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Old 11-23-2016, 04:15 PM   #141
BsFaninCGY
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Originally Posted by Hack&Lube View Post
The issue is likely that your current amp needs to be recapped. The electrolytic capacitors have probably dried out and failed with age and a few other components can be replaced. It should be pretty easy if you have a soldering iron as all tech of the era had great service manuals.

New speakers are probably a safer bet because old speaker cross-overs likely also need re-capping.

Vintage amps are almost always better than anything new or current however.

Are you sure the issue isn't in your turntable? One channel could be cutting out because of oxidized components on the tonearm or wiring down the chain. Have you replaced your stylus at all? What stylus are you even using? The Dual is a little more complex for replacing the stylus and getting it properly aligned via pro-tractor than another turntable where you can just swap head-shells. If a particular style of music is what you are after, it's really the stylus that affects that the most. A dirty, worn, or damaged stylus will also only reproduce one side.
I do know how to do some basic soldering, and have found the service manuals for most of my gear. Might be a fun little project to get me more confident with the soldering iron. And no, I'm not positive the issue isn't with the turntable. I think I might pull everything out of it's cabinet and do some more troubleshooting. The stylus is a Shure M75-6 - and upon closer inspection definitely needs cleaning!

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In my opinion, you should make a list of what equipment interests you and purchase the item(s) that become available. I say this because you might be waiting a long time for a set of speakers. Meanwhile, a turntable appeared and you missed out on it. The good stuff gets snapped up quickly if you aren't nimble.

It is difficult to make general recommendations because everyone has different tastes. I like direct drive turntables; others prefer belt drive.

For speakers, I will always recommend Boston Acoustics. For the floor standers, look for the A150, A200 and A400. For book shelf, look for A60 and A70. I have had a set of A150s since 1987 and I love them and I will never sell them. The A150s are rare; the A200s and A400s even more so.

I prefer the "East Coast" sound so I like Acoustic Research, Advent, KLH, EPI, Genesis, Polk and Reynolds. People will say that these speakers are more suited to jazz and classical than rock, but I'm a rocker and they're fine to me.

My only non-East Coasters I own are JBLs: 4301B and 4401. Both of these are control room monitors. There is a strong following for the non-pro L series JBL. My only experience with JBL was with a set of LX-66 (made in Denmark). These were monsters with twin 8" woofers, but I wasn't all that impressed with them. L100s/L300s command way more money.

If you're looking to rock out, then there is nothing wrong with the older Cerwin Vegas, Realistics (Mach 1 primarily), Altec Lansings, Pioneer HPM, and the rest of the Japanese 'Kabuki' speakers. If you can find them, Mitsubishi put out very nice speakers and they aren't well known, so pricing is reasonable.

I don't have any experience with British and Canadian speaker manufacturers.

Dynaco A25s are very nice, too.

I have no experience whatsoever with new speakers.

Any of the 70s Japanese silver face receivers/int amps are fine. The Toshibas, Sanyos and Hitachis of the world fly under the RADAR due to poor marketing in North America, but they are no slouches. I own three different Pioneers but I prefer Kenwood (can never find them). The black Sansuis command more money but they aren't any better, in my opinion. Ditto for Marantz. Lots of hype because they look cool with the blue lights.

Have you checked out www.audiokarma.org ?
Great info in here - thanks! I did find audiokarma along with several other forums last night and will start trying to wade through all the information in there.

Being nimble is a great way to put it - I'm going to start researching a few other components, so hopefully if I stumble across something good I'll know it when I see it. Thanks again!
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Old 11-23-2016, 04:23 PM   #142
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I wish I could go back to 2006 and be that guy you sold all that stuff to!
I took good care of my records with angel sleeves to cover the records themselves and plastic covers for the record jackets. They were like brand new! Then there were the dust brushes to remove dust from the records themselves and stylus cleaners. I also had a milk crate full of 45's that I gave to the sellers daughter for free as nobody wanted them. I often wonder how much coin I would have made in todays market
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Old 11-23-2016, 05:41 PM   #143
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The stylus is a Shure M75-6 - and upon closer inspection definitely needs cleaning!
When's the last time you had it replaced? Old stylii could be very bad and actually damage your vinyl if the stylus tip is damaged (can't see with the naked eye). Have you adjusted your tracking force and anti-skate correctly? Incorrect calibration can cause the stylus to ride one side of the grooves too hard causing issues with L/R distortion.
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Old 11-23-2016, 05:50 PM   #144
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Some great info here, I'm actually the person who took advantage of FanIn80's Audio Techinca LP120 sale. Love the player, much better than the entry level one I had before.

I'm also trying to assemble more of a hifi setup (I only have it hooked up to small computer speakers right now).

Is it better to look for a receiver that has phono inputs or does it matter? As far as I understand the audio technica has a pre-amp built in so I can hook it up to any inputs, but is a phono input better for sound quality?
I also own an LP120. I think you'd have to be pretty hardcore to purposely get a separate phono-stage over the internal built-in pre amp. At that level, many purists prefer to actually rip out the USB board in the LP120 because they claim it causes additional impedance along the signal path even if they switch it to use an external phono stage. It's a popular mod on Youtube for this turntable.

Right now you have the option by toggling the switch so you could use an external amp with it's own phono-stage if you like or if you want to use the spin-down function for DJing (the classic 80s hip hop sound where you turn off the turntable while it's still spinning so the music slowly spins down). This doesn't work with the internal pre amp on.

The biggest thing for me is tactile external tone controls. I like the big volume, bass, treble, balance, high/low pass filters, and even the loudness button or loudness contour (Yamaha Receivers). It helps me tune for the type of music I'm listening to.
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Old 11-23-2016, 05:56 PM   #145
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I took good care of my records with angel sleeves to cover the records themselves and plastic covers for the record jackets. They were like brand new! Then there were the dust brushes to remove dust from the records themselves and stylus cleaners. I also had a milk crate full of 45's that I gave to the sellers daughter for free as nobody wanted them. I often wonder how much coin I would have made in todays market
I very seldom see used records with decent condition covers and inner sleeves in today's market. Even bad ones seem to be priced at a minimum $10 or so at Recordland and other stores. Prices also keep inflating. Many $10 records from 1-2 years ago (when I started in this hobby) are now $20+

Even the Buy & Sell Store (Cash Converters) is pretty much $10 minimum for any used record now (a few are $5).

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Old 11-23-2016, 08:49 PM   #146
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I very seldom see used records with decent condition covers and inner sleeves in today's market. Even bad ones seem to be priced at a minimum $10 or so at Recordland and other stores. Prices also keep inflating. Many $10 records from 1-2 years ago (when I started in this hobby) are now $20+

Even the Buy & Sell Store (Cash Converters) is pretty much $10 minimum for any used record now (a few are $5).
Now you're making me cry! That's a lot of money for used records especially for the bad ones. I'm guessing supply versus demand is driving those prices.

How does one determine which records are good or bad? Is it based on soley on the visual scratches you see or is there more to it?
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Old 11-23-2016, 09:32 PM   #147
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Now you're making me cry! That's a lot of money for used records especially for the bad ones. I'm guessing supply versus demand is driving those prices.

How does one determine which records are good or bad? Is it based on soley on the visual scratches you see or is there more to it?
There's more to it, I suppose, but I never look closely as this guide suggests:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comme...t_to_look_for/

Truth be told, I rarely buy used vinyl; I just can't be bothered. Like a previous poster, I sold all of my albums (close to 800) many years ago, and I'm not about to go on a search to replace them all. Sadly, I had a good chunk of anything and everything heavy metal from Accept to Zebra.

What I will buy are re-issues produced by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, but that's about it. The quality is there and I'm not sure you can say that about some of the other new vinyl out there.
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Old 11-24-2016, 12:22 AM   #148
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Originally Posted by Dion View Post
Now you're making me cry! That's a lot of money for used records especially for the bad ones. I'm guessing supply versus demand is driving those prices.

How does one determine which records are good or bad? Is it based on soley on the visual scratches you see or is there more to it?
Well scratched or noisy records are usually cheap. I'm talking about records without worn covers, without ring wear, without torn inner sleeves, etc. Most people did not take as good care of them as you. It's the cover condition that is rare to be found in good shape. If the record doesn't skip and isn't scratchy, Recordland usually puts it out for $10 - $15 minimum even for no name ones. Led Zep, Pink Floyd, etc. are in the $25-30 range. Heck, I bought Def Leppard - Hysteria for $30 from them last year.
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Old 11-24-2016, 12:51 AM   #149
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Well scratched or noisy records are usually cheap. I'm talking about records without worn covers, without ring wear, without torn inner sleeves, etc. Most people did not take as good care of them as you. It's the cover condition that is rare to be found in good shape. If the record doesn't skip and isn't scratchy, Recordland usually puts it out for $10 - $15 minimum even for no name ones. Led Zep, Pink Floyd, etc. are in the $25-30 range. Heck, I bought Def Leppard - Hysteria for $30 from them last year.
What I don't understand is why vinyl has made the comeback as it has. I thought it was dead and buried when I was able to get what I did for my collection. And those prices in the 25-30 dollar range are insane!

I'd love to have my records back only to sell them for a greater profit but truth be told I don't miss playing them or the sound it produced. I'd like to think I have a good ear for music but i'm beginning to think I must be missing something in the sound. Maybe you or some else can educate me on the subject
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Old 11-24-2016, 01:12 AM   #150
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I think I mentioned it earlier but canuckadiomart is a great web site for picking up all kinds of audio gear from cheap as chips to 15,000 dollar Wilson speakers.
Craigslist is great as well if you arnt in a hurry.
I'm a huge audio fan, I've cycled through about six seperate set ups over the years, I've finally stopped at a set of B&W 801's powered by an obscure Californian amplifier builder spectral.
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Old 11-24-2016, 10:26 AM   #151
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What I don't understand is why vinyl has made the comeback as it has. I thought it was dead and buried when I was able to get what I did for my collection. And those prices in the 25-30 dollar range are insane!
I thought so, too. I don't find vinyl (new or used) to be a good bargain, quite frankly. I buy new/used CDs now. I used to have a ton of them, too, but sold them all before I even considered saving them to a hard drive.

There is an interesting book out now titled: Revenge of the Analog, by David Sax. His premise is that, while digital technologies have made our lives more convenient, analog technologies of old enrich our lives and make them more substantial. Ironically, it is perhaps the digital technology that helped the analog revival. That is, eBay, Amazon and Discogs have made life easier to find used vinyl.

Personally, I am old enough to have lived through analog, whether it was records, cameras or books. I have tried going back to vinyl, but I'm just not into it. I went back to using 35mm cameras because I always found that I had to step back and analyze a scene and try and get the best composition because I only had a finite number of shots. But, the film is expensive, and unless you process it at home, it gets expensive to properly process the film, and then there is the whole scanning process and that is time-consuming. Books, well I find it more convenient to use an e-reader.

I don't know, perhaps it is the younger generation that views the analog revival as something that interests them. Reality rules and physical stuff is important.



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I'd like to think I have a good ear for music but i'm beginning to think I must be missing something in the sound. Maybe you or some else can educate me on the subject
Many will say that they prefer the vinyl sound and that's ok because it's subjective, but that doesn't mean the sound is technically better than digital. Technically, a CD has a greater dynamic range than an LP. The cutting engineers have to suppress dynamic range on an LP, otherwise grooves will touch or the playing time has to be reduced.

The big deficiency in an LP is its bass reproduction. Another vinyl deficiency is that the track next to the label sounds worse than the first track on the side. This is because the stylus covers fewer inches of grooves per second. Essentially, LPs can only reproduce a fraction of what is heard in the studio.

CDs have their own issues with the "loudness wars" but that isn't the format's fault.
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Old 11-24-2016, 12:50 PM   #152
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Me personally, I do prefer the sound of vinyl. I find the sound fuller and warmer than digital. Digital is too "hi fi" if that makes any sense. Like Bose. For the sake of clarity, they lose some their musicality.

And for sure I understand this is all subjective, so I won't get into an argument of which format is technically superior, just stating my own preference.

And another big thing for me is just the whole atmosphere that vinyl players produce for me. I find it a lot more immersive an experience. I love seeing the vinyl record spinning and playing. Just so soothing.
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Old 11-26-2016, 11:45 AM   #153
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When's the last time you had it replaced? Old stylii could be very bad and actually damage your vinyl if the stylus tip is damaged (can't see with the naked eye). Have you adjusted your tracking force and anti-skate correctly? Incorrect calibration can cause the stylus to ride one side of the grooves too hard causing issues with L/R distortion.
Never. I bought the whole setup from a guy on Kijiji a couple of years ago. He mentioned it was in great shape and didn't anticipate it needing replacing for a while. I guess that time has come!

I have to admit I'm quite the noob to the whole vinyl scene. As a kid I knew how to get them spinning, and now 25+ years later that's still about all I know. I have no idea what tracking force and anti-skate is (but I'm off to google that next).

The tips here have been great. I had assumed the issues I was having were amp/speaker related, but a quick test with the Aux In and my iPhone have changed my focus to the turntable as previously mentioned. I'm going to try and clean my current stylus, look into the correct calibration, then worry about upgrading pieces after that.
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Old 01-04-2017, 07:59 PM   #154
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Canada Boy Vinyl ceasing operations?

http://globalnews.ca/news/3160434/ca.../?sf49444008=1

The story appeared on reddit yesterday; I suspect Global picked up the story from there.
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Old 01-05-2017, 01:47 PM   #155
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Canada Boy Vinyl ceasing operations?

http://globalnews.ca/news/3160434/ca.../?sf49444008=1

The story appeared on reddit yesterday; I suspect Global picked up the story from there.
Yeah it was on r/calgary and r/vinyl yesterday. Apparently they were months behind on orders and owned a ton of money too for people who had orders in.

Back in December they just said they were on hiatus with more news in January. Then yesterday he posts that they've closed shop and deleted their Facebook.
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Old 01-30-2017, 12:49 PM   #156
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New turntable project!

This is one of CBC Calgary's broadcast turntables used in the 70s and onward. The table is a Technics SP-10D, not sure what the tonearm is. Very happy to find a SP-10D - it's not quite the MKII but they're pretty rare and apparently great performers. It's running quite well despite probably not having been serviced in probably decades.

Probably going to move the table & tonearm into a custom plinth but that crazy McCurdy base seems to want me to turn it into an AV rack too...



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Old 01-30-2017, 01:13 PM   #157
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New turntable project!

This is one of CBC Calgary's broadcast turntables used in the 70s and onward. The table is a Technics SP-10D, not sure what the tonearm is. Very happy to find a SP-10D - it's not quite the MKII but they're pretty rare and apparently great performers. It's running quite well despite probably not having been serviced in probably decades.

Probably going to move the table & tonearm into a custom plinth but that crazy McCurdy base seems to want me to turn it into an AV rack too...



Your pics don't work but IIRC, the SP-10D is a way higher end system than the MKII. It's a professional, modular system with complete isolation of the platter and tonearm components.
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Old 01-30-2017, 02:55 PM   #158
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Your pics don't work but IIRC, the SP-10D is a way higher end system than the MKII. It's a professional, modular system with complete isolation of the platter and tonearm components.
I've actually had a hard time digging up info on the SP-10D. Plenty on the SP-10 MKII & MKIII. Anything else you can share about it?

(Btw I was comparing this to its successor, the SP-10 MKII. Lots of upgrades from the SP-10D.)
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Old 01-30-2017, 03:40 PM   #159
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I've actually had a hard time digging up info on the SP-10D. Plenty on the SP-10 MKII & MKIII. Anything else you can share about it?

(Btw I was comparing this to its successor, the SP-10 MKII. Lots of upgrades from the SP-10D.)
I'm not super familiar with this, probably stuff I read on AudioKarma or Vinylengine years ago. I just thought the SP-10 was a heavy duty professional use version that weighs almost twice as much as the SP-10 MKII which was sold to consumers.
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Old 12-27-2017, 09:11 AM   #160
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Figured it was best to bump this thread. Going to take the plunge in the next few days to piecing together my first setup. Nothing fancy, but debating between these two:

Fluance RT80
https://www.amazon.ca/Turntable-Adju...4-62c82ff200de

Audio-Technica AT-LP60BK
https://www.amazon.ca/Audio-Technica...4-62c82ff200de

Anyone have any experience with either? As a novice, am I going to notice a difference between them?

Also, anyone have any recommendations for an amp? Anyone with experience on powered speakers instead of an amp?

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