turntable help

I bought a Dual 745 (iirc) for $50, but the headshell was glued together in a spot, and the glue fell apart after holding together for 30 years or so. My local shop tried to fix it, but all their replacement headshells fell apart in the same way. If you get a Dual, I'd suggest trying to find a 12xx series model, they seem to be built better.

Also I've heard good things about the Uturn Orbit, although I haven't gotten one for myself yet. The baseline model is $179 and it's supposed to rival stuff like the Rega RP1. If you can afford the optional Ortofon 2m Red with it, that's a great sounding cartridge.

For budget, Audio Technica LP-60 is usually what I show entry-level folks. That should get you through several years of listening, and is easy to "level up" from. Stylus is also easy & cheap to buy & replace.

But if you can go up to $200, I would recommend the Pro-Ject Essential II over the U-Turn. Their production quality is higher, IMO (work at a shop that has sold both).

And yes; never ever buy or go anywhere near a Crosley. That's plastic trash, not a turntable.

Pro-Ject Essential II is what I have and is brilliant. Several ilxors took my advice and got one too and they were very happy with it.

I have a Crosley I actually like for grabbing samples off records, cuz the stuff your record into your DAW sounds kinda gritty like a mid-80s sampler

but yeah they are also wrecking the shit out of your vinyl, those ceramic needs are blunt and huge and heavy as fuck

dronestreet - i live in the same city as needle doctor and i went down there to get a new cartridge have you heard the new AT MN540ML microline?

I was coming in to maybe get a Denon DL-110 or a replacement Ortofon 2M Blue (some stereo stuff got zapped by lightning strike) and the guy at the store strongly suggested this one, been really loving it so far...not crazy wide sounding as the old DL 160 (discontinued) that I had but it tracks was better than the 2M Blue and just feels "bigger" and more detailed, way way less inner groove distortion and sibilance on "s's"

ceramic needles -- on what, the Crosleys?

here's what michael fremer says about the orbit. he makes a point of mentioning its good speed control.

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/u-turn%E2%80%99s-remarkable-179-orbit-turntable-crosley-killer

bodacious - yep they use ceramics, the cheapest/worst kind of cart

GIGO

I do love my Pro-Ject - I can't think of much better for the money.

I've owned Dual, Ariston, Systemdek and - most gloriously of all, before I had to sell it - a Michell Gyro SE. Cardas/vdH rewired Rega tonearm, Ortofon MC25FL moving coil, Nene Valley Audio phono pre-amp, the works. People would gather round it at parties and just watch the weights go around. Ahhh.

Anyway, forced to rethink on a greatly reduced budget, I went for Pro-Ject about two years ago and it's not as, uh, forensic as the Michell, but it just sounds lush and rich and wide and deep and handsome (came with the Ortofon 2M Red). I pushed the boat out and got an external phono pre/ADC, so I can "rip" if I so wish. But who ever gets round to doing that? Maybe I'll "do" something with run-out grooves. No-one has ever thought of that before, right?

(there's a quickspace cd single which has the run-out groove and possibly the sound of an eject mechanism at the end of the track that would be the end of the first side on the vinyl, and the run-in groove sound on the start of the next track)

thanks - great posts and suggestions everyone! i need to just get a real turntable for once =)

i bought a new Audio Technica due to this thread and it sounds AMAZING. holy shit the sound is crystal clear. i also bought the new Yuzo Koshiro "The Revenge of Shinobi" LP and it arrived with the turntable. it also sounds amazing. really crystal clear, really quiet during the silent parts.

nice enjoy!

Okay. SO. A quick recap. Bought a Philips 212 with original cartridge, the sound blew me away, but it would skip on any record with the slightest scratch or speck of dirt.

Bought a AT95E with elliptical stylus, installed it, managed to fuck my tonearm up, only just got a dude to fix it for me.

Now it's playing properly, it's playing every scratched and dirty record with nary a skip. But. It just doesn't sound as good, as wide, as the original Philips cartridge. I can't explain it, but everything sounds bunched up, like there's a little high-end distortion.

The Philips cartridge is a 400ii. I've seen that there's an elliptical stylus on the market for the 401, which seems v similar to the stylii I used to buy for the 400ii, does anyone know if it be possible to place this elliptical stylus in the 400ii cartridge? And is it the fact that an elliptical needle digs so much deeper that's the reason the AT95E doesn't sound so great?

I'm no audiophile, I'm just surprised as all the reviews for the AT95E rave bout the amazing sound you hear. But it just doesn't sound amazing to me, after the old cartridge on the Philips.

Quick Google search shows that both use the Pfanstiehl 595-d7 so they should be cross-compatible. Just make sure to adjust your tracking force as appropriate.

Thank Gott!

And can anyone back me up on the AT95E? Am I being too picky and expecting too much from a budget cartridge?

Stuff seems more sibilant than I want it to, than it did before on the earlier cartridge...

With the original cartridge did you try raising the amount of counter-weight to see if that helped the skipping?

Yeah, still didn't help.

I think with AT carts you can upgrade the needle onto the same assembly but honestly at that point you might want to spring for a better cart. I just got a new cart and I live in the same city as the Needle Doctor retail store, dude was really passionate about recommending this new AT model over the Ortofon 2MBlue....has a microline stylus which he said is unheard of at this price point, still it might be more than you want to spend and i bet for another $100 ish you could upgrade your needle on the 95

http://www.needledoctor.com/Audio-Technica-VM540ML-Phono-Cartridge

also when you buy a cart there they install and balance etc it for free and seriously i'm so glad never to have to fuck w/that god bless y'all

Thanks Matt!

WOW WTF

http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=41657

uhhhhhh shit. gonna have to go buy some expensive styli now.

Man I was considering upgrading to a Shure cartridge. That would be a bad idea now, right?

(That said my current cart is from the 70s and I'm still able to get styli for that)

i have a vintage pioneer turntable that i bought from a local place that had fixed it up. the headshell (?) has four little delicate wires that connect to the needle cartridge, and one of those wires broke off a while ago. since then, it seems like something is off with the stereo sound when i play records. does that seem like something that would be an effect of one of those wires breaking?

it seems like something that would be an easy fix if i had any competence in soldering, but i'm pretty bad at it. i should probably get it fixed, but if i wanted to replace the whole headshell/cartridge, could i just replace it with any headshell that has the four-pin connection to the arm, or are there other factors to consider?

Is it a PL-12D?

Two of the colored wires are the L and R channel signals, two of them are L and R channel ground, so if one of the signal wires breaks you'll know it because a channel will drop out entirely. Not sure what effect the ground wire breaking would have.

the turntable is a PL-71. the headshell doesn't have a model number on it.
it's possible that the problem is our amp, which is very old and crappy. i thought i'd try tackling the cheap solution first.

I think I have a similar problem as it goes. I have a couple of times been listening to a record and thought my right channel sounded a bit 'thin' or empty. When experimenting with the balance it'll crackle and pop harshly in that channel. I assumed it was the speaker/wiring but I've adjusted at the back of the speaker and nothing has changed.

I'm playing a CD right now and sounds great and no clicks or pops when I fiddle with the balance.

In the hope it'll fix both our problems, anyone got an idea? (Stanton STR8-150, Cambridge Audio amp, 70s Kef Concord speakers - hence why I thought it was the speakers.)

In my experience, if one of those little wires comes loose or snaps it will fuck with your sound. You definitely need all four connected.

so let's say theoretically someone tried to fix this problem by soldering a wire in that place but it didn't fix the problem and instead just made it worse. can i buy something like this and use it replace the old headshell? the 4-pin connection looks the same, so i would think yes?

ie is there anything i need to look for to make sure a replacement headshell will work with my turntable? are there any where the needle cartridge is easier to install?

they’re all easy. yeah get a new one!

by easier i mean "not having to connect tiny fiddly little wires to tiny fiddly little poles on the needle cartridge" but that seems to be standard

ordered one of the ones that has an easier-install cartridge. hope it fixes all of my problems!

Just bear in mind that headshells designed for DJs use a lot more downforce to keep the needle in the groove when cueing etc. It’d wear out standard LPs more quickly to have 4g pressing on the stylus. Also not good for quality sound I believe.

hm reading a bit more it’s apparently not the worst thing, but different cartridges have different recommended downforce.

hurrah NA!

yes i would unscrew that 4g weight personally. i expect your turntable has its own way of adjusting the weight on the tonearm.

i got a consumer headshell i think though i did look at those dj ones for a bit

safe bet, wouldn't want anybody thinking yr a poseur

never stopped me before

hey this worked out! getting the cartridge on the headshell and attaching all the little wires was still too fiddly but i did it. also solved a mysterious hum by ... reattaching the turntable ground wire lol. sounds pretty good now! i guess this means we can keep using the amp i bought at a thrift store for $20 about two decades ago

Aside from capacitors drying out, good 70s solid state gear is essentially permanent.
https://i.imgur.com/UKynICv.jpg

Vinyl is such a pita

yeh! after a lot of research and buyer's luck (albeit on a minuscule budget) I finally have a system that CAN make a well-pressed record sound about as good as a well-mastered CD

I mean I get that all the mucking around is part of the "fun" of vinyl but there are plenty of frustrations

I'm thinking about upgrading before the end of the year and I'm batting about the U-Turn Orbit and the Pro-Ject T1. As much as I love fully auto or even semi auto turntables, I don't think going full manual would be too much of a drag, and I like the low profile appearance both of these tables offer. Anybody here have a preference between them? I rarely ever play anything on 45, so moving the belt between gears isn't really an issue.

Is a fully manual tt more annoying in reality than it is in my imagination?

once you are at peace with knowing you will eventually wander off/fall asleep and leave the needle riding the runout groove for 6-10 hours, it's fine