Turntables - help me understand the appeal?

[mansr]

RTR is SO much more techno kool than turntables
Check out this bad-ass sucker!

Is that the new Xbox controller?

 

[JohnBooty]

For those who like listening to turntables on their main systems, why should I consider putting money into this? Can you help me understand why you like listening to records better than HQ streaming?

My listening is about 90% digital, 10% vinyl. I'll never go full vinyl but I'm glad I dipped my toes into the water.

It's not a sound quality thing for me.

Vinyl's cool because it encourages you to listen to an entire album at a time. It's a much different way of enjoying music. It's not better, it's just different and I enjoy "both" kinds of listening... hopping around digital playlists with ADHD, and relaxing with a drink and enjoying an album while I play an album and hang out with my pets in the den.

Of course you can do that with digital as well, and sometimes I do, but vinyl just steers you to that kind of listening and it can be really fun. And the album art can be enjoyable as well. Like a big picture book. Sometimes the vinyl itself is an extension of the artwork. In our increasingly digital, ephemeral world it's nice to have a few special things that are physical objects.

With regards to sound quality, obviously digital is in an entirely different realm from an objective standpoint. But from a subjective standpoint it can just sound really enjoyable. Plus a lot of those 1970s albums just have phenomenal production and mastering, and even on vinyl they'll sound better than a lot of today's music that's had all the dynamic range crushed out of it thanks to the loudness wars.

I'm curious, but not sure I want to invest several hundred more dollars on an appropriate rig

Might be more than that, maybe closer to $500 if buying new? Decent turntables seem to start at a few hundred, but you might find yourself paying a c-note or two more than that on a cartridge and a preamp. YMMV.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Always wondered, why the two arms?
So you can play two different tracks at once?

Because two is better than one?

Microsekie (sp?) had three. It was to be able to enjoy different cartridges with different music as all cartridges had a different sound.

If they'd standardized placement and used double groove LP, there could have been Quad on the vinyl disc way back when.

 

[bigx5murf]

Usually a second arm is for 78rpm.

 

[Blumlein 88]

The old three arm Micro Seiki

And some newer 4 arm version.

 

[JJB70]

My mechanical quartz watch is currently off by about 2 seconds. I set it as near as I could when DST ended in late October. That's an accuracy better than 4 ppm.


It's a piece of jewellery that also tells time. That makes it more useful than a ring or a bracelet.

There is a lot to be said for something that tells the time, doesn't need to be re-charged every night and which you can almost forget about on your risk. And if you are in a meeting or talking to people with no clock clearly visible a discreet glance at your wrist tends to be perceived as being much less rude than constantly looking at a mobile phone if you need to be aware of time.

 

[Ceburaska]

Usually a second arm is for 78rpm.

Or a mono cartridge.
Course you then need a phono amp with non RIAA EQ...
Although I tried that and a) could hardly tell the difference, b) found I only had about ten LPs that ‘needed’ it out of 200+ mono records.

 

[cjfrbw]

Vinyl is so gratifying that without a separate arm for a second cartridge, and, of course, the conceit of a mono cartridge, then you just haven't achieved Nirvana yet!

 

[NTomokawa]

My mechanical quartz watch is currently off by about 2 seconds.

(Grand) Seiko Spring Drive?

 

[invaderzim]

As long as you don't try pulling a Fremmer claiming vinyl is a superior medium for the reproduction of music, your fine.

Maybe "superior medium" is being argued as two different things? To one person it can mean more accurate and to the other it can mean more enjoyable. I think my pork ribs are superior to others and yet to experts they would be considered over cooked. However I enjoy mine far more than the properly cooked ones.

 

[svart-hvitt]

Used to keep 1 suit around for weddings and funerals. Thank goodness times have changed and that convention is no longer deemed nessacary, we can now dress casually any place and not be inappropriate.

As long as you don't try pulling a Fremmer claiming vinyl is a superior medium for the reproduction of music, your fine. We use science here to measure the quality of reproduction, not "sounds good to me". Vinyl is stuck in the 1950s technically and just can't compete with modern methods of recording and playback.

Interestingly, Fremer rips vinyl using a Lynx Hilo and all to showcase the LP format to a wider audience.

It’s the mastering and vinyl sound he likes, I guess. He is not trying to win a technical argument on analog vs digital, as far as I understand.

 

[mansr]

(Grand) Seiko Spring Drive?

It's a Tag Heuer with a battery powered quartz movement. By mechanical I meant that it has a traditional face with hands rather than a digital display. The battery lasts 5 years.

 

[Blumlein 88]

There is a lot to be said for something that tells the time, doesn't need to be re-charged every night and which you can almost forget about on your risk. And if you are in a meeting or talking to people with no clock clearly visible a discreet glance at your wrist tends to be perceived as being much less rude than constantly looking at a mobile phone if you need to be aware of time.

I've an old Seiko quartz watch which I wore everyday for 28 years. It was exactly and precisely 1 second fast every month. So each 6 months when daylight sayings time came and went I'd set it 3 seconds slow and by the next change it was 3 seconds fast. Oh and the batteries lasted 11 years 7 months each time. Should need another one next year. This is a LCD digital display.

I've a newer Citizen solar powered watch. It is nice, light (titanium), but it gains 3 seconds each month. I have to set it slow by 9 seconds. But it presumably doesn't need a battery or a winding ever. This one has a mechanical face. It does look a good deal more stylish.

 

[invaderzim]

<snip> I've a newer Citizen solar powered watch. It is nice, light (titanium), but it gains 3 seconds each month. I have to set it slow by 9 seconds. But it presumably doesn't need a battery or a winding ever. This one has a mechanical face. It does look a good deal more stylish.

I'm closing in on 2 decades with a Citizen Eco-Drive and except for making sure it gets light everyday (can't store it in a drawer) it hasn't needed anything.

 

[The Dragon]

I just wish the whole thing was easier and more modular. It shouldn't be so hard to replace a cartridge. Good TTs shouldn't be thousands of dollars; perhaps they are not and I need to find a sweet-spot for price to performance.

Technics tried to make cartridge replacement/upgrades easier and more modular when they introduced the T4P plug-in style cartridge format (some call it the "p-mount"). First introduced on the early Technics linear tracking models (the SL-7, SL-10, and SL-15), the T4P standard attempted to "standardize" cartridge weight and tracking force so that consumers could easily replaced a cartridge simply by removing a set screw, unplugging the old cartridge, plugging in the new cartridge, and then replacing the set screw. No further adjustments were necessary as long as the replacement cartridge met the T4P standard. Unfortunately, it was introduced just as CDs were coming onto the scene, so it did not catch on industry-wide.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I'm closing in on 2 decades with a Citizen Eco-Drive and except for making sure it gets light everyday (can't store it in a drawer) it hasn't needed anything.

Good news to hear. Eco-Drive is what mine is. My understanding is they don't have batteries, but something like a small super-capacitor for holding charge.

 

[invaderzim]

Good news to hear. Eco-Drive is what mine is. My understanding is they don't have batteries, but something like a small super-capacitor for holding charge.

Yep, when mine ran really slow recently I started looking into replacing the battery and Citizen said it should never need replaced but gave specs on how much outdoor or indoor light it needs daily and mine was sitting in the dark too much so I put it on the window sill for a weekend and it was all good again.

 

[MattHooper]

To be fair whilst there is a bit of this here it is nowhere near what you would suffer in the opposite direction on a forum like What’s Best if you type facts!
.

From my brief experience here, I agree Frank.

Though I can detect the sound of occasional gritting of teeth when vinyl is praised at all, generally I find the responses here balanced, thoughtful and civil.

 

[Killingbeans]

Technics tried to make cartridge replacement/upgrades easier and more modular when they introduced the T4P plug-in style cartridge format (some call it the "p-mount"). First introduced on the early Technics linear tracking models (the SL-7, SL-10, and SL-15), the T4P standard attempted to "standardize" cartridge weight and tracking force so that consumers could easily replaced a cartridge simply by removing a set screw, unplugging the old cartridge, plugging in the new cartridge, and then replacing the set screw. No further adjustments were necessary as long as the replacement cartridge met the T4P standard. Unfortunately, it was introduced just as CDs were coming onto the scene, so it did not catch on industry-wide.

I used Ortofon Concorde cartridge + Stylus 30 on my TT. Pretty much as plug and play as it can get.

 

[Ceburaska]

Technics tried to make cartridge replacement/upgrades easier and more modular when they introduced the T4P plug-in style cartridge format (some call it the "p-mount"). First introduced on the early Technics linear tracking models (the SL-7, SL-10, and SL-15), the T4P standard attempted to "standardize" cartridge weight and tracking force so that consumers could easily replaced a cartridge simply by removing a set screw, unplugging the old cartridge, plugging in the new cartridge, and then replacing the set screw. No further adjustments were necessary as long as the replacement cartridge met the T4P standard. Unfortunately, it was introduced just as CDs were coming onto the scene, so it did not catch on industry-wide.

“No further adjustments were necessary”...would have condemned it to audiophile scorn even without CD!
I’ve got an SL10, nice but not a match to the Biotracers.