Woo hoo! This is the kickenest thread! I really dug Artar's Husserlian Foggy Mountain Breakdown vis a vis the turntable qua analog reproduction system. And twl's Q.E.D. response to those dodging the breakdown to posit the superiority of the cartridge. Even in the face of Derrida(R.I.P 2004) dealing with the problem of language and its separation from meaning(which is bogging us all down) we strive to communicate our intentions with the very specific goals concerning the reproduction of music.
I have learned a lot concerning the viability of my own approach to the problem and feel that what I have learned here as validated where I had been, and focused where I am going. I spoke as if I had narrowed my choices down but it was bluster, and I was unsure, but what I have learned here has firmed that up. There's nothing like getting the experimental data of others to vindicate your own conclusions. I feel a little like Watson and Crick stealing the x-ray data from Rosalind Krause on their way to the helical structure and Sweden for the Nobel; as I nab from Doug, Twl, Dan_ed,Artar and others as I will make my way to Denver. For the time being I will refer to this as the holy land of analog and if Teres and Galibier will let me have a listen, I will let my ears do the deciding up front and in person. Phenomenologically speaking if I may.
I feel guilty for leaving the cartridge out of this however. Too be honest I kinda want to slap on my current Benz with the new rig and see what I think before I up the ante. Call it my own experiment but I think that it's one way to have fun if you aren't too dogmatic about the ride. And it is about fun init? Listening to music and all?
As someone pointed out the records are the real deal but I disagree with the recording quality since I feel the musical quality is the thing. I own some records that sound like they were recorded in a garbage can with a wire attached to a dixie cup and they sound mighty fine to these ears! And on a good system I can tell you if it's a 30 or 55 gallon can and whether that dixie cup was paper or wax covered!
Funny bringing that up, I started counting how many LP's, singles and CD's I had and what it's value was compared to my system. The result? Well, I do know that the replacement value of my collection would way supercede the value of my system. As for what I paid? I don't know. I got some stuff pretty cheap back in the day. I do know that I spend more on equipment than music these days but partially because the the growth of my collection has always superceded my ability to listen to it all. I've tons of stuff still sealed that I may never get to. Not that that stops me from buying.....
Most of my friends buy tons of records and have very basic rigs to play them on. But I get a kick out of playing some punk single on my system and watching their eyes light up when they realize that there is so much more there! (Prior to overproducing Nirvana's Nevermind, Butch Vig produced one of the great midwest punk singles, Mecht Mensche's "Acceptance" 7" which is as raw powerful and far from the jillion-track sound of Nevermind as you can imagine).
Sorry to ramble on but these were some of my thoughts on the current events. After I make my magical mystery tour to Colorado I will let everyone know what I thought and what I decided on my turntable decision. Bring the empirical data back to the fold.
As my school was fond of saying, there are no answers, only better questions......
