Well, I hope you guys are happy now....

SCompRacer

Congrats on your entry into vinyl Darla. When I got back into vinyl, I started with a Rega Planar 2 with a Japenese R200 arm that I rewired. After relying on Japanese made arms for many years, the Rega RB300 was the first British made arm supplied with the Rega tables. The RB250 is similar, with the main difference in the bearings. As Joe mentioned, the Dynavector 10x5 is a great cartridge. Very dynamic.

The RB250's bearings are mounted on either side of the vertical-pivoting part of the gimbal, whereas the RB300 and higher arms all have both sides of the bearing on the same side of the gimbal. The claim is that the wider spacing of the bearings on the RB250 offers greater stability than Rega's higher-priced arms.

With vinyl, your upgrade path is only limited by your budget. If desired, the RB250 arm can be modded to improve it. One is replacing the stock plastic counterweight stub along with a heavy counterweight. The other is better internal wiring.

If you like vinyl but want more, get your ears on as many different tables as you can to see what you like. Sporty-dynamic, rich and warm, etc.

Enjoy.

wingnut4772

Thanks. I have not heard it yet but I think if I upgrade I will just trade it in for the 80% but who knows? I will probably be satisfied with it the way it is.

madmax

Cool! Its about time you joined the 21st century of audio reproduction!
madmax

hearingimpared

madmax wrote: »

Cool! Its about time you joined the 21st century of audio reproduction!
madmax

LOL!

wingnut4772

How important is it to have the player perfectly level? I have dreaded Mexican tile and it's terribly uneven.


Also, I know it's been mentioned before BUT.....what are some good vinyl buying sites? The usual subjects (Music Direct, Acoustic Sounds etc) are a bear to navigate and take forever.

hearingimpared

The platter and tonearm board should be perfectly level. There should be adjustments either with the feet or the suspension.

madmax

Mine sounds better when level.
madmax

hearingimpared

wingnut4772 wrote: »

How important is it to have the player perfectly level? I have dreaded Mexican tile and it's terribly uneven.


Also, I know it's been mentioned before BUT.....what are some good vinyl buying sites? The usual subjects (Music Direct, Acoustic Sounds etc) are a bear to navigate and take forever.

Darla when there is something in particular that I am looking for, I google it. That gives me a plethora of sites to choose from, from new sealed LPs to used. For the newer releases I use Elusive Disc and the others you've named. Goodwill shops, Salvation Army and thrift shops are great places to hit the jackpot on vinyl. I've accumulated a nice little jackpot from those types of establishments. George Grand posts records here and everything I've gotten from him is just as he describes plus I've gotten a few gems too.

madmax

The absolute coolest thing about vinyl is picking up 50 like new lp's you've never heard of for maybe $30, playing them and finding a few you would have spent $50 a piece for. It happens to me almost every time. Of course you have to like stuff for what it is rather than trying to find a very specific thing.

Another thing that happens is a lot of times you find something so cool for a quarter that you end up buying everything else by the same artist. I've done that many times. The last one was Laurie anderson. Bought one mint lp for under a dollar. It was so cool I ended up spending about $80 for 4 more lp's and a laserdisc of hers.

I love so much more music now than I did two years ago! Its absolutely amazing how much older good stuff there is that you would never actually consider buying before being exposed to it.

I moved to vinyl for the quality but found variety. If I did it over again today I think I would spend a lot less money for the "quality" aspect. Maybe not now but if I wasn't already used to very good gear...

madmax

BottomFeeder

hearingimpared wrote: »

Don't look forward Preacher just embrace it!:)

Ehhhh...still waffling.

1. It seems like there are so many "must have" accessoriies that jack up the price of getting into vinyl. Maybe you or others could give me a "bare bones" list of truly must haves that would be sufficient to just get me started!

2. When Danger Boy gets his SDA2's up and running, then I'll get the chance not only to hear those bad boys, but to hear his TT as well. I'd like to look a little before I leap! I haven't heard a TT in a loooooong time!

Thanks for the encouragement!

hearingimpared

BottomFeeder wrote: »

Ehhhh...still waffling.

1. It seems like there are so many "must have" accessoriies that jack up the price of getting into vinyl. Maybe you or others could give me a "bare bones" list of truly must haves that would be sufficient to just get me started!

2. When Danger Boy gets his SDA2's up and running, then I'll get the chance not only to hear those bad boys, but to hear his TT as well. I'd like to look a little before I leap! I haven't heard a TT in a loooooong time!

Thanks for the encouragement!

No problem at all. All you need is a turntable. Then you take it slow after that. Just one thing however. Pristine records are a must. There are hundreds of ways to get to city hall pick one.:)

BottomFeeder

Ok, thanks.

We'll see. I'll start w/Danger & go from there.

cmy330go

wingnut4772 wrote: »

.....Also, I know it's been mentioned before BUT.....what are some good vinyl buying sites? The usual subjects (Music Direct, Acoustic Sounds etc) are a bear to navigate and take forever.

If you are looking for new vinyl that sites you mentioned are good sources. If you are looking for rare/imports that can't be found elsewhere, and you don't mind spending some coin check out www.eil.com.

For used vinyl Joe has already mentioned a number of good sources. Other than that you could check out Half Price Books if you have one in your area. Also a while back I started a thread (LINK) for anyone searching for specific albums. It hasn't seen much use so far, but feel free to post any albums you are looking for and I would be happy to check my local vinyl shops for them.

wingnut4772

Ok. I am obviously doing something wrong. I put in my Brand New Norah Jones Album and I am hearing a whole bunch of snap cracle pop. I cleaned it with the brush and the stylus with the cleaner and it's way worse. It's so annoying and frustrating because if it were not for that it would sound so good.

Ricardo

Have you wet-cleaned the record? Dry brushes sometimes just move dust from one place to the other; I learned by doing

wingnut4772

HTrookie wrote: »

Have you wet-cleaned the record? Dry brushes sometimes just move dust from one place to the other; I learned by doing

No. I don't have that stuff. I just now opened the album though. It's brand spankin' new.

reeltrouble1

It may be full of yeast they use to release from the mold when they press the record, just cuz its new does not mean its clean Darla.

rT1

wingnut4772

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

It may be full of yeast they use to release from the mold when they press the record, just cuz its new does not mean its clean Darla.

rT1

Ohhhh. Well H- E double hocky sticks! Guess I 'll have to get a cleaner because the music (aside from the pops:mad: ) is incredible.

Ricardo

You don't really NEED a cleaning machine, which all it really does is provide a platform for cleaning and vacuum the liquid. If I were you, I'd be very frustrated also, and would take that record to the sink and wash with a very diluted dishwashing liquid solution, let fully dry and try again. Some will say that you need distilled water, etc, but one wash with tap water won't damage anything.

wingnut4772

HTrookie wrote: »

You don't really NEED a cleaning machine, which all it really does is provide a platform for cleaning and vacuum the liquid. If I were you, I'd be very frustrated also, and would take that record to the sink and wash with a very diluted dishwashing liquid solution, let fully dry and try again. Some will say that you need distilled water, etc, but one wash with tap water won't damage anything.

Ok. I will do that now. I have distilled water as well.

Ricardo

Then use it for rinsing. Make sure it is really dry (in the grooves) before playing it. And try to avoid wetting the label too much

wingnut4772

Okay. I just really rinsed it. I don't have a brush for wet records so I will let it dry and see. Thanks

Ricardo

Hint...hint

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtabl&1195311303

wingnut4772

HTrookie wrote: »

Hint...hint

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtabl&1195311303

Thanks. I sent the seller a message.:)

reeltrouble1

Oh no, the pain of the dirty water.............well, if water you must then distilled is the recommended, ain't vinyl fun!!!!!

I hope it sounds better now, get thee to the brush store, this is not snake oil Darla, you do need this stuff.

RT1

Ricardo

Hope you can get it; at that price these things don't last too much.

wingnut4772

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

Oh no, the pain of the dirty water.............well, if water you must then distilled is the recommended, ain't vinyl fun!!!!!

I hope it sounds better now, get thee to the brush store, this is not snake oil Darla, you do need this stuff.

RT1

I have the dry brush. That made it worse. I am listening to the SACD of the same Norah album. What a difference in the vinyl! If it weren't for that annoying noise it would win hands down.

reeltrouble1

Well, I take it its both sides of the album?? Every now and then you can get a bad pressing, especially the first track as it gets pulled to soon from the press before it properly cools down, but the noise should go away by the second track. But most new albums a dead quiet, I think its something in the set up but do you have another album to try. I bet Norah Jones would sound great on vinyl.

You have enough tracking force on the cartridge? Easy to adjust on the Rega. So after you rinsed the record it is still bad, well, you may need to scrub the record to get into the grooves and get the yeast mold out of there, other than that well, where the hell is MadMax??? or HI????? for some more ideas, or one of you other TT guys.

RT1

billbillw

I don't think simply rinsing will do anything unless you have a brush of some sort to get down in the grooves and loosen stuff up.

I still say, just buy the Spin Clean from Garage-a-Records. It works very well, I can testify to that. Its not as easy as using a VPI, but IMHO, it cleans just as well. Just be sure to dry quickly after removing the record.

http://www.garage-a-records.com/spin.html

wingnut4772

Ok. I dug up an Arcade Fire album my roommate has. It's not very clean but I brushed it and its quiet. So I guess Norah is just a dirty girl.