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What is best turntable for listening to Rock from the sixties like Led Zeppelin?

The sound quality isn’t great, so rather than something super revealing, something that is very musical, and can also convey the magic. Sort of the Decca cartridge equivalent of turntables. I am guessing less Caliburn and Techdas, more Linn, Roksan, Denon, EMT 927, Rega, even.
tokyojohn
thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
729 posts
 
There are surely components that "do" bass better than others, noise floor, or any other parameter you can dream of and you can certainly "optimize" around those parameters if you choose (note the quotes around optimize). 

Let's use the Zeppelin example.  Might there be two or more different attributes that two different individuals consider to be the essence of Zep - say for example one person considers John Paul Jones' bass playing to be the key while another might argue for Robert Plant's vocals or Jimmy Page's guitar?  They might prefer two different turntables based on this strategy.  How would I recommend a Zep optimized system to someone?

I think the safest path (even if you're limiting your musical genres) is to still audition a wide variety of music, including music you don't (think) you like.  Linn had a lot of propaganda back in the 80's that was just that, but one of their recommendations that I subscribe to is the above auditioning strategy.

Let's put it this way.  Have you ever been to a live performance where you heard a group, and only then did you consider buying recordings of their music?  What's that about, and why can't this be the case with your home system (that it introduces you to new music and new genres)?

I have a thought exercise I'd like you to run in the background as you select music to play.  How many times have you selected a recording (we're talking physical media), pulled it out of the shelf, and then pushed it back in?

What's that about? 

Surely there are times when you're plainly not in the mood, and you pulled the recording out only because it caught your attention when you were browsing. 

I would argue that for many systems, in a large percentage of the time, pushing the recording back in the shelf is because you triggered a memory of the recording not sounding that good. 

What percentage of your recordings don't "sound that good"?

Clearly, we all have clunkers in our collection, but I contend that we're unintentionally shutting down our musical appreciation by many of our equipment choices.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,715 posts
 

Not just in turntables, but in all components, the nature of the music being played is affected by the failings of the components comprising a system. Different examples of any given component have different levels of failings in different aspects of music reproduction. Music containing a great amount of low-level detail (J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Four Harpsichords and Orchestra, for example) is harmed more by a component somewhat deficient in retrieving low-level detail than is music containing less of that detail. If that piece of music is typical of what one listens to, a turntable excelling in that regard is a priority.

So, what are the characteristics of "Rock from the 60’s like Led Zeppelin" that are therefore a priority in the capabilities of a turntable to reproduce? Decide that, then look for a turntable excelling at reproducing those characteristics. ALL turntables have strengths and weaknesses, better in some ways than others. And different music’s require strength in some areas more than others, and are harmed less by weaknesses in other areas. IMO.

Ralph's (Atmasphere) contention that components being music-sensitive is a myth is not one I can agree with. One example of that argument being mistaken is in the obvious case of the original Quad loudspeaker. I have and love the speaker, and listen to Bach through them, but would not dare play AC/DC at 110dB on them! Turntables are not so obvious, of course, but still.....

thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
729 posts
 
I agree with you bdp24.  I read Ralph's comments as more of a warning to listen to a variety of music when making an equipment decision.  Perhaps I misread that, but this has been my recommendation to people.

For a period of time, I was enamored of full range drivers.  They reproduced intimate music bluegrass, string quartet etc. nicely, but they fell flat on their face with massed choirs & large orchestral music.  Over time, I stopped listening to big, dense music, but I'm better now ;-)

This is where that thought exercise I proposed stemmed from.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,753 posts
 
Ralph's (Atmasphere) contention that components being music-sensitive is a myth is not one I can agree with. One example of that argument being mistaken is in the obvious case of the original Quad loudspeaker. I have and love the speaker, and listen to Bach through them, but would not dare play AC/DC at 110dB on them!
Quads do very well with AC/DC and Bach; in both cases they won't be playing at 110db! Quads also do well with all types of electronic music as well as jazz and blues- so long as you play the speaker within its dynamic range.

By this measure, the best speaker for anything ever is the one that can play that loudest. So maybe my Classic Audio Loudspeakers are the best for Bach, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and solo flute. I've measured them in my room at 110 db (although I had to wear earplugs to do it).

Obviously that argument is flawed! To put this in perspective, we have a question about how are particular bit of the system can favor a certain rock band, which is nearly the same question as what speaker is best for a certain period of 80's pop music (that question is actually a thread somewhere on this site). At some point, you have to get that the equipment simply does as well as it does, and that won't favor a certain band or genre of music in any way at all.

Stereo equipment can't express taste! It can only deal with the media and signals put through it. Some say that a certain speaker plays bass in a certain way that is better, but if you look at the genre its supposed to favor, the recordings in that genre are all over the place in terms of how bass is presented in the recording. In fact that speaker playing bass in a certain way will favor all types of music that might have the bass recorded in a certain way. Its ***not*** favoring a genre!!

For some reason this myth continues to persist. The fact of the matter is that once you understand that it is indeed a myth and nothing more, the sooner you can start to build a better sounding system as you will avoid trying to introduce colorations into your system (and that will save you flushing dollars down the loo).
raymonda
855 posts
 


I think I settled this a while back by stating the following:


I'm miffed as to the premise of this question. Any table and cartridge combo that is honest to timbre and reproduction should do your recordings justice. If you find the recordings are compromised and require correction of some sort, I would suggest that you don't use your source as an EQ but rather buy an EQ or something that will give you the tonal correction you require.

Using a table as a narrow and specific tone control is not the way to go. It is a dead end path and will not serve you well in the long run.


.............and it still is true!

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