NEW Vinyl thread

[Pr33t]

Anyone ever tried the Mr.Clean magic eraser method to clean a stylus? Apparently it's excellent but I haven't got around to it yet.

A friend of mine is a huge proponent of this, but I haven't tried it myself. Don't have the money for a new needle in the budget should I butterfingers it

[Staun]

What kind of surface and platform is your TT sitting? Do you remove the dust cover when in use?

[Birdy]

A friend of mine is a huge proponent of this, but I haven't tried it myself. Don't have the money for a new needle in the budget should I butterfingers it

Yeah, I think when I do get around to it I will mount it on a thin wood block and sit it down to just let the stylus drift down on it right beside the platter. That way nothing can really go wrong, but I hate using a stylus brush.

[Birdy]

What kind of surface and platform is your TT sitting? Do you remove the dust cover when in use?

Mine at the store here is on a wood cabinet on a concrete floor. At home I have one in the upstairs family room on a dresser on bamboo floor so I've got to be a
bit careful there and downstairs in a stereo cabinet on concrete, carpeted floor. No vibrations etc on both concrete floors. Dust covers on all 3 that I never take
off.

[Pr33t]

What kind of surface and platform is your TT sitting? Do you remove the dust cover when in use?

Mine is on a wood cabinet on a wood floor. I know this is not the recommended setup, but I don't have any other choice in my apartment. I always play with the dust cover off. I can't hear any difference, and it's just easier to not have to mess with it every side.

[simon moon]

What kind of surface and platform is your TT sitting? Do you remove the dust cover when in use?

My TT sits on a home made isolation base made out of a sheet of plexi sitting on several racket balls cut in half. That in turn is sitting on top of an audio rack.

Plexiglass itself is a good, well damped and low resonance material. Sitting on the balls is even better.

And I live in a house with an old suspended floor that is susceptible to picking up footfalls and other vibrations. With the above setup, problem resolved.

Never play with dust cover for 2 reasons:

1. The dust cover is a large, resonant surface that will pick up and transfer air born vibrations to your turntable. Resonances are the enemy of vinyl playback.

2. Dust covers, in the right atmospheric conditions (like the Santa Ana winds that we get in Southern California) will become quite statically charged. A rotating vinyl disk below it does not help. Much of the complaints of clicks and pops may not be due to dust, but to static discharge.

[Birdy]

My TT sits on a home made isolation base made out of a sheet of plexi sitting on several racket balls cut in half. That in turn is sitting on top of an audio rack.

Plexiglass itself is a good, well damped and low resonance material. Sitting on the balls is even better.

And I live in a house with an old suspended floor that is susceptible to picking up footfalls and other vibrations. With the above setup, problem resolved.




Never play with dust cover for 2 reasons:

1. The dust cover is a large, resonant surface that will pick up and transfer air born vibrations to your turntable. Resonances are the enemy of vinyl playback.

2. Dust covers, in the right atmospheric conditions (like the Santa Ana winds that we get in Southern California) will become quite statically charged. A rotating vinyl disk below it does not help. Much of the complaints of clicks and pops may not be due to dust, but to static discharge.

Hmmm, sorry but I don't buy the dustcover theory. And I'm not going to let all kinds of crappy dirt and dust re-invade my just-cleaned vinyl.

[Progboy]

Radiohead OK COMPUTER on Capitol 180g vinyl mix is simply brilliant.....blows away the cd version

Also DEAD CAN DANCE live triple 180 g vinyl album is simply stunning !....right up there with the DCD SACD's

[Staun]

Hmmm, sorry but I don't buy the dustcover theory. And I'm not going to let all kinds of crappy dirt and dust re-invade my just-cleaned vinyl.

It is true that particles settle back down to the surface but that lid acts like a antenna catching everthing sound born. Also thinking about TT feet. I really like using the spike method becaause they have the smallest point of contact to any surface. Seems to work out alright. I've really enjoyed my trusty Linn table but recently I picked up my first external belt drive table. It's the Pro-Ject Xperience Classic in olive. I must say It's well worth the money because of how quiet it is and the sound just seems to come out of nowhere at times. Any comment on these type of tables? I hope to have it for a long time but I'm looking forward to the next upgrade now that I've gotten used to them.

[rcarlberg]

Which one is warmer?

* A digital recording digitally mastered and pressed on vinyl?

* Or an analog recording mastered in analog but pressed to CD?

[rcarlberg]

Also thinking about TT feet. I really like using the spike method becaause they have the smallest point of contact to any surface.

Can you explain why that would be an advantage?

[Staun]

Well, Mr. Rcarlberg. Because it is what it is. The smallest point of contact. Smaller points to transmit vibration. I've had TT's with these large round plastic feet. They were terrible with the vibration factor. BTW, thanks for your help with the speakers last year.

[rcarlberg]

The smallest point of contact. Smaller points to transmit vibration. I've had TT's with these large round plastic feet. They were terrible with the vibration factor.

Why would "smaller points of contact" transmit less vibration?

[rcarlberg]

What kind of surface and platform is your TT sitting?

My last 3 houses I've had my listening room in the basement, on a concrete floor, so vibration is not a factor for the turntable.

On the flip side, vibration of the floor is not a factor for feeling the bass either. I've come around to thinking that's a bigger factor in enjoyment of music, now that I'm primarily compact discs, so my next listening room will have a raised wooden floor or be upstairs.

[Birdy]

Which one is warmer?

* A digital recording digitally mastered and pressed on vinyl?

* Or an analog recording mastered in analog but pressed to CD?

Neither probably beats an ANALOGUE recording, digitally re-mastered to either CD or LP for warmth. I never liked "digitally" recorded for sound.

[rcarlberg]

I never liked "digitally" recorded for sound.

But digital mastering doesn't destroy the warmth?

[Staun]

Why would "smaller points of contact" transmit less vibration?

If the idea is to totally eliminate vibration, I'm not sure there is a way. However, if the conduit or point of contact is smaller, smaller portions of vibration will be transmitted. The intensity of a constant vibration will not be as strong. Certainly, IMHO. But, I know for a fact, using my own TTs placed in the same area, that the table with the spikes transmitted less vibration than the table with the large round plastic feet.

[rcarlberg]

Certainly, IMHO.

I'm having a hard time envisioning the physics. For a turntable of a given weight on a given vibrating surface, the same amount of vibration will be transmitted to the table regardless of the size of the feet.

Of course you could choose an active suspension with a resonant frequency that made the vibration worse, or a suspension with a damping that made it better, but the size of the contact -- if it's just passive turntable feet -- should not matter.

Perhaps spikes -- if they're metal -- transmit vibration more cleanly than large rubber feet (although the whole point of large rubber feet is to act as a damper...)

[Birdy]

But digital mastering doesn't destroy the warmth?

Going strictly by my experience with CD's for example I always much preferred an ADD to AAD or DDD. Pure digital didn't seem to have the warmth while an AAD often suffered from too much noise/hiss etc. Maybe it's a question of everyone's individual ears also. I remember having Alan Parsons Project "Pyramid" on CD and
it was AWFUL! This was early on and it wasn't remastered. Suffered from brutal tape hiss, distortion and a tinny,bright sound. Time frame would be mid-80's and then it was remastered and I was astounded by how great it sounded. Question is, does it sound better than an original album or the same remaster on VINYL?
Hard to say and that's kind of what I was getting at in my quote a while ago as to whether an ADD on vinyl might just be the smoothest, warmest way to listen to a lot of recordings while retaining the aesthetic of the original. Stupid thing is of course that we never "really" know exactly what source was used for what either.

[Birdy]

[QUOTE=rcarlberg;169642]I'm having a hard time envisioning the physics. For a turntable of a given weight on a given vibrating surface, the same amount of vibration will be transmitted to the table regardless of the size of the feet.

Tend to agree with this in theory.

[Staun]

One thing I don't like about digital music is the fact that it's simply numeric algorithms locked inside a sound envelope. Never changing from track to track. More like a representation of music that's been changed, altered, added to and taken away from. Vinyl, on the other hand, has it's problems as well but it doesn't seem to have this kind of sameness. It seems to have more life and dimension. Maybe the closest thing to live.

[rcarlberg]

Going strictly by my experience with CD's for example I always much preferred an ADD to AAD or DDD. Pure digital didn't seem to have the warmth while an AAD often suffered from too much noise/hiss etc. Maybe it's a question of everyone's individual ears also. I remember having Alan Parsons Project "Pyramid" on CD and
it was AWFUL! This was early on and it wasn't remastered. Suffered from brutal tape hiss, distortion and a tinny,bright sound. Time frame would be mid-80's and then it was remastered and I was astounded by how great it sounded. Question is, does it sound better than an original album or the same remaster on VINYL?
Hard to say and that's kind of what I was getting at in my quote a while ago as to whether an ADD on vinyl might just be the smoothest, warmest way to listen to a lot of recordings while retaining the aesthetic of the original. Stupid thing is of course that we never "really" know exactly what source was used for what either.

I suspect we can discount a lot of early '80s digital productions as crap simply because very few engineers knew what they were doing.

But your contention that noise & hiss creep in on analog mastering, rather than the original analog recording, intriques me. Is this because analog mastering is done from "safety masters" a generation or two removed from the master multi-track?

[rcarlberg]

One thing I don't like about digital music is the fact that it's simply numeric algorithms locked inside a sound envelope. Never changing from track to track. More like a representation of music that's been changed, altered, added to and taken away from. Vinyl, on the other hand, has it's problems as well but it doesn't seem to have this kind of sameness. It seems to have more life and dimension. Maybe the closest thing to live.

Wow. I'm not sure I'm understanding what you mean, can you elaborate/explain?

[Birdy]

I suspect we can discount a lot of early '80s digital productions as crap simply because very few engineers knew what they were doing.

But your contention that noise & hiss creep in on analog mastering, rather than the original analog recording, intriques me. Is this because analog mastering is done from "safety masters" a generation or two removed from the master multi-track?

True, there's defintely truth in that a lot of early CD's sounded like crap until they at least got some of it right. As far as the analog mastering/recording part, wouldn't it be natural that just using an analogue master to put something to CD would indeed reveal more hiss etc than an analogue recording remastered digitally? Or am I not looking at this the right way. Isn't what you're listening to in AAD simply the analogue recording but on a CD with a wider range?

[Staun]

Wow. I'm not sure I'm understanding what you mean, can you elaborate/explain?

Think I was trying to relate to the final output between digital and vinyl. let's face it, digital tracks are little more than computer programs read by a laser. These programs have benn altered to produce the representation of music. A kind of calculated coldness remains. Vinyl seems to have more life to it considering all of it's faults.