what to look for in a turntable? Is there an FAQ?

Use your analog front end rig, and you will learn just how deep or how laid back you might go with it.

I'd love to sit here and say; "Get the best pre you can buy!" but that would only apply to those who are already dedicating their time and money into vinyl.

If you go deep, I would suggest many pre's would make that make that very modest cart shine. I used to have 3-4 OM10's in my life, using a simple Onkyo turntable from long ago. It's a very good cart to start out with...

..Then it's on to Rega carts and better pre's. But not until you're ready. Good snag!

 

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but I found the OM10 to be a very cold cartridge. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I'm afraid that if you couple it with a cheap phono preamp you might not find the analog warmth you may have been hoping for.

 

So are you saying the cartridge is no good? They sell for $80-$90 so I would assume they're at least ok.

Somebody tell me what to look for in a phono stage. Maybe even recommend a few that don't cost more than the table. I still might go buy the rat shack one to use for a week or two, but then I think I'll buy something better. Should I be looking for something that does both MM & MC?


Can anyone answer a few of the questions I had on the vinyl itself?


Thanks

~Brian

 

The NAD PP1 seems to be a good phono stage especially for the price. I think it sells for about $100. It's a no frills unit that even lacks a power button.
I've given it a quick listen before and it's one that is worth checking out.

Might be one option.

 

Brian (Brain)

I do not think the OM10 and subsequent carts sound cold, as someone else said. I think if you really want to hit bottom, the Stantons sold at Radio Shack are NOT a good fit for the Rega. The cart is too tall. You will need a vertical adjustment to make it compatible. The OM10 should be AOK.

AFA vinyl, I would seriously look into, as a one time shot, getting the Classic Recs normal issue "Kind Of Blue", even though the price is harrowing. The rest is actually quite an adventure that you will have to endure. It will be a pleasure, trust me. Find the local used record stores and find some inexpensive Lps that "move" you. I might say get "Here Comes Charlie" by Ella, but again, ouch on the price...

Watch out for eBay. Lots of inexperienced vinyl dealers selling you poor product; especially Beatles.....

 

Stanton stuff fits well on Gemini turntables. BTW, my employer is a Stanton and Gemini dealer and if you go to the stevehoffman.tv home page, under Site Seeing, you will see a link to NorthernLightFx, the retail subsidiary of RFC Music Productions, which is a mobile DJ company and you can support my employment and even myself.

 

I would seriously consider getting a Zerostat anti-static gun. Without it, especially in the winter, I get very load static pops and thumps through the speakers. If your turntable is in a room that can get dry you'll need the Zerostat.

The Zerostat used to be marketed by Discwasher, although I now think it is made by a company called Milty. It is available from many different vendors on the web.

 

The OM10 is not a bad cartridge but even a step up to the OM20 is dramatic. The good news is that that can be done by just upgrading the stylus. The cartridge body is the same for the OM10 ,20 and 30. J&R Music World has great prices on all of these. I have a friend playing a Rega-3 thru a Creek OBH-8SE pre-amp that he bought from red trumpet for under $300. It sounds great although I believe he is using a Rega cartridge (not sure which model) with his.

 

Yeah. Go light. You need to know just WHAT a difference there is before throwing insane money at an analog front end.

A simple pre and cart will do fine. The OM10 won't steer you wrong or put undue harm on your vinyl. Get it installed correctly, or do it yourself using the paper protractor either from the Rega or Enjoythemusic.com.

KISS method is key right now. Don't have to go whole hog. In fact, it would not work to your benefit until you are ready and willing. A vinyl addict is not made overnight.

 

I think it takes a couple of nights listening, then one trip to the $1 bargain bin and your infected.

 

Brian, Congrats!

I agree with the others that you should seriously consider better pre's. Creek makes a good one that's often discounted. Look around for it.

As far as cleaning products go, what you already have will be fine for new records. But if you start buying used (and that's a BIG part of the whole vinyl thing), you'll need something like the Disc Doctor's pads and fluids. And lots of distilled water for rinsing. (I use the smallest wet vac I could find to suck up the remaining water after cleaning).

Evaluating the condition of used vinyl is tricky. The general rule of thumb is any scratch you can feel with your fingernail will also be audible. But surprisingly a lot of scratches look worse than they sound (and, to be fair, the reverse happens occasionally). The only absolutes are to stay away from a record that has white powder in the grooves (severe groove wear) or a record that has lost its sheen. Otherwise, it's impossible to really know without playing the record on your own rig. Usually, if a record looks fairly clean it will sound good, often great. But there's always exceptions. Where I live I can buy most used records for $2-$5 a pop, so that allows me to take chances on iffy looking vinyl and even to buy multiple copies of a record and keep the one that sounds best (it really helps if you're big into '70s music here!). Whenever I spend more than $10 for a used record, I'm cautious. It has to look really good or I have to get an exchange option (buy enough records around town and you'll get to know the owners well enough to get this perk more often than not).

Have a ball--it's great fun. And an entirely different relationship to your stereo than CDs allow. If you're a hands-on kind of hobbyist, you'll really enjoy tweaking. Though there's a downside, too: you might end up like me trying to tweak every record into sounding good. With digital, you simply accept the sound as it is, but with vinyl, you've got tracking force, VTA, mat material, etc. The temptation to tweak this or that at the first sign of bad sound can get powerful. Personally, I love this part of it, but I can't deny that it can get obsessive.

Larpy

 

Phono Preamps

Music Direct claims that the new $199 Clearaudio Micro phono-pre beat the Lehmann Black Cube pre at $550. Marketing garbage or truth? I dunno, but Clearaudio has an impeccable reputation.
http://www.musicalsurroundings.com/clearaudio/microbasic.html

Up the price ladder a bit is the new Grado phono pre at under $500 and it looks like a winner.
Here's a review:
http://www.audaud.com/audaud/FEB03/setFEB03.html

Dan C

 

I second that -- the OM10 is not very good at tracking. The OM20 is a lot better, but will still give you a bit of that mistracking "buzz" on bright records, especially on those tight inner grooves. I haven't heard the OM30 -- I was considering it, but here I could get a Shure V15VxMR for only slightly more, so I went with that instead (and have not regretted it).

But with costs, a lot depends where you live... in North America, the Shure is a bargain. In Europe, it's much more expensive, and you can get some very nice Ortofons for a lot less than what they sell for here.

 

Thanks for all the tips gang.

Went and picked up about 30 albums today. Cost about $17 so I guess even if they're bad I'm not out much. A few have what look to me like minor scratches so we'll see how they play once I get this thing setup.


~Brian

 

Hi Brian, Buy the Disc Doctor pads and get into the wonderful world of restoring old WELL kept vinyl, I'm not talking about the records that were used as frisbees, just well kept dusty records. With the Disc Doctor pads in hand, you can bring them back to life.

Believe it or not I enjoy doing this, not quite like having sex, but when you've restored someone else's vinyl to its original beautiful shiny lustre, placed it delicately on your eagerly awaiting platter, well let's just say it does'nt get much better.

Enjoy Brian!

 

Thanks, I'll look into a Disc Doctor.

Decided on a Creek OBH-8 for a phono stage. Hopefully it'll be here next week.

It's killing me not being able to hook it up & play with it this weekend. I was going to pick up a lil rat for $25 to hold me over for a week & keep around for a backup, but according to the drone @ Rat Shack "we can order it, but we don't stock it anymore because all the better turntables like the one we carry have one built in". Circuit City has a cheapo Recton one for $40, but I think I'll just wait.

 

Yes, wait. Save the $40 for vinyl. Less on electronics that are disposable.

 

I bought a Musical Fidelity XLPS preamp. Will that serve me well with a Rega P3?