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Do you have ways to ease use of vinyl?

The reason for this post is to help some of the older guys here who recently said they gave up on vinyl because of its physical challenges. And at 66, I could not agree more. I used to have a two shelves rack for my turntable, which placed the top of the platter above knee height, at 25". To flip vinyl was either bend over and hurt my back, or doing it and one knee and hurt those.
Well, NO MORE.
Late last year I purchased a 4 shelves rack which puts the top of the platter at my belly button height, 40". Btw, I am of average height, 5'10".
What a difference! My back and knees will be forever thankful.
Here is another thing that greatly eased my vinyl experience.
I use an outer ring, center weight and brush my vinyl for each play. This was the process it entailed: Put on the center weight before brushing because I play my vinyl on a bare aluminum platter. Wait until the brushing was done before putting on the outer ring because I brushed the conventional way, finishing by dragging the brush outward to get rid of the dust. Once brushed, removed the center weight so I could install the outer ring and then reinstall the center weight and I finally could drop the needle. Ouf!
NO MORE!
Now I put on the outer ring first, then brush the record taking the brush INWARD instead, leaving the minute dust on the label (and I found out it does a much better job of brushing since the brush moves in the direction of the grooves, inward). Once brushed, simply put on the center weight and drop the needle. Voila!
Easier ten fold.
Another important pointer, the center weight, brush AND OUTER RING must be near the TT and at the SAME HEIGHT. Your back will thank you.
Those changes took me over 50 years to figure out and they have literally made my listening to vinyl experience a dream instead of dreading to flip those vinyl. 
Please share any tip you may have to ease up the physical burden that some older folks here may have about using vinyl. Thanks.

128x128baylinor
skyscraper
830 posts
 
"Audio TTW extreme V2 outer ring, about 2/3 of the cost of the VPI and maybe better"

Thanks baylinor. I’ll look that up today.

I did some research on tonearm pickup devices last night following mwinks suggestion and found a couple of promising choices; the "Little Fwend" coming in first, and the "IntegrityHiFi Trulift" automatic tonearm lifter second thus far.

Mike
melm
1,082 posts
 
@skyscraper,

I don't know what I can tell you without seeing your set-up.  Mine is an older but simple VPI arm base.  The ring slips over the end of the lift.  The actual ring I used was in a small package of assorted O-rings I got in an auto supply store.

The EXACT placement of the ring must be done VERY carefully by trial and error.  It will take several tries.  But once done, the placement of the stylus on the lead-in groove is easy and repeatable.

@baylinor,

Mine is also a TT Weights ring.  They are not the thinnest made.  But ANY ring can ruin a stylus.  That's a chance I would rather not take with  a $1k stylus.
baylinor's avatar
baylinor OP
1,424 posts
 
I have a $3,800 Lyra Kleos. The reason I never have any issues dropping it in the right spot is if I have one too many beers I switch to my CD player 😉
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Like others I have always kept my turntable at 42" and I am 5'7" Aside from not having to bend over it puts the table at a great height for visualizing set up, etc. In terms of convenience I'm afraid peripheral rings are a PITA and an accident waiting to happen. IMHO the two best clamping methods are of either the SME reflex scheme or vacuum type.
I never use a hand held brush. I use a conductive sweep arm which collects incidental dust and discharges the record keeping static and dust collection to a minimum. I always use a dust cover during play and have found that a dust cover that is isolated from the platter and tonearm improves playback. Mark Dohmann has also found this to be true and is working on an isolated dust cover for the Helix tables. 
I also use an Audio Technica tonearm lift which IMHO is a must. It removes the stress of having to get to the table to stop the Ka-thunking.
A word of warning. There is one auto lift on the market that uses a metal lift platform. DO NOT get that one!!! The metal has no grip. The antiskating force slowly pulls the arm backwards off the lift dumping it on the record then blocking the tonearms progress causing a permanent skip in the record. The Audio Technica lift has a hard rubber lift platform which has more grip but even so I had to grind a little depression in the platform where it contacts the tonearm to hold the arm in place.  
gjohns
89 posts
 
I have a VPI Prime TT on a rack at chest ht. I also use a VPI outer ring to couple the record to the platter. I installed a TRU-lift to raise the arm but I attached a small strip of the soft side of a velcro on the top of the lifter that contacts the underneath of the arm and it prevents the thump when the lift triggers and the arm will not 'walk' off the lift. When I feel I've imbibed too much I switch to my CDs. Still sounds great and saves on hours of my cartridge lol. Happy listening.
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