[Someguy]

Hi Guys

I'm not entirely sure where to post this, so mods move if necessary.

So anywho, I've been floating around recently with the idea of getting a vinyl player, record player, not entirely sure of the terminology. I'm unfortunately not a child who has had the joy of growing up with good music, never mind.

I don't really know much about them though, I do however absolutely love the idea of being able to listen to Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Sonic Youth etc... all on vinyl.

So guys, what should I be looking at. Is there such thing as an optical output on these devices of mystery? Otherwise, sound output, suggestions ?

Thanks very much.

[IAN P]

If you look HERE it may give you a rough idea what you can get.

Also a usb option if you want to save your vinyl to the pc.

Digital co-ax instead of optical,i think.

[Someguy]

Thanks !

I do definitely not want to save the tracks though, I want to move away from the computer as much as possible !!!

[DJACID]

go for one with usb,
as you can save all ur tracks to mp3...

[gears guy]

Originally Posted by DJACID

go for one with usb,
as you can save all ur tracks to mp3...

See my above comment

@Ian P

http://www.a1-sound.co.uk/product/pr...fda017e8b6b30f

I really like that one man !

[overkill]

Originally Posted by DJACID

go for one with usb,
as you can save all ur tracks to mp3...

Why would you want to do that? No offence but taking a high quality signal and turning it into Mp3's is like brewing great beer and then freezing the life out of it and removing all the flavour!

Or something like that........

For someone starting out with vinyl go for one of the projects or one of the lower end Rega's.

If you want to move into the murky World of 2nd hand TT's you can get a quality TT for a fraction of the price of buying new.

[gears guy]

Originally Posted by overkill

Why would you want to do that? No offence but taking a high quality signal and turning it into Mp3's is like brewing great beer and then freezing the life out of it and removing all the flavour!

Or something like that........

For someone starting out with vinyl go for one of the projects or one of the lower end Rega's.

If you want to move into the murky World of 2nd hand TT's you can get a quality TT for a fraction of the price of buying new.

Precisely why I want to get away from my computer... plus, there's just something about just playing Dark Side of the Moon on my Uncle's vinyl player at 4am... You don't get that with a computer.

Question, just been reading and sites keep mentioned cartridges, can someone explain that please ?

Thanks

[IAN P]

The cartridge is the place where the needle sits,some of these cartridges sell for thousands,crazy i know.

Here's a guide

[gears guy]

*goes and finds hat* >>> *tips hat*

[overkill]

Originally Posted by gears guy

Precisely why I want to get away from my computer... plus, there's just something about just playing Dark Side of the Moon on my Uncle's vinyl player at 4am... You don't get that with a computer.

Question, just been reading and sites keep mentioned cartridges, can someone explain that please ?

Thanks

The Vinyl front end consists of three (well, four) parts.

The deck
The Tonearm
The Cartridge

We'll deal with four in a minute.

The deck contains the motor unit which drives the turntable itself. With cheaper decks the speed control is either flipping the drive belt over a two tier spindle, or some like the Projects have a built in 33/45 control. The more expensive decks have external power supplies that usually also control the speed. The decks also come in two flavours, belt or direct drive. The latter is the norm for DJ decks and is rarely seen on 'domestic' TT's. That's yer deck.

The Tonearm is a counterbalanced tube of metal (or more exotic things occasionally) which holds the cartridge in the groove. The arm has to be good at two things. One, keeping the cartridge firmly in the groove, two removing unwanted energy. The better the arm, the better the sound. The best budget arm in the universe is the Rega RB300.

The Cartridge contains the magnets that vibrate when the stylus picks up the signals off the groove. They send a tiny electrical signal to through the arm to the next bit. Two things here. If the cartridge isn't aligned correctly the stylus cannot read the groove correctly and may even damage the record and itself. The other, with cheaper cartridges the styluses are pretty big and as such cannot 'dig out' the massive amount of info in the groove. There are two flavours, Moving Magnet and Moving Coil. The MM's tend to dominate at the lower price point.

Right, that's a very simple run down of each bit.

Now to number four. This is the phono stage. This little device has to take that low level signal and convert it into a higher output for the Amp. I won't go into the various other tasks it has to do, but suffice it to say, from bitter experience, a crap phono stage can sabotage even the best TT.

Now here's the good news. There are plenty of good quality, reasonably priced TT's with decent arms and that come with a good enough quality cartridge. Rega, Project et al fit the bill.

At the same time their are now a few decent, cheap Phono stages, some of which put to shame the phono input on some pretty expensive older amps.

Again Project shine here, as do Creek.

Hope that helps.

[overkill]

Ian P, you saved me the job! I was going to link to that article!

[IAN P]

Originally Posted by gears guy

See my above comment

@Ian P

http://www.a1-sound.co.uk/product/pr...fda017e8b6b30f

I really like that one man !

It's a beaut alright,hope it comes with a plastic cover for dust protection

[IAN P]

Originally Posted by overkill

Ian P, you saved me the job! I was going to link to that article!

Tis' a very good read

[nwgarratt]

I assume you have already got a amplifier and speakers of some kind? It doesn't have to be a Hi Fi one as some AV amps also have phono inputs (with a a phono stage built in). It is a analogue connection not a digital one.

I have had Technics decks for many years. I boguht a 30 years old deck for just £40 of ebay in mint condition. Along with a nice cartridge it sounds beautiful. The technology inside it has got popular with DJ's but was/is used for Hi Fi originally.

If you want to spend around £100 then a Project deck is a quick and good solution.

[la gran siete]

Originally Posted by Someguy

Hi Guys

I'm not entirely sure where to post this, so mods move if necessary.

So anywho, I've been floating around recently with the idea of getting a vinyl player, record player, not entirely sure of the terminology. I'm unfortunately not a child who has had the joy of growing up with good music, never mind.

I don't really know much about them though, I do however absolutely love the idea of being able to listen to Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Sonic Youth etc... all on vinyl.

So guys, what should I be looking at. Is there such thing as an optical output on these devices of mystery? Otherwise, sound output, suggestions ?

Thanks very much.

some good info on vinyl in here

http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/in...bf99fb363f7890

decent TTs start with this one
http://www.techradar.com/products/au...-102019/review

[Ed Selley]

Well in a shameless an smug threadjack, I've got one of these turning up this evening;

I've got an SME309 on order, although that isn't due for a while. Cartridge umming and ahhing is currently underway.

[RMCF]

^^^^^ - is that a cool piece of kit, or what.


But if you do want to go down the route of converting your vinyl to MP3 to listen to on your MP3 player on the move, then I recently saw this demo'd on QVC:

http://www.qvcuk.com/ukqic/qvcapp.as...l,html&cmtags=

[overkill]

That looks suspiciously like a Gyrodeck, Ed? I prefer the bronzed version myself. A m8 I used to work with in the trade bought that colour Gyro through the outlet we worked in.

He had an SME IV on his that was lifted from his old deck.

Look great, sound great too.

If the OP is looking for vinyl releases, a good place to go is Diversevinyl.com. They are normally up to date and there's also normally a pretty hefty list reflecting the current resurgence in interest.

I can remember the mid 90's when virtually nothing was being issued on LP. Hell it was nothing!

On that note I need to go to the music forum........

[Ed Selley]

Originally Posted by overkill

That looks suspiciously like a Gyrodeck, Ed? I prefer the bronzed version myself. A m8 I used to work with in the trade bought that colour Gyro through the outlet we worked in.

He had an SME IV on his that was lifted from his old deck.

Look great, sound great too. .

Yep- a full plinth Gyro with the Gert Pedersen suspension mods (not visible in that pic). I'm a happy chappy and the SME will be a good partner.