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Enjoying vinyl more than ever.........

I've been going through a "vinyl renaissance," and want to share some feelings. My set-up is simple, and extremely enjoyable. I'm not sure of the proper "audiophile terms" to describe my system, other than saying that everything seems to work incredibly well together, and it all sounds wonderful. I'm driving Vandersteen 1C speakers with a Rogue Audio Cronus (EL-34 tubes) integrated amplifier and an NAD 533 turntable with a new stylus on the pre-mounted Goldring Elektra cartridge. Audioquest type 6+ cables connect the speakers, and I have a very warm and rich sounding Rotel RCD-1072 CD player (with an AQ King Cobra interconnect). Upgraded power cords for the Rogue and Rotel are SignalCable.

I am enjoying my record collection more than ever before, since replacing the stylus. I never realized that the original stylus (eight years old) was missing so much of the "deep groove" detail. All my records sound so great again, that I'm rarely listening to my CD's. All my old jazz and classic rock albums sound fantastic, and my evening listening sessions are extending later into the night each time I sit in my "sweet spot" chair.

I've been buying a lot of new albums from a website called "Dustygroove.com", and I'm quite impressed with their collection of new jazz albums (mostly Blue Note re-issues). For $8.99 each, I'm quickly buying uo a lot of jazz classics, and the LP's are wonderful.

Now, I certainly won't be giving up on my CD collection any time soon......but it's a pleasure to be enjoying vinyl again. There's something about it that "just sounds right," and to my humble ears, sounds "more musical" than CD's. I'll stop rambling now. I just wanted to share my excitement about vinyl LP's, and see if anyone has a similar system as mine, and can recommended an upgraded analog front end. Thanks a lot.
adam18
wwshull
157 posts
 
i am going through the same revolation. my dad recently gave me his old linn lp-12. just to make sure i enjoyed it i started out with a sumiko bluebird evo 3 special and the parasound z-phono pre amp. this week i changed to a pbn audio mini olympia phono pre and a gas sleeping beauty catridge. i also upgraded the phono interconnects to nordost hemidal. next step is a record cleaning machine. i love the sound.
adam18 OP
670 posts
 
Thanks for the nice responses so far. It's great to hear this kind of stuff from everybody. Ya' know, it's really funny.....back when I first started getting into good music (mid-1970's), vinyl was the only quality way to go. Yeah, sure, cassettes and 8-tracks were good in the car, but LP's was "IT" for good listening. Then, we all got so used to CD's, that we forgot how great vinyl LP's sound. Well, my friends, it's geat to "re-discover" analog playback once again. Let's keep spinning those albums on our turntables, and enjoying our favorite tunes.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,505 posts
 
Yes, I think vinyl is wonderful, however, if you hear that much difference, you need a better CD player
mariasplunge
174 posts
 
Adam18 make sure and keep your cart clean! Try Mr Clean's Magic Earaser. There's threads here on the 'Gon explaining the proper procedure for using it. $2.00 will buy you enough for a lifetime. Usually available at your general grocery store. Ensuring a properly cleaned stylus is important.

Record cleaning machine is good.

Make sure your table is dead level.

Like Elinor mentioned, isolating your TT will give wonderful improvements to your sound. Even cheap MDF boards and rubber/cork squares like the type mapleshade makes($24.00) can be a great improvement and of course certian "pre-made" shelves can take isolation further.

Enjoy!
ghanson
53 posts
 
This thread is great- thanks Adam. I remember my purchase of a Rega P3/Super Elys in December of 2000. I had churned through several cd players in the years prior and had bought a Rega Planet in June of that year. The P3 was a lark for me and I thought well, I'll give it a try since it cost about as much as a Planet and had been favorably written up. I was just amazed when I brought it home and had to overcome the temptation several times to throw the Planet from my second floor balcony onto the parking lot below in the days that followed. Look, vinyl is the living, breathing word of music- that is my hardened conviction. It lives and breathes as you and I do. Digital has gotten better and in the present era is quite impressive sonically but it is not the same.
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