Think about it: turntables are electro/mechanical devices that transform LPs' grooves into sound. OK, that's not exactly right, it's the phono cartridge's job, but the turntable provides the platform to make that happen.
Phono cartridges are incredibly sensitive transducers, so they don't just convert the grooves undulations into sound, cartridges can also pick up bad vibes from footsteps, dancing, etc, and even the rumble of the turntable's motor. Those background noises muddy the sound.
A Rega P3 Mk. 24 turntable
(Credit: Rega)The turntable's placement can negatively affect its sound quality. Wobbly furniture is a huge no-no; put the turntable on a solid shelf or stand. If you can move the cabinet, even a little with a push of your finger, try this: tightly wedge a few paperback books between the back of the furniture and the wall. The goal here is to eliminate any possible lateral movement. Wobble elimination can improve the turntable's sound; bass will be deeper, better defined and overall clarity will be enhanced.
Next, if you have a bubble level, use it to make sure the turntable platter is perfectly level (side-to-side, and front-to-back). If your turntable doesn't have adjustable feet, try placing coins under the feet to level the turntable.
If you have a belt-drive turntable and know how to remove the belt, take it off. Wash it with warm water to clean off debris that's accumulated over the years. Then put it back on. Might make a small difference.
The quality of your phono cartridge is not only very audible; an old or worn stylus (needle) can permanently damage record grooves. When in doubt, buy a new cartridge. I like Audio Technica's AT-95 ($50) and Grado's Prestige Black ($60). These two are standard-mount cartridges, and they will work on many turntables, but some 'tables require "P Mount" cartridges. If you're not sure, read the manual or check with the turntable manufacturer.
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(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg)
I'm not sure why, but there's a never-ending stream of articles cheering on vinyl's comeback. I guess if it's a slow news day, editors can't resist plugging in yet another story about booming LP sales, and they always claim something along the lines of "Kids are digging the grooves, they've seen the light, and now crave analog sound!"
Puh-leeze!
Don't get me wrong; I wish it were true. Maybe in some alternative universe, vinyl is flying off the shelves, and kids are ditching their iPods and buying turntables.
Back here on the Earth we know and love, 2008 sales of LPs were up 89 percent, from 990,000 in '07 to 1.88 million in '08. That's hardly a boom, now that CD sales are in the hundreds of millions. The best-selling LP of 2008 was Radiohead's "In Rainbows," which sold a piddling 28,800 platters. Second-place honors went to another British band, The Beatles, which sold 16,500 "Abbey Road" LPs. If those numbers are accurate, and Radiohead's Thom Yorke and company were trying to live off LP sales, they'd have to get day jobs.
So sure, there's more and more new and reissue vinyl, and that's great, but only a teensy-weensy number of people buy new vinyl. Most of my vinyl-loving buddies regularly score free records on the street, or pay a buck or two for used vinyl to play on their megabucks high-end turntables. Again, no problem there, but it's not the same as a true vinyl resurgence. That's just media hype.
I love vinyl because it looks cool and sounds great. I own around 4,000 LPs. And I'm hoping that the vinyl revival keeps growing. But the market for physical media--CDs and LPs--has nowhere to go but down. More than anything else, people want cheap or free music, playable anywhere they want.
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(Credit:
Uncrate)
Apparently, the musical nostalgia we've noticed recently just won't quit. The latest gear for LP die-hards comes in the form of Numark's "x2 Hybrid Turntable" as featured on Uncrate.
This music time machine spans several generations, mixing vinyl albums, CDs and MP3s (what, no cassettes?) to bring out the aspiring DJ in you. But for its $1,000 price tag, we'd expect them to throw in a few 8-track tapes too.
(Credit:
Hammacher Schlemmer)
Maybe the New Year is making people reminisce, but for some reason lately we've been seeing more products than usual that convert cassette tapes, LPs and other historical artifacts to digital form. One such example is Hammacher Schlemmer's "LP to CD Record Stereo," which does exactly what its rather prosaic name indicates: It records albums onto discs, allowing you to pause or change LPs along the way if some tunes are just too embarrassing to preserve.
In addition to standard 33 albums, Chip Chick says the machine can record at 45 and even 78 speeds. Now that's what we call really old media.
(Credit:
Hiendfi)
With a name like the "Transrotor Artus," this contraption sounds like a piece of heavy machinery that might be found in an assembly plant. And by the looks of this photo, it almost could be.
But closer inspection of the top reveals the real purpose of this erstwhile bucket of bolts: a turntable. And not just any old record record player, but an "LP player/phonograph/grammophone" that goes for $150,000, according to Hiendfi, and weighs nearly a quarter-ton. Maybe it's priced by the pound.
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