Do you also disagree with my statement that the Musical Hall tables are a good place to start, MichealB?
Probably you didn't understand my posts; mostly I made the same points you did. Maybe you didn't really read them. At any rate, at least we agree with one thing: vinyl does range widely from "sucky", "really sucky", "okay" and "pretty damn good." (Naturally, CD has the same range, but in my experience if a CD will function at all, condition won't affect the sound perceptibly). But of course, as you also apparently agree, it takes work, TLC and some cash to coax good sound from them.
Whether or not you'll have a knowledgeable dealer at hand to set up your cart depends greatly upon where you live. If you live in the stix, like me (
) you're pretty much SOL. You can set VTA, etc yourself, but it's not a peice of cake for the typical newb.
Your enjoyment of records will likely depend on what type of audiophool you are. Everyone has pet peeves- mine is noise. I can't stand it. Especially pops and ticks. That one area really reinforces the mechanical sound of vinyl for me. Yes, even on a very good table (what if my grandma
had a Rega, smarty pants? Er, not that she did. I'm just saying, leave *-ma outta this).
As far as cleaning, I suggest that if you get into vinyl you try a Zero Stat gun. I think they you can still get 'em from AudioAdvisor. Cleaning with a liquid solution is a start, but often they'll still be charged and attract dust. A Z stat helps. Real wet cleaning is effective, but sometimes if you wet clean once you pretty much always will have to clean that record that way. With and washing, the dust & debris often is suspended in the water only to dry into a 'cement' that's pretty hard to get out. If you go with a vacuum cleaning machine you'll have no such problem, but you could buy 10 pair of KLH speakers at Best Buy (my very favorite bestest speaker brand, and the best place in the whole wide world to buy the bestest gear! Krako is great too, as you must well know) and still have room for a perfect $300 reciever for the cost of one of those bad boys.
I think I'd avoid many of the records made from the mid-early 70's to the early 80's. It was an era notorious for recycled (non virgin) vinyl and a lot of those platters sound nasty.
I stand by my opinion that it depends upon why you're contemplating buying a 'table. Simple novely? Curiousity? Economy? If the so, you can certainly get a cheap 'table, trying it out for awhile to see if you want to get deeper into analog. You'll probably be disappointed if you go with a cheap DJ Techniqs, though. I feel that a cheap CD player will sound much better than a cheap 'table. As you go up the ladder, you can get good sound from vinyl (but then the same applies to digital). There is a helluva lot of good wax in the world, and certainly it's cheap. (
BTW, you're shopping for CDs in the wrong places. I don't spend that much for used discs very often. Try shopping in the same places you're getting cheap records. You'll often find cheap CDs there, too).
Anyway, sorry if humor is hard to track in print, MB. You may not have noticed, but my first post was partially in jest. I meant to reflect that vinyl has many pitfalls, and it's not for the faint of heart. I'm sure we can agree on one last thing; I'm not always as funny as I think I am. Gives me something to work on.
