Thou must honor thy cartridge, for it bringeth forth the sound from the sacred groove.
thou must keep the sacred groove clean, and not allow filth upon it.
Thy platter rotation must be steady and true.
Thou must honor the law of RIAA, and keep to it.
This is a decent start anyway...
(8^Q... |
Thou shalt not run interconnects next to power cords.
Thou shalt not covet thine others "Hot Stampers" nor spend $ on them
Thou shalt clean thy stylus before EVERY LP side
Thou shalt use a Mint Protractor to align thine cartridge
Thou shalt not love any before thine vinyl
Thou shalt not worship any CD or digital source |
Thou ear is better than anyone else and thou knowledge is above question :>)
Keep the record clean has got to be one. If it is clean, the rest gets a lot easier. |
There is no "best" of anything. Stop scanning this site for the product of the moment and trust your own ears as to what sounds good.
Audition, audition, audition. Your system synergy is critical.
Buying used cartridges is risky. Believe it or not, not every cartridge for sale has less than 100 hours on it.
Spend a little $ up front to make sure you have the proper tools to set up your TT and have a way to clean the records.
Mono records really do sound better with a mono cartridge.
In the end, it should be about the music. You should be spending more time listening and collecting LP's than worrying about your hardware. |
Thy vinyl, not thine vinyl. Thy ear, not thou ear.
Thy is a possessive adjective, the equivalent of "your"
Thine is a possessive pronoun, the equivalent of "yours"
Thou is a simple pronoun, the equivalent of "you"
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Thine shant correct elstes' biblidge |
more:
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors mint MFSL Beatles box, nor any other super cool LPs not yours.
Thou shalt honor thy neighbors LP collection, no matter how pitiful it seemeth to thou.
Whence thou selleth cartridges, thou shall REALLY tell how many hours on thy needle.
Give thy table setup person his due, for they have benefitted thee greatly.
honor old, broken and forgotten turntables, for they have gone before thee.
forgive thy forbearers who bought those Firestone Christmas albums/John denver albums/Herb alpert & the Tejuana Brass albums/Henry Mancini albums/Barbra Streisand albums.. and all those other forgotten drekketh cluttering thy secondhand store shelves, for they secretely helpeth thee in thy search for thine 'el cheapo' treasures by confusing and delaying thy competition.
Remember to be grateful to thy spouse, for thy spouse putteth up with thy fancy, and maketh room for thy stuff, unseemingly as it may be in thy spouses eye. |
forget about "being an audiophile", enjoy music, tolerate equipment. |
03-14-10: Srwooten
Thine shant correct elstes' biblidge Too funny...I was LMAO when I saw that...nice job Srwooten |
Great recommendations from Elizabeth!!
Duplicating some recommendation already presented and
perhaps adding some others:
> Keep your records clean. Don't touch the grooves with
your fingers, handle only by the edges without gripping
between thumb and finger. Don't leave them lying about
outside of their protective sleeves/jackets.
> If the record has not been cleaned, do so before playing
it the first time. ("How to clean" is covered in
lots of discussions in the archives.)
> Store your records in an inner sleeve, not just bare in
the jacket, and keep them in their jackets when not being
played. ("Recommendations for sleeves" are covered
in lots of discussions in the archives.) The goal is to keep
dust away from settling into the grooves or the surface of
the record otherwise getting damaged. Vinyl is soft and the
grooves are delicate - protect them.
> Store your records upright (vertical), away from heat
(including direct sunlight, radiators, and hot equipment),
and without a lot of pressure against them. They can warp
and get bent. Also, do not store them in an area of high
humidity or with no circulation: mildew loves vinyl and
mildew will destroy your records.
> Properly align and adjust your cartridge and tonearm, and
check that the stylus is in good shape. A poorly aligned
cartridge, or a worn stylus, can damage the record beyond
recovery on just a single play. Then, fine tune your record
player to get the best sound -- with vinyl, the magic is
truly in the details.
> Don't get obsessive about silence. LPs are not CDs (thank
goodness!). Expect to have some amount of surface noise.
Expect to have some amount of pops and clicks. Learn to
LISTEN THROUGH THE SURFACE NOISE to the music. Think of it
like a live performance where you can hear the audience
shuffling in their seats, coughs here and there, the sound
of the HVAC system... Work towards experiencing your vinyl
the same way and you'll find the wonders of the music.
> Here is a pretty good post about taking care of your vinyl
that I encourage you to read:
http://www.mindspring.com/~jmaier/vinyl.htm
> Enjoy your journey.
.
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1)Thou shalt not have any systems above thine own (thunder quakes)
2)Thou shalt not play music thoust doest not enjoy (lighting cracks)
3)Thou shall keepeth thine system clean and free from dust (earth quakes)
4)Thou will removeth any dirt from thine stylus each time thouest play a record (people shudder and sparatic shivering amongst the crowd)
5)Thou shall handle your vinyl with reverences similar to precious jewels or the last snickers bar(in the distance, a dog whimpers)
6)Thou shalt not bear false witness to other audiophiles about how much better different pressings are (more thunder)
7)Thou shall seek and destroy all static and removeth it from thy vinyl (even more thunder with some lighting thrown in for effect)
8)Thou, meaning you, shall set aside a time each day to listen to the LP of your choice (that dog whimpers and cowers a little further in the distance...he tucks his tail, I won't say where but you get the idea)
9)Thou shalt not covet thy best audiophile freinds turntable (Ok this is like thunder, lightning and a large gasp all at once...very frightning..as a matter of fact just typing it causes me to tremble)
10)Thou, yes you again, must clean all vinyl with a suitable wet cleaning system before playing each new LP. Also you must use a good sleeve and lp cover. (a large crack of thunder with lighting, earthquakes and the dog just runs away with so much fear he may never come back...
ok he will come back at dinner time; you know dogs. But the thunder is really loud!Wear hearing protection so as to not cause any hearing damage)
Now carveth these laws I have given you in a large vinyl tablet and hangeth it over your turntable, so as not to forgeteth the rules that have been laideth downeth for thou (yes you once more)on this most audiophilia-educational typeth day! |
Everything above AND... get yourself a good record cleaning machine like a VPI 16.5. They're a little pricey to get into, but once you have one you'll never know how you got by without it. |
Great answers. However, exception is taken to Rushton's "listen through the surface noise". If an LP has "surface noise" out it goes.
Select mint or near-mint vinyl and surface noise is largely eliminated unless the original master was of really poor quality.
Do not purchase vinyl in lower condition simply because it is cheaper. Endless surface noise will obviously detract from your enjoyment of the music.
Vinyl produces far better than CD sound quality if you purchase mint condition records, and that is the objective. Otherwise, you might as well listen to CD's.
The object is to get the very best audio reproduction you can and that can be achieved with a great cartridge and mint or near-mint vinyl. |
Thou better have patience and a sense of humor! |
.
Thou shalt have a deep and abiding sense of what it means to be
*groovy*
and and shalt not wander far from what it means to be
*in the groove*.
Paisley attire optional. |
Is that from "Sir Duke" tryin' to remember darnit.. |
Honour your music collection over components
Learn how to discern between a truly great recording, even with surface noise, and a hyped reissue
Build faith in your own listening abilities |
Don't buy music to listen to your system. Buy a system to listen to your music. |
Excellent comment and a grat commandment Kbarkamian! |
I remember when they dyed the red sea red, and I went to the funereal when the dead sea died. I have been around awhile, consequently I have a lot of vinyl. Never get distracted when you are giving a $35.00 LP a bath. |
