Turntables

[Nick B]

What do you guys think if this budget Marantz? belt drive made in Germany for $300

http://www.amazon.com/Marantz-TT42-automatic-Turntable-Cartridge/dp/B005JK64FQ

Looks good cosmetically and the price is right

[Werd]

Charles,
You might want to try your Vista with slagles stepups for the miyajima.
I ran that combo for a while and it was quite good, of course a better fono pre would help even more.
Do what the big boys do in high end analogue and run a MM phono pre and use stepups. Built in gain for a MC is a selling point for sure, but not really the best way to do it. The passive gain created by the transformer is by far the best sounding IMO, the inductor in the cartridge likes to see another inductor boost its signal, whenever caps and resistors are removed from the signal ,,it only gets better IMO.
If slagles stepups are too dear, than try cheaper ones, there are plenty out there......but IMO slagles are some of the best

Awesome tip on the transformers. What bugs me is the use of nickel in audio. Why do they do this? Here these Transformers are nickelcore. Is that all there is? I do not know I am just asking. I am beginning to believe the problem with solid state is the all the nickel core everything. The wiring, the plating on devices. I think it is horrible for solid state and it is everywhere.  I see the silver but is it silver plated nickel?

[richidoo]

Werd, nickel alloys (Permalloy) are more magnetically permeable than the standard magnetic core material, silicon steel. Higher magnetic permeability makes the transformer more energy efficient, allowing it to store more magnetic energy before saturating, while also reducing magnetic hysteresis and distortion, and/or reducing the size of the core  and its cost. Permalloy is not the ultimate magnetic core material, but for the cost it is an excellent choice and widely used in the audio industry. Nickel content ranges from 36-80%. Nickel is a toxic metal, so just don't lick it and you'll be fine.

[tmazz]

Werd, nickel alloys (Permalloy) are more magnetically permeable than the standard magnetic core material, silicon steel. Higher magnetic permeability makes the transformer more energy efficient, allowing it to store more magnetic energy before saturating, while also reducing magnetic hysteresis and distortion, and/or reducing the size of the core  and its cost. Permalloy is not the ultimate magnetic core material, but for the cost it is an excellent choice and widely used in the audio industry. Nickel content ranges from 36-80%. Nickel is a toxic metal, so just don't lick it and you'll be fine.

And keep in mind that as the core it is not carrying any signals, it is just the metal that the signal carrying wires are wrapped around. That is very different from using nickel in a connector that the signal will be flowing through.

[Werd]

Ok I forgot copper isn't magnetic  . 

[tmazz]

Yes but the current flowing through it will produce a magnetic field. That is the hole theory behind a transformer in the first place. I think the point I was trying to make is that in the case Rich described, although the copper wire is wrapped around the nickel alloy core the current itself is flowing only through the copper wire, so the nickel in the core will not effect the sound in the same way that a nickel plated connector, which the signal current does flow through is known to change the sound.

[Triode Pete]

Permalloy,  trademark of the Western Electric Company for nickel-iron alloys having much higher magnetic permeability than iron alone. It is widely used for fabricating the thin pieces that are laminated to form transformer cores. The proportion of nickel may range from 35 to 90 percent, depending on the properties desired, and is about 78 percent for low-power transformers.

Permalloy is a nickel–iron magnetic alloy, with about 80% nickel and 20% iron content. Invented in 1914 by physicist Gustav Elmen at Bell Telephone Laboratories, it is notable for its very high magnetic permeability, which makes it useful as a magnetic core material in electrical and electronic equipment, and also in magnetic shielding to block magnetic fields. Commercial permalloy alloys typically have relative permeability of around 100,000, compared to several thousand for ordinary steel.

Geez, Western Electric / Bell Labs invented permalloy... shocker!

Originally invented and used to speed-up Trans-Atlantic telegraph communication Four-Fold!

[tmazz]

Permalloy,  trademark of the Western Electric Company for nickel-iron alloys having much higher magnetic permeability than iron alone. It is widely used for fabricating the thin pieces that are laminated to form transformer cores. The proportion of nickel may range from 35 to 90 percent, depending on the properties desired, and is about 78 percent for low-power transformers.

Permalloy is a nickel–iron magnetic alloy, with about 80% nickel and 20% iron content. Invented in 1914 by physicist Gustav Elmen at Bell Telephone Laboratories, it is notable for its very high magnetic permeability, which makes it useful as a magnetic core material in electrical and electronic equipment, and also in magnetic shielding to block magnetic fields. Commercial permalloy alloys typically have relative permeability of around 100,000, compared to several thousand for ordinary steel.

Geez, Western Electric / Bell Labs invented permalloy... shocker!

Originally invented and used to speed-up Trans-Atlantic telegraph communication Four-Fold!

Does this really surprise you Pete? There are not to many things in this hobby that cannot be traced somehow back to research done at Bell Labs.

[Werd]

Iron Sounds  better than nickel. Nickel is the bane of all SS gear. Even in the core of the transformer. What is the typical nickel content found in the core of a block or E core transformer you see in a class A tube? Anyone know the answer to that? I am curious.