it was a profoundly impressive system. It had all the shortcomings of vinyl - out-of-round records, warps, tics & pops, lack of true deep bass, stylus cleaning, record cleaning, etc. When I went to CD, I cried for the loss of sound quality. Fortunately, over time (lots and lots of time), CD mastering and playback have gotten much better. I don't think that CD will ever equal the best of vinyl - the data isn't there. Higher resolution digital, though, has the ability, IMHO, to match vinyl's sound quality without its shortcomings. Of course, by the time my entire library is released in HD, I'll be too old to appreciate it. Sic transit gloria mundi. Boomzilla Your history pretty much aligns with my history. I think it's great that the younger crowd has rediscovered the Turntable but it will continue to be a niche market. After 2.5 decades, digital is finally starting to sound musical. Some old Rock albums remastered to CD are very good compared to the old days. Not saying every remaster has been good. At my age, I'll probably never see my whole library in Hi Res. |
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Post by AudioHTIT on Jun 26, 2014 10:18:26 GMT -5
If you do really enjoy looking for and buying LPs then certainly get a turntable – spend whatever feels comfortable, that's relatively easy. Having quite a few LPs I still enjoy listening to music I'm probably not going to buy digital copies of, but I rarely buy new vinyl. Though if I was starting from scratch I'd probably pass, I don't have the collector bug and I do enjoy listening to my digital collection in so many different places besides my listening room (car, computer, hiking, skiing, wherever). So I think it really comes down to your collecting habits.
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Post by boscobear on Jun 26, 2014 10:30:40 GMT -5
Thrillcat I agree . Not to awaken the dead, but you can place you name with a couple firms that hold Estate Sales, to buy vinyl. They will notify you when they come across vinyl records. Also, a few auction houses have great sales on whole collections. I own a B&O Beogram 3404, and if I remember correctly, I purchased the turntable more than 33 years ago. About 20 years ago I bought 5 cartridges , and I'm so glad I did because B&O does not make them anymore. I once bought a Garrard 401 turntable, mail order, from some electronic catalog, it was the hot set up for the day. Traded that , and bought a Yamaha.
On a more serious thought, how do you find the sound stage on vinyl? Compared with the CD. The best engineered vinyl recordings I own are made by Sheffield records. I have one called, "The Sheffield Drum Record" Jim Keltner, Ron Tutt, a heavy vinyl LP that plays at 45 RPMs. Sheffield really captured the drum kit with this recording, the entire spectrum of tonal sound. Here comes the Boom
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Post by vcautokid on Jun 26, 2014 10:34:36 GMT -5
Vinyl is great if you like too,
perform record maintenance, cleaning.
OCD tone arm adjustments, and Turntable isolation.
Constant searching for your library, not so easy as the olden days.
Having to get up and flip the record over after say every 20 minutes or so.
The Surface noise, pops and clicks don't drive you crazy.
It is a compelling listen otherwise. Just don't expect digital convenience along the way.
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Post by jefft51 on Jun 26, 2014 10:37:25 GMT -5
You could always DIY like this guy did:  What I like about my old Dual606: 1. Semi-auto, so I don't have to get up when record is done! 2.There is an 'indent' when I place the needle over the start of the record so I don't have to guess where to place it. 3. Strobe/pitch control to get the speed exactly right (even though I probably can't hear the difference anyway, it gives the feeling of control). My Pro-ject is a great turntable, but it doesn't have these and over time*, these become very useful  *over time - as one ages. If you need more explanation and are under 40, pm me, if over 40 too late. |
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Post by pedrocols on Jun 26, 2014 10:37:40 GMT -5
Click,click,click...
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Post by repeetavx on Jun 26, 2014 10:40:13 GMT -5
What are some of the players that you all have purchased?
It's amazing what you can find at garage sales, or ask friends and family what they have lying around. Then research what they have on an enthusiast sight like the one above. |
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