twelvepoint wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 8:02 am Any reccos? I'll keep an eye out. Mass North Shore is flooded with upper middle class boomers getting rid of 80s hi-fi crap.

I have no idea what turns your crank. If you liked the klipsches then they make a ton of towers as well. if you like b&Ws there are loads out there. Some of them are not great, but I have not heard the mid-priced (500 and 600 series) ones. The 700 and 800 series are usually good, but expensive. I love the old 801 and 802s, even the really old ones from the 80s. If you like KEFs, I always liked the 104/2s although most of those are old enough now to need re-foaming the drivers and recapping the crossovers.

The nice thing about buying used is you can usually turn them over without losing much money at all, so you can try stuff and see if you like it. There are tons of places to check used values. hifishark.com, audiogon, usaudiomart, ebay. Use these to make sure you are not overpaying. But this is a lifelong journey. Enjoy.

WeStartToDrift wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:40 am A while back I picked up another LP12. It isn't the first run, but it is pretty close and the only upgrade that I can find to it was someone put on a Fidelity Research tonearm. A co-worker of mine is a wizard and swapped out the bearing and retuned or swapped out the suspension springs. I think the next step is going to be picking up a Lingo IV power supply / speed controller and a new tonearm. Anyone here have experience with the Ittok tonearm? I know my way around most of the more "normal" hifi turntables but Linn has always kind of felt "adjacent" to the normal hifi world as they tend to do things in their own idiosyncratic way.

oooh, right up my alley. Does it have the valhalla board? did your friend put the cirkus bearing in? Suspension tuning is pretty easy if you have any experience.

I know and love ittoks, i think they are still one of the best arms out there. do you have a specific question about them?

motorbike guy wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:46 am

WeStartToDrift wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:40 am A while back I picked up another LP12. It isn't the first run, but it is pretty close and the only upgrade that I can find to it was someone put on a Fidelity Research tonearm. A co-worker of mine is a wizard and swapped out the bearing and retuned or swapped out the suspension springs. I think the next step is going to be picking up a Lingo IV power supply / speed controller and a new tonearm. Anyone here have experience with the Ittok tonearm? I know my way around most of the more "normal" hifi turntables but Linn has always kind of felt "adjacent" to the normal hifi world as they tend to do things in their own idiosyncratic way.

oooh, right up my alley. Does it have the valhalla board? did your friend put the cirkus bearing in? Suspension tuning is pretty easy if you have any experience.

I know and love ittoks, i think they are still one of the best arms out there. do you have a specific question about them?

He put the Cirkus bearing which was a big improvement and we went halfsies on a setup jig so working on it is a breeze. For whatever reason the LP12's I've run into either have Ekos (or whatever came before it) or Basic arms, but that usually is because a dealer wants to have an entry level deck and then an aspirational one. This predates Valhalla, so it is the tiny one-sided PCB that syncs to the mains frequency like most old tables. I am going to be steering clear of the Valhalla/Hercules power supplies as those tend to go up in flames.

motorbike guy wrote: Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:48 pm

twelvepoint wrote: Thu Nov 18, 2021 10:49 am Ok I pulled the trigger in the Yamaha A-S701. It's class AB, 100wpc, includes bass, treble, variable presence, phono preamp, optical in, remote control and no other bullshit. The guts look like straight out of the 80s with as big transformer and transistors on heat sinks, multiple daughter boards and through hole components. 800 bucks, and unless I had better speakers, a dedicated listening area, and the hearing acuity I had 30 years ago is all I really should be spending. Could have saved $250 and got the 80wpc version but I'm a damn hell ass king here.

100W fuck yeah!
let us know how it sounds.

Oh my god I need this. 100 Watts and tone controls on the front. I have a Cambridge Audio AXR100 now but tone controls on the front, I would love to have.

That trend toward removing tone controls, or in your case, burying them in a menu, is unfortunate. I think it’s completely reasonable to want to goose up bass or treble frequently, and it’s cost cutting guised as snobbery to eliminate that. I guess if you want to listen to fucking Aja or some Windham Hill bullshit for the umpteenth time and need to hear it as pure as possible then fine, you be you, but that’s not really great for me.

So that amp arrived yesterday and I have no complaints. Spent some time playing punk 45s with my wife and son which was fun (Mouth Breather was a big hit). It’s got enough power (using my B&W speakers) to sound good and dynamic. I dunno if it’s psychological but compared to my boring newish Sony receiver and my little NAD Bluetooth integrated amp, it’s more… open? I hate to use vague adjectives like that but generally I like the old class AB transistor stuff more than D or amp on a chip stuff I’ve heard.

Like I said, the optical was a huge plus, as I can use an otherwise basic home stereo amp as part of the video setup too. Really nice inclusion for me without having to get some THX Bluetooth HDMI switching foolishness.

Yamaha also does this thing with a variable loudness control. Never used that before but they had it forever so clearly it’s a keeper for them. So far if I’m playing stuff quieter I might give it a little attenuation, way more subtle than the old on/off loudness controls that just sounded wrong.

WeStartToDrift wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 8:12 pm

motorbike guy wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:46 am

WeStartToDrift wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:40 am A while back I picked up another LP12. It isn't the first run, but it is pretty close and the only upgrade that I can find to it was someone put on a Fidelity Research tonearm. A co-worker of mine is a wizard and swapped out the bearing and retuned or swapped out the suspension springs. I think the next step is going to be picking up a Lingo IV power supply / speed controller and a new tonearm. Anyone here have experience with the Ittok tonearm? I know my way around most of the more "normal" hifi turntables but Linn has always kind of felt "adjacent" to the normal hifi world as they tend to do things in their own idiosyncratic way.

oooh, right up my alley. Does it have the valhalla board? did your friend put the cirkus bearing in? Suspension tuning is pretty easy if you have any experience.

I know and love ittoks, i think they are still one of the best arms out there. do you have a specific question about them?

He put the Cirkus bearing which was a big improvement and we went halfsies on a setup jig so working on it is a breeze. For whatever reason the LP12's I've run into either have Ekos (or whatever came before it) or Basic arms, but that usually is because a dealer wants to have an entry level deck and then an aspirational one. This predates Valhalla, so it is the tiny one-sided PCB that syncs to the mains frequency like most old tables. I am going to be steering clear of the Valhalla/Hercules power supplies as those tend to go up in flames.

So your table is a pre-valhalla power supply and motor with a cirkus bearing? You can find a valhalla cheaply. Mine never had any issues for the many years it was installed. Either way, going to a lingo is the move. Mine has the 1st gen lingo, and it is great. plus the ability to play 45rpm with a button push is a huge improvement. Those are available used, as is the naim equivalent power supply. I am not sure I would spend th $5k for the radikal over the $1800 for the lingo, although I don't know if the lingo comes with the new motor.

the predecessor to the Ekos was the ittok, as far as I know. The bearings look exactly the same on the outside as does the arm tube. (i am sure the Ekos bearings are upgraded in some way, according to Linn) The main difference is the
Ekos has a built in arm rest, whereas the ittok has a separate one that goes through a separate hole in the armboard. The Ekos has a nicer headshell and finger grabby part. But an Ittok is still a phenomenal arm.

twelvepoint wrote: Sat Nov 20, 2021 7:19 am
Yamaha also does this thing with a variable loudness control. Never used that before but they had it forever so clearly it’s a keeper for them. So far if I’m playing stuff quieter I might give it a little attenuation, way more subtle than the old on/off loudness controls that just sounded wrong.

Yeah get into that! At lower volumes start with it all the way back and then turn it up to the point that the low/high frequencies sound balanced with the mids. Fletcher Munson curves and all that : )

I would steer you towards a high output MC, like the lower end Hanas or the Sumiko Blue Point, but honestly:
1) they are not quite the same thing as real low output MCs, which is where you really want to end up and
2) they are a little more than your budget, and
3) I don't know what your table/arm setup is, so I am not convinced that spending $400 on a next step up cartridge is the best use of your funds.

I would normally be wary of hanging any MC cartridge on a table that has a lesser arm, or minimal isolation, or speed control issues. A really good MC will not be able to give you all the music in the groove if the arm situation is compromised. But my views on tonearms are somewhat ultra orthodox and not widely shared.

If you like the Ortofons, then I would stick with that line. They tend to sound less brittle than the AT carts, and you get more detail as you move up. I have no experience with the higher end Grados, but I absolutely do not like plastic bodied Grados I have heard under about $200, and they are difficult to match to an arm and can be problematic trackers. I have not heard the wood bodied Grados.

I have also not heard the Sumiko Moonstone and Olympia, or the Clearaudio Concept but those could be good options as far as upper level MM carts go. You should also consider a Linn Adikt.

Normal recommendations for an entry level MC cart are the Denon DL-103 and the Ortofon Quintet series, but [for reasons] you might want to put that $400-$500 in the new turntable fund.

I'm looking around for a dual capstan tape deck to replace my old Sharp RT-12. Crazy shit like a Nakamichi Dragon is out of the question. 2-head is fine since I just want it for playback. Any suggestions?

Added a Cambridge Audio AXC35 which while on interferes with incoming RF signals. How am I going to listen to Sound Opinions while wanting to slit my wrists?