Back into vinyl....... Again

[Response Audio]

After loosing all my vinyl and tables in the September flood, I didn't have the mindset to get into vinyl again. Jumping ahead, we now have the Basis mkII with option phono stage so I needed a decent table  around again so decided to build a modified Audio Note TT1 which I will finish up at soon as I am done catching up with customers' products. Should be a killer vinyl combo.

The cool thing about my venture back into vinyl was when the solo bassist Dean Peer came up and handed me a signed copy of his new album (along with a CD and T-shirt) and told me he wanted it to be the first in my venture to rebuild my vinyl collection. He is a real down to earth guy and I had a great time hanging out with him.

[Response Audio]

Here are a few pictures of my custom table that will be used in our showroom. Its not up and running yet but I can't wait.

[rollo]

Looking good there Bill. Start a spinning. It looks so lonely without an LP on top. Feed it.
    Wishing you the best this year. We all can use some sales eh.


charles

[richidoo]

The table looks great in maple Bill. What's lurking within?



http://deanpeer.com/

[Response Audio]

She will be up and running soon enough.

The table
Is based on an Audio Note TT-1. I have modified the suspension so that it is not as loose. I prefer a non suspended table. The arm is basically the popular Rega 250 with a standard Audio Note Q1 cartridge. My Clearaudio Vertuosa Wood need retipping and will be my cart of choice.


The table is constructed on 1" Hard Maple with Mahogany inlay around the paremeter and arm board cover.

When I have some time, I will build a complete custom table from scratch built the way I want and using the components I choose. The AUdio Note table is not a bad table and has serves me well for many years now but I am limited to want can be done with it. I have a great design for a nice table and just need to the time to do it right.

[BobM]

That Clearaudio is a nice sounding cartridge.

[topround]

I find high mass tables sound the best, and I find I do not like suspended tables. I have used a Systemdek turntable and a Ariston table, both are OK at best, the bigger tables just make music bigger, more alive, and realistic. The cheap smaller tables just sound...small. and it is easy to see why people prefer their CD players to their toy turntables.

Not trying to be a snob but trust me when you move to a big high mass table it makes all the difference in the world.
Again this sounds like snobbery, but most people have never heard what great vinyl can be like, it is magical, supremely musical and simply magical, and trust me no DAC can compete.

Unfortunatley it requires expensive components and it must be set up really well, but when done right all those expensive cables we buy seem so uneccesarry, then the chase for tweaks end and all you focus on is getting great vinyl, when it sounds great you spend so much( too much) on music, if that is a bad thing?

[Triode Pete]

I find high mass tables sound the best, and I find I do not like suspended tables.

Hey topround,
Is this massive enough for you??? At least 6 feet long on a slab of Amish maple....

[topround]

nice,....but i would like a biiger platter

[jsaliga]

I find high mass tables sound the best, and I find I do not like suspended tables. I have used a Systemdek turntable and a Ariston table, both are OK at best, the bigger tables just make music bigger, more alive, and realistic. The cheap smaller tables just sound...small. and it is easy to see why people prefer their CD players to their toy turntables.

Not trying to be a snob but trust me when you move to a big high mass table it makes all the difference in the world.
Again this sounds like snobbery, but most people have never heard what great vinyl can be like, it is magical, supremely musical and simply magical, and trust me no DAC can compete.

Unfortunatley it requires expensive components and it must be set up really well, but when done right all those expensive cables we buy seem so uneccesarry, then the chase for tweaks end and all you focus on is getting great vinyl, when it sounds great you spend so much( too much) on music, if that is a bad thing?

I couldn't disagree with you more.  Excellent vinyl playback is not the exclusive province of expensive, massively over-engineered rigs nor does it take a genius to mount and align a cartridge.

Think what you will, but it is comments like this that probably keep a lot of people away from great sounding vinyl systems. They read this stuff and fear that it takes a mountain of cash and requires someone with a P.h.D. to get it dialed in.  Neither are true and both are very misleading.

--Jerome

[Response Audio]

I too 'prefer' high mass tables but there are a lot of very good tables out there of both designs. My preference for high mass is just that, a preference.

The Custom AN table was done in such a way that I can eliminate the suspension and this particular table does sound better to me this way.

I have also considered going with a thicker platter but decided to leave this table alone and just concentrate on the other one when the time comes.

Let's please not turn this into a debate over which is better. We all know that nobody wins a debate. We all have our opinions and that's what this hobby is all about.

Peace!

[BobM]

As the saying goes ... "there is more than one way to skin a cat"

(unfortunately they are all bad for the cat)

[topround]

Everyone is free to disagree

And we all drop lots of money on tables and plinths and arms and cartridges and phono stages, Jerome just spent a bucket load of money on his vinyl rig.....but of course you don't have to!

And a properly setup table always sounds better than a table that is not set up correctly, is a phd required? no never said it was


lighten up ...jeesz

[jsaliga]

Jerome just spent a bucket load of money on his vinyl rig.....but of course you don't have to!

Yes, I did spend a lot of money on that project.  But if you paid any attention to what I was trying to do you would know that it was a personal indulgence.  I never, not once, portrayed it as anything other than that and never, not once, referred to anything less as a toy turntable.

If you don't want to be mistaken for an audio snob, then perhaps you should stop posting like one.

--Jerome

[topround]

So you spent a ton of money on gear not because it was better but because your accountant told you to get rid of some money?

Turntables are mechanical devices that need some very basic things to be taken of to get good sound. Designers have all tried different approaches. Springs are used because it is a cheaper way to build a table and also damp vibration. Another way is to use high mass to kill vibration, but it is expensive to build and ship. Cartridges and tonearms require very high levels of presicion to be good, again...expensive.

Of course there is the silly high end markup we all bear, but some of the expense is that it really is expensive to build some of these things.

I have champagne taste with a beer budget so I buy used or try to get a good deal when I can, also having lots of friends helps

So I did not to try to offend anyone, but some people just look to be offended and wear the offense as a badge of honor, you my friend are what I call "high maintenance".

The thread was"Back into vinyl" in my experience people give up on vinyl because they don't have the tools to compete with their cd's, so their inexpensive table or the bad worn out records we all have tend to ruin the vinyl experience.
My response was trying to explain why more people do not find the magic records can bring, and honestly it does require a bigger more expensive rig to really show what vinyl can do compared to very good digital which is what all of us here obviously have.

That you thought my response was an attack on what you own is telling. You should be more confident.
If Joeblow posted "my Technics turntable is the best turntable" I would not respond and say it is a piece of shit(which it is) I would congradulate the guy on his happiness.

So I may appear to be a snob, but in actuality I really am not at all. 

So let the fun continue  before I get banned


Mike