Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Mather said:
Yeah, you know when you just go through an unfortunate run of records during a session sometimes? Like you happen to play like 5 in a row that have pops here or there, or IGD and it just makes you feel like everything sounds like that? That's what yesterday was. Both Costello albums have TWENTY SEVEN minutes of music per side, so there's no way around it on those ones. Most of the other ones I played were like 40+ year old pressings and there's a multitude of different reasons I might be heading some degradation on those...
Click to expand...

Totally been there.. it sucks when things don't sound the way we want them to.

I've tried to get myself to the point where if I come in here and things aren't sounding right, I shut it down and come back tomorrow. Typically things are fine again. Maybe it was my album choices, or I had a bit of a cold, or I was grumpy, etc... it happens. I try not to let it drive me too crazy anymore. Not easy though.. lol
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Totally been there.. it sucks when things don't sound the way we want them to.

I've tried to get myself to the point where if I come in here and things aren't sounding right, I shut it down and come back tomorrow. Typically things are fine again. Maybe it was my album choices, or I had a bit of a cold, or I was grumpy, etc... it happens. I try not to let it drive me too crazy anymore. Not easy though.. lol
Click to expand...
Haha yep I'm trying to do exactly the same thing. Brute force never works when I feel like everything sounds off, shut it down and come back is my new preferred method.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Totally been there.. it sucks when things don't sound the way we want them to.

I've tried to get myself to the point where if I come in here and things aren't sounding right, I shut it down and come back tomorrow. Typically things are fine again. Maybe it was my album choices, or I had a bit of a cold, or I was grumpy, etc... it happens. I try not to let it drive me too crazy anymore. Not easy though.. lol
Click to expand...
Absolutely. So many parallels between guitar (tube amps in particular) and vinyl playback. Some days it's magic, some days it ain't.

Also @Mather not to further deepen the dive here, but..... 2M Black... any chance that finicky Shibata could be the culprit?

::runs and hides::

Seriously though, the tricky thing is....we never know what we're gonna get til it's in our system. Maddening!!
 
HayesWeighsIn said:
Absolutely. So many parallels between guitar (tube amps in particular) and vinyl playback. Some days it's magic, some days it ain't.

Also @Mather not to further deepen the dive here, but..... 2M Black... any chance that finicky Shibata could be the culprit?

::runs and hides::

Seriously though, the tricky thing is....we never know what we're gonna get til it's in our system. Maddening!!
Click to expand...
Well it's possible, but to my understanding Shibatas are supposed to help with IGD because they get so far down into the groove, from what I've read? And it's absolutely lined up perfectly, trust me, I checked, repeatedly, yesterday.
 
Slimwhit33 said:
First, using it as a preamp completely blows away the Rogue, as I suppose it should. Sound is night and day better. Will also likely use it as an integrated in the summer when the heat from the tubes may be a bit much. I’ve got it set up so all I have to do is switch the speaker wires and hit he separates button on the Luxman remote to change them.
Click to expand...
Power move, IMHO. Looks great, sounds great.
 
Mather said:
Question, in moving from a ProJect 2 Xperience to a VPI Signature Classic, would it be reasonable to expect that it might do a better job with the occasional IGD? It's the one thing I find with my current table that bugs me. Everything is absolutely lined up correctly but I do find that there is noticeable degradation towards the label on more albums than I would like.
Click to expand...
Yes, the VPI should help. There are two reasons why: a 10" versus a 9" tonearm and the lack of friction in the unipivot bearing. You will still get the unipivot "wobble" on the tonearm, but that seems to be more of an appearance issue than a sonic one. Any issues you have with IGD with a good cart on the Classic are likely to be due to setup versus design or geometry.

but..... 2M Black... any chance that finicky Shibata could be the culprit?
Click to expand...

No IGD issues for me on the 10" Traveler tonearm with a Hana Shibata stylus.
 
Mather said:
Well it's possible, but to my understanding Shibatas are supposed to help with IGD because they get so far down into the groove, from what I've read? And it's absolutely lined up perfectly, trust me, I checked, repeatedly, yesterday.
Click to expand...
Longer tonearm is the easiest (ie most direct) solution. Or going linear tracker, I guess.
 
After f***ing up my shot at an affordable Luxman PD-171 a couple weeks ago, I've decided to replace my Pioneer PLX-1000 with ... another Traveler. The Pioneer was an experiment in direct drive which had some advantages, but I've preferred the sound, look and feel of the Traveler.

I'll plan keep my v1.1 Traveler in my main system and replace the PLX-1000 in my office with a v2 Traveler that I'll get from a local owner. I'll hold the second Traveler until providence graces me with another shot at a Luxman.
 
Angsty said:
After f***ing up my shot at an affordable Luxman PD-171 a couple weeks ago, I've decided to replace my Pioneer PLX-1000 with ... another Traveler. The Pioneer was an experiment in direct drive which had some advantages, but I've preferred the sound, look and feel of the Traveler.

I'll plan keep my v1.1 Traveler in my main system and replace the PLX-1000 in my office with a v2 Traveler that I'll get from a local owner. I'll hold the second Traveler until providence graces me with another shot at a Luxman.
Click to expand...
Well now we’ve gotta know the 1.1 vs the 2 takeaway in a few weeks!
 
Slimwhit33 said:
Totally been there.. it sucks when things don't sound the way we want them to.

I've tried to get myself to the point where if I come in here and things aren't sounding right, I shut it down and come back tomorrow. Typically things are fine again. Maybe it was my album choices, or I had a bit of a cold, or I was grumpy, etc... it happens. I try not to let it drive me too crazy anymore. Not easy though.. lol
Click to expand...
You know what's extra funny? I'm doing dry January and I just went in and checked my settings and my sub was down -5 db due to some adjustments I made last week and then discarded but I missed resetting the sub. So no wonder everything sounded off last night.
GODDAMMIT DRY JANUARY YOU KNOW WHO WOULDN'T HAVE MADE THAT MISTAKE? DRUNK MATHER THAT'S WHO

He may wake up to find his phone in the crisper but no chance he fucks up the EQ settings on the system.
 
Mather said:
You know what's extra funny? I'm doing dry January and I just went in and checked my settings and my sub was down -5 db due to some adjustments I made last week and then discarded but I missed resetting the sub. So no wonder everything sounded off last night.
GODDAMMIT DRY JANUARY YOU KNOW WHO WOULDN'T HAVE MADE THAT MISTAKE? DRUNK MATHER THAT'S WHO

He may wake up to find his phone in the crisper but no chance he fucks up the EQ settings on the system.
Click to expand...

I spent a wild 30 minutes listening the other day and wondering WTF was the matter... suffered through it then went to shut down and saw one of the banana plugs had come off the speaker post when I had moved the speaker to access the back of the rack.. enjoyed the rest of the day immensely knowing that I'm just an idiot and the system was fine.

I made it a week into Dry January then pivoted to "Dry Sun-Thursday for at least Q1 2023".. whatever.. I'm weak.. lol
 
Slimwhit33 said:
I spent a wild 30 minutes listening the other day and wondering WTF was the matter... suffered through it then went to shut down and saw one of the banana plugs had come off the speaker post when I had moved the speaker to access the back of the rack.. enjoyed the rest of the day immensely knowing that I'm just an idiot and the system was fine.

I made it a week into Dry January then pivoted to "Dry Sun-Thursday for at least Q1 2023".. whatever.. I'm weak.. lol
Click to expand...
The best thing about screwing up the system due to some stupid mistake is that I get to go back and listen to all the records I got this week and realize that they all sound about twice as good as I had initially thought.
 
Debating a new table for my secondary system to replace a restored AR “The Turntable”.

Can anyone illuminate me on the advantages/disadvantages of a restored Thorens TD-125 mk II vs a restored TD-160? Also, age old advice is to change the stock Thorens arm for an SME 3009, but I wonder if I could do a 12” arm on the TD 125 or if that's a bad idea?
 
SnowmaNick said:
Debating a new table for my secondary system to replace a restored AR “The Turntable”.

Can anyone illuminate me on the advantages/disadvantages of a restored Thorens TD-125 mk II vs a restored TD-160? Also, age old advice is to change the stock Thorens arm for an SME 3009, but I wonder if I could do a 12” arm on the TD 125 or if that's a bad idea?
Click to expand...
I'm no expert on these turntables, though I do own both a modified TD-160 (from Dave at Vinyl Nirvana) and a modified TD-125 II with an SME 300- tonearm. (I also have a stock TD-125 II.) I would think the 160 might be similar enough to your restored AR that it would be a sideways move, whereas the 125 should give you something different, and I think the mod options are greater as well. So many variables....
 
Russ I said:
I'm no expert on these turntables, though I do own both a modified TD-160 (from Dave at Vinyl Nirvana) and a modified TD-125 II with an SME 300- tonearm. (I also have a stock TD-125 II.) I would think the 160 might be similar enough to your restored AR that it would be a sideways move, whereas the 125 should give you something different, and I think the mod options are greater as well. So many variables....
Click to expand...
Thanks. The sideways move is a concern I have. How do you like the 125?
 
SnowmaNick said:
Debating a new table for my secondary system to replace a restored AR “The Turntable”.

Can anyone illuminate me on the advantages/disadvantages of a restored Thorens TD-125 mk II vs a restored TD-160? Also, age old advice is to change the stock Thorens arm for an SME 3009, but I wonder if I could do a 12” arm on the TD 125 or if that's a bad idea?
Click to expand...
I had a 160 a couple years ago.. its the one piece that I've moved on that I wished I had kept. I loved it and really do miss it. I should have kept it to anchor a second system.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top