Vinyl vs. CD

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...

I have been partial towards vinyl ever since I got into this insideous "time consumer" hobby, which I love. I have owned several front ends in both vinyl and cd. Early NAD, then California Audio, followed by Wadia, Sonic Frontiers and a slew of auditioned players. As time lapsed the cd hardware improved immensely, until I found the sonic differences so close, that the convenience of cd outweighed the these minor attributes. Some analog I've been privy to own or get to know are Sota, Oracle, with Sme and Koetsu followed by a long stint of VPI TNT (and it's incarnations), fitted with an Air Tangent/Clearaudio. This set-up served me well, but I never felt the bottom end was comparable to cd. More spacious, at times more involving, but some of the tonal inaccuracies disallowed me to enjoy, driving me towards tweak-hell. So, even with an expensive VPI, I felt hollowed. Now with the Clearaudio/Souther/Accurate I have finally attained a phono front end that betters every cd combo I have heard. I know better cd hardware exists, I just have not experienced the depth, unexaggerated macro presentation while maintaining the minute intricacies. I had gone months and months without a phono player, appreciated my Sony sacd tremendously, but know I find the turntable in constant rotation.