Why is my turntable making me happy?

Yup. It's super simple. Guitar pickups work on the same principle with the vibrating string messing up magnetic flux instead of something directly connected to the magnet.

 

I have a TT as well and will play albums once awhile these days.

Just as an observation over the last 5 years and getting to know some young people who got into vinyl recently, I've noticed that the novelty does wear off. After about a year of getting used to the vinyl routine, figuring out cartridges and set-up geometry, digging through old used bins, perhaps bitten by poor pressings and physical imperfections (brand new warped LP anyone?), I'd say about 2/3 of the ones I've met now is back to their digital playback system primarily.

Like anything new, getting into vinyl has its excitement. What I'm curious about is the "survival curve" of the enthusiasm.

OP - let us know how this goes in a year! Hope you get to save up for the telecaster by then!

 

A table has become more of a tool for me Arch, 7 inch edits, promo mixes etc.. Where finding it in digital is either impossible or completely destroyed by modern compression standards, or where the lp can be much cheaper than old mastering's on compact disc (Spandau Ballet) or non existent all together-Buckingham Nicks.
If I didn't care for such things I probably wouldn't fart around with it.
This was way cheaper to track down than the cd promo

 

I got into vinyl in December 2015. I've had my ups and downs with it, took a 2-3 month break from it, but came back to it once other things in life had settled down sufficiently, and have a renewed enthusiasm for the entirety of playing records - the setup, the cleaning, the tweaking, the hunt for good pressings, etc...

And you're right; getting bit repeatedly by bad pressings, disappointment in this or that (purely self-inflicted I should add) does get frustrating, but it also teaches an important lesson about getting to a point you're happy and leaving it alone. With a turntable, you can go from happy to angry in about 1 degree on a setup change. And chasing your tail trying to get back to "happy" can be extremely frustrating.

I recently got a few SACD rips and they are very nice, very convenient, sound great... but if I had to pick one over the other to take to my desert island, it's the turntable and as many LPs as I can haul.

 

Your microphones have magnets?

 

Yup. GCSE PHYSICS - What is a Microphone? - How does a Moving Coil Microphone Work? - GCSE SCIENCE.

 

Good point. There are some amazingly dynamic LPs out there compared to the same music in squashed CDs. I likewise will seek out those LPs...

 

Yes Todd. If stuck on a deserted island, I'd certainly pick the LP also .

After some hunting/gathering, a nice fire going... Plenty of time to fool around with the TT!

 

Well, that is one way of making a microphone. I hadn't thought moving coil microphones to be very common.

 

I probably would've gone for the Telecaster instead, despite my preference for angled necks (see below).

Likewise. Nowadays I just don't want to deal with the handling requirements (not to mention the continuous battle with the inevitable result of having longhair cats about the place ). Once the studios *finally* started investing in 16-bit-linear ADCs and paying better attention to peak levels when recording, a lot of the "vinyl sounds better" argument was mooted, as far as I was concerned. (I did used to wonder why Mc didn't put 16-bit DACs in their first couple of CD players, but heck, at the time nobody was putting out 16-bit CDs, so I guess it *kinda* made sense... )

I wouldn't know ANYTHING about irrational persistent voices ("Build Les Pauls! Build Les Pauls!" "SHUT UP BRAIN!" (*looks at 3 half-built Pauls in the garage*) )

I suspect the objectivist snark in me (hey, runs in th' family, so cut me some slack) would come out with something like "placebo effect" or "aurally pleasing nonlinearities in the playback chain" or "emotional investment is higher in a vinyl setup" or somesuch, but hey, at the end of the day it's gotta be more about "does listening to this piece of music move the heck out of my soul?" than about "how am I playing this music?" Right?

Talk to my brother (who I know is lurking Out There™ ) about how many copies of that ELP album he's bought and sold over the years looking for Just The Right One!

Unfortunately I've had to retire my Tele except for special occasions in favor of my more LP-ish guitars; the straight neck angle on the Tele was aggravating my wrist.

 

After hemorrhaging thousands of dollars on analog equipment, I truly doubt I'll wake up one of these morning and exclaim "you know what, this turntable is boring, let me go back to digital playback!" I see myself only going deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, upgrading my tonearm to SME, upgrading my TT to Kuzma XL2 (just kidding!) etc.

 

Actually, yesterday had a chance to play Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin ii, and fell in love with it. What a sweet guitar! And way more affordable than Telecaster.

 

Godins are VERY nice guitars. If I hadn't promised the wife several years ago to swear off buying more guitars (in favor of *making* them, but that's another argum-- er, story ) I'd have a couple of 'em.

 

I couldn't agree more. I'm also on a hunt for the Godin Multiac -- it can do both the analog jack AND the midi at the same time! Plus it's a hell of a guitar for peanuts.

 

Like the OP, I am getting into vinyl after a long absence. My new equipment is in my profile, and the last piece, the TT, is coming today. Been a long day at work knowing whats waiting for me when I get home! Its been 20 years since I've listened to vinyl, and it was never with the equipment that I have now. I have a feeling I know what its going to sound like, but the anticipation is brutal. I'll follow up in about 9 hours!

 

That sounds exciting! There is only one downside of spinning a new vinyl rig, and that is the issue of cartridge cantilever needing to break in. At first, when you sit down to listen to the LPs, you'll probably end up being underwhelmed. But give it 20 to 50 hours of spinning time (depending on the cartridge), and the entire sound will just bloom into this irresistible seductive warm and cozy presentation. Patience, my friend

 

Thanks for level setting my expectations. I am about 30 hours into the tube break in on the LittleDot MKII and about 50 hours into the break in for the HD650's. I will be patient with the TT too. I hadn't heard about this break in, so I am glad you warned me.

 

My SME tonearm has served me well since 1980, just do it!

 

Yes of course they do! See here:

Dynamic vs. Ribbon vs. Condenser

 

I have discovered this year that the best way for me to enjoy analog and digital.... is to never listen to both in the same system.

I have an analog setup upstairs. I never listen to anything but vinyl there.

My extravagant headphone system downstairs is fed by my streamer and dac reading off a NAS drive.

I really recommend trying this. It's quite satisfying. There's no cognitive dissonance on that main system, never a 'gee, this cd doesn't sound like vinyl'. I never hear anything but vinyl in that system.

 

Good point. Also, there are no RF interference between digital equipment and the phono -- something that is always bothering me.

 

So, my TT showed up today. All hooked up and running. I know it's got a lot of breaking in to do. But sounds good already. All my components are new, so I'm really looking forward to experiencing the improvement in sound over next 100 hrs or so.

 

Question. I bought this ridiculous power supply, a Pangea the size of a fire hose. It works on both the Vincent PHO-8 (preamp)and the little dot mkII (headphone amp). Would one benefit from it more than the other? Or does it not matter at all?

 

@PhilBiker & @Gretsch6136 : I appreciate the informations and the links. Knew less than I thought that I did about microphones.
Learned something today. I thought most mikes were condenser.

 

Because your brain is maybe a little bit more Analog than digital. But more Analog than previously thought peace!