HornPenguin

Does anybody know anything about this Dual turntable? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3283&item=3091775487&rd=1 How would it compare to a Music Hall MMF 5, or Rega 2 or 3? I'm looking to purchase a turntable and am willing to spend $300 - $400 but would prefer to spend less if I can get the same sound quality from a cheaper table, like an older Dual or the one above.

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Which type of cartridge do you use and why? Are there any sonic advantages that either MM or MC have over the other? How about cost and reliability? What cartridge would you consider to be the cost/performance sweetspot?

Guy.. thanks for the great troubleshooting advice. What was it about the SP9 that you did not like? Mine is the MKII, what revision did you have? ---------------- On 4/9/2004 8:53:07 PM Guy Landau wrote: Try colnnecting the turntable to your NAD and your NAD to one of the ARC line inputs. Use the NAD tape output in order to bypass all the controls. If it sounds better - the ARC's phono section is not good enough. BTW, The SP9 is very much overrated and is not concidered as one of ARC's better preamps. I've owned it and wasn't enthusiastic about it. ----------------

Great information... thanks guys. I tried the turntable in two other inputs, CD and "spare". It sounded equally as bad as if I had it in the phono input. Next, I hooked the turntable up to the phono section of the NAD, and then hooked the NAD's tape output to the phono input of the ARC. Now the sound was less than great, but *very* much better than previously. From the information that I gathered here and from testing, I now believe that the phone cartridge is not compatable with the phono input on the ARC. Most likely it is the lower impedence MC type. I should probably purchase as new MM cartridge. Brad

Can anyone identify if my cartridge is MM or MC? If it is MC, then I guess that type is compatable with the NAD, explaining why it sounds okay with that preamp. Can I use an MM cartridge on my Yamaha turntable? ---------------- On 4/9/2004 7:29:03 PM D-MAN wrote: Sounds like an impedance mismatch alright. Try different inputs; if that fails, then deal with the resistor mod. My cd player sounds bad in the "CD" input on my McIntosh, great on the "Phono" input. Your problem may be related. A MC cartridge is not supported by the phono section of your preamp as far as I know, however all MM cartidges are. Good luck DM ----------------

Gentlemen... I need some answers... I'm new to vinyl and have found several good sources with plenty of cheap records. I've purchased about 60 or 70 records lately and plan to aquire many more. The problem is that my turntable sounds like cr*p with my Audio Research SP9 MKII preamp. I mean that it sounds thin, lifeless, no dynamics, distant. You can very much hear that something is very wrong. The turntable is an old Yamaha YP-84 with an Audio Technica AT554Sa cartridge. The same turntable sound good with my NAD 314 integrated amp. I have changed out the tubes on the SP9 with no change in sound. The SP9 sounds great with CD's or the tuner. According to the SP9's manual the input impedance is 47K ohms and can be changed by changing out a resistor. Could it be that the turntable/cartridge are not compatible with the SP9 preamp? What about the differences between MM and MC, what type do I have? Should I have the other? Could it be that there is a real problem with the preamp and it requires servicing? I was considering upgrading the turntable to a Rega 2 or 3, or possibly a Music Hall but do not want if the preamp is bad. Any ideas? Brad

Please disregard post

Smilin, May I ask why you are selling these? Did you not just purchase them? How do they sound?

Thanks for the recommendations. I recall Midnight Oil, Diesel and Dust well. I also have Red Sails in the Sunset. I purchased them both in the late 80's. Both are excellent musically. However I would think it is a stretch at best to describe the quality of the recordings anything better than fair. They both, to my ears, are typical of the mid, late 80's CD's, bright and thin. Brad

What is the expected price range for used Khorns of various years and condition? Just curious as I may too consider purchasing some in the future. Brad

As a single guy and a home owner, I have all the opportunities in the world to play music at just about any volume I choose. I often choose 90-95db. I think that it would be difficult to live in an environment where I was restricted to low volume. Have you thought about building a dedicated music room, sound proofed as well as needed in order to enjoy your system more often? If that's not possible, perhaps you could arrange for a listening night weekly or so. You know, give the wife some cash and drop her off at the mall.

DaddyDee, I would like to attend. It would be great to some meet fellow Klipsch owners and to hear some Khorns, of which I have not heard in many years! So, please put be on your attendance list.... Brad

Here's a pair. Saliva - Back Into Your System, and Saliva - Every Six Seconds. Two excellent rock works, both recordings suck! They are way over compressed, thin, bright, brittle, just plain horrible recordings. The engineers butchered a good band otherwise. Many of my old country recordings from the late 60's far surpass these. Brad

Welcome, from a recent newbie. This is a good place to hang out, but watch out, once in awhile the natives get restless. You'll see what I mean. But there is a lot of love otherwise Even from Parrot as you have already seen..... Brad

Thanks for taking notice. I have been surprised by some of the forum members that I otherwise respected. Please also take notice of the occasional blatantly off topic thread. If I want to discuss politics, I prefer to go elsewhere.

Both J.4Knee and garymd have stated that RF can't begin to compare to heritage. Would either, or both, of you like to elaborate on that? What speakers did you compare? What were your impressions? As a lover of heritage Cornwall's, I would like to hear how they compare to newer RF's by those that have compared... thanks Brad

Jorgen, dude, you are an artist..... rock on. Brad ---------------- On 3/14/2004 8:20:38 PM jorjen wrote: Digitally restored labels applied and Cardas binding posts installed. I originally intended to aniline dye these in Dark Wine Red with black OEM/Klipsch cloth to match the Cherry and Mahogany furniture already in the room in which the Corns WERE to reside. But since I scored a beautiful set of KB-WL's this weekend(yeah baaaaby!!!!)and cannot keep the Corns when complete, I am thinking of using Tung Oil only which turns the Cherry a beautiful golden color with brown grain and using OEM/Klipsch brown cloth to bring out the grain....man they will look sweeeet. Then at some point(when completed)offer them up here on the board to whomever may like them. Let me qualify that last statement though. I WILL NOT sell these Corns before Fini finds a home for his beauties. These will not be ready for some time anyway. ----------------

Painful, I would like to thank you for taking the time to compile and update this list. I have just recently replied to a post and used one of the forbiden words. I'm hoping not to pickup a certain colorful, feathered creature with it's use .... Brad

Mandi, I recently went from an NAD SS amp to an older Cary tube amp. My first impression was that there was some bass missing that the NAD provided. After spending more time with the tube amp and doing a whole lot of amp swapping, back and forth, I concluded that the Cary was more musical. It was more enjoyable to listen too, especially for the type of recordings that I like. If my main interest was hard rock, I would be using the NAD, no doubt about it. Given that I enjoy older country recordings from the 60's and 70's and various acoustic material, the tube is the way to go for me. A lot of forum members have mentioned the benefits of tubes and horns together. I agree, there is a certain magic with that combination. That magic is called music. Try the tubes, see what kind of mileage you get.... Brad

Thanks for the links Josh. I'll do some more looking around. That Teac on eBay sure looks sweet, but I'm not going to go as deep as the buy now price. ---------------- On 3/8/2004 11:09:23 PM joshnich wrote: Penguin, Here are a couple of posts that you may be interested in. The guy at Oak Tree Enterprises and the guy at fieldengineer occaisionally have units for sale that they have refurbished. I think either is a way way betterr place to be looking than ebay - particularly with such a quirky not to metion heavy! purchase. Its one thing to get a good deal on what turns out to be boat anchor, but if it costs you 85 bucks to have it shipped that really s**ks. Josh http://www.oaktreeent.com/Stereo_Cassette_and_Reel-Reels.htm http://www.fieldengineer.homestead.com/ http://www.daeinconline.com/ ----------------

Mark, I'll see how the auction goes. I won't go nuts, but if the price is not overly high, I'll go for it. If not, I'll sit back awhile and do some more studying.... Brad ---------------- On 3/8/2004 10:54:43 PM tubeglow wrote: Brad, this was exactly the type of unit I was refering to in my first post. It says it has been serviced, find out when...it's got a warranty...find out what. These units were not cheap...they cost as much as Khorns in their day...people that bought them were serious about their equiptment and generally did not abuse them... at a 599.00 BIN, i'd say,...go for the gusto. Mark. ----------------

Simply Stereo will be on my too-do list for when I'm in Chicago next month for my PeopleSoft class. Thanks for the tip Mark. I'll be certain to checkout both the Khorns and RF-7's.... Brad

Thanks for all your input. I don't have any personal experience with R2R, so I appreciate your comments. I've been watching this Teac A-3440 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3083548219&category=15000&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWA%3AIT&rd=1 This unit has been serviced and apparently is in very good condition. Any opionions on this unit? These units seem to abound, so maybe parts will not be to hard to come by down the road. It would certainly give me some flexiblility in analog recordings. Four track is a bit overkill, but what the heck. I could also do some mixes of existing recordings... no to mention just plain have fun! Enjoy the music!.... Brad

Does anyone use a reel to reel for recording? If so, any suggestions on vintage units that I should look at? Perhaps the Pioneers? Sound quality wise, would I be better off using a top of the line cassette deck, like the Nakamichi Dragon? Sound quality is formost, but I sure do like some of the reel to reel prices that I have seen on eBay as compared to the Dragons. Brad