1. Home
  2. analog
  3. 1343733494

Who uses high end TT setup for vintage records ?

Many of us are into Vinyls because we listen to lots old vintage music along with the new ones. Digital sounded nasty with all those oldish recordings. Analog on the contrary is much more like music but as we move up the analog chain we start segregating vintage from modern recordings simply because our $$$ MC cartridge doesnt favour old records. It can sound noisy, lean, unforgiving. All that classic vintage warmth which is embedded in those old vinyls somehow do not get conveyed.

I always knew a lot of the turntables and cartridges are clearly voiced to favour a certain era of music/recordings. But it seems even tonearms have such favouritisms. Lot of these new age tonearms dont play old records with grace.

I am trying to meet members here who have successfully been able to use their high end TT/tonearm/cartridge combination to play any kind of music from any era with its desired grace, warmth and musicality. What combination did you arrive at ?

I understand one can always use a second tonearm/cartridge combination to play old records but that is not the point, cant we have a nice high end combination doing everything well ?
pani
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
I collect LPs from the mono era, and many were, how can I say this gracefully, over loved and under cared for by their previous owners.

I have owned many modern turntables, and currently own five vintage tables and I really can't think of any turntable that knows the difference between a modern reissue and an original pressing or somehow favors one over the other.

That said, I find that certain stylus cuts and tracking forces deal better with some older and compromised LPs than others. But even that is a bit of a crap shoot.

As far as modern tonearms, I have experience with the Triplanar VI, Morch UP-4 silver and Graham and when matched with an appropriate cartridge they seem to play older LPs just fine. If anyone wants to send over a Reed or Schick I will be only too happy to have a listen and get back with my impressions.
lewm
6,770 posts
 
I agree with Viridian.
pani OP
1,049 posts
 
Examples are many. Turntables that could not play many of the classic/vintage rock/pop recordings well:

1. Scheu Premier
2. Oracle Delphi
3. Origin Live
4. Clearaudio (sorry dont remember the model)
There are many more.

Cartridges that clearly favour newer vinyls:
1. Lyra
2. ZYX
3. My Sonic Lab
These are among the few I have heard

Tonearms I have not tried many but none of them gets the feel of vintage-ness as good as the good old SME 3012. These are just my own experiences within my system.
mt10425
1,138 posts
 
My TT is vintage with a couple of upgrades, Mitsubishi LT-30 from 1979. A Grado Sonata 5mv is the cart. I tried a ZYX. I listen to everything from Sinatra-era to current Grace Potter rock. I've listened to classic rock forever. I'm almost 60. My collection of about 3500 and growing has many variations of vinyl, mono, audiophile, compressed, mostly clean and free of noticeable pops, but sometimes it's hard to get around less than sterling quality for some rarer LPs. My system plays it all well enough for me.
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Pani, the whole subject is fraught with problems. Since we are dealing with a system, it is very hard to ascribe differences to arm, cartridge or turntable and not some interaction between them. Add to that the vagaries of setup and then the subjective aspect - what may be fine to you is not fine to me - and it explains the differences of opinion regarding the issue.
More to discover