patrickamory

Responses from patrickamory

Turntable mats
You definitely will have to experiment. I will say that on my Garrard 301, I really like Herbie's Grungebuster mat. 
Top turntables?
I concur with the praise of the Denon 103 and 103R, and nobody has heard it properly until they've heard it in an arm that can manage it properly. That said, I'm a bit surprised that the Tri-Planar is one of those arms. I would have thought high-m... 
Top turntables?
Jean Nantais inimitably wrote: "You want PRESENCE, excitement, the sort of PALPABILITY which hits you in the stomach and leaves you gasping for breath, try a properly set-up idler-wheel drive. "And all I can lamely say is... "X 10" 
Any Shindo users?
Having just responded, I realized this was the speaker forum... I have heard Shindo's top-line Latour field-coil speakers, not perhaps in the best room, and also the Western Electrics, which completely blew me away. All my prejudices about horns a... 
Any Shindo users?
I have the Monbrison full-function preamp. A friend brought over his and we put it in my system and I was completely bowled away.The little Monbrison replaced a BAT VK-5SE and the Aesthetix Io Signature with power supply - three gigantic boxes rep... 
EMT 950 BBC vs newer designs like VPI ,LP12 etc
The 950 is one of EMT's direct drive turntables... if I recall correctly (and I may be wrong) it has a massive motor and a very light plastic platter, the goal being to get the table up to speed extremely fast for broadcast purposes. I believe the... 
Has anyone heard the Denon 103-SA?
The 103-SA costs money 'cause it's a limited-edition, numbered, wooden box type deal (personalized with your name on a plaque) to commemorate Denon having shipped 500,000 units of the 103 cartridge.The extra weight is probably due to the blue fibr... 
What phono preamps are balanced
Pedrillo asked, "Which phono preamps have balanced in?"The Aesthetix Io. 
Used record stores in lower Manhattan, NYC?
Don't expect to find jazz bargains in NYC. Try Academy 12th Street (E. 12th at 4th Avenue), and the Jazz Record Center (W. 26th St., google the exact address). You might find some surprises at Mercer Books (Mercer Street between Bleecker and Houst... 
LP "Cutouts"
Hi jaybo,I work at Matador, and we've never stopped taking returns on vinyl. That's standard in the indie world... and frankly the only way you're going to get significant vinyl sales happening. Cut-outs could certainly be ordered title-specific -... 
LP "Cutouts"
"records being pressed today have no return priviliges" -- Sorry, but once again, this is wrong. I work at a record label and I know. We sell our vinyl with 100% returns. It's true that many distributors now sell vinyl "one-way", but not all of th... 
LP "Cutouts"
Wrong. Records are a fully returnable commodity at wholesale, so a title needs to be 'deleted' in order to reduce a label's exposure to future potential returns from stores (and accompanying return credits, which may be applied against future purc... 
how to tell on first pressing vinyl releases
"how to tell on first pressing vinyl releases"Experience, experience, experience! Plus read up websites (Google search on your favorite artists and labels), ask retailers and collectors, go to record fairs and hang out with the people there.Any sp... 
Mono vs Stereo reissues
Oh man, I'm sorry, but I couldn't disagree more Jaybo. First of all, for many '60s British groups in particular, the mono mix was the one that they paid attention to. George Martin in the Beatles famously mixed in mono -- the stereo was farmed out... 
Mono vs Stereo reissues
For jazz through the late '60s, you want mono. For classical you generally want stereo where available. (Not in the case of certain French labels from the '50s and '60s.) For rock it's partly a matter of taste, partly a matter of how important whi...