What not to clean your records with

From time to time I’m asked “how should I clean my records?” The answer to which can be slightly confusing, to folks who like myself grew up in the 70?s and remember seeing their friends use the Disc Washer line of products. For day to day cleaning I recommend a carbon fiber brush, specially designed for record cleaning. I do not recommend the application of any fluid the to the LP?s surface, such as used in the Disc washer system, these fluids can congeal on the records surface, robbing you of sound.

The only instance where I recommend fluid coming into contact with LP’s, is via a record cleaning machine such as the Nitty Gritty or VPI models. Record cleaning brushes such as the Hunt EDA Mark 6, do a great job at cleaning, with no damage to the records surface.

B.Greenway

Proper turntable placement

Proper turntable placement, no were not talking about in the living room, or next to the stereo. What I want to discuss is the correct placement for your turntable and how it can affect the sound quality in your system. If you were to take a microscope and examine the surface of an LP, you?d no doubt notice the tiny pits and grooves that hold our precious, yet somewhat delicate, analog sound. A stylus has to be able to ?feel? every nook and cranny on the surface of that LP in order to extract every nuance that?s present in the recording; this as it turns out is one area (proper placement) almost all turntable owners fall short on.

Almost everything in a turntables? environment can affect its sonic quality, even down the speakers themselves. That?s right, think about what a speaker?s purpose is and it?s easy to see how easily they can alter a turntables sound. A speaker?s purpose is to move air, that might be over simplifying it a bit, but that?s their job in a nutshell. Now what is a turntables job in the system? The turntables job is to, as accurately as possible, get the information off of the LP with as little distortion as possible.

Picture this, you?re trying to draw a beautiful landscape with a pencil, and I come up behind you and whack the back of your hand while you?re drawing. Will the picture turn out as nicely if I hadn?t disturbed you? Of course not and this is the exact same dilemma the stylus on a turntable experiences when there are unnecessary vibrations either airborne or emanating from the floor.

When trying to find the most suitable place for your turntable, keep a few things in mind. You want it close enough to the rest of the equipment so that your phono leads will reach the pre-amp, but far enough away that the speakers as to induce the least amount of airborne vibration possible. This is no small task in some systems but the closer you come to this goal, the better the sonic results.

One last thing to consider is the stand itself. Try this, go up to your turntable?s stand/shelf what have you, and gently try to rock it. If there is any and I do mean any movement or play in the stand or shelf, try and eliminate it. This securing of your turntables? resting place will in some systems be on par with the benefit of a new piece of gear in your system. Yes it really can make that much difference. Note that none of the set-up tricks I?ve discussed here address the turntables? actual set-up, i.e. azimuth, stylus installation and pitch, that?s a whole other story unto itself.

B.Greenway

ABC News on the ELP Laser Turntable

Years ago I remember hearing about the ELP Laser turntable. At the time it was often relegated to commercial radio stations who wanted to preserve LP?s that were of significant historical relevance, or the playback of rare irreplaceable albums.

It would appear as if ELP has improved the sound quality of the stylus free turntable quite a bit, the article mentions play back of a 30 year old LP with no audible surface noise. This high tech version of the old stand-by turntable doesn?t come cheap however; the retail of the ELP laser turntable is 10k USD.

Even with the hefty price tag, a unit such as this does have real world applications. Everyone has those ?special? LP?s that for whatever reason, are just to precious to risk to a worn stylus. The article goes on to mention that with broader marketing and licensing the ELP or similar laser turntable could drop into the budgets of mere mortals.

B.Greenway

Music Hall MMF 2.1 Turntable

For those looking for a little something more from a turntable, the Music Hall MMF-2.1 might just fit the bill. Music Hall (Founded by Roy Hall) brings world renowned British hi-fi engineering to those of us with real world budgets. The MMF-2.1 is a 2-speed belt driven audiophile turntable, and is constructed using high quality components and comes complete with tonearm and cartridge.

True to the ?British? style of hi-fi, the MMF-2.1 doesn?t offer unnecessary bells and whistles, just pure analog sound.

Features:
? Low noise fully manual belt-drive design
? Real wood plinth
? Separate isolated asynchronous motor with two-speed (33/45rpm) pulley
? Music Hall moving-magnet phono cartridge with replaceable elliptical stylus. The cartridge supplied is properly aligned and mounted
? Precision stainless steel & bronze bearing assembly for quiet fluid operation
? Metal alloy platter and felt mat
? Comprehensive instruction manual

Buy the Music Hall MMF 2.1 Turntable $289.00

Vestax Handy-Trax, portable turntable

Ever shopped for LP’s and wished you had a little portable turntable you could bring along, to check those used LP’s for surface pops? How about a second back-up table that the kids can play with instead of your prized vinyl spinner?

The Vestax Handy-Trax Portable Turntable (Vestax known their DJ mixers and pro turntables) features an all-in-one design with travel case, dynamic tone arm and built-in speaker. 33-1/3, 45 and 78 RPM’s are supported and the table has a stereo line input to mix in other music. The Handy-Trax also includes a cartridge and line out to connect to a home stereo or DJ system as well as a headphone jack.

B.Greenway

Thorens TD170 turntable

Years ago, after helping a friend move two or three times, I found myself packing up his Thorens turntable yet again, I asked him when are going to get rid of this thing?, you never use it. His reply was pretty funny, ?I never know when I might want to listen to an album!? He had owned that old Thorens turntable for years and showed no signs of wanting to get rid of it. Which I suppose is very telling of Thorens build quality, since 1883 Thorens has built some of the most highly regarded turntables around, from budget models all the way up to exotic TD 2030.

If you’d like a turntable that will offer some of that same longevity, I’d recommend the Thorens TD170, the TD170 is a belt driven, automatic table that supports 33, 45, and 78 (with optional Ortofon S78 stylus) RPM. Other features found on the TD170 include magnetic anti-skating, all aluminum patter and an electronic controlled DC motor.

Buy the Thorens TD-170 turntable

? Fully automatic operation
? 3-Speeds are supported: 33, 45, & 78 RPM
? Stable aluminum platter
? Distortion-free aluminum tubular tonearm
? Magnetic anti-skating
? Electronic controlled DC motor
? Includes: ORT OMB10 phono cartridge
? For 78 RPM playback use you will need the optional ORT S78 stylus
? Color: Black

B.Greenway

Whats an analog lover to do

While perusing a few articles about vintage hi-fi and turntables, I ran across an article by Fred O. Williams of the Buffalo News, now it started off friendly enough, it was about a gentlemen named Bill Baltes who runs a hi-fi repair shop in Amherst. New York. All is well and I?m reading along about a fellow hi-fi fan and then I read “Analog” technology uses physical representations of sound - the minutely carved grooves on a disc - to represent music. Because of its mechanical limitations, analog yields a less precise version of an original recording than a compact disc, which encodes each second of music with tens of thousands of digits.?

Haha I just couldn?t help but laugh ?encodes each second of music with tens of thousands of digits? I don?t think this writer has any idea of what it would really take to impart the actual information from a LP in digital terms.

This is one of the most frustrating notions about analog playback, I run across. It?s so hard to convince someone who?s been ?Digitally Brainwashed? that they?ve been feed a lie. To be honest at this point in the game I don?t know that it matters, digital itself is undergoing a transformation with DVD-Audio and SACD attempting to offer the sound quality, that some of us have enjoyed for years.

But I do feel that whatever format is to come in the next few years, that?s to replace SACD or alike, may truly once and for all make it a moot point. i.e. with just one more push from the digital engineers from Philips and or Sony, we may indeed be able to put the Analog vs. Digital debate to rest, that is for those of us who know it wasn?t over with the introduction of the Compact Disc

B.Greenway

Blast from vinyls past

Ever wanted an antique Victrola style turntable? Well I can?t say that I have, but my Grandmother sure used to buzz my ear from time to time, asking for one. This Victrola replica from RCA sports a slightly more modern 3 speed turntable assembly, CD player and AM/FM radio.

Don?t worry about the sound coming from the megaphone though, best I can tell it?s for looks as the RCA Lawton Turntable has two built in stereo speakers. The retro base is made from real wood.

B.Greenway

Analog around the web

The Turntable is making a comeback? I never knew it left
Here?s a nice write-up about something I know all to well, the basic premise of the article is that (1) turntables are still cool (2) they sound great and (3) the sound quality of records have never been surpassed CD. Not exactly a news flash, but worth showing to those friends of yours who think you?re crazy, for not throwing out all of those LP?s years ago.

Turning the tables on iPod?s
I just ran across a nice little article where the writer describes buying a turntable ?After nearly 20 years of exclusive loyalty to compact discs?. It?s a nice read, especially if you?ve considered doing the same recently.

B.Greenway

Introduction

I?ve been an analog nut (for Turntables) ever since I walked into a local hi-fi shop in the early nineties and ignorantly asked ?hey you got a lot of turntables here, are they on close out?? Thankfully the owner didn?t boot me out on my arse. He politely explained ?I think you might have been misinformed about just how good a turntable can sound, let me show you?.

He demoed a Linn LP12, playing back through a pair of B&W 801?s. I nodded and said that sounds ok? Later as we were getting into the car, I turned to my girlfriend at the time and proclaimed ?I?m getting a system like that one day?.

Years later I had my system, not exactly the one I had auditioned that day, but similar. I?d become a bonafide hi-fi nut, but specifically an analog nut. Here it is almost 15 years later and my turntable passion is still going strong, I still buy LP?s from local shops and enjoy listening to records (the vinyl 12? kind) on the weekends.

My goal with this site is to share news, product information and anything else that comes down the pipeline, for other analog aficionados or those just curious about what all the fuss is. Just because I have a (somewhat) high end system, won?t mean that?s all we talk about here, to the contrary I love just about all turntables, and look forward to exploring as many as possible. Who knows maybe someone will read this site and buy their first turntable!

B.Greenway