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Enjoying vinyl more than ever.........

I've been going through a "vinyl renaissance," and want to share some feelings. My set-up is simple, and extremely enjoyable. I'm not sure of the proper "audiophile terms" to describe my system, other than saying that everything seems to work incredibly well together, and it all sounds wonderful. I'm driving Vandersteen 1C speakers with a Rogue Audio Cronus (EL-34 tubes) integrated amplifier and an NAD 533 turntable with a new stylus on the pre-mounted Goldring Elektra cartridge. Audioquest type 6+ cables connect the speakers, and I have a very warm and rich sounding Rotel RCD-1072 CD player (with an AQ King Cobra interconnect). Upgraded power cords for the Rogue and Rotel are SignalCable.

I am enjoying my record collection more than ever before, since replacing the stylus. I never realized that the original stylus (eight years old) was missing so much of the "deep groove" detail. All my records sound so great again, that I'm rarely listening to my CD's. All my old jazz and classic rock albums sound fantastic, and my evening listening sessions are extending later into the night each time I sit in my "sweet spot" chair.

I've been buying a lot of new albums from a website called "Dustygroove.com", and I'm quite impressed with their collection of new jazz albums (mostly Blue Note re-issues). For $8.99 each, I'm quickly buying uo a lot of jazz classics, and the LP's are wonderful.

Now, I certainly won't be giving up on my CD collection any time soon......but it's a pleasure to be enjoying vinyl again. There's something about it that "just sounds right," and to my humble ears, sounds "more musical" than CD's. I'll stop rambling now. I just wanted to share my excitement about vinyl LP's, and see if anyone has a similar system as mine, and can recommended an upgraded analog front end. Thanks a lot.
adam18
11 responses Add your response
joe_in_seattle
114 posts
 
Adam:

Congratulations, you have found Nirvanna. Beware the Dark Side! There is no end to "upgradeitis" and the quest for more and better.

My second system is quite similar to yours: Rogue with EL34's driving ADS L780/2's (a three way system from the 80's of good quality), and I'm using a Denon DP7F TT - similar in value to your NAD. I, too, replaced (the cartridge) with a fine line Ortofon 320.

You could get any number of better turntables for $500 to $50,000.

I would recommend you NOT do so. At present, you're buying albums and listening to them. If you don't have one, buy a RCM and continue with the music. You can pursue more and better, but a turntable will lead to a standalone phono stage and a new cartridge and you'll have spent $2,000 and have sound only marginally better than you enjoy now. Some will sneer at your TT as mid-fi. It's so much better than I was listening to in the 60's! Enjoy..........

Of course, my opinion only.............
seasoned's avatar
seasoned
181 posts
 
Your vinyl renaissance experience makes me smile. You know, it's funny...every single non-audiophile person that listens to my system has the same reaction to my vinyl rig - it usually goes like this:

"Wow! I can't believe how much better the turntable sounds than the CD player. I have heard that vinyl sounds better than CD...this is incredible!" Me: Yup.

"Gosh...vinyl is so much more dynamic and real sounding" Me: Yup.

"Play another CD for me" Me: OK

"Wow! that is so 2-dimensional and electronic sounding. Let's play some more vinyl" Me: Yup, OK.

Note that my CD player is no slouch - Resolution Audio Opus 21.

I recommend a VPI scoutmaster (or superscoutmaster if you can spring for it) really nice.

Keep that analog flame burning Adam18!
elinor's avatar
elinor
275 posts
 
Your system may be modest in cost, but not in quality. I have no doubt that your Rogue driving those Vandys must be very sweet indeed. I agree with what some others have said already. A good record cleaning machine will buy you a lot of good sound and needle life as well for relatively low dollars. You may want to experiment with some good used turntable shelves under your turntable. The results from a correctly matched shelf can be dramatic, also had inexpensively.
wwshull
157 posts
 
i am going through the same revolation. my dad recently gave me his old linn lp-12. just to make sure i enjoyed it i started out with a sumiko bluebird evo 3 special and the parasound z-phono pre amp. this week i changed to a pbn audio mini olympia phono pre and a gas sleeping beauty catridge. i also upgraded the phono interconnects to nordost hemidal. next step is a record cleaning machine. i love the sound.
pbb
1,140 posts
 
Everybody and his uncle remotely related to audio is in a "vinyl renaissance".

Have you checked the price of vintage tts lately?
adam18 OP
670 posts
 
Thanks for the nice responses so far. It's great to hear this kind of stuff from everybody. Ya' know, it's really funny.....back when I first started getting into good music (mid-1970's), vinyl was the only quality way to go. Yeah, sure, cassettes and 8-tracks were good in the car, but LP's was "IT" for good listening. Then, we all got so used to CD's, that we forgot how great vinyl LP's sound. Well, my friends, it's geat to "re-discover" analog playback once again. Let's keep spinning those albums on our turntables, and enjoying our favorite tunes.
mariasplunge
174 posts
 
Adam18 make sure and keep your cart clean! Try Mr Clean's Magic Earaser. There's threads here on the 'Gon explaining the proper procedure for using it. $2.00 will buy you enough for a lifetime. Usually available at your general grocery store. Ensuring a properly cleaned stylus is important.

Record cleaning machine is good.

Make sure your table is dead level.

Like Elinor mentioned, isolating your TT will give wonderful improvements to your sound. Even cheap MDF boards and rubber/cork squares like the type mapleshade makes($24.00) can be a great improvement and of course certian "pre-made" shelves can take isolation further.

Enjoy!
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,368 posts
 
Yes, I think vinyl is wonderful, however, if you hear that much difference, you need a better CD player
ghanson
53 posts
 
This thread is great- thanks Adam. I remember my purchase of a Rega P3/Super Elys in December of 2000. I had churned through several cd players in the years prior and had bought a Rega Planet in June of that year. The P3 was a lark for me and I thought well, I'll give it a try since it cost about as much as a Planet and had been favorably written up. I was just amazed when I brought it home and had to overcome the temptation several times to throw the Planet from my second floor balcony onto the parking lot below in the days that followed. Look, vinyl is the living, breathing word of music- that is my hardened conviction. It lives and breathes as you and I do. Digital has gotten better and in the present era is quite impressive sonically but it is not the same.
adam18 OP
670 posts
 
I'm really happy to read all your responses to this thread. Just imagine.......we all have the ability to enjoy music via several different means.....live performances are phenomenal, and both digital CD's and analog LP's are ours to enjoy at home. It's pretty cool that we can listen to both CD's and vinyl, and enjoy both modes of playback for their own intrinsic values. My intention is NOT to choose which is "better".....digital or analog. I enjoy fully both my CD's (through my Rotel RCD-1072) and my LP's (through my NAD 533), and my mood at any particular time dictates which power button I hit. I'm simply very happy and proud to be a part of a community such as this one, as we are all lovers of music. That's the bottom line.
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islandmandan
1,260 posts
 
Adam18, your story is similar in that I am (within the last year or so) back into vinyl, and enjoying it more than ever. My front end is better, but more important, I've learned how to do proper set-up, and that has lead to much greater enjoyment.
Thanks to a fellow A'goner named Crem1, I just learned about steam cleaning records. For about $30, you can purchase a steamer at Walgreen's. It works extremely well, you can clean your records first with your favorite cleaner, then steam 'em, then dry with a lint free towel. A lot of guys use the steaming with an RCM, but I don't think it's necessary, they come out so clean. It's very important, though to use very pure water doing this, the cleaner the better. Check out the thread here on the analog forum. It even flattened a warped record, as a happy by-product!
Enjoy,
Dan
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