Wal Mart just had a $15 sale on a lot of titles. Not sure if it's still going on. I'll buy from Target and Wal Mart from time to time, but feel a little guilty doing so because I really like the indy owners I've talked to in their stores, but hey, a sale's a sale. I've actually almost stopped buying over recent months, though, because I've been too busy to sit and listen and I feel bad pumping money into items I won't use. The end of college football will be my excuse to spend more time (and money) on records. In other news, in my opinion, today's RSD drop was the least interesting for my tastes in recent years, so I sat this one out.
pls don’t buy from big box stores. they’re the reason why there is still such a issue pressing vinyl and are why bands are quitting music and why record stores are closing
So I have an old Luxman RX-102 with a Thorens TD146. Went on a little splurge lately and bought some ELAC Carina series floorstanders and upgraded my needle (from the original stylus 40 years old) to an AudioTechnica VM530EN and holy shit. Big difference. Separates are next. Thinking Rotel for pre and power amp.
Also, it's worth walking into a stereo store if you have one nearby. A lot of people trade in equipment when they upgrade and you can get a used $500 table for $300. Depends on what the other components of your setup are if you would hear the difference between a $300 or $1000 table tho
I have the orbit plus and really like it. Only dislike is the rubber band is a pain in the ass if it slips off.
A receiver needs a phono stage to boost the signal from the turntable. I looked it up and yours doesn't have one. A lot of receivers don't because they're built for home theatre and it doesn't make sense to add to the cost. You have two options. You can purchase a phono stage that you run the audio cables from a turntable into and then audio cables into your receiver or you can purchase a turntable with a built in phono stage. The table that Fusion recommended has a built in phono stage and would be plug and play into your system. That table is a great recommendation for your price point and what you're looking for. If you look at any other manufacturers, make sure the table has a built in phono stage. A table at the same price point without a built in phono stage will be slightly higher quality but you'd need to add a phono stage into your system to make it work. With your current receiver, you probably won't notice much of a difference in sound with a table that has a built in phono stage vs a standalone phono stage. When you're listening to records, make sure you select the multi stereo option so the music plays to the two bookshelves and the sub. That setting cuts out the center channel which you don't want listening to records. Music is designed for a 2.1 or 2.2 system vs a 3.1 output that you want for TV surround sound.
One last thought... Some tables also have a built in bluetooth connection. If you have wireless speakers in your house that you'd like to play music to, pick one of those. This is the same table Fusion recommended with a Bluetooth option for $50 more: https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/turntables/type/wireless/at-lp120xbt-usb
I love this shit but have definitely made mistakes along the way on buying stuff that wasn't future proofed for upgrades down the road. Keep it simple like you're doing until you're ready to dedicate a room to just listening to music. Then prepare to hemorrhage cash the rest of your audio life.
That's always struck me odd about turntables, the higher the entrance points the less "features" they have. Fewer and fewer auto start/stop/return/preamp etc. as you go, just better and better quality. I ended up going with a Fluance RT83 about a year ago and have been very happy. No built in pre-amp (so he'd have to pick one up, they're $99 on their site), but it does still have an auto-stop feature that I'm glad I have (when I'm in the middle of cooking in the kitchen with messy hands and the record ends). https://www.fluance.com/rt83t-refer...QPT_QjfYFwuWi9gziX8SWlmVpIx9iAx8aAmQvEALw_wcB
That’s a nice table/cartridge combo. The features are all components of the system that can be upgraded independently if they’re separated. I prefer separates because you can upgrade over time.
I'd never advocate for use of Bluetooth with a turntable (or anything else for that matter)...but most modern recordings have seen some digital/analog conversion at least a few times in the recording and production process. On top of that, it's really hard to know what you're actually buying anyway. https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/08/05/mofi-records-analog-digital-scandal/
I’ve finally got the hang of it, but it’s quite annoying. Such a great looking and performing turntable for that price.
I don’t think you’d build a vinyl listening room with Bluetooth speakers but it’s convenient if you already have them and want to add a turntable for fun.
I dunno why anyone would ever buy a cd anymore. However, the guy that runs a hifi store nearby uses cds as his primary source. He's got a ~$40k system and he told me the reason he uses CDs is 1, he has a ton of cds and 2, he can't tell much of a difference between a CD played on a $300 cd player and a record on a $5,000 turntable. That was from a conversation I had with him before HiFi streamers and service providers like Tidal and Qubuz were available which stream music at CD quality and above. I have a turntable and a digital setup that I've upgraded over the years. My turntable and phono stage cost about 3x my DAC/Streamer combo. The digital audio quality is tighter and more precise so listening to The Weekend or Daft Punk sounds better than they do on vinyl. Albums that have a lot of mids and guitars or live albums sound better on my vinyl setup. There's a bigger sound stage (feels like you're in the 3rd row of a show) and the guitar sounds on an album like Eric Clapton Unplugged hang in the air more and you can feel the liveness of the music because it's not perfect. The degree of precision or soundstage you get out of digital or vinyl depends on how much money you spend on your components but you'll be able to hear those differences on a $300 record player compared to a $300 digital setup. I prefer vinyl but that's my preference and switching between the two on the same albums is a fun experience because the music is presented in different ways.
Some record labels still only put out CDs or only put some releases on CDs and sometimes — some recent purchases, mostly tapes and records but some CDs
I think this is the bulk of the reason tbh. It's only within the last 5 years that we've seen a major resurgence in new releases for vinyl.
That makes sense. Your music taste is more indy than mine but you're probably right, if you're a smaller band and you're going to put out a 10k release you probably have more people purchase 10k cds than 10k vinyl.
That table looks cool. I googled and it has a heavy tone arm and limited adjustment options for mounting the cartridge. That won’t impact the quality of cartridge you can get but it will limit the manufacturers you can choose from and the cartridge has to be able to take the weight. Can you install it yourself or are you going to take it to a store? I’m not confident enough to install my own cartridges correctly. I’d buy from a shop and they’ll give you a few options in a price range and mount it for you for free. Some cartridges are plug and play but some take some adjusting to get the best sound. There are a lot of $50 options you can probably install yourself but here’s a good thread on some options in the $150-$450 range will get the best out of that table: https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...chnics-sl-d2-that-is-not-discontinued.971313/
KANTU YU6'S https://www.crutchfield.com/S-nyaIn...KVaeRS4wNRP8n6dpiT4fcnNMJ8JOBwZYaAjsEEALw_wcB I went with the Audio Technica AT-AM95E/H
Nice, there were a lot of positive reviews of that combo in what I read. I've never used powered speakers before but a lot of people love them. You're gonna get a great bang for your buck out of your system. You need to report back on the difference in sound once you get the new cart installed.
the Kantus are perfect for mixed use. Love hta it has a built in pre-amp and I have them hooked up to my TV and they have bluetooth as well I've had them for a few years and I love them.
Makes total sense, I probably shouldn't have spent that much to be honest because I won't hear it. I think the Kantus are great. I bought some 2's for my office computer setup and they're amazing. My first impression was no way a speaker that small should sound that big.
The new cart is a night and days difference. Got rid of the static, its more clear, better highs and more lows than I thought was possible.