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Finally jumped into vinyl

lakedmb

Well-Known Member
After experiencing rammisframmis' setup many years ago, I've wanted to get into vinyl without breaking the bank, which is very hard with this hobby. Unfortunately, house projects and grad school pushed the theater dream back a bit, though there is progress being made there.

Last week, I received a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Spirit SB and have it hooked up in my office. Over the years my wife and I have picked up albums here and there, so fortunately we have a nice variety that we can start enjoying our turntable immediately. I frequently will play music somewhat mindlessly in the background and I must say that I really enjoy taking the time deciding what I want to listen to, the experience of taking it out its sleeve all the way to lowering the tonearm. I know this may seem silly, but it has pushed me to listen to music with more of a purpose and not just have a random Amazon station on.

I have it hooked up to an old Pioneer SX-770, Klipsch Heresy II's and an SVS 25-31 PCi crossed over around 100hz.

Just wanted to share.
 
Thanks.

Right now, I'm good on lenses, just hoping for a Nikon mirrorless to be announced in March...even though the new 180-400 f4 would be nice.
 
I jumped into vinyl once, but it was Halloweeen and I had a hell of a time getting those pants back off.
 
After experiencing rammisframmis' setup many years ago, I've wanted to get into vinyl without breaking the bank, which is very hard with this hobby.

Glad to hear you're getting into vinyl, and it sounds like you've made a good gear choice. I remember playing an LP when you were at my place, but I also remember that it was kind of rushed, and I know for certain that my turntable was kind of in a state of non-use. In the time since, I've tweaked the heck out of the turntable and built a good plinth with an integrated dust cover. The turntable itself has had a few pounds of Bondo applied to the underside of the top deck to reduce resonances and build up mass, and the tone arm board which used to be wood is now 10mm aluminum billet which is way more solid and resistant to resonances.

In case you're not already doing this, I would recommend that you get a plastic dust cover for the turntable to keep dust off the platter when you're not using it, and to keep your records from accumulating dust while you're playing them. Keeping vinyl clean is extremely important, and if you do this, you will find that with good pressings there will be very few ticks and essentially no pops. Also, I would buy one of these and brush each record side before playing it:

https://www.musicdirect.com/analog-accessories/acoustech-big-record-brush

I also use this stylus cleaner every week or so as the stylus can pick up bits of residual dust which will effect the sound:

https://www.musicdirect.com/equipment/last-stylus-cleaner-14-oz
 
I made sure that it came with a plastic cover and ordered an anti-static brush at the same time. I’ll grab a needle cleaner too.

I did recently notice static/distortion coming out, even at low volumes. This could update very well be the phono input stage from my Pioneer. I’ll attempt cleaning the connections and it’s again. If that doesn’t work, I’ll swap receivers and try again. I’ve already adjusted the tracking force to make it a hair heavier, since some people have said that Pro-Jects recommended starting weight is very light. I saw someone mention that the Ortofon Red that comes with this table doesn’t do well with the acrylic platter, though I have no clue if this is true or not.
 
I've really been into Vinyl recently, as well:

Sexy-Black-Vinyl-Fettish-Lace-Up-Mini-Dress-D7-5807-F.jpg
 
She has saggy tits. By the time she's 50, they will be down to her navel. She probably doesn't know squat about turntables either, which disqualifies her from serious consideration.
 
I made sure that it came with a plastic cover and ordered an anti-static brush at the same time. I’ll grab a needle cleaner too.

I did recently notice static/distortion coming out, even at low volumes. This could update very well be the phono input stage from my Pioneer. I’ll attempt cleaning the connections and it’s again. If that doesn’t work, I’ll swap receivers and try again. I’ve already adjusted the tracking force to make it a hair heavier, since some people have said that Pro-Jects recommended starting weight is very light. I saw someone mention that the Ortofon Red that comes with this table doesn’t do well with the acrylic platter, though I have no clue if this is true or not.
Current arms/cartridges have recommended tracking forces which are a bit higher than was the norm back in the day when some cartridges tracked at 3/4 to 1 gram. Your's probably wants 1.7 to 2 grams, but check the manufacturer of the cartridge. There are also anti-skating bias adjustments, azimuth (rotation) and vertical tracking angle (arm height) which should be checked. Also, arm overhang should be checked with an appropriate protractor. If any of these are off, especially the bias adjustment, then distortion especially at high levels can happen.

Whether these adjustments are to blame for the distortion you're hearing, I can't say. It would be unusual to hear distortion from both channels of your receiver, and if the bias were off on the arm, the distortion would be more in one or the other channels. I can't imagine why the Ortofon Red (a good MM cartridge by the way) would care one way or the other what the platter is made of! That just doesn't make sense. The only thing like this I've ever heard was that some magnetic cartridges (mostly moving coil) would be attracted to ferric platters, but iron/steel isn't used these days for platters. Let us know what the resolution is.
 
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