bluethumb

@mikeburns @Tardcore thanks for the suggestions. Perhaps I'll save a bit more before I go speaker shopping.

It's that time of year where I'm getting the itch to upgrade, and I'm thinking my speakers are the next logical area of focus - setup below: Pro-Ject Debut III, 2M Blue > Budgie Phono Pre > Marantz SR-63 > 2 x Polk Audio RTi A1 I've had the Polks for years and don't have a ton to spend, but I'm wondering if anyone out there has any recommendations on a pair of speakers ideally under $500 (for now) that they've been happy with? I've been considering front-ported speakers because I'm in a small apartment at the moment, but I woudn't say I've been sold on solely that feature. My Marantz puts out ~70W per channel so most 4/8 ohm speakers will work.

So glad to finally get a chance at owning this on vinyl. Snagged a light & dark colored copy real quick - overall this isn't my favorite Explosions album but it has some great tracks on it. +1 to those suggesting Bandcamp! I had a black copy in my cart (which would be really no different and even cheaper, but... the hobby!) from the top link posted before I took a look through the rest of the thread. Edit: And then shamelessly went back to buy The Rescue after listening to it and remembering how much I liked some of those songs - quite raw but well crafted for the most part.

The new Peare album, A Healthy Earth, is up for preorder on Tiny Engines. Their last LP was a quiet banger, definitely looking forward to the new album. http://www.tinyengines.net/products/639988-peaer-a-healthy-earth Pressing info: 250 Translucent Green & Opaque Blue Split (mailorder exclusive) 350 Clear w/ Black & White Smoke 400 Translucent Orange

Slept on this somehow, but blown away by both singles and just put an order in for the 180g (despite it saying SOLD OUT in description). If it was just a mistake and I end up getting a white - such is life but excited to listen nonetheless.

So into this - I have a clear bootleg of Acid Rap which sounds just peachy to me, but I'm 100% in for the 10 Day LP. $45 shipped is kinda steep but I played this way too much when it came out not to own it now on vinyl.

Snatched real quick, and still getting in on an exclusive (however exclusive it may or may not be) was the icing - Gretel is a great track and feels more Rocket than anything, high hopes for the album.

Not pressed on vinyl, YET - but I felt compelled to share this so that we may amass and demand it from FoF. I stumbled on to Somni today and fell in love with the Bloom album - a beat tape to rule them all. FFO: Shlohmo, Baths, Ricky Eat Acid https://somnibeats.bandcamp.com/album/bloom

PM'd

All over this, love me some Appleseed Cast. I've always held Mare Vitalis in the highest regard - I think Storms is one of my all-time favorite ASC tracks.

Making room in my apt, one bump at a time

Coming in way late to say 'plus fucking one' for Tubelord. Math or not, their early EPs rip so hard (I am Azzerad, Feed Me a Box of Words, and even the Tellison split - a lot of which are compiled on Vinyl for "Pop Songs for Rock Kids") and they combine pop leanings with really technically proficient instrumentation in a majorly enjoyable way. I'll also present a "maybe" with a great Topshelf throwback on Duck. Little Brother, Duck! Their LP Don't Take Our Filth Away is like an arranged marriage between post-hardcore and mathy emo, even bordering on screamo elements at times.

You already have the acrylic platter and the Speedbox and in my opinion, those are the two best "out of the box" upgrades you can get for the Debut III (super reliable speed and stability). I have heard great things about the Sumiko Pearl so listen to it a good while before changing, but if you want to try something new I've had GREAT luck with the Ortofon 2M Blue paired up with my little Budgie preamp and it sounds great to me. If you're debating between the 2M red or blue, skip the red - I've heard too many "now that I have the blue, the red..." stories. I've been using this table since 2011 and it has been a workhorse - a little oil on the motor spindle/sub-platter every few years and it still works like day 1. If you really want to get in the weeds consider upgrading your connects, but arguably it makes little difference at this level of audiophilia. BTW, what kind of speakers are you using?

My first guess would actually be the preamp - have you tested this in any other setup? It is 1000x more likely the new piece of equipment is causing the issue rather than the receiver that worked fine before adding the preamp. Now when you mentioned running "another" ground wire, was this in addition to the ground wire on your RCA connects (or however your table handles grounding)? If so you're most likely creating some sort of ground loop and amplifying the rogue signal - and as a follow-up, do both of these pieces have grounded wall plugs (i.e. 3-prong)? Laugh if you will but it can make a difference in older homes. Last question - are you running directly from the preamp to the laptop? In most cases, you can't really treat the preamp output as a true line level source and you may be getting distortion due to cranking up the sound level to get to an appropriate recording volume. I went through something similar with my setup (Debut III, a tube pre (Budgie), to a receiver) and tracking down rogue noise was a whole thing. In the end, an extremely specific series of ground wires helped solve the issue so just experiment.

Keep it simple, the Debut III doesn't have a TON of adjustments possible outside of cartridge alignment. Check out this article for some good pointers on the differences: https://www.vinylengine.com/protractor-user-guide.shtml