allenh

That or free records for life

First order #537175 on Tuesday is processing, after I ordered I phoned and spoke to a very helpful and obviously busy lady there as I wanted to add something. Just placed another order #538188. It's the most fun I've had electronic shopping I can think of, bought all sorts of stuff I've never heard of. What turns up is what turns up and I will be happy either way (new records, like boobies always make me smile), the postman on the other hand if it all arrives will hate me

fish fork on standby

I've always been a fan of the TD160 variants, superb engineering and used to be good value but now people are realising there are alternatives to the LP12 without the price or BS that goes along with them which is pushing the price of the Thorens, AR and Ariston alternatives up.. Try the arm rewire before changing the arm, you can pick up pre done lengths of Cardas on ebay for $20 or less and it's probabaly an hour or two's work, it makes quite a difference over stock wire and if you use proper Cardas it's about as good as you can get before you go exotic. You can always make a Rega armboard and do an eggs for eggs comparison if you buy a Rega later. To my mind though the only reason to buy a speedbox is if you need to change the belt to change speed which you don't have to do on a Thorens, it won't give you much more than that and a couple of nice LED's. The reason to go down the Armageddon clone route is to smooth, isolate and stabilise the supply to the motor without electronic switching with the end result being much greater speed stability and a lowering of the noise floor. The transformers are expensive but worth it. The design is credited to Naim but my MRM Source has exactly the same PSU design and pre dates the Naim Armageddon's by quite some time.

If it was all fine before you added the pyle preamp I expect the built in one in the turntable has died or as has been suggested above you have a short in the cartridge wiring. The internal preamp needs to be switched off when using the pyle preamp. Switch the switch on the TT to off and try it with the pyle preamp again. If the volume is still low the problem is with the cart or wiring, if it's ok then it was the internal preamp and if it's all distorted the internal preamp is still on.

it's flowery use of the English language to ensure my shock and surprise are fully expressed but in reality means cock all, it's probably impossible and I would hope illegal in most of the civilised world.

Well bugger me sideways wish a fish fork!!! This one wins the dedication award, I don't feel anywhere near as bad now about the $100 or so I've spent

I got it here http://www.ubiquityrecords.com/

I wish you guys would stop putting your lists up, I keep seeing things I should but shouldn't order

Wish I hadn't seen that, had to wait till they opened so I could phone them and add the Mutemath LP to my order.

It's supposed to be electric peanut butter colour and sounds amazing to if you like a modern take on 60's and 70's psych and funk. Can't remember how I stumbled across it but I'm glad I did and I'm going to have to start playing the digital copy or I run the risk of wearing the LP's out.

Over here the record collector magazine quite often publishes identification features for the various Beatles pressings. I expect these are available on line and there are a few websites dedicated to the pressings of bands like the Beatles and Floyd that can be found with a little searching. But yes agreed for any LP's from the period that were pressed in such huge numbers it can be nightmare getting definitive info. I have a couple of issues of old Record Collector price guides I use that give pressing info or I do a lot of web research and you soon learn where the good info is. Normally I have a bit of a don't educate the mugs rule but with this sort of subject I always feel the more info out there the better as it stops some of the really misguided trying to sell 80's re presses as 1st pressings or buggering up the Discogs entries to make them fit what they are trying to sell.

Thanks for this thread Took me ages to go through the clearance items and I bet I missed stuff. I've just ordered a pile of stuff, 9 LP's in total (a couple of doubles in there) and shipping to the UK was only $22, I sometimes pay $20 or so shipping for 1 LP Free shipping for new customers in the US and a good variety can't be bad.

Its a bit sad they are in the same price range as something as good as a Thorens, over here with B&O until a couple a year or so ago it used to be you got something that looked pretty for not a lot of money and you could pick them up for $30 or $40 here for a reason. Now though they are going for very high prices and I should have bought them all up and sat on them as they do look good and snake oil always sells when hype comes to town. Yes the need to use only B&O carts is a big problem and getting them now is almost impossible but the biggest issue is they are just nowhere near as good as they look or where their original price suggested, I've got a couple of the combo units here which I love the looks of but given the choice regardless of price I would take something like the humble Pioneer PL12 over any B&O turntable.

I was in until then but I will probably regret it.

If the scale was remotely accurate at 3g for a cartridge that should run at 1.5g the cartridge body would be sitting on or very close to the record surface. That said if there is minimal deflection it could be that the stylus suspension is done and it doesn't deflect much because there is no movement to give any more and it would then site very low, there should be very little deflection and a good 2mm between the cartridge body and the record surface on a Grado when playing. Simple answer get a scale and then you will know one way or the other.

What I'm listening to now

Ordered with discount code and looking forward to it as it's my first Kanye album on vinyl and will probably want some more

That sounds like the scale is way off, pick up a cheap scale on ebay it's worth it. If the scale is ok and the suspension is gone on the stylus it's part of the stylus assembly so a new stylus assembly would fix it. Being a Grado putting a stylus in that's higher up the food chain is a good upgrade as in the Grado range like Nagaoka the carts stay the same and the stylus is the difference.

Agreed on the insistence on a built in pre it will definitely limit your choices over time and a Thorens or any of it's direct competitors yes anything B&O no, it's the Scandinavian Bose, form over function.

Yes they tend to be, I have always found them to be at least 10% and more often 20% or 25% out at 2g. If you have the arm at 2g on the scale now can you back the anti skate weight out 0.75g and it still track properly? If it does it sounds like your arm is the usual 0.4 to 0.5g out at 2g but if not it does sound like something is not right either with alignment or wear. That said a Grado should track well enough anywhere between 1 and 2g with the correct anti skate And when the deck is running is the needle tracking in the centre left to right of the cartridge when looking from the front and also not sinking a huge amount when the needle drops into the groove, ie. the height difference from where the needle is when it is not on a record and where it rests when it is is called deflection. which is the amount the shaft deflects, a Grado at 1.5g should not deflect a huge amount. Also is it the same on a few records or do you know the record you tried was ok? You said you got it from a shop so did they not set it up for you? If it's not to much hassle I would take it back, don't go in all guns blazing just ask for a bit of help, just say you are having a bit of difficulty getting it to track properly and ask them to take a look and show you where to set it.

Does anyone know what is going on with this release? I am assuming it is getting an official release as I now have a copy in my hand but is it supposed to be a black Friday release? It's not on the official RSD list and either sold out or removed from most of the online sellers I have seen but is still up on one or two and on Amazon in the US. Over here in the UK the record shops I have asked can't get it but I found one seller on ebay UK who gave e release date of the 19th, no picture and not a lot of detail. I ordered a copy which arrived on Friday, it all looks ok but I cant find a lot of detail on it or it's catalogue number on the net anywhere, I was going to add it on Discogs but wondered if anyone had any more info on it before I do.

People collect them for a lot of the same reasons they collect vinyl but I guess the current run of cassette releases are a bit more exclusive. But as with all media listen to it on crap equipment and it will sound crap and a crap recording on good equipment will still sound crap.

Are you taking the tracking weight from the scale on the weight on the tonearm or are you using a proper weighing scale? The scale on the weight on a tonearm is vary rarely accurate so your weights could be way out. Grado are pretty good with the figures they give so I would say that you need to check it properly as if you run it too heavy for too long you can damage the suspension on the stylus, especially if it is 2nd hand and you don't know it's history. If it's skipping you either set it too light or the stylus or suspension is worn but you would hear the worn stylus so probably too light. If it's too light it's not sitting in the grooves properly and trying to pull into the centre and by putting excessive tracking weight on you are pulling it back, which is how styluses that pull to one side can be caused. The anti skating weight as a rough guide should be half or under of the tracking weight.