Dyed-in-the-wool Digital boy wants a turntable.

I know you do Slick but this one isnt going to be a replacement Mitchell Orbe - just to spin discs in the rec room

 

My upstairs home office system includes a turntable, and I wouldn't want to be without one in any room with a music system.

 

True 'dat. But difficult to find and gimicky.

 

For space considerations, there're these
8 vertical turntables that pit vinyl against gravity »

But another route, in fact, the thing that led me to these forums in the first place, might be to get a device to connect between your regular TT and your amp, run to your computer, and start digitizing your records in high res and then AirPlay them oner to a second room. I thought about a Tascam handheld recorder for a while but bought a Rega Mini with USB-out, and I'm happy with it; but there are better.

 

Earlier in this thread I mentioned Not Fragile and Ambrosia's debut as system testers and/or affordable show off discs. I forgot about Shake It Up. My local record store owner told me that this was the only stereo LP that he remembered that would light up the Quad lights on his amp. The needles on my amp and my ears say that this is a dynamic recording!!! Back when these puppies were 25 cents all day long, I tried,,,a few. Any red label will get you there!!!
Trust me...

 

Really? I can't believe a Roy Thomas Baker production from this period can qualify... I despise his "oversaturate the tape / analog tape compression" sound and this was when he was at the peak of that, isn't it? Darn now you've gone and done it I need to fish this one out and listen.

 

Ultimately I decided against having a turntable upstairs, mostly for the reasons set out by other posters.

Last night was a brilliant night of music:
Bowie
Pink Floyd
Trivium
Metallica
Beck
The Beach Boys

Brilliant, nights like last night remind me... why on earth would I think about changing anything

 

Why? The eternal question.

Eventually the itch begins...and must be scratched.

 

I'll certainly never change anything in my system.

 

Well, I changed some $hit...

Ok more like tweaked but whatever

My Mint Tractor showed up tonight and while I swore I wouldn't undertake that tonight, I did anyway. What else are you going to do when the sick wife and toddler go to bed at 8:30 pm? Why you get incredibly anal with a jeweler's loupe, custom protractor, allen wrenches, swear words, blinding light and pull all of your old favorites back off the shelf to hear the end result. That's what.

Overall it was NOT that bad but there were definite points of extreme frustration getting that silly little diamond on that impossibly small line at both the beginning and end of the arc. But, once I got that? It was truly a breeze from there out. In the end, I had to pull the cart forward in the headshell by something around 1/16" but I'm not good at quantifying such small measurements. Beyond that, the cantilever was quite off, I had to rotate the cart in the shell a fair amount (clockwise if looking from above) to get everything squared up. While I was looking at everything so closely I noticed azimuth was pretty off as well (relatively speaking, we're talking a couple of degrees maybe?) so I fixed that up also.

The end result is quite satisfying - Mint uses a Baerwald geometry so naturally I am hearing less distortion, more clarity across the face of the LP. I put on the Analogue Productions A Love Supreme and was absolutely blown away by the soundstage. It is very legitimately "3D" now.

At this point it's a game of inches in terms of improvements and really, it's just tweaking things a little here and a little there to see what effect those tweaks have on the sound coming out of the speakers. I do feel quite accomplished that everything after the table is transparent enough to let those changes show themselves, so that's pretty darn cool.

And just to make sure, I've thrown on Supertramp Crime and LZ IV to make sure she still rocks as hard as she used to.

She does.

 

It was when I realized that worrying about changes in tracking force weren't a major problem and that I was worrying about nothing, because I was focusing on 1/100's of a gram variance, that I realized there does come a point when you put the tools down. But, yeah, getting it right can yield rich rewards. And you feel like you've actually accomplished something rather than being a passive consumer. Good for you.

 

I agree with you - it is a fine line between curious and obsessive. Thankfully, the obsessiveness has calmed down a LOT since the earlier days of this thread. But that earlier compulsion taught me so much about the mechanics and physics involved, the rituals of cleaning, the things that IF I hear them, I know where to start looking if I'm so inclined. I've always been one to "optimize" everything around me, and that will never change (I hope). With that said, I don't go to the lengths that some do - I don't feel it's appropriate to check VTF except at intervals like every few months to make sure things are still in line, or after a change to the geometry. I never touch VTA, despite being able to do so on the fly. I even sold the PSU/Tach because they were green lights reminding me that "Hey man, everything's fine!" Ok, someone else who needs those more than I do can have them

I now have on one of the unsung heroes of my library playing... Richard Marx S/T. Wally cut, this album is just fun and actually kinda rocks just a little bit...

 

I'm still learning where that line is.... every day.

 

Ahhhh, I am about to hit my calibration again this weekend as well! BUT, Im using a printed Arc protractor on a A4 bit of paper. Lord help me.

 

I shall light a candle in your honor my friend. Good luck and godspeed. May your ruler and printer settings serve you well in this endeavor.

 

Upgrades inbound. So I do really like the Dyna 20x2L but it's all I've ever heard on this table and I keep hearing gushes over the Lyra Delos on Classic tables so how lucky I was this morning to just refresh the page on USAudioMart to find not just a Delos for sale, but also an older (and cheaper) Lyra Helikon for sale in the same post. Both were priced very reasonably with minimal hours on each (seller was a cart collector, as evidenced by the 4 other carts he'll be selling soon). Cantilevers are perfectly straight on each as well. So I got them both. I'll pit them against the 20X2L and see which I prefer most, then sell the others off.

The seller seems to think I'll actually like the Helikon better for the amount of rock and metal I listen to so this should be an interesting experiment.

I did notice when I was aligning my DV cart on the Mint that the cantilever is a little tweaked on it. Nothing terrible, but that got into the back of my mind and, well, here we are. I never stay still for very long so if anyone is rolling their eyes at this, trust me - I get it

Also getting a Budgie tube phono preamp to come after my Budgie SUT. I'm finding that the built-in stage on my tube preamp is good, it's a great backup plan - but it isn't "special" and it's also not getting along with my SUT very well I don't think. This preamp has two gain controls - one on the rear panel and a phono pre gain knob, in addition to front panel volume. What I'm finding is that on other line level sources, I can position the back gain such that the preamp is dead quiet. But with phono I have to goose the back panel gain quite a bit. If I don't, I have to instead "crank" the phono pre gain which then destroys the image and tonality. Ok "destroy" is a little harsh, it's not THAT bad but there is definitely a sweet spot on the phono gain knob. So, to get reasonable volume at that sweet spot I have to literally crank the gain on the back panel which means I get an audible hum AND it means that line level sources are far too hot, I get no travel on the front panel volume until the volume is blowing you out of the room.

Lastly, I bought some BlueJeans LC-1 cables to go from tonearm > SUT > phono pre > pre. That final leg may not need a very low cap cable, we'll see, but I can always swap cables on that leg to see if anything changes.

Yay stereos!

 

Todd, I haven't seen you post about the impact of your recent audio experiences on your travel (or vice versa). My revived ability to enjoy vinyl has had a direct impact on my business travel... Some destinations have more temptations than others (China maybe not so much, but London? Yeah baby! and somehow it seems more authentic to buy Dr John music in New Orleans rather than off of Amazon)

 

I've been meaning to respond to you for like a week, I'm sorry So far - not too bad because I haven't really traveled since sliding down this rabbit hole However, I'll be around the DC area in early June and will definitely check out a few stores around the area. Then we head to Tennessee in July but I don't know if there will really be anything to check out where we'll be in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area. I don't do any international traveling at this point but I'm always tempted to ask my Chief of Product to bring back some goodies from London...

Tonight has been a flippin' wonderful night of vinyl. I bought a used Parks Audio Budgie phono preamp, to mate with my Parks SUT. This combo is fantastic! I can't overstate it. Now, I have to fully qualify this that I've been using the internal phono pre in my Aric Audio Unlimited stereo preamp and it was good, possibly really good but for whatever reason, it just did not gel well with my SUT, nor with the Graham Slee Reflex-M I tried nor the Phonomena I had that served me so well for several months. But, now with the Budgie, I'm home again. Actually in an upgraded, more spacious, fuller home. A home that is quite a bit deeper than I'm used to, and produces microdetail on LPs I know like the back of my hand that have me constantly going wait... that was there the whole time? I'm listening right now to one of my absolute favorite albums, and I spent a bit of a mint to get it on vinyl, but Van Halen - Balance, German pressing. And this isn't some AAA recording or anything but it just moves so much better with this new combo, I'm ecstatic. Listened to some of my other metal and hard rock tonight and yea, I'm convinced I should have tried this little pre a long time ago.

I have noticed some benefits from putting in the Blue Jeans LC-1 cables as well. I swapped those in for the leads from the tonearm > SUT, SUT > phono pre, and phono pre to pre in. It's hard for me personally to describe the difference but I feel like there is more upper midrange clarity and better treble detail, if that makes sense. Better "air" I suppose, might be another way to put it, but whatever it is, I'm a fan. And that was a comparatively cheap upgrade, so those are always welcome!

 

Installed and aligned the new-to-me Lyra Delos tonight, using the Mint tractor. I thought it would be easier than the DV it replaces but I actually struggled with this alignment more than I thought I would. I attribute it to lack of focus, but whatever. Wasn't hard to setup but I did find I can't use my Counter Intuitive with this cart, the little bit of weight it adds to my counterweight means I run out of VTF, basically. With the CI in place and all the way forward, I was only getting 1.00g, not the 1.75g Lyra calls for. Not a huge deal but I need to figure out if I want to buy a new counterweight or add a headshell weight. I like having the CI in place, it definitely makes fine adjustments MUCH simpler on the unipivot JMW arm.

This cart is very clearly in a different league than the 20X2L but I have to give it some time to see if I'm onboard with the change long-term. It's definitely emphasizing the topend more than the 20X2L but the detail and clarity it brings to the table is undeniable. It's also very "fast" in my opinion. SQ in all directions is an improvement. I did find a slight loss in bass but one cart's loss could very well be the former cart's overemphasis. What I can say is that in the lower regions, this cart delivers plenty of bass and it is more precise and "quick" for lack of a better term.

The Delos' reputation is well-documented and over the next month, I will figure out if I prefer it. As we all know, different doesn't always mean better.

 

Excellent! That cart is always on my short list. I understand it is very sensitive to VTF settings, I like to compare different pressings of albums and this cart was highly recommended with that in mind.
Have fun!

 

I could certainly see it being useful in that endeavor Slick! From the first LP I listened to (Crime of the Century Canadian Audiophile pressing), the information this cart picks up out of the grooves is nothing short of amazing.

It seems to walk a pretty fine line between clear/neutral yet still gets into a groove, so to say. It's not as inviting as the Dyna but that's where priorities come in I suppose. Can't really have our cake and eat it too. So, I'll let my ears decide. If I could afford a second JMW arm, I'd just do that and keep the Dyna and one of the Lyras. But, I can't, so no use fretting over it.

 

Todd, do you happen to have Love's Forever Changes? ((Rhino reissue- the one, according to Fremer.) Great sound, if you like a quirky mix of rock, folk, pop with hints of baroque and jazz. One of those "master works that didn't sell" legends.

 

I do not, but I will look into it! Thanks!

 

Here's Fremer's write-up from when it came out (his readers seemed to agree with his assessment):

Love's "Forever Changes" Finally Gets Long Deserved First Class Vinyl Reissue »

 

Wow Todd, you sure have been through a world of system upgrades and tweaks in the last year. Your passion is impressive. Reading some of your posts make me dizzy with the details, but I still find them fascinating regardless. I can't imagine spending the time and money that you have on all the different improvements. I'm actually getting to the point where I don't want to improve my system any further because I just want to kick back and enjoy the music and I think my system sounds pretty good, but a far cry from yours and most of the people on this forum. Seems like the higher end you go in audio the more finicky the products can become.