Whats on your turntable tonight?

Steve Hackett - Spectral Mornings + Please Don't Touch

Rushton, My sympathy on your mishap. It has happened to me too. It was a number of years ago when I could hardly afford it, having squeezed all the juice out of my finances to purchase it. I had a Sota turntable with MMT arm and an Audioquest 404B cartridge. I loved that cartridge. The synergy with everything else was just right. I remember shouting something a little more severe to myself than 'BONEHEAD". When I attempted to replace it, it was no longer made having been replaced with another model. The newer model never measured up to my beloved 404B. Your experience just brought back this long buried painful memory. It sounds like you are still able to replace your cartridge. That's a good thing. In the end its still only money. As ancient King Solomon put it "there is nothing better for a man than to rejoice and to eat and drink and see good for all the hard work which the Lord has given him to do." The love of music and having the audio tools to bring this pleasure to life is costly but eminently rewarding.

BTW I don't recall ever seeing in any of your past post that you own a CD player. Do you have one as a backup?

Also I hear that on the Klimo label there is an all Harpsichord album. Do you have it? If so is listening to this harpsichord only record endurable? This is one instrument it is not usually easy for me to sit through. I've only forced myself to endure it when listening to my favorite flute player Jean Pierre Rampal when he performs duets with Robert Veyron Lacroix on harpsichord.

Kind regards,

Thanks to each of you who've expressed your concern. It's certainly helped my angst!

As Montepilot says, the good news is that its only money: no one was hurt, the cartridge can be replaced. (And thanks for sharing your story, Montepilot.) The better news is that a replacement cartridge is on it's way.

Regarding CD, I actually do have a CD player: a 15+ year old Rotel RCD 855. Completely inoffensive and far outclassed by current technology. The CD collection here is for sure the more limiting factor: 4,000 LPs, but at best only 50 CDs.

As to the Klimo harpsichord LP (Klimo Open Window OW001), I find it very enjoyable: an interesting selection of music, very well played by the inimitable Alfred Gross on three different harpsichords (each pretty different in character than the other), and very naturally recorded. This is certainly one of the better harpsichord records in my collection.

Another solo harpsichord LP I think is well recorded and listenable (and that is still available from Acoustic Sounds and perhaps others) is the Reference Recordings LP of Ramaeu performed by Albert Fuller (RR 27). Unlike the Klimo, this is a very close-up recording, which has its pluses and minuses. But it well captures the tonality of this instrument.
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Montepilot,
I read of your interest in the Klimo Open Window Edition of the all harpsichord music. I tend to agree with you that LP's like this can be an acquired taste. But, if you are so inclined, I would like to recommend another that I have found very enjoyable and not at all tedious: It is an LP of works for the harpsichord and flute by the Baroque era composer Boismortier and it is on the Northeastern University Records label. I see used copies of it turn up from time to time as I believe it may be out of print. (I am away from my record collection as I write this so I cannot give you more details). It is well worth seeking out.

Slipknot1
Thank you for the recommendation. Northeastern University is not far from me here in Boston. There is a local music store here, Rayburn's, that sells and repairs intstruments for the Boston Symphony and many famous jazz musicians who pass through. They also carry Northeastern's catalog of CD's. I am going to see if they can assist me in locating the Boismortier on vinyl. A long shot I know but I will still try.
Regards,