MeloManiac

Today, I got a new Jico stylus replacement in the mail, and I've been enjoying it all afternoon. The impact on sound quality in the chain is very positive. In the past year and a half, I have mostly invested in buying CDs and vinyl albums, not in hardware. Maybe it's a bit inappropriate to post about the total cost of my setup, but I'm not expecting anybody to do the same, I just like to share this with you because I've been really enjoying the music while not allowing myself costly investments because I have three teenage kids/students, so there isn't a lot of budget available. This is the gear I have acquired over the past 5 years or so, and now forms my main system: 1972 Klipsch Heresy speakers (€700) Leben Hifi CS300 (€1,200) + €100 worth of tubes Technics SL DL1 (€75) + two styli (€30 (Thakker) and €63 (Jico)) iFi Zen Phono (open box price €124 (retail price is €199)) Advance Acoustic MicroStreamer (€129) Marantz CD5005 (open box price €170) Beyerdynamic DT990Pro 250 Ohm (open box price €129) Total investment: €2,720 Most of this gear was bought after getting advice here and doing a lot of reading on this forum. I did buy some other gear as well, but that's not in my main system.

Like your setup, of course, but also the fact that the album is still in its plastic wrapping. Twenty or twenty five years ago, I gave Holiday's 'Lady in Satin' to a friend as a gift. I recently bought the CD for myself. This is one of her last recordings. It was the last release while she was still alive, in 1958. She sounds fragile on it, like a ghost almost, but it brings the songs to a higher level, in my opinion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_in_Satin

Following the advice of @MicroMaraI upgraded my analoge circuit by investing in an elliptical Jico needle for my vintage tangential Technics SL DL1. Cost was 57 euro plus 6 euro postage, sent to me from Denmark. I have been listening to various albums and, boy, this has been an eye opener. The detail is so much better in the highs and the lows are a lot more punchy. So the resolution must be much higher now! The scariest experience was the album below, which is a great Bach recording for harpsichord and violin. And when I say scariest, I mean it in the literal meaning: I can hear the far away, deep rumble of a truck on a roundabout, picked up by the microphone. Makes me think of the scene in Saving Private Ryan, when you hear the rumble of the far away German tanks approaching the town... Next to that I can pick up the low sounds of the quils and the harpsichord mechanics! In Daft Punk's RAM, there is a song with a heavily computerized voice, of which today, I picked up an grainy effect I hadn't heard before. Scary!

Things got heat up here tonight!!!

When vintage Klipsch speakers meet with an almost-vintage tube amp and a very modern album, a masterpiece, something quite amazing happens! Daft Punk, Random Access Memory.

Found an interesting site for us Europeans, distributing these records: https://www.sieveking-sound.com/

It took me some minutes to realise what 's happening here... It' s 23:18 February 6th so I guess I'm one of the last to celebrate! What a day! I'm on my PJs drinking herbal tea: Hearth Fire... It's red like wine, no alcohol. Cheers!

It sound funny on paper/screen but the picture is actually very impressive!

New pressings of classic albums come almost always marketed as 'audiophile' 180g. I don't fall for that. Some of my best sounding albums, like the eponymous Dire Straits are thin and floppy, and none of them are warped.

Just ordered mine too! Will be sent to... Belgium!

I use the Technics all the time, it's my favorite because it is fully automatic and sounds better, I guess because of its tangential arm.

What makes more sense? Upgrading my 2 year old Project Essential TT stylus from Ortofon OM10 to OM20 for 156 euro. Difference is that diamond is clamped directly to the stylus, not glued. Or Upgrading my 35 year old Technics SL DL1 from oem EPS 23CS stylus 24 euro to an oem shibata stylus of 159 euro. They also sell SAS needles but these start at 299 euro.

It looks like something to launch a rocket or start countdown... If Klipsch was to commercialise this and adapt it for their current Heritage line, it would be a huge hit! Am I the only one seeing this?! This sounds like a movie script. The 'secret design' had been hanging on the wall for anybody to see!!!!

Also relevant here is that the CD is €10 or less... Would, in this case, vinyl playback win from CD?

One more thing, both albums are actually from Wax Time! One is showing the logo, the second not so!

Wax Time has this reputation: they produce excellent pressing quality albums and good quality control, but they use CDs as source, very often, or they are not clear about their source. It's a Spanish company, selling their albums through Amazon and the like, and supermarkets. Quote from a Amazon client: Angaben in der Amazon-Beschreibung fehlerhaft. Das Label ist in Wirklichkeit DOXY und nicht wie angegeben Major Babies (österreichischer Musikvertrieb). DOXY gehört einem größeren russischen Unternehmen, das meist in Osteuropa, in diesem Fall Rumänien, die Schallplatten pressen lässt. Wikipedia: „Aufnahmen sind 70 Jahre nach Entstehung frei von Verwertungsrechten“. Labels wie Waxtime, DOXY, DOL & Co. können also ohne Lizenzgebühren oder Einverständnis der Musiker oder deren Erben Schallplatten kostengünstig pressen. Nicht nur das: In der Regel wird sich nicht die Mühe gemacht, von den Original-Mastertapes (höchste Qualität) die Pressvorlage zu ziehen, geschweige den diese aufwändig zu überarbeiten. Um an diese Mastertapes zu kommen, muss mit den Eigentümer verhandelt und oftmals teuere Versicherungen für mögliche Schäden für die Zeit der Entnahme aus dem Archiv abgeschlossen werden. Auch diese Kosten werden umgangen, indem man Kopien von CD-Aufnahmen oder ähnlichen Quellen zieht. All das hört man, und man hört es ziemlich deutlich! Nicht umsonst werden auf Platten renommierte Reissues (Neuauflagen alter Aufnahmen) auch angegeben, wer die Mastetapes bearbeitet hat. Neben Ausbalancieren der Lautstärke der verschiedenen Instrumente und der Höhen und Tiefen, Bearbeiten von Knisterstellen gibt es Tausend tontechnische und künstlerische Dinge dabei zu beachten. Das kann nicht irgendwer machen. Und wegen all diesen Punkten und noch anderen kosten gute Pressungen mehr. Als Fan der geliebten Musikstücke kann man den Komponisten und Musikern dadurch Respekt zeigen, indem man sich ordentliche Aufnahmen besorgt, wo man weiß, dass der Künstler oder deren Familie nicht veräppelt wurden. Meine Meinung! English: Information in the Amazon description incorrect. The label is actually DOXY and not Major Babies (Austrian music distributor) as advertised. DOXY is owned by a larger Russian company that mostly has the records pressed in Eastern Europe, in this case Romania. Wikipedia: "Recordings are free of exploitation rights 70 years after they were made". Labels such as Waxtime, DOXY, DOL & Co. can therefore press records inexpensively without license fees or the consent of the musicians or their heirs. Not only that: Usually no effort is made to draw the press template from the original master tapes (highest quality), let alone to elaborately revise them. In order to get these master tapes, you have to negotiate with the owner and often take out expensive insurance for possible damage during the time of removal from the archive. These costs are also circumvented by making copies from CD recordings or similar sources. You can hear all of this, and you can hear it pretty clearly! It is not for nothing that records of renowned reissues (new editions of old recordings) also state who edited the mast tapes. In addition to balancing the volume of the various instruments and the highs and lows, editing crackles, there are a thousand sonic and artistic things to consider. Not just anyone can do that. And because of all these points and others, good pressings cost more. As a fan of the music you love, one way of showing respect to the composers and musicians is to get proper recordings where you know the artist or their family hasn't been fooled. My opinion!

I don't know. I saw it in a (used) vinyl record shop for €27 and now it's sold, I guess. I didn't take a picture and I only remember it was from the 70s. The shopkeeper said that it was worth at least double the price, but he could never sell it for that money in this specific town (Menen, Belgium).

It is a waxtime pressing. (you caught me in the act of posting!)

I have a (rather theoretical) question about this John Coltrane album (or it could be any other classic album on vinyl). Would you buy an old 1970s pressing for €27 or would you buy a brand new pressing for €20? The new one obviously will be faultless (no dust, no dirt, no scratches, in absolute new condition)! But what would be the arguments in favour of an old pressing? The plot thickens: there are 2 new pressings of this album, both 'Wax Time' editions but the more expensive one is yellow vinyl.

https://fengshui-simplecures.blogspot.com/2016/11/music-room-feng-shui-how-to-feng-shui.html

https://6moons.com/industryfeatures/fengshui/fengshui.html

Take a look at the iFi Zen product line... https://ifi-audio.com/products/zen-phono/

https://www.stereophile.com/content/feng-shui-and-high-end-audio

So you worry about your job because of ChatGPT? You're a doctor? A teacher? A lawyer? A human being? You can stop worrying right now, because ChatGPT, artificial intelligence which is a hype right now, won't last very long! If you want to find out why, you're gonna have to read my book! Kind regards to the Klipsch community! Ivan Lietaert https://a.co/d/71JuoVx

Ever heard of the golden radius? It's mathematical, but it's also in nature. Feng Shui is like that but on steroids. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_numbers_in_popular_culture?wprov=sfla1