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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
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.
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?
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