[Berndt]

I have had a few fits and starts in the vinyl game, first with a B&O then I purchased a micro seiki which was sadly irreperable by me.
I have had many good conversations with Thom Makris of Galibier whom I met on the micro seiki yahoo group but I don't see one of his decks in my immediate future (gotta dream though). Anyways I was cruising craigslist one Sunday afternoon a couple weeks ago and I saw a JVC ql-5f localy for 50$ so i went and got it. The tonearm rest was broken off, it had a stanton cart, the auto functions seemed inop, but it spun up and got a green light for spinning the correct speed.
I never would have purchased this unit without the local support of thecartguy.
I made a new tonearm support out of black delrin, I purchased a grado gold from ed saunders for 119$ new and got an extra needle for 40$. I googled grado gold and found a link with buy now for the cart(it has since disappeared,  )
I downloaded the owners manual from vinyl engine and with the setup instructions was able to revive the automatic functions.
I mounted the cart with a bit of blutak between the headshell and cart and listened to vinyl for the first time with my current speakers and my new jolida tube amps.
Very black backround with the music rising up in a three dimensional manner that is almost spooky.
The most accurate dimensional recreation of music I have heard from my collection of junk.
My playlist is my collection of clean vinyl, FuManChu godzilla's eatin dust, Nirvana nevermind 180g, Kenny Burrel midnight blue 180g, Iron Maiden powerslave.
The downside is the treble is very rolled back compared to my reference source a modded luxman tuner. TCG has told me that there is life after 40hrs of break in. Thank god the auto function is working! I also hope that the gain increases with break in as I have to turn up my mapletree u4 almost wide open to get it loud enough to celebrate vinyl.
Ohh, I forgot to mention, I built the TT stand that is on the galibier websight, I'll post some pics when I get everything bolted together.
Here is the dwg I worked from.  http://www.galibierdesign.com/images/tt_wall_shelf.pdf
I am building his sandbox to go atop the cantilevered wall stand, I subbed square steel tubing for the aluminum, 1.25"square with .125" wall thickness. I also deviaited by putting shelfs underneath the platform for my other equipment. Again, i'll post pics when I pull it all together. The rack is in the paint booth at work and I have to hound the carpenters to cut the material for the sandbox and shelves.
I look forward to having the cart open up, and posting pics.

[woodsyi]

Bill,

If John TC_lessG is guiding you through the setup, I am sure you will get the most out of your set up.  I am also sure there are more tweaks to come.  Did you get the JoLida amps to try yet?  Thanks for the hookup in Houston.  He got the amp.

[Berndt]

Rim, glad I was able to assist you in finding a new home for the innersound. That amp showed me that these magnepans have a thirst for power, and how dynamic they can be with the right amp.
I pay homeage to the chairless one, it gives my brain solace to have a vinyl guide. I hate to think of how this hobby was before the internet...
You would be at the mercy of your local retailer.
I am suspending judgement on the jolidas. They have had a lot of caps replaced along with 3 transformers so I have been leaving them running 24/7 to settle in.
The heat issue is not a problem for me.
What is the consensus on sylus cleaning?

[Berndt]

one more question, is there a preferred headshell?
I see a sumiko with adjustment in the vertical plane.

[TheChairGuy]

one more question, is there a preferred headshell?
I see a sumiko with adjustment in the vertical plane.

The JVC, or at least my lower end one, has a pretty trick headshell already.  It has among the best mounting schemes I've ever seen and overhang is a breeze on these JVC's as the tip of the stylus should be 48mm from the rear of the headshell supplied.  I think it's standard on all JVC's of that era. 

Your tonearm already has VTA adjustment on it I think (mine doesn't) and as for getting the azimuth right, you need only to turn the headshell a little bit in the bayonet socket so that your Grado needle is aligned in there. A new headshell for $40+ is probably not the next best $40 you can spend on your new vinyl setup.....putting that $40 towards a KAB EV-1 record cleaner (assuming you have a home vac to use...preferable a more powerful canister model) is probably a more beneficial expenditure.

Or, you can spend a lot less than $40 on 10 lbs of Plast-i-Clay and stuff the insides of your deck with it.  It'll reduce cowl howling and do wonders for isolation and signal-to-noise in your setup.  www.allartsupplies.com has cheapest prices I've seen on Plast-i-Clay.

The Grado's major failing is tracking (likely because Grado doesn't overdamp their cartridges as it robs it of vitality this way)...anything you can do to improve that will reap rich rewards for you.  The damped tonearm you have is important step #1, do as much as you can to enhance tracking from there and you'll be lovin' your rig.  It's amazing how much more air, space and remarkably sound treble comes from a record when you clean them thoroughly.  Yes, after 40-50 hours you'll find treble to flesh out nicely on the Grado Gold...it did on my Green.

Ciao, John

[Berndt]

John, it is starting to come around.
It occurs to me that I am also burning in my phono section.
It is the first running of the phono section on the mapletree and there are a few caps in the phono circuit.
I set up the wall stand and I am very happy to be spinning vinyl. I love it when my stereo is getting better.
thanks John.