Why So Blu?

https://uturnaudio.com/products/45-rpm-adapter

Ravenous

Aw hell, thats nice

Ravenous

So are you guys (islandclaws) subscribers to them? I just read about it and wished I had signed up. I want that Evil Dead II and Darkman releases - Deluxe!!! But it looks really neat and fun, I want to sign up for the next one!

Why So Blu?

They're taking their sweet time building the turntable I ordered last week. It says 5-8 business days to build but that does not include delivery transit time.

Why So Blu?

I am not a subscriber. I just keep tabs on the emails that they send and their social media accounts. FB, Instagram, etc.

Why So Blu?

Speak of the devil - just got a shipping notice! I am excited.

Supermallet

Good things come to those who wait. I order my speakers last October and didn't receive them until January.

MBoyd

So we closed on a new to us house today. We lose about 1000 sq ft. There's surround sound built into the ceiling. Where my office (no room for my system in here. No room really for seating) will be is a nook where the last families AV 7.2 receiver was. And it runs wiring to the in ceiling speakers and where the TV goes. All I can think of is how am I going to do vinyl? I have a closet full of DVDs and blu rays I don't watch anymore. And no surround system since around 2004.

So I talked my wife into letting me take over the formal dining for listening. I think I will need smaller speakers. Since we wanted to get the breaker box up to code anyway after the inspectors report, I am also having the electrician install a whole house surge protector/noise filtration gizmo http://store.acousticfrontiers.com/e...protector.html and a dedicated line for the stereo! My current gear might not be worth that effort, but maybe an upgrade will happen...shhhhh

Supermallet

Congrats on the new house!

Ravenous

OK guys, so I got my stabilizer!!

I love it and whoa, I notice a huge difference in the sound. Not only that, vinyls that I got and were new (skipped a lot or sound dropped from the left or right channel) did NOT skip or lose sound. Freakin weird! I'm really glad I got this!

But this thing is heavy. I cant believe a pound feels so heavy when my wife's 5 lb barbells seem lighter. And do you remember how I said my turntable has the rubber stoppers in place (3 to be exact - to act as a slip mat)? Well they're at the outer edge and keep the vinyl lifted, so when I put the stabilizer on it bowed the fuck out of the record into a bowl shape!! I had to do something. We had gotten some small rubber stoppers to adhere to the bottom of home made pots, so I got some and attached them closer to the center of the turntable and they matched the height of the of the already in place stoppers! Success = beautiful sound.

So I played the heck out of my player all weekend. My wife was sick so I took advantage to read and jam, and loved the sound I got. But after 2 days, I noticed the turntable was squeaking with the stabilizer on there. Shit. And now, sure enough after having the stabilizer on for just one side of play the squeaking kicks in. It does not squeak with the stabilizer off, but after paying $50 for a chunk of metal, I'm a bit pissed it cant be used all the time. Im thinking maybe some WD40 will help but dont want to crack open this thing as I am sure it'll be a pain to re-assemble. I guess this things isnt belt driven.... grrrrr..

Supermallet

I hate to tell you this, because I know you asked is not to judge your turntable, but it's likely that you simply need to upgrade the turntable itself instead of applying these incremental fixes. A U-Turn Orbit Plus alone would make an audible difference, and you'd be able to use the stabilizer with it.

The reason I say this is aside from the squeaking, the raised dots are a bad idea. You want a vinyl disc to couple as closely to the platter as possible. That's part of what those stabilizers do, they add weight or clamp down to better couple the record to the platter. This is done to reduce unnecessary vibration That can occur when a record sits loosely on the platter. The raised dots completely undo that by providing an uneven surface for the record to sit on (not that the dots are uneven to each other, but they're uneven in that they leave space where the record isn't coupled to anything anywhere that it's not sitting on a dot).

Why So Blu?

Congrats on the house!

Dan

First, congrats on the house!

Second, I'm kind of in the same boat with the highlighted bit. Moved a year ago... couldn't bring my projector, but brought my 5.1 setup. There's no good way to set it up in the living room, so I just didn't. I re-purposed two of the speakers for my vinyl setup (KEF iQ7's)... and now my 5.1 amp, 3 other speakers, and sub doesn't even get used at all with the TV. My wife couldn't care less, and although I kind of would like to have a good surround setup again... it's just not as important to me as it was before since I don't watch as much as I used to, and I'd just as soon rather use headphones anyway. Oh, how times change...

Why So Blu?

I just discovered Two Headed Dog Records and see that they have items that have been sold out on Mondo/Deathwaltz for a while now. They have The Thing and Fightclub scores on vinyl for sale at good prices.

As I was browsing this morning their listing for Mad Max trilogy went up. Its $70 for the 3 LP's. They're multi-colored matching the tones of the films along with some new artwork by Tim Bradstreet. They ship for free if your order is over $30, I believe.

http://www.twoheadeddog.com/v-a-mad-max-trilogy-3lp/

Rypro 525

Figured i'd put this here, I plan on getting a player w the tax refund $, As a lifelong CD and digital music player, what say 5 LP's/EP's have improved sound over their cd/digital version?

Supermallet

What kind of music are you into?

The MFSL Bob Dylan reissues have been very good, especially the mono releases on 45 RPM.

Virtually any '80s Prince record will sound better than the CD version.

Most Radiohead albums sound better on vinyl than they do digitally, although apparently A Moon Shaped Pool sounds the same.

The Beatles mono reissues sound significantly better than any of the CD releases due to them being all analog.

The most current re-release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars is also all analog and sounds much better than any CD version.

Rypro 525

^ pretty much anything but country though Johnny Cash gets a pass.

Why So Blu?

From my collection, and I have the CDs and digital versions, I would say that The Sounds' catalog sounds way better on vinyl. The bass management on the records are great. Their album was recently issued for the first time via Music On Vinyl, was their second one Dying To Say This To You. I have the original pressing of DTSTTY and even that one sounds better than the CD.

I also got the recently released Dead or Alive Sophisticated Boom Box vinyl set and those bury anything that has come before it.

Rypro 525

question too while i'm at it. Are there certain players and or brands to avoid? I'm not looking for something that will cost $300 but I don't want something where the sound is tinny. Also i want one that has a headphone jack

Why So Blu?

Avoid Crosley. Orbit ones start at $179 and are great from what reviews and members on this forum have to say. Mine arrives Tuesday. I paid $369 for it but customized it a bit.

Here's the basic one for $179:

https://uturnaudio.com/products/orbit-basic-turntable

Supermallet

I know I sound like a broken record (pun intended), but a U-Turn Orbit (especially a Plus or a custom build if you prefer) is the best entry level table out there. If you want to spend under $500, maybe even under $1k, it will give you the best sound for the money.

It won't have a headphone jack built in though. I can't imagine any turntable with a headphone jack where the headphone output will sound very good.

mphtrilogy

I am new to the Vinyl resurgence as well, after a 30 year Hiatus. I picked up the u-turn orbit $179 (+ $20 shipping) version and it sounds great.

Just investigate what your receiver has, if it does not have a "phono" specific input, then you will need a pre-amp, you can get one from amazon, I picked up this one for $79:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I picked up this one as a secondary unit for my setup in my basement, after I found my old turntable from 1985, it's $49:

https://www.amazon.com/ART-Audio-DJP...+for+turntable

I found this reasonable priced knock off of the clean spin system for $39, I use the same instructions, fill it with Distilled water and add a capful of the spin clean solution:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Spin Clean Cleaner:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

After I clean a record I usually put it in a new sleave, these are amazing:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These are good as well:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also use a sleave for the entire album cover, picked up a pack of 100 on ebay for $20.

It's a really fun hobby, enjoy!

Ravenous

I appreciate all your help in this man. Very informative! And its not that I asked for the table not to be judged - its that I KNOW its not ideal. And that's what pisses me off. I have really gotten into the vinyl thing and had I bought it, yea, its gone bye bye. But when my wife spent $200+ on it as a bday gift I don't have that luxury. Plus I know she would be REALLY hurt if I boxed it and went another route. I'm the same way when I buy her a purse and she doesn't use it (mostly because of cost lol)! And I don't blame her on being uninformed on the matter because I was ignorant on the whole thing also! She knew I wanted something that plays CDs and iPods and all that shit, and NOW I am learning those types of players are shit.

I know with the type of player I have, it'll give out soon enough. Something will give. In the meanwhile I am trying to make it as good as possible for a player that is essentially a Crosley. I have the stabilizer (that this thing can barely handle), I am going to "ghetto" rig the tone arm to be the idea gram pressure (I bought an electronic gram scale for $10, from what I am learning its good to have) and I am going to make a felt slip pad (9 inches as my platter is not the full 12) and get rid of those stupid rubber stoppers.

Just doing what I can with what I got..... and shopping for the upgrade!

As a side note, how often do yall change your needle? I bought 2 replacement Crosley needles from Hastings when it was going out of business. I play my record player fairly regularly in the 1.3 years I've had it (I read alot and have it in my library) and I've read that after about 1000 hours of play or 100 record spins it should be changed. So I did it.... and goddamn what a struggle. After I was done everything I played skipped. More than likely I threw off the tone arm replacing the whole cartridge. I know this is cringe worthy, but the only thing that allowed things to play without skipping was the stabilizer and a nickel on the cartridge.... which is why I am going to now try to ghetto rig this bitch lol

Dan

When you do this, what's the gram pressure you're getting? I've read that too much pressure can damage your needle (not a big deal with that player, honestly) and, more importantly, your records. Especially when using cheaper needles. If you're damaging the records you love, you're not doing either of you any favors.

I can't remember... were you the one who was having big issues with skipping records last year in this thread? Was that the same player we're talking about here?

When I switched from a Crosley to a UTurn last year... I had never realized how heavy the Crosley tonearm was. When properly balanced, the UTurn arm practically floats, and it rarely skips, except on records with pretty visible scratches on them.

Why So Blu?

My copy of Waxwork Records' The Thing came in (now that's fucking fast) and I just finished spinning it. It was fucking great.