I recently decided to start playing vinyl again and have found the sound quality of some LPs to be better than I remembered, although the only things that haven't changed are the LPs and the turntable- the rest of the system and my house are different and my ears are more than 20 years older. However, I always carry ear plugs and if I'm in a loud environment, they go in, regardless of who I'm with and what is happening.
Using a Sony PS-X600 table and now that I have a second headshell, it will be easier to use a different cartridge when I want. I also found a microscope at Goodwill for $13 and I can see the condition of the stylus for myself, rather than call around to find someone who can still do that. I dug out my extra cartridges and found that my Audio Technica AT31E is still in great condition, my Denon DL-103d is still good and since my Denon DL-110 is relatively unused, it's like new.
I'm not a cable freak, but with the low output and other characteristics of cartridges and phono sections, I was wondering about turntable cable replacement. Mine is picking up hum and noise from handling/tapping on the cable- if it's not a bad solder joint, the handling noise is usually from the center conductor being free to move in the dielectric and that can't be changed. Does anyone have any recommendations?
