Vinyl vs. CD

I am going to sell my Oracle Turntable and all of my records. The table is an original Delphi and has been upgraded to a Mark II. In addition it has a custom made power supply and a custom made armboard. The arm is Syrinx PU-2. It sounds good, much better than the Rega Planar 3 I replaced with it, but does not sound better than my Parasound CD2000/AADTIPR0/Bel Canto Dac. I have not listed it for sale on any websites because I do not want to ship it and I do not even know how much it is worth. I live in Bergen County,NJ. I do have the original box and manual. I have all of my records (around 300) listed in an excel file that I can e-mail. I have around 70 "audiophile" recordings which I am looking to sell. I have e-mailed the list to a few used record shops in this area and only one or two are even interested. This is probably a good time to buy used records, but forget about selling them.

hi craig, i have *no* problem w/background noises on my vinyl set-up, and i don't have a super-spendy cartridge either. the ortofon mc25-fl retails at $450, but the needle-doctor sells it (perpetually on sale?) for $225. perhaps your fono-stage was lacking? or, mebbe ewe had too much gain from your fono-stage/preamp combo, for the cartridge used? i have a nice fono-stage, the pentagon ps-3 (retail $1900?), which i got as a demo close-out for $600. i had it set to highest gain for the lo-output (0.2mv) of my m/c w/my cary preamp, and all was well w/the world. no noise problems. when i hooked up the melos music director preamp, there was all sortsa noise on the fono - i dint understand it, and at 1st, i thought it was a poor preamp. but, a bit of experimenting led to the realization that the melos had so much gain, that, even w/the low-output mc cartridge i'm using, i could set the fono stage on its lowest setting, & still have plenty of gain. (melos sez this preamp will drive efficient speakers directly w/no amps - i *believe* 'em!) no more background noise, only sweet music. so, craig, i tink there was a mismatch in your system between the preamp/fono/cartridge. regards, doug

hi joe_b. *PLEASE* email me yer record list!!! sedond@ors.od.nih.gov re: your 'table, i bought an oracle, orig version updated to mk-v specs, all except the power-supply, included grace 727 tonearm, box, & shipping from canada to maryland, for $1250. included was the $60 to buy the correct factory box for shipping. hope this helps, doug

My preference is towards vinyl, although good digital these days has its attractions--I can now listen to CDs and LPs in the same listening session, where I had trouble with that for many years. I wonder if some of the problem stems from your old records. When I first purchased a good turntable (an old Well-Tempered, in about 1988), I remember my disappointment when listening to a lot of the albums I enjoyed in my pre-CD days with a cheap Technics turntable, although some of the albums (some Chesky re-releases, Reference Recordings, Harmonia Mundis) sounded infinitely better than CD. Apart from the care taken in the mastering, it turns out that the albums that didn't sound so good were ones I'd gotten through record clubs, which didn't use the greatest vinyl and probably were cut from dubs (who knows what generation) of the master tapes. Plus I hadn't taken the best of care with those albums. This manifested itself in a lot of surface noise and inferior resolution, muddy sound, etc. If you're truly bothered by surface noise, you'd have to spend more than you have done so far to get a turntable which will make you not notice the noise, but even then it won't make up for a cheap or worn out pressing and it may still wind up bothering you. Have you tried any of the recent re-issues on your set-up? If they don't sound better to you than their CD counterparts, then I'm not sure it's worth throwing additional money into hardware, because you seem to have a good analog rig. If they do, then you would be well advised learning about which pressings are best and how to spot them so you can pick them up for cheap at the garage sales (or else invest money in the reissues). I'm not familiar enough with pop and rock records to know which versions are the best or which publications which would help you identify them--there are some books in the classical arena.

Hey I'm sorry TM12, but my cat Missy won't eat analog cat food no matter how many times I put the picture on her plate. Lighten up, dude :-) Btw, the reason the world was believed to be flat for so long was because the people who thought differently were told they had no business voicing their opinions. Dreaming of Columbus...