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Beginner’s Guide to Turntables & Hi–Fi *READ 1st PAGE BEFORE POSTING NEW THREADS / BASIC QUESTIONS*


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Probably, I wanted to try it because I'd never tried any Emotiva product and its not a brand that gets much coverage in the UK but on balance I much prefer the Cambridge 651, the Emotiva is a bit flat in comparison. I'm glad I tried it though otherwise it would have been a question I'd have never been able to answer.

Hey, sounds good to me. Holding it in my hand I thought it was a fantastic little piece of equipment and it worked well for my first pre.

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Curious if anyone else has had this problem...

 

A record will be spinning and everything will be sounding great, and then all of a sudden I'll get an instantaneous and dramatic drop in sound quality – static, noise, volume drop – something is obviously very wrong. However, all I need to do then is lift the tonearm and drop it again, and then things are back to normal. I can go for hours of listening without this happening, and then bam, out of nowhere. Same fix every time, although the length between occurrences can be minutes or hours.

 

The table is a brand new RP1 w/ Rega Bias cart. Bias selector is set to about 1.5 (tough to find definitive info if this is correct).

 

Any ideas?

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Have you been checking for dust on the needle? Would be the most reasonable explanation to me, since it can cause the drop in sound quality you described, easily flips off by lifting the tone arm and heavily depends on how dusty your records are.

 

That could be it, but I never had this with my previous TT. I typically run an anti-static brush over the record before playing, but maybe the Rega stylus is more sensitive. Will look into this. Thanks.

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That could be it, but I never had this with my previous TT. I typically run an anti-static brush over the record before playing, but maybe the Rega stylus is more sensitive. Will look into this. Thanks.

 

If the Rega stylus is elliptical and your previous was conical then it will be going into the groove differently and bringing out the crap your previous one couldn't.

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Narrowing my search for a new integrated amp down to a Music Hall A15.3 and a Yamaha A-S500BL. The Music Hall has some great reviews, but lacks the ability to change the bass and tremble (not a huge deal) but it $150 more. I've always liked Yamaha's stuff a lot, have a cheaper receiver of theirs now that sounds decent. Anyone have either? Which would you pick? I don't really need the phono stages in either, since I have a Schitt Mani that supports MM/MC while both those only seem to support MM (debating upgrading to a Denon 110 in the near future).

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That does seem the most logical, and as I said, I like the cheap receiver I have of theirs. It looks like I'll go that route. Thanks! Did you like the A-S700?

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I had an A-S500 and the sound was pretty good for the price, but the preamp was pretty lackluster. It didn't take me long until I bought a Cambridge 651p to pair with it and made a huge improvement.

How much are you looking to spend on it? I was able to find a great condition Brio-R for only $150 more than I sold my used A-S500 for, and then sold my 651p for enough that I made money stepping up to the Brio - and holy shit was it was an incredible step up.

Can't speak on the A-S700 but I'd suggest keeping your eyes open for a good deal on a used integrated that's a step up (like the Rega Brio, or I almost pulled the trigger on a Cambridge 651a and Creek 50 for reasonable prices too until I finally found a Brio).

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I always forget that site exists, I'll look into them. I'm always a little apprehensive about buying used stuff and spending that much on it though.

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See it's the opposite for me, I'm more comfortable buying expensive stuff used than I am cheap stuff. Someone who can afford a $1k piece of audio equipment and taking the time to sell on an audio-exclusive website tend to take great care of their stuff, and selling because they bought something better.

My experience with audiomart and audiogon are generally helpful people that are excited to see their beloved equipment go to someone else who is excited to upgrade to it, just as they once were. And think of it this way, as long as you pay with PayPal you're pretty damn protected if something is wrong.

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See it's the opposite for me, I'm more comfortable buying expensive stuff used than I am cheap stuff. Someone who can afford a $1k piece of audio equipment and taking the time to sell on an audio-exclusive website tend to take great care of their stuff, and selling because they bought something better.

My experience with audiomart and audiogon are generally helpful people that are excited to see their beloved equipment go to someone else who is excited to upgrade to it, just as they once were. And think of it this way, as long as you pay with PayPal you're pretty damn protected if something is wrong.

 

I would have to agree with you - I've bought expensive and cheap stuff, and I found especially with the more expensive stuff, it's ridiculously well taken care of - not that the cheap stuff is poorly managed, but I bought a 5-6 year old amp that was already with it's second owner, and when I got it it was in pristine condition. 

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See it's the opposite for me, I'm more comfortable buying expensive stuff used than I am cheap stuff. Someone who can afford a $1k piece of audio equipment and taking the time to sell on an audio-exclusive website tend to take great care of their stuff, and selling because they bought something better.

 

 

This has generally been my experience but it doesn't always hold true, things like turntables becasue they are still perceived by many as superseded can be treated very badly no matter how expensive. for instance I found an Ariston RD11 turntable with an SME309 arm on a rubbish tip once, that's a very expensive and high end combination to just throw away, it had obviously been kept somewhere damp as the veneer was lifting and the base board was warped but with a little cleaning and minor servicing it still functions perfectly and sounds superb, I'm not sure which is most impressive, the build quality that allowed this thing to survive or the stupidity that got it there in the first place.

 

There is also the Linn LP12 I was offered that had followed a divorcing man out of his house only the turntable had left the house via an upstairs window, suffice to say that didn't look well cared for.

 

But yes in general a pretty safe rule and generally easy to spot a bad piece of high end equipment or seller and you can soon tell when you listen to it

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The demo Brio for $610 USD is a pretty good deal if they will ship to US, I really do love mine. Granted, I have a Rega P3 ao I'm a bit biased in the pairing I'm sure.

 

All Rega equipment is very musical sounding and always a good bet against pretty much anything with Asian origins, and it's a Brio with a built in phono stage which I'll wager will give your off-board one a run for it's money as well.

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