Let's Talk Vinyl Records (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 11/6/2024 1:23:47 PM EDT
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Last weekend I bought an Audio-Technica AT-LP5X turntable as my first unit. I bought two records that day, got one of them signed. And now I have 4 coming in the mail. Still need to figure out: Need a speaker setup - I have some options Record Brush? Anti-static sleeves? And I'm also still figuring out how to remove and add vinyl to a sleeve with only 2 hands and only touching the edges. The sound is addicting, hard to describe. Lush? But listening to the recored B2B with an MP3 there's a distinct difference. The MP3s sound very harsh and mechanical. I can switch back and forth pretty easily, the only difficulty is level-matching. |
Proud millennial.
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Wel, you are off to a good start. You did not say what you were connecting this turntable through. You are going to need some sort of preamp or integrated amp to feed the LP signal into. If you use the analog red and white RCA out jacks you will need a phono preamplifier stage somewhere in the line to re-equalize (RIAA equalization) and boost the signal from the cartridge. If you have powered speakers you won't need an amplifier or built in amplifier section. The digital USB out jack probably has RIAA equalization built in. OK, Lets talk accessories: Record Sleeves - replace those unlined paper sleeves with quality polyethylene sleeves HDPE, (not vinyl sleeves) The Mobile Fidelity ones are good, as are others by Sleeve City and some of the ones on Amazon are good but buyer beware on Amazon. After using a bunch of different ones over the years, I have settled on these from clearbags.com. They appear to be identical to the ones found in the limited edition Blue Note Tone Poet series of Jazz reissue LPs. HDPE LP Inner Sleeves Record cleaning - Some items you will need are listed below: Most links are to Music Direct or Amazon, but you can shop around and equivalents may be found on Amazon or elsewhere. Beware of poor quality fakes. Stylus cleaning fluid: AT607 stylus cleaner Stylus dust cleaning brush: Stylus dust brush LP Dust Brush: AT LP6011a Dust Brush You will need a good way to clean dirty used records or reclean ones that have been exposed to dust and fingerprints. I suggest as a good starter set, getting the Spin Clean system and get a cheap black file folder rack (from thrift store) to set the just cleaned LPs on while they dry. Also get a couple of soft micro fiber towels. Spin Clean: The basic Spin Clean System Accurate digital stylus presure guage: There are some really expensive ones out there but some of the ones on Amazon work fine and are not terribly expensive. Case in point: Riverstone Audio stylus force guage These are the basics that will get you started in the HI FI LP hobby. Others may suggest cheaper or more expensive options, but I know these work. I'm old and been playing LPs for nearly 50 years. I've seen some good items come and go, and I've seen some pure snake oil crap too. HTH |
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Originally Posted By Sanlanman: Wel, you are off to a good start. You did not say what you were connecting this turntable through. You are going to need some sort of preamp or integrated amp to feed the LP signal into. If you use the analog red and white RCA out jacks you will need a phono preamplifier stage somewhere in the line to re-equalize (RIAA equalization) and boost the signal from the cartridge. If you have powered speakers you won't need an amplifier or built in amplifier section. The digital USB out jack probably has RIAA equalization built in. Spin Clean is on my wish list, will probably get it for Christmas. I currently am only listening through my Schiit Modius headphone amp / Beyerdynamic headphones. I have quite a bit of audio gear in boxes in the basement, we moved 6 months ago and I can't find anything, lol. |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By djkest: Also paging @VIM I am here. I'm a fan of my old vinyl but have no particular expertise in audio tech. Record brush/cleaner, yes. It's always best to remove the Cheetos debris before playing. In terms of MP3 and other lossy formats, there was once a place for them, but IMO with modern disk costs/capacities and network speeds (especially LAN), I'd go with a lossless audio format (maybe WAV or AIFF, depending on what you're integrating with or using as a music server) at the highest sampling rate and bit depth possible. |
It's all part of life's rich pageant.
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OST. My kids are getting old enough that they can operate the system by themselves and it may be time to upgrade. I came into the house a couple days ago, and my young daughter was listening to Deep Purple In Rock. Child in Time was the song playing as I entered. I have a good kid. |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: OST. My kids are getting old enough that they can operate the system by themselves and it may be time to upgrade. I came into the house a couple days ago, and my young daughter was listening to Deep Purple In Rock. Child in Time was the song playing as I entered. I have a good kid. The Fluance turntable that Subnet mentioned is probably the best for the price, but I do love my Audio Technica. I think I'm ill, I now have Literally it's like- oh, I want that... and they have a special pink pressing.... fuggit |
Proud millennial.
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What do you guys think about this? https://www.turntablelab.com/products/line-phono-turntable-station?variant=27687206984 Attached File |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By djkest: What do you guys think about this? https://www.turntablelab.com/products/line-phono-turntable-station?variant=27687206984 https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/144375/records_png-3380833.JPG  With that out of the way, there's nothing wrong with it that I can see. I don't get why it costs what it does, or exactly what problem it's actually trying to solve, but like...it'll hold a turntable, amp, and some records. Or literally anything else, if you want. It does shelf things. |
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
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Originally Posted By Subnet: I think it's a $320 flatpack shelf made of cheap wood, that isn't big enough to hold my record collection. With that out of the way, there's nothing wrong with it that I can see. I don't get why it costs what it does, or exactly what problem it's actually trying to solve, but like...it'll hold a turntable, amp, and some records. Or literally anything else, if you want. It does shelf things. Baltic birch isn't cheap wood, on the contrary. Although I guess they also have MDF versions that are painted; MDF isn't cheap but it's not particularly strong either. From the photo it looks like 3/4" Baltic Birch, here a 5'x5' sheet of that is $100 ish. My turntable is currently hanging off the front and back of a bookshelf, so I need something with a different shape... |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By djkest: Baltic birch isn't cheap wood, on the contrary. Although I guess they also have MDF versions that are painted; MDF isn't cheap but it's not particularly strong either. From the photo it looks like 3/4" Baltic Birch, here a 5'x5' sheet of that is $100 ish. My turntable is currently hanging off the front and back of a bookshelf, so I need something with a different shape... Originally Posted By djkest: Originally Posted By Subnet: I think it's a $320 flatpack shelf made of cheap wood, that isn't big enough to hold my record collection. With that out of the way, there's nothing wrong with it that I can see. I don't get why it costs what it does, or exactly what problem it's actually trying to solve, but like...it'll hold a turntable, amp, and some records. Or literally anything else, if you want. It does shelf things. Baltic birch isn't cheap wood, on the contrary. Although I guess they also have MDF versions that are painted; MDF isn't cheap but it's not particularly strong either. From the photo it looks like 3/4" Baltic Birch, here a 5'x5' sheet of that is $100 ish. My turntable is currently hanging off the front and back of a bookshelf, so I need something with a different shape...  ), but it does look cool just the same, it's perfectly functional, and I reckon it'd work just fine. I can dig it.
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And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
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Alright... SO, I just received a record I've been chasing down on ebay. Paid $60 for it... Well packaged with no damage on the outside. New in the shrink wrap, exterior looks great.... And BOTH records have a big SCRATCH on them, on one side. The scratches on the two different LPs look exactly the same, same size and location. One is on side A, one is on side D. Should I contact the manufacturer? This sucks. ETA: Just did ETA2: Manufacturer said contact the seller. :/ Attached File |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Wow, that really stinks. I've had them arrive looking a little odd, but they play fine. That one is looking as though it won't play at all. Requested and got a refund. Ordered a replacement that was roughly the same price. However, it hasn't arrived yet. I guess from now on I need to inspect records when I open them up. |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By djkest: Requested and got a refund. Ordered a replacement that was roughly the same price. However, it hasn't arrived yet. I guess from now on I need to inspect records when I open them up. Originally Posted By djkest: Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Wow, that really stinks. I've had them arrive looking a little odd, but they play fine. That one is looking as though it won't play at all. Requested and got a refund. Ordered a replacement that was roughly the same price. However, it hasn't arrived yet. I guess from now on I need to inspect records when I open them up. Glad they refunded you at least. A lot of places are funny about records. |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Glad they refunded you at least. A lot of places are funny about records. The company that I got it from (through e-bay) had more copies available, I ordered another from them, took almost 2 weeks to come. Arriving today, need to check the records as soon as I can. I don't know why it's a "Thing" in Vinyl but it seems like they often do a very small "press" for a record, it sells out in 2-6 months, and then the new copies start to become unobtanium until another press can be made. It's annoying. And the numbers don't really work out anyway. For example, Deadmau5 just release 1,000 copies of a new package, for $260. But that's only $260,000 in revenue vs all the expenses of setting up the artwork, the pressing, marketing, etc. I'm hoping that he'll release the package with another 1,500 copies or more without the signature for less money. Otherwise, that's a lot of effort to go through to make a (relatively small) amount of profit - maybe he gets $80k? He can make more than that playing a weekend at Red Rocks. It's gorgeous though. Attached File |
Proud millennial.
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I'm not really sure why this is (I know a little bit about vinyl record production, but only from a distance), but my experience in buying picture discs, colored vinyl, or anything other than just...plain black has always been a bit of a coin toss, in terms of playability. Issues I've had with them run the gamut. Incredible distortion (but only on one channel - that one was interesting), tons of surface noise, absurdly loud pops (obvious defects in the pressing), stylus tracking issues...you name it. And then I'll get others, that sound pristine. But it's enough of a coin flip, that I've stopped buying them unless the artist straight up refuses to issue a regular black one. I dunno. They're nice to look at, but if feels like many pressing plants are making compromises of some sort (perhaps to hit a price point?), that affect their playability. I don't know enough about the arcane details of vinyl record production to know what the exact causes of these problems are, I just know that about half of the "other-than-black" records I buy don't actually sound nice. |
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
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Originally Posted By HeavyMetal: Is that a scratch or a deposit? Did you try cleaning it? It was a scratch. I didn't have any way of cleaning it (yet). I just returned it for a refund. That's essentially 2 unplayable tracks out of about 12. I do have a Spinclean on the way. |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By Subnet: I'm not really sure why this is (I know a little bit about vinyl record production, but only from a distance), but my experience in buying picture discs, colored vinyl, or anything other than just...plain black has always been a bit of a coin toss, in terms of playability. Issues I've had with them run the gamut. Incredible distortion (but only on one channel - that one was interesting), tons of surface noise, absurdly loud pops (obvious defects in the pressing), stylus tracking issues...you name it. And then I'll get others, that sound pristine. But it's enough of a coin flip, that I've stopped buying them unless the artist straight up refuses to issue a regular black one. I dunno. They're nice to look at, but if feels like many pressing plants are making compromises of some sort (perhaps to hit a price point?), that affect their playability. I don't know enough about the arcane details of vinyl record production to know what the exact causes of these problems are, I just know that about half of the "other-than-black" records I buy don't actually sound nice. Well these are "splatter" vinyls not picture discs but yeah. I own about.. IDK 20 vinyl records and I have "0" that are black right now. I have a bunch of translucent ones including one that is white translucent, some splatters, and some "milky" ones. But I think that will change after Christmas when I open the rest of my haul. |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By djkest: The company that I got it from (through e-bay) had more copies available, I ordered another from them, took almost 2 weeks to come. Arriving today, need to check the records as soon as I can. I don't know why it's a "Thing" in Vinyl but it seems like they often do a very small "press" for a record, it sells out in 2-6 months, and then the new copies start to become unobtanium until another press can be made. It's annoying. And the numbers don't really work out anyway. For example, Deadmau5 just release 1,000 copies of a new package, for $260. But that's only $260,000 in revenue vs all the expenses of setting up the artwork, the pressing, marketing, etc. I'm hoping that he'll release the package with another 1,500 copies or more without the signature for less money. Otherwise, that's a lot of effort to go through to make a (relatively small) amount of profit - maybe he gets $80k? He can make more than that playing a weekend at Red Rocks. It's gorgeous though. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/144375/Retrospective_Vinyl_png-3397005.JPG Just curious: Were you there last month? |
It's all part of life's rich pageant.
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Originally Posted By djkest: Yes I was, Friday Nov 1st. Friday was close to sold out, Saturday was sold out. Originally Posted By djkest: Originally Posted By vim: Just curious: Were you there last month? Yes I was, Friday Nov 1st. Friday was close to sold out, Saturday was sold out. Nice. I didn't realize (or forgot) you were an EDM fan. We did Armin Van Buuren (good, but we had a-holes next to us) and Tiesto (he absolutely nailed his 4-hour DJ set). Markus Schulz at the Church last week was fun too. And warmer. |
It's all part of life's rich pageant.
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Originally Posted By vim: Nice. I didn't realize (or forgot) you were an EDM fan. We did Armin Van Buuren (good, but we had a-holes next to us) and Tiesto (he absolutely nailed his 4-hour DJ set). Markus Schulz at the Church last week was fun too. And warmer. I was at the Armin show! It was a fantastic show, I was surprised how energetic it was, I thought it would be more mellow. Great visuals / stage setup. Sorry about the a-holes; all the people standing next to me eventually left, I had lots of extra room about 2 rows up from the sound booth. I just bought this record: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CL6HWRHT?tag=arfcom00-20 |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By djkest: I was at the Armin show! It was a fantastic show, I was surprised how energetic it was, I thought it would be more mellow. Great visuals / stage setup. Sorry about the a-holes; all the people standing next to me eventually left, I had lots of extra room about 2 rows up from the sound booth. I just bought this record: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CL6HWRHT?tag=arfcom00-20  That price! Great addition.Heh, I could have hit you with my polish sausage, but I ate it. We were probably ten yards to the right of you and a couple rows further back. Yeah, it was a high-energy set, and he did have great visuals. Whoever did it obviously knows Red Rocks and the lighting played off the rock backdrop perfectly. |
It's all part of life's rich pageant.
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I have my first defective record. I am going to try and exchange it. It's one of my favorite albums of all time, and it's off-centered. The tonearm moves about 20mm every revolution. This makes the pitch shift on sustained notes. It's also really flimsy. I am going to try and order the black vinyl version off their website (surprisingly, hard to find a black version) and hope it's better. |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By djkest: I have my first defective record. I am going to try and exchange it. It's one of my favorite albums of all time, and it's off-centered. The tonearm moves about 20mm every revolution. This makes the pitch shift on sustained notes. It's also really flimsy. I am going to try and order the black vinyl version off their website (surprisingly, hard to find a black version) and hope it's better. You're having a heck of a time with your albums. I need to find something new. There's a place here in town which sometimes gets some decent used stuff in. I'll have to check there this weekend. I can't wait to fire up the new turntable on Christmas morning! |
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Originally Posted By djkest: I have my first defective record. I am going to try and exchange it. It's one of my favorite albums of all time, and it's off-centered. The tonearm moves about 20mm every revolution. This makes the pitch shift on sustained notes. It's also really flimsy. I am going to try and order the black vinyl version off their website (surprisingly, hard to find a black version) and hope it's better. I've not dug deep into it, but if I did, I'm sure I'd see patterns between the actual pressing plants. Like anything else in life, I'm sure some places are better at it than others. And it's not something most of us would have ever thought about in years gone by before purchasing a record, because we didn't really need to worry about it. It gets wild. Some of my modern repressings are unequivocally better than the originals - even the details of the literal pressing itself, nevermind the care taken when remastering it (again) for vinyl. I guess it's like anything in life. "It just depends". 
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And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
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One thing that's crazy on some of my new vinyls there is a hand-written number and signature on a ring just outside the paper label pressed into the Vinyl. Hard to see if you don't hold the record at the right angle. As far as pressings go, I'm sure there are people who try and order records from specific producers now due to known quality. Some of them are starting to get a small following due to TikTok. I think the Deadmau5 records were all pressed in Poland or somewhere in Eastern Europe |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By djkest: One thing that's crazy on some of my new vinyls there is a hand-written number and signature on a ring just outside the paper label pressed into the Vinyl. Hard to see if you don't hold the record at the right angle. As far as pressings go, I'm sure there are people who try and order records from specific producers now due to known quality. Some of them are starting to get a small following due to TikTok. I think the Deadmau5 records were all pressed in Poland or somewhere in Eastern Europe The stuff you'll find there varies a lot, in terms of how much you'll care. Sometimes it identifies who mastered it. Sometimes it identifies where it was pressed. Sometimes it indicates that it was a reissue. Sometimes it just indicates the catalog number, within the label's system at the time. Sometimes there's just funny shit in there, because...it's funny shit. Sometimes...it's just sometimes. Anybody responsible for cutting the lacquer, could hypothetically imprint whatever he wanted. For any reason he wanted - either dictated by his employer for very practical reasons, or whatever cheeky shit he wanted to add for his own reasons. You're never going to actually hear it, so...whatevs. It's all part of the hobby. |
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
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As much sense as this makes, I just received my Schiit Skoll phono preamp. Thing is heavy! So now I have a $400 phono pre being fed by a $450 turntable. I think I'll be upgrading my cartridge soon to get a little more out of it. Man, what a fun hobby! |
Proud millennial.
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Originally Posted By djkest: I have my first defective record. I am going to try and exchange it. It's one of my favorite albums of all time, and it's off-centered. The tonearm moves about 20mm every revolution. This makes the pitch shift on sustained notes. It's also really flimsy. I am going to try and order the black vinyl version off their website (surprisingly, hard to find a black version) and hope it's better. 40 years ago, buying a new Moody Blues album each month, I got one that was off-center. Maybe On the Threshold of a Dream. Returned it to the store, got a replacement which was off-center. So they probably did an entire production run like that. If your turntable has a removable spindle you can hand-center the disc and make it playable. |
I think the hardest thing for good LE working for good agencies to really absorb is that there are whole departments full of exactly the complete fuckheads we rail against here. - vectorsc
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Owning a turntable has made me want to go back to CDs. 1) Bought one of my favorite records. Returned it because my favorite track had a flaw in the treble. The replacement did too. I've been told that if I clean the record and maybe use a different stylus it might play correctly, but probably won't. So I have to listen to the digital version of that song 2) Just got a $260 vinyl set. On one of the two "new" tracks released it doesn't play right, I may be able to fix it with the Spinclean. They also only included the short version of the song because the long version wouldn't fit on that side of the record unless they had a whole side for one track. 3) My favorite record that I don't currently own is $75 and never goes on sale 4) Some of the records I really want are out of print and will probably never be pressed again. So I can pay extra for a used copy or just accept the absence in my collection. |
Atypical Millennial
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Originally Posted By djkest: The sound is addicting, hard to describe. Lush? But listening to the recored B2B with an MP3 there's a distinct difference. The MP3s sound very harsh and mechanical. I can switch back and forth pretty easily, the only difficulty is level-matching. I know what you mean. One of my favorite electronic records by my favorite artist to actually has tracks on it that were never released on anything besides vinyl. (Mosaik by Siriusmo) And oh my lord the tone on them is so much more powerful than any recordings i've heard elsewhere. The same artist only released this song on a 45, and it pisses me off I can't get it on spotify lol.  Siriusmo - Jaja (mono) |
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Originally Posted By djkest: Owning a turntable has made me want to go back to CDs. 1) Bought one of my favorite records. Returned it because my favorite track had a flaw in the treble. The replacement did too. I've been told that if I clean the record and maybe use a different stylus it might play correctly, but probably won't. So I have to listen to the digital version of that song 2) Just got a $260 vinyl set. On one of the two "new" tracks released it doesn't play right, I may be able to fix it with the Spinclean. They also only included the short version of the song because the long version wouldn't fit on that side of the record unless they had a whole side for one track. 3) My favorite record that I don't currently own is $75 and never goes on sale 4) Some of the records I really want are out of print and will probably never be pressed again. So I can pay extra for a used copy or just accept the absence in my collection. |
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@Subnet You were talking about Deadwax earlier and I thought you might be interested in this. My brother in law gave me a crate of albums that belonged to his uncle a couple of weeks ago. Most date from the early 60's to late 70's with a few from the 80's. I've been slowly running them though the old Spin Clean and checking the deadwax as I go. Some of the more interesting so far include: Johnny Winter And Live Deadwax: 1A / 1A earliest possible Columbia pressing. The Allman Brothers Band Self-Titled (Atco) Deadwax: A / A, mastered by George Piros (GP). Bob Dylan The Times They Are A-Changin' (Columbia) Copy: Mono. Deadwax: XLP-75526-1AB / XLP-75527-1AD. The Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo (Columbia) Deadwax: 1D / 1A. Steppenwolf Self-Titled (Dunhill) Deadwax: A-1 / B-1. Yes Self-Titled (Atlantic) Deadwax: A / A. Pink Floyd Atom Heart Mother (Harvest SKAO-382) Deadwax: A4 / B1. Muddy Waters Live! (Chess) Deadwax: 40501-1 / 40502-1, T/T1. First lacquer both sides, pressed at Columbia Terre Haute ("T"). Nazz Nazz Nazz (SGC) Variant: Maroon vinyl (not standard black). Country Joe and the Fish I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die (Vanguard) Includes original full-cover color fish game insert in great shape. |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Wow. Those are some good albums. Nice. I picked up Foreigner 4 and Pyromania a week or so ago. $20 with tax out the door! Same goes for the The Allman Brother's Band album. ATCO used different coding than Columbia. Just an A as oppsed to 1A. That tells us it was a first stamper but not the lacquer used to make the stamper. Fortunately it also has a GP (George Piros) in the deadwax. GP was the mastering engineer and only did the first 2 (A and B) lacquers. Everything marked GP was from the first master though so we know first master and first lacquer. Once again a very early copy. Confirmed by the Yellow ATCO label and the markings on the cover. This was before the Allman Brothers' were popular so there weren't a whole lot of these GP mastered albums made. Good old uncle Jim was buying albums when they first hit the shelves in the record stores. |
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My 12 year old son has been me mentioning that he wants a turntable setup for his birthday…..now he just got out of the shower and told me that he was thinking about albums and the first album he would get Led Zeppelin IV…..not a bad choice. Now I just need to figure out what turn table and speakers to start him out with….as it is not something I know about. Any guidance for setting up a beginner that will just be listening in his room would be appreciated. I really need to raid my Dad’s collection as he has some nice old albums varying from Jimmy Reed, Elvis, Beatles, and a bunch classic county albums from Hank Williams to Willie, Waylon and Cash…. |
Let us disappoint the Men who are raising themselves upon the ruin of this Country.
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~John Adams
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Subnet suggested a Fluance turntable. I've been very satisfied with mine. I got some 90s Polk speakers which would be a lot for the average kid's bedroom, but they were $100 from another ARFCOM member, so that was a no brainer. Do you have a pawn shop local to you which would let you try out speakers? Do you have the amp picked out? There are some supposedly great little chinese amps out there these days. That with a turntable which has a built in preamp might be the hot ticket to start out. https://www.fluance.com/tt/turntables ETA: You might want to check out cheapaudioman on youtube. He has a lot of good videos. |
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Originally Posted By killingmachine123: Subnet suggested a Fluance turntable. I've been very satisfied with mine. I got some 90s Polk speakers which would be a lot for the average kid's bedroom, but they were $100 from another ARFCOM member, so that was a no brainer. Do you have a pawn shop local to you which would let you try out speakers? Do you have the amp picked out? There are some supposedly great little chinese amps out there these days. That with a turntable which has a built in preamp might be the hot ticket to start out. https://www.fluance.com/tt/turntables ETA: You might want to check out cheapaudioman on youtube. He has a lot of good videos. Absolutely get a turntable with a preamp (most of them do). For amps, you want an "integrated amplifier" which has volume control. This would be a solid choice: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LCTYHKQ?tag=arfcom00-20 Cheaper Option: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGCSM191?tag=arfcom00-20 You could also just use powered speakers - so these are speakers that contain an amplifier. You would need only that + turntable. Such as these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005OSR1C8?tag=arfcom00-20 If you go used you can def get something cheaper, could look in pawn shops or on Facebook marketplace. Kind of depends on your budget. You could also get a really nice headphone setup for probably a little cheaper, and then he can listen as loud as he wants without bothering anyone else. |
Atypical Millennial
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In to learn some things. A while ago I was given a free turntable and about 100 records from the 1970s to early 80s, most of them first or early pressings. I had it working with my stereo using a NOS cartridge. Then, with a two-year-old running around, I packed up the whole stereo system into storage. I wanted a simple desktop headphone setup instead, and here's what I settled on: Turntable: Philips 877 Super Electronic Cartridge: Ortofon 2M Bronze Phono Preamplifier: Parks Audio Budgie Tube Phono Preamp (with Genalex Gold Lion E88CC tubes) Headphone Amplifier: Schiit Asgard X (with built-in DAC) Headphones: DCA Noire X Digital Sources: Tidal streaming or lossless ripped CDs I still have the following components in storage waiting for my son to get past the terrible twos: Integrated Amplifier: Peachtree Nova150 Speakers: Martin Logan Motion 40 Subwoofer: Bowers & Wilkins ASW608 I recently bought everything except the phono amp, and it sounds pretty damn good. I learned that "free" turntables are anything but free. |
"Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate — and quickly." -Heinlein.
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Originally Posted By djkest: Last weekend I bought an Audio-Technica AT-LP5X turntable as my first unit. I bought two records that day, got one of them signed. And now I have 4 coming in the mail. Still need to figure out: Need a speaker setup - I have some options Record Brush? Anti-static sleeves? And I'm also still figuring out how to remove and add vinyl to a sleeve with only 2 hands and only touching the edges. The sound is addicting, hard to describe. Lush? But listening to the recored B2B with an MP3 there's a distinct difference. The MP3s sound very harsh and mechanical. I can switch back and forth pretty easily, the only difficulty is level-matching. Turntable: Audio-Technica AT-LP5X turntable Phono Preamp- Schiit Skoll Headphone Amp- Schiit Magnius DAC - Schiit Modius Headphones - Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro X I am still running the stock cartridge but would like to upgrade it at some point. The next upgrade from what I have now is $150 |
Atypical Millennial
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Originally Posted By djkest: Turntable: Audio-Technica AT-LP5X turntable Phono Preamp- Schiit Skoll Headphone Amp- Schiit Magnius DAC - Schiit Modius Headphones - Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro X I am still running the stock cartridge but would like to upgrade it at some point. The next upgrade from what I have now is $150 I use the Mo-Fi anti static sleeves. I've gone through several brushes until i settled on one that actually worked and didn't shed bristles. I cant remember the name of it but I will update when I get home. |
"Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate — and quickly." -Heinlein.
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Audio-Technica AT-LP5X has a built in pre amp so that's good. RE: Speakers - What kind of space are you trying to fill? Nearfield or smaller space: JBL Professional 308P MK2 or the smaller 305Ps. Balanced inputs match your DAC. RP-600M Reference Premiere Bookshelf Speakers and a good amp, doesn't need much power at all to drive these. A good tube amp at 5w? Check out Facebook market place. You may score some Realistic Mach One s or 15in Cerwin Vs for $200 and have a great room setup. |
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| PS. Discogs.com for purchasing and seeing the value of records. I'm sorry, you're welcome :-) |
Illegitimi Non Carborundum
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