Brand new to vinyl: Help!

Hi.

If you have an hour and 20 minutes, this is worth watching...

Recently returned to vinyl, and it was a rough start. After much fussing and trial and error, its working wonderfully and was well worth the effort.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQDa7suJn64

Good luck!

P

Do not despair, Thy.

Set-up is the missing step in most vinyl rigs. Few can do it, and fewer bother. Yet it is not hard - it just requires perseverance.

Alignment, set-up, whatever it’s called - you need to adjust the relationship of the stylus to the vinyl. This includes: VTA (vertical tracking angle, whether the tonearm slants up or down); overhang (distance from tonearm pivot to stylus); VTF (vertical tracking force); azimuth (done with shims on one side of the cartridge on budget tonearms); and torque on the mounting screws.

Think of it this way: the TT gives you stability and reduces noise; the tonearm relates the cartridge to the TT; and the cartridge makes the signal. Obviously, to give its best, the cartridge must be held in correct relation to the vinyl. Also note that cartridges wear out. TT and tonearms, not so much.

Cables give the least bang for buck, IMO.

My views. YMMV

Thyname,

Vinyl vs digital is very subjective. Personally I love vinyl for serious listening; my CD player is for background listening only. And I can seldom use online services like Tidal as my wife insists it sounds like Muzak (it actually does).

If you're in to high quality sound and are prepared for the inconvenience of vinyl (I prefer it because it's interactive; not all do), then stick with your Pro-Ject for now; never mind that it's entry level - it's well spoken of. Upgrade your cartridge - as Simao says, the Dynavector is amazing -- I love mine -- if you're prepared to put in the money. Forget about interconnects for now -- they don't make a difference until you've seriously upgraded your whole system.

What speakers are you using? You get the most bang for your buck a the ends of the music chain -- the cartridge and speakers.

Just my 2-cents!

Gasbose

Thanks @gasbose @terry9 @pekri I will watch that video when I find some time. Bookmarked.

My Speakers are Revel Performa3 F208

While I agree that cables typically give you the least bang for the buck, the stock cable on the Pro-Ject was especially bad. Replacing it with the Audio Sensibility cable, at about $125 USD, really brought my vinyl playback to life. The stock cable really sucked.......