Sky Hits

Greetings fellow travelers, There's so many items I want to pack into this post that I'm going to screw my usual narrative and boil this one down to bullet-points! On the sound advice of GaryMD, who believes that a budget Thorens table sounds better than the ubiqitous Technics 1200, I purchased a Thorens TD-165, previously owned by GaryMD, from ColonialHoo (Chuck). Chuck was/is a pleasure to deal with and correspond with. He packaged the table with incredible care. He truly didn't want to sell this table long-distance and did an inspiring job of insuring that UPS didn't damage it on the way from Viriginia to Illinois. The Thorens arrived safe and sound. Although I have discovered one issue I'm hoping someone can direct me on: Normally (9 out of every ten records or so) I am set at 33RPM. When I switch to 45RPM (from "off" of course, not directly from 33) I noticed about two seconds of a rumbling sound afterwhich the table quiets down again. Based on Chuck's advice, I took off the platter to watch what was happening, and the sound seems to come from the belt lifting into place (from lower for 33 to higher for 45) while struggling against the weight of the platter. Is this normal for this model Thorens? Should I be concerned in any way? Now the sound. Not a perfectly fair comparison to the Technics, because I am currently using the Grado Green Chuck gave me, rather than the Grado Gold I'm used to using, and waiting to have returned to me from a friend. But that's probably not too big a difference. The main difference I hear is in the midrange to high frequencies. The Thorens seems to offer more detail than I was getting from the Technics, and for "wow factor" offers pretty impressive cymbal crashes that I don't think I was getting before. As an added bonus, the Thorens is fun to play! And good looking! One of my favorite Audiophile gurus is Harry from Audio Dimensions in Royal Oak, MI. Harry said to me recently that audio components are like layers and layers of windows. Sometimes, you add a new, clearer window, and it reveals dirtier windows you hadn't noticed before, as well as the cleaner, clearer view you were seeking. On that note, I'm becoming much more aware now of the bass deficiencies of the La Scalas. I know this gets a lot of discussion around here from time to time. My short term plan (both budgetary and for my current listening room logistics) will be to look into a phono-pre with secondary outputs and a quick and tight sub. Thanks for reading, thanks to ColonialHoo, GaryMD, everyone who jumped in on my earlier thread and once again to this great forum where I come for sound advice, honest and excellent trading and, you know, fun! PS Chuck wanted me to mention how much I enjoy listening to vinyl records. The truth is, immensely. Even if vinyl production halted completely, and it may, someday, I would still be counted among those who enjoy the great wealth of music that is available on vinyl records, the beauty of the sound, the fun in dropping the needle and watching the records spin...it is the original vibrating music machine! Best regards to all, Seth

Feel free to swat me down for getting too philisophical here but I strongly suggest in the hobby of record listening (as opposed to collecting) of keeping the size of your library manageable. I think I currently have under 1,000 records and I'm often trying to find ways to let some of the fish back into the stream, so to speak. You can always re-sell, as well as pass some you really enjoy to a friend. Digital music management is set up much better for quick, random access, song-by-song of a large collection, if that's your thing. The joy of vinyl, I think, with the set up, maintenance, and time involved is to savor your records. Keeping the numbers down helps records not get lost and un-played. Just my two cents. And for the record, I go by genre then artist alpha (Pop/Rock/Soul/HipHop/R&B, Jazz, Blues, Jamaican, World, Classical, plus a section for my deejayable records which include the most 12"s as well.) Best, Seth

Glad you enjoyed.

Hopefully I'm the first to mention this at the forum but if not, I apologize. Gizmodo, an excellent gadget blog from Gawker Media, recently did a whole week's worth of posts on audio. You can find the collected posts here: http://gizmodo.com/tag/listening-test/?skyline=true&s=x Therein, you will find an interview with Michael Fremer from Stereophile, a succinct how-to guide on calibrating a turntable (which came in handy for me last week when I received the Thorens TD165 in the mail from ColonialHoo, but more on that soon...), an interesting review of Sgt. Pepper's mono vs. stereo mixes, and much more. Many posts will be old news to many of you, but I'm willing to bet you'll find an interesting piece or two if you take a look. Hope you enjoy!

Good catch, Pete! Here is a more accurate photo: But I had spicy, not mild. Delicious!

Ha! Well, she enjoys the music but ate her regular food.

Yesterday, my fiancee had to work, so it was just me and the cat at home, looking out the window at a fickle day of spring weather in Chicago. My first thought was to fire these up and get them ready: Knowing the hail would be turning to rain and then snow eventually, I braved the weather and made a quick jaunt to the grocery store to pick up some reinforcements. I headed back home with these: And this: Upon my return, the tubes were warm and ready to make these sing: Unfortunately, my usual source (Technics 1200) is in the shop, and its replacement (Thorens TD 165, coming via Chuck "ColonialHoo" of Virginia, thank you Chuck!) has not yet arrived. So I was stuck using this: And you know what? It was great! I played a burnt cd of this: Followed by a burnt copy of this: <Bjork's Medulla. The image is possiblly SFW but a bit..arresting, if curious go here: http://atipicalmindfading.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/bjork-medulla.jpg> As well as a honest-to-goodness store-bought copy of this: The beer was enjoyed, the sausages cooked with green pepper and onions and devoured, it looked something like this: And I tell you, friends, it was one heck of a good day. THE END (?)

I'm speechless, except to say that in my book, you are no longer just a legend in your own mind!

Thanks, Michael! Rock on.

Great review! Here in Chicago there are some pretty well-groomed soundsystems for live sound. I am particularly fond of Martyr's and I am eager to check out the Bottom Lounge which is fairly new. And allow me to take this opportunity to plug my band, Mas Trueno as we are self-releasing a two-song single. We're having a release party at Fizz Bar on May 9 so check us out and come on by. www.myspace.com/mastrueno Seth

If I hadn't displayed my slowness on the uptake, it would have been an unusual day. heh heh. yeesh.

My co-worker has over fifteen restored and working phonographs at home. I have some beautiful photos from him. I plan to stop by soon for a guided tour.

C&S, I am befuddled and must ask earnestly: Really? What...is....that?

Hi Colonial, That is a kind offer, thank you for jumping in. I will PM you to discuss.

Hey Gary, I just sent an email to this guy: http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/ele/1082175027.html But wouldn't it be nice to be able to throw down the loot on this deal(!): http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/ele/1087398725.html

Thanks James, I hope all is well with you. Unfortunately the simple solution did not exist: there is definitely no auxilary counter-weight throwing things out of wack. It's time for me to suck it up and take the table in to someone who knows better.

I heard back from Kevin at KAB. He believes that the only explanation is that I have the aux weight screwed into the back of the tone arm that is only used for heavy carts. I won't be able to check for sure until I get home in a few hours. That would be a simple (and inexpensive) solution. This won't, of course, stop me from continuing to eye upgrade possibilities. [] Thanks to all of you for your help!

Hi Larry, When I first got the table and the cart, a good friend calibrated it for me, and pointed out that there was some unusual outward force. He was not very conversant with technics tables though, so he utilized a fairly heavy weight setting (3 - 3.5) and told me to get it checked out by someone knowledgable. My mistake was never taking his advice. Recently I borrowed a second Grado Gold from a good friend so that I could have two for a DJ gig. My friend's Grado Gold is attached to a much lighter headshell than my own and to this moment I can't use his headshell and cart with my turntable. The tone arm won't balance vertically (it mostly wants to angle toward the ceiling unless I really 'screw up' the counter weight, and then it falls with a thud on the record or mat) and there is a massive amount of force pushing the tonearm outward (past the outside rim of the record) as well. It certainly doesn't track.

Thanks again. So where should I keep an eye out for Thorens tables? Craigslist? Audiogon?

I'll just jump in and say thanks for the responses so far. I'm in touch with kab about the particular problem, and am also curious to look into Gary's Thorens recommendations as I've been very curious about Thorens tables. But Gary: The Shure M97xe over the Grado gold? I haven't checked out the Shure before. Do you know them both?

Hello again, Klipsch-philes, I'm back with a conundrum: The Technics SL 1200 MKII which I purchased on ebay in 2003 came with a problem that I didn't detect on my own. Something is wrong with the tone arm. There is an excessive amount of outward and upward torque. The only reason that I've never thought much about it, is that I have a decently heavy headshell. It wasn't until recently that I realized I may want to investigate this issue. So I'm embarassed to say that my Grado Gold cart and precious beloved vinyl have probably been taking the brunt of this issue and for quite a few years. (The stylus has been replaced once in that time.) I've spoken with two different shops that do repairs and the story is basically the same: The tone arm assembly needs to be replaced, the assembly costs between $70 and $90 plus two to two and a half hours of repair ($60 - $65 an hour). So we're looking at about a $200 repair. On a TT I must have purchased for just over $300. My dilemma: Fix it or save for an upgrade? Bear in mind, I have a wedding (!) I'm saving for over the next year. I could justify repairing this one, or saving for a better TT, but not much better. Perhaps a Rega P3, or a used Thorens. At these $ levels does it make the most sense just to get the repairs?

Thanks for your responses.

Clarified: Can anyone recommend audio shops in the Washington DC area? I'm looking to buy a gift for my brother who just moved there. Thanks.

Nice one! I'm going to have to find that. There's exceptions to every rule, but I usually trust the first releases of just about anything to be very strong.

Yes G. Kennedy! I have the Cornel Campbell sung "King in my empire" in heavy rotation. Glad you chimed in! Also worthy of mention: the Hi-Fidelity Dub Sessions compilations from Chicago's Guidance Recordings label. I have a slab from volume three which includes the burner "Annanas" by Tosca (a project from one of the Kruder and Dorfmeister guys.)