Turntable Talk

Anyway, yeah, technics. My stanton mixer has given me nothing but trouble therefore I don't trust their tables. The vestax ones are feature heavy but none of it helps particularly.

However there is one model of technics where you can flip a switch and make the pitch control go to +/- 16 instead of 8 - that's pretty useful especially if you like combining lots of different styles.

http://www.soundcontrol.co.uk/images/img_prod/large/large_1.1.4.2-35-6-164.jpg

Talk about beat-matching? These have realtime tempo adjusts where you can go like, -10 and not change the pitch of the music.

so do the stanton turntables, but they're built with plastic and the motor is weak. if technics could put a feature on a 1200 i'd be sold.

i wouldn't trust anyone to do a clean A-D conversion inside of a turntable. there's no way the analog lines and the soundcard could be insulated from all the noise generated by the motor. better to do the conversion externally and route the digital audio through your computer for pitch stabilization.

OK, so I just bought a Systemdek IIx 900, and it is kind of lovely, although a bit black-ash posh 80s bachelor pad-looking.

BUT, the 45/33 changing the band thing is a nightmare. The first time I tried it (at the house of the guy I bought it from), it was fine, but since I've got it home I can't get it to work on the 45. It just pings up to the 33.

So, any tips? I guess it's a knack.

I've been looking into power supplies where you switch from 33 to 45 by controlling the voltage. This seems smart, and clever, and neat.

But they seem to cost a fortune and I'm not going to spend £300 on a power supply (that's the Project Speedbox SE, you pay thousands for a Lingo). The only cheap one I can find is the ordinary project speedbox, but as far as my untechnical brain can figure out only works with certain project turntables.

This seems like a simple thing that should be quite cheap (I'm not that interested in the supposed sound benefits of a better power supply, just the speed switching). Does anyone know if there are any cheaper makes out there?

Thanks

(And, revive. Lets talk turntables.)

I looked into getting a Thorens from ebay before I got this one (which is kind of like a Linn Axis, with the arm on a suspended bit isolated from the platter - made by a now defunct Scottish company), and they do look gorgeous, but they are often for sale without the arms, and the whole maintenance and set-up seemed a bit intimidating.

If you know what you are doing, I think you could get a beautiful turntable quite cheaply, though. Unfortunately I am an ignoramus.

I used to have a IIX900 (black ash too!) and, yes, the speed change is a pain in the arse. If memory serves, I used to get a better results if, after switching from 33 to 45, I spun the platter around a few times by hand before turning the motor back on.

A friend of mine (who had access to a university faculty lathe and other precision engineering gear) upgraded his Systemdek with a perspex platter, aluminium sub-platter and tungsten carbide bearing; he had a couple of goes before he got them right, so I got his cast-offs. This improved the deck but unfortunately had the effect of increasing the weight on the suspension and making speed-change even trickier.

I don't know why electronic speed-change boxes are so expensive; there must be a cheap home-brew alternative out there. (Y'see, if the hi-fi press wasn't so obsessed with snake-oil guff and astronomically-priced valve gear, they'd have space to devote to useful project stuff like this, like they did in the '70s).

snake-oil guff

otm

Googling around, I've read a couple of people who've made their own, and apparently they are quite simple, but that is not at all my forte.

I'll try spinning it by hand a couple of times first, anyway.

I've loved my Technics for years but it's getting on in years. It now needs a good hour of warm-up to stabilize the platter speed.

My next turntable will likely be a Rega, which is odd, because i find them kinda ugly. But hey, it's a quality unit.

As for cartridges, I don't get too adventurous; Audio Technica. The model AT-95E is a pretty decent for $40 and the excellent AT-44OML can be had for under a hundred.

The guy I just bought my stuff off, who is something of a hi-fi nut, was pretty down on the Rega turntables. He reckons they make fantastic arms, but not good turntables. At that sort of price, he recommended a Linn Axis or Basik instead, or the one he sold me (which he would say), or to go vintage and get an old Thorens.

Those Project turntables look like excellent value too, though. Has anyone got one? (And they would work with the cheap 45/33 power supply, too).

My new turntable has an Audio Technica, but I'm not sure what model.
The whole world of high-end cartridges is amazing, isn't it? £1000s of pounds you can spend ...

And while this is (briefly) top of the page - anyone else know a cheaper make of 33/45 switching power supplies? Thx.

I have an Ortofon MC25FL on my Michell/Rega deck - I couldn't afford to have it retipped now if I had an accident (which is part of the reason why it's five feet off the floor out of the reach of the kids). I've long coveted the Lyra family of carts. The fanciest one I've ever used was a Wilson Benesch Matrix the day I auditioned my Gyro; I told Pam that it cost around £800 only after she'd confidently cued up a Jim O'Rourke 12" and she wouldn't go near it again...

Ha. I don't think my ears, my bank account, my clumsiness or the condition of most of my records would warrant ever spending that much on a cartridge.

the new pro-ject genie looks nice. and is very cheap. i'd want a lid though.

http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/product.asp?id=6551&aid=15036