Maximizing My Turntable Experience - input reqeust

getting and listening to the records is the best kool-aid for analogue experience.

The adjustments and cartridge break-in are critical for vinyl playback.Your choice in a entry level is a good one, but at this price point if you are expecting to get total analogue bliss, you are going to be sorely disappointed. I went this route too, when I got back into vinyl some years back. It took a lot of up-grading to get what I expected of it. Started at about $800. Over the years that amount grew to over $5000 just for a turntable, arm, cartridge,and phono cables. Good luck.

thx for your input. much appreciated!

I suppose what I'm looking for is some guidance based on what i have. I have decent equipment. better than the average bear for sure, but by no means exceptional amongst this audience.

will this table, arm, and cartridge get into the ballpark with the rest of my rig as-is with break-in? should i consider an acrylic plate, speed controller, different cartridge to better match my rig, etc.? or no matter what i do, it will be the weak link.

is that an answerable question?

for you to better calibrate to me, i'm quite pleased with the listening experience with my Arcam, FWIW.

Cheers

On the hum, ZD has good advice, but do the isolation drill. Disconnect the leads from the cartridge then the table to find which one is the culprit. It is possible the cartridge itself has a fault. You also should double-check your ground connection between the table and your outlet ground. Normally the ground lug on the preamp is sufficient, but ground faults can pop up in surprising places.

To find the magic, both Czarivey and Mr_M are correct. Get a good protractor (Pro-Ject makes one), a strong magnifying glass and verify your alignment is correct. It's a very fussy adjustment but makes a world of difference. Spend the time necessary to get it right.

Next, get record cleaning supplies. All records must be cleaned before every play, including new ones. Note that new records need a different kind of cleaning (mold release removal). Then find some material you like. A new record is usually best but not absolutely necessary. There are lots of great choices out there. Spin it and float away.

Congratulations, good luck & happy listening!

Congratulations on your wise choice!
I just love my set-up, one that has evolved somewhat, but one of my most important purchases after buying an entry-level 'table was a Spin Clean record washer, and a big pack of nice quality record sleeves. Then, don't be afraid of buying lots of cheap garage sale albums. Walking home from work a couple months ago I bought 15 albums for 12 dollars. After washing them, most of them were pretty bad....but I ended up with three gems, including a great sounding Laurie Anderson album. Still a deal for $12.

By the way, I enjoyed my first turntable quite a bit but I still didn't quite 'get' the allure of vinyl. Then I bit the bullet and bought an Ortofon 2M Black (after returning a faulty Rega Exact). WOW, goodbye ones and zeroes!

One other thing. Look for classical boxed sets. I've found that they are often in mint condition. I think many were given as christmas presents in decades passed and never played. I bought a seven disc set of Mozart piano music played by Klara Haskill on Phillips for a dollar and they were NEVER PLAYED! After googling it, I found that this set is very highly regarded for its musicality and production. One sold on ebay for $250.

Cheers!