New Turntable Old vinyl

[simon moon]

Have this one and love it.

My only concern is that you can't switch out the stylus without replacing the whole thing. That said I have been running it for almost two years and heavy usage and have not noticed any degradation in sound.

--
Greg

You are not able to replace the stylus on most higher end cartridges. Some brands will give you credit if you turn your old cartridge when you buy a new one.

Not true.

There are several companies that will retip cartridges. And they will sound better than the stock tip.

Soundsmith is one of them.

They will replace the stock aluminum cantilever with ruby, and replace the stock stylus with a nude contact line. Not only will your Denon DL-103R compete easily with cartridges costing twice the price, you will be able to decrease the tracking force down to 1.7 gr instead of the Denon recommended 2.3 gr. You will get better tracking and less wear.

http://www.sound-smith.com/retip/

Then, if you want to take your Denon even further, replace the crappy, resonant plastic body with an aluminum or wood body. There are several available, here's one -

http://www.cabezon.eu/product_info.php?products_id=123

You won't believe how incredible your humble Denon DL-103r will sound.

[Rael]

^^ I can vouch for Soundsmith. They do great work. Depending on how busy they are, it can take a couple of months to get your cart back but it's totally worth it.

[enpdllp]

Not true.

There are several companies that will retip cartridges. And they will sound better than the stock tip.

I was talking about the styluses that you can slide out from the cartridge and replace with another one, not rebuilding or retipping.

[enpdllp]

I just saw that Rega Research RP3 was awarded Analog source component of the year 2012 by Stereophile.
Retail price $1095, including cartridge. So that should fit your budget pretty well.
.

Very good turntable. Many aftermarket upgrades available if you want to further improve the sound of this turntable in the future.

[PeterG]

The thing is though in my experience that changing the stylus, while marginally cheaper isn't cheap enough to prevent me from just changing the whole cartridge either to upgrade or simply try a new cartridge to see what it can reveal. However, last time round I did change just the stylus, which cost about 60-70% of the same cartridge new. But I'm happy with the my current cartridge so a new stylus was appropriate.

[rottersclub]

My major beef with Rega gear, in particular their tonearms, is the lack of VTA adjustment and the lack any markings on the counterweight. It makes doing your own adjustments pretty difficult, especially if you don't have some setup devices.

[strawberrybrick]

Anyone used compressed air to clean records? Any downside?

[LASERCD]

Don't do it when its on the table. You could accidentally bend your stylus.

I don't see compressed air as much of a help. You'll remove some surfact dirt but you may in fact imbed dirt deeper or just blow it around from one part of the album surface to another.

Liquid cleaner is the best method followed by a wipe with a carbon fibre wand.

[strawberrybrick]

Asked for a bath-type cleaner for Xmas... cross-fingers.

[Rael]

My major beef with Rega gear, in particular their tonearms, is the lack of VTA adjustment and the lack any markings on the counterweight. It makes doing your own adjustments pretty difficult, especially if you don't have some setup devices.

Doesn't Rega now make spacers for VTA adjustment?

[LASERCD]

Asked for a bath-type cleaner for Xmas... cross-fingers.

Don't waste your time with the Spin Clean. I bought one for my friend who is selling parts of my collection on Ebay. He said it was a worthless piece of shit. A real pain in the ass to work with and it didn't get the records that clean.

Get the VPI HW16.5. I had one for almost 25 years before it pooped out this past summer. Replaced it with the HW17f. I expect to take it to the grave.

[Rael]

Don't waste your time with the Spin Clean. I bought one for my friend who is selling parts of my collection on Ebay. He said it was a worthless piece of shit. A real pain in the ass to work with and it didn't get the records that clean.

Get the VPI HW16.5. I had one for almost 25 years before it pooped out this past summer. Replaced it with the HW17f. I expect to take it to the grave.

Is the Spin Clean the contraption Michael Fremer demonstrates on one of his DVDs? If its the one I'm thinking of, he's bent over a sink in his garage trying to clean records with it. It really does look like a pain in the ass.

[enpdllp]

Is the Spin Clean the contraption Michael Fremer demonstrates on one of his DVDs? If its the one I'm thinking of, he's bent over a sink in his garage trying to clean records with it. It really does look like a pain in the ass.

[LASERCD]

Yes. That's the Spin Clean. Piece of shit.

[rcarlberg]

What's wrong with a fucking Discwasher? Served me well for 40 years.

HUGE difference!

Really? Sounded EXACTLY THE SAME to me -- extremely poor.

[LASERCD]

There is nothing inherently wrong with Discwasher. It does a very good job of removing loose debris and dust. It simply is not as invasive a cleaner as a liquid/vacuum based scheme, which does a better job of loosening and removing deeply embedded gunk.

[enpdllp]

Don't waste your time with the Spin Clean. I bought one for my friend who is selling parts of my collection on Ebay. He said it was a worthless piece of shit. A real pain in the ass to work with and it didn't get the records that clean.

Get the VPI HW16.5. I had one for almost 25 years before it pooped out this past summer. Replaced it with the HW17f. I expect to take it to the grave.

Not sure what were the expectations of your friend or how dirty were the records he cleaned, but the Spin Clean is highly recommended by many audio publications and audiophiles. I am also surprised that your friend found the Spin clean a pain in the ass to work with since it is a very simple item to operate.

The VPI machines are great and built like tanks, but the cheapest one is almost ten times the price of the Spin Clean and the one you just bought is close to twenty times. Not everyone is willing to shell out that much cash for a record cleaning machine. If you feel a vacuum record cleaning machine is the only way to go, you could get the KAB EV-1 plus your home vacuum cleaner for about a third of the price of the cheapest VPI.

[LASERCD]

The expectations were that it would not be so labor intensive and that it would do a better job of cleaning. Is the VPI a lot more expensive? Of course. As I mentioned I had their base model for nearly a quarter century before the motor gave out. In fact if I wasn't so lazy I could have bought a new motor for minimal cost. I more than got my money's worth out of the 16.5. Its a workhorse.

VPI is not the only vacuum based solution. Unless you want to get involved with the chronically unreliable Audio Desk Systeme, the VPI maxhines are more or less the gold standard for record cleaning machines.

[rottersclub]

Doesn't Rega now make spacers for VTA adjustment?

Yes they do. But in addition to the cost ($20/2mm), you have to remove the tonearm from the plinth in order to "jack it up". I needed to raise the VTA by 4mm so it was $40 for something that if better engineered would have been $0 and a couple of turns.

[simon moon]

Record cleaners that do not have a vacuum are inherently inferior to vacuum type machines. Once the dust and dirt is freed, unless it is completely removed, most of it will just settle back into the groves.

Lucky for us budget minded audiophiles, there is a vacuum machine that does a job equal to the VPIs and Nitty Gritty for a lot less. The KAB EV-1 is $170 (built for KAB by Nitty Gritty), you just need to supply your own vacuum and rotate the record manually. It is a simple and fast process. It is also easy and cheap to make your own cleaning fluid with easily obtainable ingredients (distilled water, isopropyl alcohol and a couple of drops of Photo-Flo or Dawn).

ev1.jpg

There also other very effective methods of record cleaning that don't require machines, and are better than brushes.

Wood glue - yes, believe it our not, spreading a thin layer of wood glue on a record, then pealing it off after it dries does an amazing job, Maybe even comparable to machines. It takes a long time to dry, of course.

In the same vein, there is an Australian made fluid called 'Record Revirginiser' - http://recordrevirginizer.com/ . It is a polymer that, like wood glue, goes deep into the groove to remove dirt. Also like wood glue, it takes a long time to dry. It is also kind of expensive per record.

[Mr. Grizzly Bear]

Just acquired in a barter arrangement, a Kenwood KD600 granite-base manual turntable with an Infinity Black Widow arm (straight) and Grado cartridge, everything working beautifully.

[Modry Effekt]

Just acquired in a barter arrangement, a Kenwood KD600 granite-base manual turntable with an Infinity Black Widow arm (straight) and Grado cartridge, everything working beautifully.

Congrats !

[Mr. Grizzly Bear]

Record cleaners that do not have a vacuum are inherently inferior to vacuum type machines. Once the dust and dirt is freed, unless it is completely removed, most of it will just settle back into the groves.

Lucky for us budget minded audiophiles, there is a vacuum machine that does a job equal to the VPIs and Nitty Gritty for a lot less. The KAB EV-1 is $170 (built for KAB by Nitty Gritty), you just need to supply your own vacuum and rotate the record manually. It is a simple and fast process. It is also easy and cheap to make your own cleaning fluid with easily obtainable ingredients (distilled water, isopropyl alcohol and a couple of drops of Photo-Flo or Dawn).

ev1.jpg

There also other very effective methods of record cleaning that don't require machines, and are better than brushes.

Wood glue - yes, believe it our not, spreading a thin layer of wood glue on a record, then pealing it off after it dries does an amazing job, Maybe even comparable to machines. It takes a long time to dry, of course.

In the same vein, there is an Australian made fluid called 'Record Revirginiser' - http://recordrevirginizer.com/ . It is a polymer that, like wood glue, goes deep into the groove to remove dirt. Also like wood glue, it takes a long time to dry. It is also kind of expensive per record.

Good stuff! I'll be trying out the wood glue treatment with a couple rekkids shortly. Will also be grabbing a small wet/dry vac and modifying an attachment to get the vacuum cleaning going.

Here's a cool thread on Audio Karma about a guy who built his own VPI style record cleaning machine from scratch for a fraction of what a new one would be: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=431520

[klothos]

Quick OT question:

I have heard that there is a trick with WD40 and really scratched/bad vinyl.......supposedly, it will totally destroy the already ruined vinyl and destroy the needle as well but that you are able to get one - and only one - very good quality playback (usually to record to another medium)

Any truth to this urban legend?

[Modry Effekt]

Mr Grizzly Bear ,i congrat you again

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