Trying a turntable-it sounds crappy, what's up??

"Was kind of hoping I could get something fairly decent for 5 bills, but maybe that is not realistic."

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=64626&item=5736422709&rd=1

There's some people here that have good analog knowledge but not experienced with direct drive or idler wheel drives, much less tweaking and modding them. Thus, they have NO clue where to place direct drives/idler decks in proper perspective w/ belt drives. Take TWL, for example. He's an authority but badmouthed the SL-1900. At least he hit the brakes after Frap commented on actual *experience*. Then there's the parrots, who will repeat over and over choices that will actually set you back: Rega P3, Music Hall, Project. Yeah, right...

If you learn how to tweak & work on your 1900 you'll set up a knowledge base that will let you further enjoy music and know what to listen for. Then you'll be in a position to make your own mind...

As a side note, the 1900 does not have "on the fly" VTA adjustment, so it's best not to use a cartridge with a line contact/hipereliptical stylus. The 881S I suggested does. I would call Kevin Barrett at KAB Electroacoustics and have him help me choose a cartridge. Perhaps one of the Ortofon Concorde's will do the job nicely, perhaps a Shure M97 will work right.

Kevin is an analog expert and a professional. An integrated headshell cartridge will get you going fast. I use Kevin's modded Stanton Groovemaster, an integrated headshell model and couldn't be happier. It does have a line contact (Stereohedron) stylus grafted to the assembly, though.

***

Lkdog,
The only thing a little tricky about that path, is cartridge/arm matching. I have no idea what the effective mass is of your current arm (someone else here may have some info on that), but you will need to match the cartridge compliance to it. Then if you upgrade you'll need to get a 'similar' arm, or sell off the cartridge. Many (but not all) modern arms are sufficiently middle-of-the-road on mass that most (but not all)cartridges will work. Make sure you do a bit more homework before you paint yourself into a corner.

There's an old Chinese proverb that goes something like: It is unwise to leap a chasm in two bounds. I could be all wet, but I'd hate for you to spend some not insignificant amount money, yet be disappointed and write off analog rather than trying to spend what it takes to begin to get a representative view.

I almost threw up when I connected my turntable for the first time after a 15 year hiatus (it's a new cheapie, but still..).

Then I realized that the damn thing was being bounced around by the output of the speakers. At any decent volume, the needle skids right off the platter!

Now I have the turntable in another room, and all is well..problems that just don't occur with cd's!

"I almost threw up when I connected my turntable for the first time after a 15 year hiatus"

That is the best line of this thread :>

Psychicanimal/Inscrutable-Thanks for the info. So there may be hope to try this Technics table with a well chosen cartridge to at least help me get started to get the idea of what reasonable analog sounds like again.
If I like what I hear, I can get my own table, but will no doubt need some guidance. For instance, I was at the local midfi/semi-high end store here in town and they had a Music Hall that looked just fine to me, but what do I know.

All you guys have all been very informative.

>At any decent volume, the needle skids right off the platter!<

If this is happening, you have a problem. Acoustic feedback can indeed be a problem with a 'table placed incorrectly in a room. But what you describe is out of the ordinary. Don't blame what you hear on inherent problems with vinyl, investigate further.

Oz