[drphoto]

Again, one for my newbie friends following my saga.

I hoped/expected the top end to be perhaps 'sweeter' once freed of 'digititis'.

However, once I got the proper isolation, I was not prepared for how good bass can sound on vinyl.

My friends, if you are like me and have memories of improperly setup, midfi decks from your HS and college years (I'm assuming your in my age range....which would make this 30 years ago) you will not believe how tight and articulate....and yes even powerful the bass can sound.

These modern midfi decks, like my P3-24 CRUSH the equivilent from that generation. Yeah, I'm sure those old Linn and Sota decks still sound great, but I never (and still don't) have that sort of coin.

Of course, it helps that thanks to the experts here, I've learned a lot about how to set it up correctly. And that's probably a large part of it. (but I know my Rega is a lot quieter, and far more speed accurate than the old Thorens I used to run)

BTW: I don't want to sound like a shill for Rega. I got mine, because I got a very nice deal on it. I do admire how they sort stripped everything down to the bare essentials. She doesn't have that classic look I wanted, but I've come to admire her slim modern design. I now realize, it's a whole new, yet old world! 

[Ericus Rex]

Well said!   

[TheChairGuy]

Good to see it's all working out for you now, Doc

I don't think I'd be an active participant at AC if I hadn't re-discovered vinyl a few years ago.  Try as one may, you cannot make a silk purse from the cow's ear of a technology that is CD.

I threw down nearly $5K on all manner of modded player / DAC / Power Supply / Cables in hopes of hearing great sound...and didn't.  But, I ended up getting what I craved for $600 in turntable, cartridge and platform on my return to vinyl a few years ago.

I find more pleasure in my $600 digital set-up than my $4500 one from a few years ago - so it's definitely moving in the right direction.  For all I know at some expenditure well above $5K there are further benefits to listening to CD...but my musical listening pleasure is so high at such moderate costs in my vinyl system....I'm satisfied now.

Part of my return was chronicled here: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=22636.0

John

[nature boy]

Vinyl is the way to go IMHO and bass response from a well set up turntable is shockingly realistic.  I really love listening to the Ray Brown Soular Energy (Pure Audiophile Records release) in my system.  Yeah, it's a $50 record but HOLY CRAP, does it sound great.

Also, check out Pablo Records releases on vinyl which you can pick up cheap on eBay.  Many of these recordings were re-released on JVC XRCD's, so it will give you an idea of the sound quality. I think I have almost all of Sarah Vaughn's Pablo records, what a voice 

NB

[shep]

John I hope you don't mind a voice of mild dissent? In the dark ages I was a vinyl addict (well there wasn't much choice  ) and I pretty much broke the bank trying to get it right. In the end I had an early VPI with a Souther arm and a Grado Sig. Black and an Audible Illusions pre. Pretty decent gear for the time. Looking back I now know the grado was totally wrong for the arm (in spite of Grado's insistance to the contrary) and probably improperly loaded. I also tried Grace and Audio Technica (forget which one). I was never satisfied and endlessly tweaking. I went half blind trying to get the all the parameters right and got a permanent kink in my back, to say nothing of the miles I covered getting up and turning over the record, resetting the clamp, cleaning the needle etc. Boy am I glad that's over! I really appreciate that so many of you are enthusiastic and  because of you and so many others, tt's, arms and carts have taken a giant step forward since those days, to say nothing of the unexpected resurgence of lp re-issuing. Having said that...
I had an old Marantz, a 67SE which kept me going when I abandoned Vinyl. Was I a happy camper, No, but I made do. Then I discovered the DIY community and a huge thread about modifying these players. I have thrown some serious cash into this, probably about 1000$ (mainly because I am a Klutz with a soldering iron and this level of modding requires a lot of know-how)
The result? As it stands, and still no where near what can be achieved, my tricked-out old Marantz would seriously put to shame the VPI/Souther. No contest. Ok this is admitedly a nearly 40 year old memory talking (jeez is that possible???) but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Like I said, a mild voice of dessent and give the level that can be achieved today, if I had the cash I would probably be easily lured back into the fold! (in spite of my eyes, my back and no love for endless tweaking anymore). Cheers

[TheChairGuy]

John I hope you don't mind a voice of mild dissent? In the dark ages I was a vinyl addict (well there wasn't much choice  ) and I pretty much broke the bank trying to get it right.

No sweat, shep.

I happen to find my stock Cambridge DVD-99, using the top of the line Dakiom's as IC's, hooked up thru an isolation transformer to be a great way to listen to digital.  It's far better than I thought digital could ever sound just a few years ago...and sinfully cheap at maybe $600 all told.

On superior recorded CD's - I'm happy listening to it.  On most DVD-A's, I'm happier still

I had an old Thorens TD-316...try as I might to get that to sound right I never could. But, when I bought my first direct drive unit in 2003/04, stuffed it with 6lb of modeling clay and eventually mounted it on 3.5" thick piece of maple (with brass cones from the table pointed straight down into the block) - I knew I was onto something.

After that every cartridge change could be heard clearly.  I ended up with Grado's as my faves as they sound so fulsome and bloody natural.

I can almost assure you - if you had some functional piece of phono stage still available...for an outlay of $450 all in and a couple hours of your time it will likely kick the living tar out of your Marantz player for sound. There are reasonably good phono stages for $60-up out there...so if you don't have one, the total budget for this experiment would be a hair over $500 total. 

Eventually (not initially) adding a record cleaning machine and some chemical cleaners would add another $300 to the total...bring you to a whopping $800.00 outlay

Here's the recommended 'recipe':

Audio by van Alstine Longhorn Grado Green-1: $199.00
http://avahifi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=258&Itemid=247&74a0ad6b5f7a1df0ef4ab98b8fffbb41=14f6d8bf9ef17e0dd5dac00525f435e7

One old JVC QL-A2 direct drive turntable from ebay: $83.00 (with shipping)
http://cgi.ebay.com/JVC-QL-A2-Direct-Drive-Auto-Return-Turntable-Excellent-/380239428754?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5888093c92

A 3.5" maple cutting board from Dawn's Depot: $120.00 (approximate with shipping)
http://cgi.ebay.com/MICHIGAN-MAPLE-BLOCK-CUTTING-BOARD-BUTCHER-BLOCK-A-/110551581916?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19bd6344dc

4 brass cones: $30.00 (approximate with shipping)
http://show.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/st.pl?accstwek&1107217970&item&Adona_corporation&4&5&6&http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/srch_fs.plQQANYAAKEYWAApurlsrchAAEXYAAstAAAAAAbrass

6lbs of Plast-i-clay modeling clay: $18.00 (approximate with shipping)
http://www.allartsupplies.com/item.php?articleId=120

Regards, John

EDIT: teehee, Shep is in France.  My 'recipe' won't work for him

[drphoto]

Shep, when I went to visit Marbles (Rob) a few years back he had just gone to hard drive based audio. It was running through all super high end Empirical Audio gear. He also had that Teres TT w/ an SME arm (don't remember the cart).

In his set up, I preferred the digital. Of course we weren't level matching or anything. I think the differences probably become very narrow at the high end.

I suppose a cheap CD beats a cheap (and/or poorly setup) TT but a modern midlevel TT (setup correctly) probably beats mid level digital.

There's no doubt that digital has improved vastly. But I think some strides have been made on the analog side too.

BTW: I sort of got into vinyl again as a bit of a nostagia trip. The fact it sounds so good w/ my setup is just a big bonus. I had my doubts, but now I just love it. The hunt for killer used records has become it's own sport.