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Quiet Tonearms/cartidges??

I have a fairly good system and am considering revamping my turntable. I really haven't played vinyl in 20 years. When I did, I would buy an album, clean it, zap it with my Zerostat, then record it going through a DBX 224 and then play the tape. This would eliminate most pops and surface noise, while also allowing me to play at high volumes without any rumble. I have been reading about the higher quality tonearms and cartridges and understand that the high end models virtually eliminate surface noise of LP's. Is this HYPE or FACT? I rarely play LP's now-perhaps because I have no really good quality way of playing them, and I must admit, I enjoy the convenience of CD's. OK - I'm sure all you vinyl purists are muttering obscenities. I currently have a 1974 Pioneer PL-71 turntable , with a Shure V-15 III cartridge, which was pretty much the best I could buy at the time. I have a Theta CB3 preamp going into Krell KMA 160 monoblocks, driving some Wilson Maxx's (series II) speakers. I'm using a Theta Miles CD transport at the front. My old pioneer turntable doesn't sound "bad", but when I look at some of the new analog stuff out there, I'm wondering if I'm really missing out on some good vinyl reproduction. Don't have the bucks to invest in a turntable to equal the rest of my system, but may want to get into a medium grade line of analog equipment. Do any of you vinyl guys (or gals) have any advice? (Blowing my head off, or ingesting poison is not an option)
handymann
axelwahl
788 posts
 
A RCM => (Record Cleaning Machine) is a MUST as far as I had to learn. And that ALSO applies to NEW records as far as my experience tells me.
A lot of them new one's are not a pristine as one would like to have it. I use a Hannl MERA (pretty quite) with their latest Roller-brush --- VERY handy for reticent cleaning cases of mostly 2nd-hand vinyl.

Ticks and pops are said to operate right in/into the super-tonic frequencies i.e. above what you can hear. B U T they create their own lower harmonics that can make them sound worse then they actually are. This gets back to the cart/arm/phono-pre/loading matching also for MMs! (ask Raul he likes 75k ohm and 100k ohm better then the std. 47k input impedance for a lot of his MM carts). I mention this if it gets to picking a phono-pre.

I still think a good MM cart with a top 40dB tube? stage might be the way to go, rather than blowing your buck on one 'can-do-all' with a dodgy/lesser MC stage and trying to get it right afterwards with any of those overpriced MCs. IT WON'T WORK!
Just a more recently arrived at opinion on that subject.
Cheers,
Axel
albertporter's avatar
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albertporter
4,949 posts
 
Axelwahl,

So you sold your expensive Ortofon Windfeld in favor of a Shure?
axelwahl
788 posts
 
Hi Albertporter,
I'm about to, it's in for repair or exchange for a new one. Depending on the outcome I consider to sell it.

I'm using the V15 III with 35MR stylus right now and I get more detail AND music... then with any of the MCs I used this far --- including Transfiguration Orpheus, Axia, DV 20X-L, Lyra Dorian, Ortofon Jubilee, Ortofon Kontra Punkt A, etc.

B U T, as I mentioned elsewhere this may well have to do with the ability or in-ability of my ML326S phono-modules, that's hard to tell. But so far my rig sounds better then ever!

If you call a top of the pops phono-pre your own >$5k, YMMV. I also mentioned, that those ML phono-modules, the lesser 320S, (not with Arlon25 PCBs) scored on the very top of some Germany Audio magazines --- otherwise one hears not much about them. Only info is: they are cloned from the ML32 Reference pre-amp's phono-modules.

I currently think, that MMs are much underrated currently, or MCs are over-rated. All of course based on a phono-pre's final ability and as usual a suitable cart/arm match.

I hope this makes some sense,
Axel
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albertporter
4,949 posts
 
Axel, yes makes sense thank you for explaining.

I built up a rim drive Lenco about 5 years ago and that is what brought me to where I am today, running two Technics MK3 and one MK2 with plans for a Garrard as well.

The cartridge in that Lenco was a new Shure V15 III with stock stylus. I agree it was amazing for the money but it did not compete with my moving coil. Perhaps as you say, it's got to do with the phono stage, I was running the Aesthetix Io which was (and still is) a state of the art piece.
queg
55 posts
 
All the geeks will talk equipment but the truth is: If you feel the occasional click or pop is an intolerable distraction or that it interferes with the believability of the performance, then don't bother with vinyl. You may get through many sides with no discernable noise, but no matter how clean a pressing or how expensive the rig, clicks will happen.

For me it's part of life's acceptable imperfections .. the poorly timed cough during a symphony.. ..a stray hair in a Kubrik film ..a fly buzzing by a beautiful landscape view.. a little mole on a well-formed breast...
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