Do you have a turntable?

[UberXY]

I put my Dual 604 turntable and about 500 albums in storage in 1988 when I bought a CD player.

 

I got it out today, plugged it into a sound system I could only dream of 20 years ago, put on Dave Mason's multi-colored vinyl "Alone Together", and cranked it up. Sounds great! I had forgotten how different analog was, and I had also forgotten scratches, hisses, hums, and pops.

 

I can see I am gonna spend a lot of time playing old albums in the next few weeks.

 

Any of you guys still remember records?

[smiller]

Any of you guys still remember records?

Mostly I remember the drill required to prep the record for playback (if you wanted it to last a long time.) And of course the scratches, hisses, hums, and pops, and the limited lifespan. Fond memories, but good riddance. Still have about 500 lbs. of records, though, just can't bear to throw them away.

 

My high school/college setup was a Marantz 1060 amp, Pioneer PL-12D turntable, and the 'larger' Advent speakers. About as classic as it gets...

[Lawman]

I got rid of most of my records when I upgraded to 8 tracks..

[Selden]

In January, I used a 20-year old Technics linear drive turntable and some sound editing software (Amadeus Pro) to transfer some of my favorite old LPs to MP3 format. An RCA to mini pin cable plugs right into the audio input jack of the computer. Editing software takes care of establishing sound levels and RIAA equalization.

 

Unlike ripping a CD to iTunes, the transfer process is real time, followed by anywhere from 15 minutes to 8 hours to remove surface noise. With enough patience, you can create an MP3 that (to my ears, anyway) sounds better than the original. While it's possible to save in a lossless format, the file sizes are about 10X larger. Finally, I searched Amazon and found cover art for most of the LPs, which I added to the tracks in iTunes.

[smiller]

With enough patience, you can create an MP3 that (to my ears, anyway) sounds better than the original.

Yes, with a little post-processing you can produce some excellent vinyl rips (although the one thing you can never get rid of is distortion due to groove wear.)

 

What software do you use to do the RIAA equalization?

[jmseattle]

Remember? I still use mine, a Technics with a Pioneer SX 1250 receiver and Ohm F speakers that I had rebuilt in Brooklyn at what remaims of the Ohm company a couple of years ago. Receiver recently bit the dust though and was told by local shop that specializes in repair of classic electronics that parts needed are no longer available. Guess since it lasted since 1975 I can't complain. (I also have an iPod etc. so I'm not a total musical fossil...)

[rob1100r]

Still have my old Technics, but haven't touched it in well over a decade! And as far as portable music (with a Sony cassette Walkman or similar), what fun I hated those pre-recorded white cassettes, the sound quality was A$$ and they never lasted, so I would by the record then shell out more cash for a good blank cassette and make my own recordings (I was a TDK fan). My tapes always sounded good, and many of those tapes that I made in the 80's are still usable today, though the last time I used them was in my 95 F150 with a cassette player (like 5 years ago)..

[marcopolo]

My Dual turntable is neatly packed away in a sealed box stored in my garage. I'm sure I'll never use it again (like my LPs), but it doesn't seem right disposing of it/them. I do have all my original Beatles albums mounted in frames and hanging on the wall (discs still in the sleeves). Gee, do you think I'm dating myself?

[Trinity]

Another "yeah" here...lots of vinyl and a higher end Denon turntable with moving coil cartridge...AWESOME sound, but for me, it just can't compete with the convenience of CDs. (I haven't had the patience to rip the vinyl to MP3...too easy to buy the CD on the few I really want to keep.)

 

Of course, you DO realize that in the reasonably near future, someone here will post..."Anyone here still have a CD player?"

[smiller]

Of course, you DO realize that in the reasonably near future, someone here will post..."Anyone here still have a CD player?"

Good point... the only time I ever touch a CD these days to is transfer it to a hard drive....

[David]

The last time I used a turntable was when I was trying to set the idle on a diesel generator so that it would output 60 cycle electricity. Just count the revolutions in a minute and you're like MacGuyver.

[Francois_Dumas]

Actually, I just bought a new one a few months ago.

 

Unfortunately the software supplied with it managed to blow up one of my PC's..... had to re-install Windows even !

 

As soon as I have gathered enough courage I'm gonna try and hook it up again, this time without the (Chinese??) software.

[CoarsegoldKid]

I have a DAK LP to MP3 hardware and software combo using an old Kenwood turntable. I have successfully converted about 15 albums. It's time consuming for sure and not all of the pops and clicks are gone but enough make listening on the mp3 player worthwhile. Scratches are scratches no matter what.

[Jerry Johnston]

I just gave away the last 78rpm record I had. A month ago I ripped every CD (& 33rpm record)I had to MP3.

[Boone60]

Any of you guys still remember records?

 

Yes Sir. Mine is in the basement, and I still play records when I'm lifting weights.

[Selden]

Yes, with a little post-processing you can produce some excellent vinyl rips (although the one thing you can never get rid of is distortion due to groove wear.)

 

What software do you use to do the RIAA equalization?

Yup. Eliminating groove wear distortion is beyond my capabilities. But, with earphones and interpolation, pops and clicks can be almost completely eliminated. I used Amadeus Pro (Mac OS only, but there are probably comparable Windows apps). You can edit L and R channels separately, with time resolution down to 1/1000 second. A typical musical sound looks like a sine wave, and a pop is immediately recognizable as a spikey waveform. "Fixing" involves letting the software interpolate from the waveform on either side of the noise, and you can select how much (or little) you want to sample.

 

[Silver Surfer/AKAButters]

Yep! Still have my Technics and over 300 Albums that I haven't played in over 15 years. I also have a pristine Teac 3340 R to R and one of the first Pioneer 4 channel, "Quadraphinic" receivers in excellent condition. A wopping 25 watts per channel at prolly 1% THD. I just can't let go of the solid mahogany cabinet and brushed aluminum front end. Gorgeous!

[wolcott]

I was in Best Buy yesterday looking at the music cd's, when on the top shelf I came across a U2 vinyl album. Forgot the name of it. I held it in both hands, turning it over and over... Lots of memories. I can't remember the last time that I held an album in my hands.

[Bullett]

Oh yes. We have a Pioneer PL-630.

 

Just a few nights ago, I was listening to Fleetwood Mac "Rumours," Traffic "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys," and Dennis Brain "The Art of Dennis Brain Vol. 3" Woodwind Quintet and Sextet.

 

I love the sound of vinyl (minus the pops, of course), but other forms of music storage are so much easier.

[Bill_Walker]

Yep! Still have my Technics and over 300 Albums that I haven't played in over 15 years.

 

Ditto. In fact, both are sitting in/on a shelf right behind me as I type this. Along with the USB preamp I bought over a year ago so that I could transfer some of them to digital -- still in the package.

[Dave in Doodah]

Yes, Steve, I still have my Techics turntable (from high school in the 70's) and oodles of albums acquired over the years while in college and beyond...

 

After my divorce, I broke out the old turntable (one of the few things I retained) and cannot describe the joy that I still feel when I play an LP. I even sat my kids down and had them listen to Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," Queen's "A Night at the Opera," and many others....

 

My Discwasher still works, and the Grado and Ortofon cartridges are still rockin, but need to be replaced.

 

I have always wanted to upgrade my turntable, to a Dual perhaps, so if any of you have one collecting dust, please let me know!

[Dave in Doodah]

Yep! Still have my Technics and over 300 Albums that I haven't played in over 15 years.

 

Ditto. In fact, both are sitting in/on a shelf right behind me as I type this. Along with the USB preamp I bought over a year ago so that I could transfer some of them to digital -- still in the package.

 

+1 to your Ditto, Bill. About 5 years ago, I bought a little black box contraption thingy to burn albums from my turntable to my PC, and it's still in the box... The old Onkyo amp and KEF speakers are still happy with whatever I feed them.

[hANNAbONE]

gAVE aLL my old albums away -- sadly -- then went on a 5 year buy splurge and got the same music on CD's (many of the really whacked out stuff like "Dust" and "Cactus" took me years to find again).

 

Being an "audio guy" once you've heard digital - there's no reason having the old system, including low fidelity 33 1/3 albums.

 

IMHO -- YMMV

[bmw_rider]

I see my Pioneer PL-61 everyday - as I walk past it in my garage sale items. Along with 2 Stanton cartidges and a grapefruit crate of albums.

[SK_in_AB]

My last turntable crashed about 10 years ago at our cabin and I didn't replace it.

 

HIjack:: I did acquire a cica 1927 Victorola gramophone from my dad on the weekend. He was downsizing and it was headed for a garage sale. Its a relic but likely not a valued heirloom as there were 1000s made in the 20's. I hope to restore it to furniture quality to sit in the corner and occasionally play an old album that my grandparents would have listened to during the dustbowl.

 

[LandonBlueRT]

Any of you guys still remember records?

 

Sure. My set up was Marantz. Gave my records and equipment, all in exc. condition, away and switched to CDs.

[Linz]

Yep, I have an NAD turntable from years ago with a very expensive stylus (can't remember what it is but it cost a fortune). I was into audiophile pressings and japanese stuff on virgin vinyl of my favorite artists, hardly any pops or hisses.

 

I ripped most of them to MP3 with Toast Disc Doctor (Mac app) and it did a great job.

 

I can't bear to part with the original disks.

 

Anyone remember Permostat? I treated all my disks with that before the first playing and I can tell you that 30 years later, they still repel dust.

 

Linz

[velomoto]

Yup - still have a Yamaha in storage somewhere in the basement... Maybe someday I'll find a place to setup an old school stereo system!