Just when I thought I was done, I get pulled back in again

[1KW]

Over the last week or so I had decided that maybe vinyl was not worth the effort and cost to achieve the level of playback that I have with the MCD500. Expensive fragile mechanical cartridge/stylus, good phono pre amp., record cleaning machine, good turntable and tone arm, right? Wrong. Even with my DJ tt, the technic Sl1200 mkV and At440mla the right Lp can sound very good, albeit many sound crappy too. You see my digital playback through the MCD500 was sounding so good that I had convinced myself that I could live without vinyl. Yesterday I had a small group of friends over to watch the super bowl. One of my friends who has a very nice Meridian home theater set up, asked to check out my 2 channel room . So we broke away for 10 minutes. He said he had a large vinyl collection that he was going to get rid of because he felt that well recorded digital music sounded as good if not better than vinyl, but he admitted that he had not heard a LP in a long time. We talking about music server's and how nice they are and he named a few he was considering; he asked me to put on a LP. I played Nora Jones which is very well recorded. This LP probably was made from a digital master however even so on vinyl it sounded great to me; very warm, fantastic imaging and yes no clicks or pops. Every once a in awhile you get a LP like this and it pulls you back in again.

[jetblack]

Don't let a few rotten LP's spoil the the whole batch of LP's. I have some great sounding LP's, and some crappy sounding LP's. That just means that I listen to the great ones a lot, and listen to the crappy ones less. The great ones far outweigh the crappy ones. And a few of the crappy ones I've thought about turning into a frisbee. The resulting sound depends on mastering, recording and LP maintenance. The Turrentine LP (recorded in 1971 & 73, produced in 1975) I'm listening to now is clean sounding.

[two dot]

David,

Glad to hear that the vinyl keeps pulling you back in...

I think that you would reap more pleasure and sonic benefit from a new TT/Pick up than any single upgrade that you have made. ( And you have made some serious upgrades)

You have an incredible system housed in a beautiful room in which you love to listen to good music.

I am really trying to stop pushing the upgrade thing, but in your case, a better TT and Cart would take you to an entirely new place. I know that the Techniques is a respectable table, but at the level of your system there are some serious rewards to be had by moving up the ladder.

Good luck and enjoy the music.

Stephen

[1KW]

Originally Posted by two dot

David,

Glad to hear that the vinyl keeps pulling you back in...

I think that you would reap more pleasure and sonic benefit from a new TT/Pick up than any single upgrade that you have made. ( And you have made some serious upgrades)

You have an incredible system housed in a beautiful room in which you love to listen to good music.

I am really trying to stop pushing the upgrade thing, but in your case, a better TT and Cart would take you to an entirely new place. I know that the Techniques is a respectable table, but at the level of your system there are some serious rewards to be had by moving up the ladder.

Good luck and enjoy the music.

Stephen

Thanks for the complement Stephen. I have been thinking the same thing and trying to educate myself on the different options. One thing with vinyl is you can't be distracted when your handling the stylus or you will be paying the price. I am going to start off with a decent moving magnet cartridge as my C220 does not have MC capability.

[jdandy]

David.......Installing a quality outboard phono preamp with your C220 will allow you to use any cartridge of your choice, be it moving magnet, or moving coil.

Having my McIntosh C1000T, and C1000P preamps with two premium phono preamps inder the cover of each, I am continuously tempted to get deeper into vinyl. My dilemma is I never care to do things in a cheap fashion, so I can easily see $20K in a turntable, arm, and cartridge setup, and another $3K in interconnects and a record cleaning machine. That's a stout entry fee to be at the level I would consider a serious vinyl rig. At that price point, I would sooner install a pair of MC2301 amplifiers in one of my systems, and continue to truck along with vinyl as a minor event in my listening experience.

[jdandy]

David.......Here's your next turntable.


Pro-ject Xtension

[two dot]

Has anyone heard or seen this table? It seems to be a great mystery in audio land...

I sure would love to get my "ears" on one.

[1KW]

It is a nice looking table but it has a lot of competition in the 5 grand price range.

[jdandy]

Pro-Ject Xtension Turntable


Aluminium platter with perimeter belt drive and brass record puck
Magnet supported, inverted main bearing with ceramic thrust-pad
Central metal block optimizes centre of gravity
Build in Pro-Ject Speed Box SE
Magnet supported feet
Electronic speed change for 33/45rpm
Mechanic speed change for 78rpm
Dustcover

Tonearm Options

Pro-Ject 9cc Evolution
Pro-Ject 12cc Evolution
9" Ortofon tonearm
12" Ortofon tonearm
No tonearm

Plinth Options

Piano-gloss black
Cherry
Olive
Apple

List Price: $5995 (varies with finish and tonearm selected)

[jdandy]

David.......The Pro-ject Xtension Turntable has many great features for this price range. The Pro-ject electronic Speed Box SE is built in, the magnet supported, inverted main bearing with ceramic thrust-pad is leading edge technology, magnetic supported feet for incredible isolation, and the Ortofon 9" dynamic arm is well reviewed and excellent. That's a lot of turntable for $6K.

Of course, you can double that price and be enjoying the gorgeous Thorens TD550 with the Ortofon 12" dynamic arm, or the SME309 arm for $12.3K