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Dumbledore 64 posted:So I've been using the stock rubber turntable mat with my turntable for years. Recently I've gotten the urge to do some upgrades, so I got what seems to be a universally acclaimed mat. The Herbie's Way Excellent II mat: http://herbiesaudiolab.net/ttmat.htm That stuff won't change your setup. What needed upgrading? If you have cash to burn you can always get new speakers or something.
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Jun 28, 2012 00:29
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I also remain sceptical whether or not affects sound quality at all, though different mat materials do reduce static and are easier to clean. At the very least, it'll look a lot nicer than the faded stock rubber one I am using now (from the mid-late 70s). They do say that it can effectively absorb vibrations from the motor which will result in a lower noise floor. That's what I'm going to test when I do some recordings later. Also a stabilizer or weight will definitely affect sound quality on even slightly warped record (I've experimented with some sloppy DIY ones with noticeable results). Over 70% of my collection are records from thrift stores, flea markets or antique stores. Most of them are ever so slightly warped. I also just upgraded my speakers recently. I went from a $8 thrift store pair to some vintage Kenwood KL-4080's  I also just picked up a Shure M97xE. Not overly flashy but better than the AT one I had before as well. BANME.sh fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Jun 28, 2012 |
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Jun 28, 2012 03:51
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Picked up a Harman Kardon hk350i from my work today (i work in a thrift store, hurrah) for $2. The reason why it was $2 is because I couldn't get it to play right and all I got was a bunch of noise from it. Well, I took it home and played with it a little bit and hit this button labeled "tape monitor". There's still a little cracking going on, but apparently that fixed every problem I might have had. I just have to re-cap it now and call it a night.
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Jun 28, 2012 04:45
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I have a Herbies mat and like it a lot. Can't say whether or not it was an upgrade in SQ but anything was better than felt. I've been happy with it.
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Jun 28, 2012 04:49
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The Leon Hikari posted:Picked up a Harman Kardon hk350i from my work today (i work in a thrift store, hurrah) for $2. The reason why it was $2 is because I couldn't get it to play right and all I got was a bunch of noise from it. Well, I took it home and played with it a little bit and hit this button labeled "tape monitor". There's still a little cracking going on, but apparently that fixed every problem I might have had. I just have to re-cap it now and call it a night. Nice, post some pics. I had a hk330i at one point. It was a nice little unit, but I had problems with the push buttons. I guess if you used the wrong kind of cleaner in them, it dissolved the plastic inside and they no longer stuck in the "on" position. Something to be aware of.
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Jun 28, 2012 05:04
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Dumbledore 64 posted:Nice, post some pics. I had a hk330i at one point. It was a nice little unit, but I had problems with the push buttons. I guess if you used the wrong kind of cleaner in them, it dissolved the plastic inside and they no longer stuck in the "on" position. Something to be aware of. I'm also waiting for a set of Bose 301 Series I speakers to get marked down, I plan on picking those up aswell. They got donated from the same lot as the receiver. I figure I need to sit down and clean out the entire receiver from dust, check the caps, and clean all the contacts using The Idiot's Guide To Using DeOxit. I doubt DeOxit will eat through the plastic, and the receiver only cost me $2 if it didn't. I'll post some pics whenever I've got both the speakers and the 350i running properly. edit: and for the record, I tested it with my Sennheiser 598's, and man does it drive them well. I didn't expect this to work terribly well as a headphone amp, but I'll be damned. I can't wait until I get this thing totally working.
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Jun 28, 2012 06:45
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Dumbledore 64 posted:So I've been using the stock rubber turntable mat with my turntable for years. Recently I've gotten the urge to do some upgrades, so I got what seems to be a universally acclaimed mat. The Herbie's Way Excellent II mat: http://herbiesaudiolab.net/ttmat.htm Really, you paid at least $59 for a silicone rubber mat? Man, I really need to show you this new tungsten volume knob I've developed, it blocks cosmic radiation and you can have it for a special price! Really, swapping a rubber mat for a different kind of rubber mat should have almost zero effect. If you're hearing motor rumble, that's either a construction issue in you turntable, or worn out bearings that need to be replaced. If you're not hearing motor rumble now, you still won't hear it after the "upgrade". Well, at least you said the mat will be good looking ... Edit: I can understand the benefit of a clamp or weight for warped records, though. But that one seems a little expensive. Also he writes that "it's designed to add a moderate amount of virtual mass to the record without clamping", and I don' understand what difference that will make. Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 11:27 on Jun 28, 2012 |
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Jun 28, 2012 11:11
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He basically made a donut mold and poured JB Weld in it, and sold it for 30$. Its stupid. I get what the point of record clamps and such are but if you are going to start investing in lunacy make it yourself or don't pay 100$ for fictitious upgrades. Put that 100$ in a jar towards a fancier stylus or something.
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Jun 28, 2012 14:04
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I finally opened up my 350i and checked the caps, none of the caps appear to be dead. Listening over a set of headphones, it sounds like the left channel is all muffled but the right channel is crystal clear. I assume the best advice is just to take it apart and deoxit everything, correct? edit: and for the record, it's muffled across all ports, not just the aux in port. The Leon Hikari fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Jun 29, 2012 |
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Jun 29, 2012 02:35
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That should be the first thing you do with any piece of equipment that old showing any signs of trouble. Take care of the simple things first. As far as the caps go, they may be fine, or they may look fine from the outside and still be filled with corrosion, or they may look fine and their values may have shifted as the internal components age. You just don't know unless you test or replace them and see if it makes a difference.
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Jun 29, 2012 03:49
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Never saw an old electrolytic cap filled with corrosion. The stuff inside them is an electrolyte that can dry up or leak out and crystalises with age. It's kind of like honey and can be reliquified with heat. Sometimes just heating the leads with a soldering iron can bring them back to life. Still, it's best to exchange them for new ones that have fresh electrolyte inside.
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Jun 29, 2012 21:20
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Looking to upgrade (a bit)from my AT-PL50, and trying to decide between at AT-PL120 or a "Technics SL-1900 Direct Drive, serviced very nice black base with new Ortofon -Music Hall 2 cartridge" (Quoting Craigslist) for $175. I like that Automatic features of the SL-1900 anyone know anything about that cartridge? Thoughts anyone?
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Jun 30, 2012 00:13
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Paperweight posted:Never saw an old electrolytic cap filled with corrosion. The stuff inside them is an electrolyte that can dry up or leak out and crystallizes with age. It's kind of like honey and can be reliquified with heat. Sometimes just heating the leads with a soldering iron can bring them back to life. Still, it's best to exchange them for new ones that have fresh electrolyte inside.
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Jun 30, 2012 00:20
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So I inherited my father's old rack mount stereo from the 70s or 80s. Everything worked when I got it except the stylus on the turntable was damaged (well, I haven't actually hooked the radio up because who gives a poo poo). Turns out the original manufacturer doesn't make styluses for that cartridge anymore (Shure V15 Type V) and third party ones are very expensive, so I just bought a different cartridge (Shure M97xE). Anyway, have it all running now and it's pretty awesome. Acoustic Research ES-1 turntable, from some basic research I've done these seem pretty well regarded and can still fetch a couple hundred bucks. It also looks awesome.  The rest of it is all Hafler, which I don't know much about, but the amp (Hafler Five Hundred) seems to also be well regarded and worth a bit. I dunno, poo poo gets loud though.   And two KLH-1 speakers, which I know nothing about. 
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Jul 1, 2012 01:08
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That is a gorgeous turntable. I assume it's real wood?
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Jul 1, 2012 01:12
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Yes, from what I've read it came in cherry and rosewood, mine is the cherry one.
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Jul 1, 2012 01:14
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eggsovereasy posted:Turns out the original manufacturer doesn't make styluses for that cartridge anymore (Shure V15 Type V) and third party ones are very expensive, so I just bought a different cartridge (Shure M97xE). The N97 stylus (the one that comes with the M97xE) does fit into some generations of the V15 apparently.
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Jul 1, 2012 06:30
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That Hafler's a drat fine amp, they were used a lot in the 70's & 80's theaters and discos. High quality and overbuilt for their power output, 225w/ch in stereo and about 700w in bridged mono, I think. You may want to replace the electrolytic caps and big brown carbon resistors on the main board, as they tend to drift out of spec over the decades. Those speakers were some of the last good designs KLH made(post Kloss, pre Singer) and I think the drivers use a rubber surround, so no need to refoam. They had a "bass computer" unit that was supposed to improve the low end, not sure what that was, maybe something like a subwoofer amp. If the tweeters don't work or don't play loud enough, then you may need to recap the Xovers.
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Jul 1, 2012 14:34
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Retarded Pimp posted:That Hafler's a drat fine amp, they were used a lot in the 70's & 80's theaters and discos. High quality and overbuilt for their power output, 225w/ch in stereo and about 700w in bridged mono, I think. You may want to replace the electrolytic caps and big brown carbon resistors on the main board, as they tend to drift out of spec over the decades. I don't know how to do any of that and don't want to ruin anything figuring it out, I guess I could look for a local stereo repair place though. quote:Those speakers were some of the last good designs KLH made(post Kloss, pre Singer) and I think the drivers use a rubber surround, so no need to refoam. They had a "bass computer" unit that was supposed to improve the low end, not sure what that was, maybe something like a subwoofer amp. If the tweeters don't work or don't play loud enough, then you may need to recap the Xovers. Yeah I have the bass computer but it's not hooked up right now (ran out of power plugs), guess I could give it a try though.
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Jul 1, 2012 17:41
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The PHONO indicator on my Marantz 2250B sometimes doesn't go on until the receiver's been on for a while. What should I blame? Bad light, solder joint, maybe?
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Jul 3, 2012 02:37
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Is there a goon-recommended vinyl cleaning solution that does not involve DIY? I've been reading this thread and the other vinyl thread in NMD over the past few weeks on my phone, but stupidly have not saved links I have seen so am asking for input now.
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Jul 3, 2012 04:14
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So I picked these speakers up in March at a Goodwill store in the middle of the 'hood for a grand total of $16: They're Technics SB-K14s, and aside from some slight external water damage and scuffs along their backs, both speakers are in solid shape and haven't given me any trouble yet. That said, my intent when I bought them was to have a decent pair of cheap holdovers until I actually dropped some real coin on my first Legitimate Grownup Speakers. Can anyone tell me any information about them? I've done a fair amount of digging online and have been unable to find a single bit of information about this model other than that they're "rather wimpy" and that "Technics was on the high side of low-end for speakers." They seem pretty solid-sounding to me, but they're currently set up in a room that's quite a bit smaller than where I'm planning to put my turntable setup in a few weeks. I'm still putting money in my Grownup Speakers Fund but I'm debating how worthwhile the change would really be. I've been thinking of getting a set of low-to-mid end Mordaunt Shorts (maybe a pair of the recently-discontinued Carnival 2's or 6's, if any are still available at a decent price). These are the first speakers I've bought that aren't either complete and utter garbage or made to go on a computer desk. Are these as bad as the limited talk I've seen makes them out to be? (And for that matter, are the M-S's going to be that much better? I haven't been able to really crank a pair of them.) It'd be great to save some money, but these things are kind of massive- and while I'm a big fan of both retro and woodgrain, they look pretty cheap and chintzy in person (the contact paper grain's not convincing and neither are the silver plastic speaker surrounds). Here's a picture with the rest of my setup for a size reference (I have a lot more records than that, I was organizing them at the time): 
trilobite terror fucked around with this message at 09:14 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 09:09
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pork never goes bad posted:Is there a goon-recommended vinyl cleaning solution that does not involve DIY? I've been reading this thread and the other vinyl thread in NMD over the past few weeks on my phone, but stupidly have not saved links I have seen so am asking for input now. What's your budget? I have an Okki Nokki and it does the trick, but it's around $500 I think.
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Jul 4, 2012 14:48
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Hm, well $500 is a bit much. Anything in the $300 range that comes recommended?
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Jul 4, 2012 22:04
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Electric Bugaloo posted:So I picked these speakers up in March at a Goodwill store in the middle of the 'hood for a grand total of $16: If you can't find any information for them online it's a good chance they were part of some kind of component system and weren't sold as standalone speakers. If they sound good to you, that should be good enough, and $16 isn't a bad deal at all. I used a pair of $8 thrift store speakers for a long time and something somebody told me once was that you could spend a lot more for fast food and end up a lot more disappointed. Also you're lucky that they were so cheap. Every goodwill around me prices floorstanding speakers at $30 minimum, but usually they're $40 or $45 (even with damaged cones!)
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Jul 4, 2012 22:23
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Dumbledore 64 posted:If you can't find any information for them online it's a good chance they were part of some kind of component system and weren't sold as standalone speakers. If they sound good to you, that should be good enough, and $16 isn't a bad deal at all. I used a pair of $8 thrift store speakers for a long time and something somebody told me once was that you could spend a lot more for fast food and end up a lot more disappointed. For me it's honestly more of a space thing. These aren't proper floorstanders and they don't really look right that way. They're from a time where it was acceptable for a shelf-mount (or rather, entertainment console-mount) speaker to be massive. I can ballpark that these might be as "good" as a pair of modern decently-priced ($200-$500) bookshelf speakers (if not probably a bit worse) but their woofers really aren't a match for a proper subwoofer, despite their size. Like I said, I'm a fan of the old school look- they just might be a bit too loving big for their sound.
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Jul 5, 2012 04:40
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Do I need to take any precautions when opening up a receiver to clean the pots? I'm a newb when it comes to this kind of stuff and want to make sure I don't accidentally shock myself to death. Some googling mentions that I can use resistors to discharge capacitors, but is that necessary for what I'm trying to do?
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Jul 11, 2012 23:09
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Butt Soup Barnes posted:Do I need to take any precautions when opening up a receiver to clean the pots? I waited a bit and nobody else answered you, so I'll go ahead. Short answer, no. It's pretty much perfectly safe as long as it's unplugged. I've never heard of anyone shocking themselves to death from caps on a receiver (not like the old tube TVs). The pots are actually not even close to the largest caps in the receiver (pots in the very front, power supply caps usually in the very back).
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Jul 12, 2012 17:59
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Thanks, I figured as much but I worry about things unnecessarily. I ended up cleaning the pots on my Tandberg, and the crackling when changing the volume and the right channel occasionally cutting out is gone. However, the right channel is slightly quieter, maybe about 80% of the volume as the left channel. Is it likely that some caps need to be replaced? The Realistic I picked up from a thrift store a while back also has an issue with its right channel, but a little bit worse (maybe 50%?). I opened it up but the pots are underneath a mess of ribbon cables and other parts of the face plate that I won't be able to get to without completely dismantling the front section.
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Jul 12, 2012 18:30
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Try cleaning out the balance control pot again, they're often a double pot and tougher to get everything out.
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Jul 12, 2012 21:18
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So a while back I posted that I had bought a new turntable mat along with a stabilizer and I got a lot of flack for it, especially considering what it cost. I promised I'd do some double blind tests to see if I could notice any difference with or without the new mat and stabilizer. I used foobar's ABX comparator component to compare the two recordings. I did a total of 10 trials, and the result was that I got 4/10 correct. It told me that there was an 82.8% change I was guessing. I have to admit that I really couldn't tell a difference worth a drat. I used a fairly decent set of headphones (ATH-A500) and I didn't do any kind of processing to the audio files at all. They were straight from my turntable, through a phono pre-amp (AT-PEQ3), to my soundcard (Asus Xonar DS). Below are the two recordings if anyone is interested in giving it a try. I used my favorite album for the test. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/55540/new%20mat%20with%20stabilizer.flac https://dl.dropbox.com/u/55540/old%20mat.flac There you have it folks. Not that any of you who originally doubted the new mat would be surprised anyway!  At least it looks pretty  and the stabilizer actually does help with slightly warped records!
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Jul 15, 2012 06:20
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After listening to each of them about 10 times, the vocals with the mat sound more distinct and steady. Without it, they sound a bit flat and warbly like your table was running a hair slower. Did you adjust or check the speed before each recording? How much does your platter weigh and how much extra weight does this new mat and stabilizer add? These old Sennheiser HD-600s may not be the top of the headphone heap anymore but with a good amplifier they reproduce an amazing amount of details. Using an AMB Labs M3 for the moment while trying to get the parts together for an AMB Labs Beta 22. $60 is what the cost of two new 180 gram LPs? It's your money, spend it how you want. Edit: the only thing I'm saying that really stands out is an ever so slight difference in speed or pitch. The old mat recording sounds a bit slower than the new mat recording. Once you notice it, you can't miss it blind test or not. Edit 2: On a second listen, I did random blind tests. I could only get it right maybe 50/50. I may be insane. Paperweight fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Jul 16, 2012 |
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Jul 15, 2012 12:01
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Paperweight posted:After listening to each of them about 10 times, the vocals with the mat sound more distinct and steady. Without it, they sound a bit flat and warbly like your table was running a hair slower. Did you do these tests blind, or knowing which was which? If you knew which file was playing and went back and forth to notice these differences, the likelihood is that various well understood biases present in sighted listening tests can account for all of your noticed differences. Edit for clarity: not to say that you are incorrect, but just that if you did not listen blind it would be epistemically inappropriate to trust your testimony.
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Jul 15, 2012 20:37
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I never paid attention to the strobe when recording but I just checked it out with and without the new mat and stabilizer, and it looked proper both times around. I never noticed any pitch shift myself at all.
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Jul 16, 2012 18:05
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So my rack is evidently not stable and my turntable skips really bad if anyone walks with in 5 feet of the rack. I moved an end table next to my stereo put put the turntable on that and I can literally stomp the floor next to it and get no skips. All my stuff (except the cd player) on my stereo is rack mount, can someone recommend to me a good stable stereo rack with mounts for rack mount stuff? Also, what do I google to just find a rack with actual rack mounts, everything I come up with is just shelves (I'm not using the right terminology I guess). I suppose I could do just shelves since all the components have little rubber feet, but I think it will look a bit silly with the rackmount tabs sticking out the sides.
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Jul 17, 2012 17:06
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Just googling 19" rack should net you plenty. Provided the units are the standard rack width of 19" of course.
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Jul 17, 2012 17:12
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According to my tape measure it is 19" wide, and now that I know what to google I get all sorts of results. Thanks.
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Jul 17, 2012 18:27
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pork never goes bad posted:Did you do these tests blind, or knowing which was which? Hahaha right. The only thing that matters. People, if you want to make claims, do so but have someone set up a real test. Its like that speaker wire test where someone cabled up six different stereos with things like monster cables, bare coat hangers, radio shack wire, and 5,000$/ft cable. No one could tell which was which. The litmus test for me is "does it cost money." If the answer is yes, its bullshit. If you just want to spend the money on things to spend the money, fine.. but its not worthwhile. You can spend it elsewhere, and actively buying this stuff only encourages the whole sham audiophile community. Sincerely, a cheap jerk.
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Jul 17, 2012 23:26
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I just picked up a Radioshack/Realistic Clarinette 120 Phono/Turntable/AM/FM/dual-cassette stereo system for 5 bucks. It sounds pretty great with the 17" panasonic speakers it came with, but the turntable is missing its needle. Googling isn't proving very fruitful with finding what sort of needle I need or if I should get a whole new cartridge instead. Just finding a picture of this model has proven impossible so far, the back of it says model #13-1224 which I only see referenced on a website trying to sell me the manual for $27.
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Jul 18, 2012 00:39
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Not an Anthem posted:Hahaha right. The only thing that matters. People, if you want to make claims, do so but have someone set up a real test. Its like that speaker wire test where someone cabled up six different stereos with things like monster cables, bare coat hangers, radio shack wire, and 5,000$/ft cable. No one could tell which was which. Well, despite agreeing with the thrust of this post, I still feel obligated to retort - plenty of cables are audibly different to others. Wire of too small a gauge displays higher resistance, and can certainly affect frequency response. Particularly long cable lengths also require larger gauges of cable, so if the layout of your room (and mandates of the wife) necessitate a 50 foot run of cable, 16awg wire would roll off just under a decibel at 20khz. This post has a lot of good info: http://www.trueaudio.com/post_009.htm In my hifi I run http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10239&cs_id=1023901&p_id=2747&seq=1&format=2 largely because I know with absolute certainty that the wire is not affecting sound at all. Given the lengths involved in my setup I could probably use 22 gauge wire and get away with it, but the differences are slight. [Edit - difference in price between 12 and 22 gauge wire from Monoprice in the quantities I needed is slight, is what I meant to say.] One other thing to note with very expensive wire is that some of them have remarkably high inductance or capacitance - this can cause audible frequency roll off in the high ranges, which could be perceived as "softening." This effect can be replicated by software or hardware equalization at a significantly lower cost and significantly higher flexibility whilst being indistinguishable from the fancy cable in blind testing. And lastly, that litmus test is a bit silly - the components that contribute to the sound of a setup are often quite expensive. Speakers, cartridges, and tonearms all make significant contributions to the sound of a 2-channel setup. The single largest determinant of sound quality is the recording quality, followed by your room and your loudspeakers (very hard to disentangle), followed by cartridge and tonearm. In controlled double blind listening tests nobody has ever heard a difference between two amps with high input impedance, low output impedance, flat response, low distortion, and low noise, when operated at precisely matched levels and not clipped. If your amp doesn't match these criteria (say a fancy Tube Single Ended Triode design with high output impedance and high even order harmonic distortion), then it's a 1-setting EQ that cost too much. But spending significant money on loudspeakers can make huge differences in sound quality, as can spending money on room setup.
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Jul 18, 2012 01:37
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