braudimusprime
stated:

I can spend about $1500 for the whole thing.

Whew..Ok, but limit yourself to a cd player OR a turntable first within your budget. Add on later. Or buy a boombox instead.

Paradigm Atom speakers
http://www.paradigm.com/Website/SitePar ... mance.html
Rotel RA 1062 intergrated amp
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/newslet ... a1062.html
Music Hall MMF 2.1 Table - great value
http://www.needledoctor.com/s.nl/it.A/i ... egory=-109
Sony SCD-CE 595..CD/SACD player, a steal for under $200.00
http://www.shopzilla.com/9L_-_cat_id--1 ... -193150535

Alright, then...

geiginni asked:

What cartridge are you using?

Grado Platinum - goes good w/ my Bryston solid state pre-amp. $300 or so.
http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/ ... m_stmt.htm

Scout tonearm-I had my hi fi guy set it up- I haven't had to touch it since. It is not an arm you have to screw with, although some folks don't like the fact that there's no anti skate control. I track at 2 grams and have had no problems.

It's also quiet as 4am on Sunday morning. The only thing connecting the motor to the plinth is the belt. I put the motor on an old mouse pad to isolate it further.

Damn, I'm gonna put a record on.

Redline wrote:geiginni asked:

What cartridge are you using?

Grado Platinum - goes good w/ my Bryston solid state pre-amp. $300 or so.
http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/ ... m_stmt.htm

Scout tonearm-I had my hi fi guy set it up- I haven't had to touch it since. It is not an arm you have to screw with, although some folks don't like the fact that there's no anti skate control. I track at 2 grams and have had no problems.

It's also quiet as 4am on Sunday morning. The only thing connecting the motor to the plinth is the belt. I put the motor on an old mouse pad to isolate it further.

Damn, I'm gonna put a record on.

I like the Grados a lot. Have you had to have the Stylus on the Reference series replaced? If so, how much did it cost and how long did it take? I've had my Grado gold for four years and replaced the stylus once (after about 6-700 hours). Just curious about the Platinum though.

Thanks,

I may have to look into that. I just buy new ones and use the old ones if I spin records at a club. I figure my used grado is better than the clubs chewed hip hop stylus.

geiginni wrote:

Redline wrote:geiginni asked:

What cartridge are you using?

Grado Platinum - goes good w/ my Bryston solid state pre-amp. $300 or so.
http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/ ... m_stmt.htm

Scout tonearm-I had my hi fi guy set it up- I haven't had to touch it since. It is not an arm you have to screw with, although some folks don't like the fact that there's no anti skate control. I track at 2 grams and have had no problems.

It's also quiet as 4am on Sunday morning. The only thing connecting the motor to the plinth is the belt. I put the motor on an old mouse pad to isolate it further.

Damn, I'm gonna put a record on.

I like the Grados a lot. Have you had to have the Stylus on the Reference series replaced? If so, how much did it cost and how long did it take? I've had my Grado gold for four years and replaced the stylus once (after about 6-700 hours). Just curious about the Platinum though.

Thanks,

hey, i bought a grado gold for my Music Hall mmf-5 based on your recommendation on this thread.

I use a Bryston .5B preamp into a Rotael RB-960 power amp which powers a pair of B&W DM601 s3s.

I am relatively new to the world of hi-fi, especially turntables and cartridges and stuff. so i have a question.

Since i installed the cartridge, it has seen some abuse whch is very regretful and embarassing to me. The first couple times handling the tone arm, i over shot the cradle and sent the stylus crashing into the plynth. More than once. I also missed the damn record a few times causing the stylus to run accross the felt pad. And then there was the time my 20 lbs cat decided to jump on the turntable as it was playing which was a huge disaster as you can imagine.

So anyhow, now that I got that off my chest... chances are that after this kind of abuse the stylus will not reproduce sound as well as it could. I feel like maybe I'm not getting as much high end as I should, but I'm wondering, if the stylus got damaged from any of the above follies, would it be baltantly noticeable or could it result in a slight loss of high end?

My next question is... how hard is it to just replace the stylus without replacing the hole cartridge, and how expensive is it?

thanks.

mike

Hey Redline, thanks for jumping all over that. I've seen the Music Hall turntable come up a few times in my travels, but the Rotel amp and Paradigm speakers are new to me.

Do you have any thoughts on the following equipment I've been considering: The Pro-ject Debut III, Outlaw Audio's RR2150, or the Athena Technologies AS-B2.2 speakers?

MTAR wrote:

Since i installed the cartridge, it has seen some abuse whch is very regretful and embarassing to me. The first couple times handling the tone arm, i over shot the cradle and sent the stylus crashing into the plynth. More than once. I also missed the damn record a few times causing the stylus to run accross the felt pad. And then there was the time my 20 lbs cat decided to jump on the turntable as it was playing which was a huge disaster as you can imagine.

So anyhow, now that I got that off my chest... chances are that after this kind of abuse the stylus will not reproduce sound as well as it could. I feel like maybe I'm not getting as much high end as I should, but I'm wondering, if the stylus got damaged from any of the above follies, would it be baltantly noticeable or could it result in a slight loss of high end?

My next question is... how hard is it to just replace the stylus without replacing the hole cartridge, and how expensive is it?

thanks.

The stylus is probably fine, but the cantilever, (the thing that holds the stylus), is probably damaged.
From what you wrote, it's tha cat's fault.
If I wuz you, I'd probably buy a new cartridge. Replacing the stylus is almost the same $$$, and it may not fix the problem.

The Pro-ject Debut III, Outlaw Audio's RR2150, or the Athena Technologies AS-B2.2 speakers?

Pro-ject Debt 3 is good, Rega-like, I'd still go with the Music Hall.
Outlaw Audio's RR2150, unknown to me. I know Athena made good stuff, but I never heard them.

I have a cool old AR "Model R" integrated tuner/amp with a stereo/mono switch. I found it on the street. I've never been able to find any mention of it anywhere, not on eBay, nothing. (Maybe I'm not looking in the right place.)

The second-hand shop near me has some cool old (1950's?) loudspeakers, cheap. They're not stereo pairs, but those old single kind that look like furniture. One is a Fisher. My father had one of these for years when I was young and I remember it thumped.

I'm thinking of setting up a one-speaker mono system at home.

(Not necessarily my primary listening set-up -- But let's not get sidetracked into that debate.)

I need some tech help, and forgive the ignorance here:

If I hook up only one speaker, won't the power draw be out of whack and fry something eventually? Do I need a converter? Do I connect the one-big-speaker to both speaker wires coming out of my amp? Maybe it doesn't matter if one channel burns out, because I'm only using one, anyway?

Anyone have some Mono tips?


thanks

- Robin

I have switched my entire system around lately, so I decided to update my post here.

This:
Lenco G75 re-plinthed and rebuilt by Jean Nantais
Denon DL-103 MC Cart with Mic transformer step-up (Beyer Transformers)
Audio research SP8 Pre amp Full of Bugle boy and Telefunken/RCA
Mcintosh MC 240 Amp full of Mullard/ RCA blackplates
Two set's of JBL's: L 100's on top, 4311B on bottom: LOUD!

Has been replaced with this:

Lenco 78 by Jean Nantais, but twice as big (sounds better)
Tonearm: rewired RB 250 with a bronze counterweight
(I'm waiting for a DIY unipivot to be made).
My 103 has been re-tipped with a ruby cantilever and special diamond
I built a really simple 5687 and 6X4 rectified pre based on the Kondo San M7 circuit.
I also built a SET DHT 45 amp with James Trans and other 'boutique' parts.
DIY JE Labs Open Baffle Speakers with Fostex 206e drivers
Klipsch Cornwalls: I needed 100db efficiency since my 45 amp only puts out a watt and a half!
My back up amp for playing loudly is a Super T Amp, it actually sounds very good, not as good as the 45, but only cost $100.
I quit making the interconnects after I found $6 petra cables beat them, now I use those...
I built some 22 gauge speaker wire for about $5 that sound really good as well.

The amp cost about $550, the pre about $350.

The system is a lot more satisfying now and it was fun yet maddening learning more about amp building and circuits, at which I'm still very much a beginner. Luckily one of the 'gurus' talked me through it...