A Copernican View of the Turntable System

Dear Raul,

I will wait for you at the airport from Monday on.

Is it true that you are selling your analogue gears investing in computer hardware?? :-)

When I was attending RMAF last October I was wondering why we could see and listen to lots of analogue systems while the guys from the magazines and some hardware manufacturers were talking about the HiRez opportunities. I understood that at least in the US there are different teams in the playfield, the "old fashioned guys" like us and the "market and studio oriented people" in the business.

Maybe we see two trends, the streaming and HiRez efforts as well as the source oriented analogue activities. I have never seen so many tape recorders being bought than in the last six months - thanks to Tape Project only?

Raul, why not buying two tape recorders, a digital one and an analogue machine. You will be able to do everything you like on a good quality level. But what happens to your tonearm project in this case?

Should we say farewell to you cause your posting now under DIGITAL? Hopefully not! We need you, even the guys who like to debate emphatically with you.

Halcro, I agree with you - something must have been happened with Raul, tequilas? some other shocks, maybe a life event? or are we interpreting too deeply? Or are we just living behind the horizon and do not understand what is approching us. When Raul was infected who could be the next?

Halcro, You seem to be satisfied with how your JVC project turned out though you should move forward to verify any remaining specultive theories that maybe lingering in your mind.
May I suggest expanding your nude turntable project into having a panzarholz plinth made for your DD JVC. Preferably a design that would accommodate a pivoting arm board/ boards similar to your TW Raven a'la Micro Seiki.

Interesting that both these tables are similar in design though sound vastly differant even with the same quality arm and cartridge installed, isit the plinth material?, bearing design? the motor? belt? or all the above?

Thuchan if your going to hang around the air port for Raul to show up , may I suggest you wearing a large sombrero, aways good to stand out among a crowd.

Dear Thuchan and Halcro: I'm still an analog/LP music lover and I think I will be for years to come but now that I " discovery " the digital source I'm trying to learn at least two subjects:
why analog people " hate " or diminished the digital source and second to understand what " happen " under digital domain: what we can hear on the digital domain/what's wrong or good.

I think I know all the LP/analog experience advantages and disadvantages and I for now am a happy analog/LP person.

Try to cofront in serious way the digital " experience " is something where for we analog guys the LP has a big handicap against the digital today status ( on our home audio systems. ) because analog/LP is what we like, it is how our " ears " are accustom to enjoy music at home and even our audio system set up was made for analog/LP playback including what we choosed for electronic audio items and speakers: everything that surrounded goes in favor of analog not digital.

Even that IMHO the digital ( 24/176.8 and in less way the redbook ) has some main advantages: widest frequency response and dynamic range than analog, lower distortions, lower noise level, better accuracy level, easy to set up, etc. etc.

Disadvantages?, I really can't see or I'm really unaware of any important disadvantages other that the ones I name it and that are not a digital technology disadvantage but an unfriendly scenario where the digital source has to " work ".

IMHO a well recorded digital source has nothing to ask against LP ( everything the same. ). Yes there are CDs and DVDAs that are bad ones but this fact is true on the analog side where we have bad recordings too.

Yes, it is true that on CDs the high frequency extreme is really limited and is an important drawback but well recorded CDs ( with upsampling ) performs acceptable and at good level.
Even that at the other frequency extreme where belongs the bass the CDs are a lot better that our beloved LP.

When we take a DVDA ( 24/176.8 0r 192khz. ) the CDs main drawback just disappear and instead of that " appear " what for us LP lovers was and is losted in the CD experience.

In theory a digital recording add less " non recorded information " than the LP recordings and this IMHO could tell us that a digital source is truer to the recording than a LP.

Something important that I learned about digital experience is not heard it thinking to find out/looking for a " similar " LP quality performance.

This is a big error/mistake, we have to understand the digital playback: what is inside and what is not, , we need a different reference say: live music.

All the overall ( non in the recording ) additional LP " artefacts/contrivance " do not comes in the digital source and with its lower distortions/noise level the digital music experience is " different " from analog/LP, so why are we waiting for a similar experience?: no way.

A big disadvantage that well recorded digital medium has is that with digital playback " errors/mistakes or lessen designs " in our electronics or room/speakers and audio system set up comes out and many times these is what we are hearing and we think that the culprit of all these is the digital medium/recording when in reality the problem belongs inside anywere on the audio system.

It is difficult to think in a source with lower noise/distortion levels that digital and this characteristic IMHO expose everything in any audio system especially the dedicated analog set ups.

Am I in love with digital?, not really but now that I'm starting to undestand it and learning on the whole subject I accepted and enjoyed as a " new " good music source alternative. Unfortunately I don't have enough software but I'm trying to buy and find out what I like on music different genre.

Thuchan, our tonearm project is running in " solid " way and almost finished.
To accept in wide way the digital alternative only means that: accept it, my love for analog/LP does not change.

Gentlemans, the digital alternative is IMHO a serious alternative that could be worth for some of you to give it an opportuniy.
It is like the SS alternative or the DD-TT alternative or the MM/MI cartridge alternative or the linear tracking alternative: it is a good alternative that IMHO is better that what we are accustomed to think.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.