I just got a Pro-Ject CD Box to replace my dying Marantz DVD/CD, and like it a lot so far. It's tiny and fits perfectly atop the Bel Canto amp. CD players have become a specialty item.

zircona1 wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 4:55 pm

motorbike guy wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 3:24 pm

zircona1 wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 2:31 pm My Dad gave me his turntable, it's a JVC L-A21. It needs a new stylus. Is there one you all would recommend for an older model like this? Wanting to spend $100 or less.

Also, is there a trusted online place (besides Amazon) where you can go to buy replacement parts like these?

You'll likely be wanting a nice Audio Technica cartridge at that price.

If I were to go this route, which model should I look for?

just looking at the Turntableneedles.com site, I would go for one of the Audio Technica ATVM95 variants. Try for one with an elliptical stylus rather than conical or spherical. The "E" version for $69 looks good.

they have the belt for your table as well, for $13.

motorbike guy wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 3:24 pm

zircona1 wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 2:31 pm My Dad gave me his turntable, it's a JVC L-A21. It needs a new stylus. Is there one you all would recommend for an older model like this? Wanting to spend $100 or less.

Also, is there a trusted online place (besides Amazon) where you can go to buy replacement parts like these?

You'll likely be wanting a nice Audio Technica cartridge at that price. For the money they are the best sounding and best tracking budget cartridges. (I hate Grados)

If the table is belt drive (which I believe it is) and it has not been used for a while, you might want to replace the belt.

Ortofon OM10?

Krev wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 9:36 am

motorbike guy wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 3:24 pm

zircona1 wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 2:31 pm My Dad gave me his turntable, it's a JVC L-A21. It needs a new stylus. Is there one you all would recommend for an older model like this? Wanting to spend $100 or less.

Also, is there a trusted online place (besides Amazon) where you can go to buy replacement parts like these?

You'll likely be wanting a nice Audio Technica cartridge at that price. For the money they are the best sounding and best tracking budget cartridges. (I hate Grados)

If the table is belt drive (which I believe it is) and it has not been used for a while, you might want to replace the belt.

Ortofon OM10?

Ortofon was going to be my next suggestion. The 2M Red is good and right at $100, but I think the Audio-Technica cart mentioned previously is just as good for $30-40 less. I also have experience with the Ortofon OM5e (a slight step down from the OM10, which I don't have experience with), which was closer in price to the Audio-Technica cartridge and also of about the same quality.

The Ortofon OM series cartridges are lighter than the others mentioned, which may have certain advantages or disadvantages depending on the table; for the turntable mentioned, I don't think it matters all that much.

I'd stick with the Audio-Technica, but that's just my intermediate-user opinion.

I tend to recommend AT cartridges for 80s-90s Japanese turntables, since I feel like there is a certain synergy with their lightweight arm and the compliance of the AT cartridges. Also, AT MM cartridges have a nice frequency response, with a lively top end which goes well with the phono sections common in lower priced receivers and integrated amps, especially the older 70s and 80s vintage receivers that people love nowadays.

Ortofon makes great cartridges as well, their sonic character suits modern bright speakers and newer more linear phono stages. Both are good choices.

I had an AT95E on my 70's Pioneer, and it was a good match.

FM zircona1, I have an old 70's Shure M93E that you can have. It needs a new stylus, though.

These aren't yet in my hi-fi, but somebody in my neighborhood left an old pair of Heresy speakers (made by Klipsch) on the curb, so of course I put them in the back of the car. One is suspiciously lighter than the other, so I wonder if it's missing something important (like the woofer). They have fuses on the back and don't seem to have easily removable grilles, so perhaps they're really PA speakers (?). These might turn out to be cool looking things that I should really put out on the curb myself, but we'll see...

Ooof-- just strong velcro on the grilles but no speakers at all in the suspiciously light cabinet.

lotharsandwich wrote: Mon May 30, 2022 9:39 pm These aren't yet in my hi-fi, but somebody in my neighborhood left an old pair of Heresy speakers (made by Klipsch) on the curb, so of course I put them in the back of the car. One is suspiciously lighter than the other, so I wonder if it's missing something important (like the woofer). They have fuses on the back and don't seem to have easily removable grilles, so perhaps they're really PA speakers (?). These might turn out to be cool looking things that I should really put out on the curb myself, but we'll see...

Ooof-- just strong velcro on the grilles but no speakers at all in the suspiciously light cabinet.

The Klipsch parts don't seem to be as rare or expensive as some other makes.

I think it’s Crites who has the Klipsch parts. Probably worth it to refurb those Heresys if the exteriors look nice. I had a lovely pair of Heresy IIs that I gave to a friend because I couldn’t get them to fit in my new house. Those speakers rocked and I loved them. Run them with an old transistor amp, 100 watts, it’ll be awesome.

As of this spring, after a good amount of maneuvering (literal and figurative), I now have a room of my own dedicated specifically to audio playback. I have imaginatively dubbed it "The Music Room." Sometimes I'll play guitar in there, or do some reading, or take a nap, play with the dog (who enjoys rolling around on the colorful new rug)...but mostly it exists as a place in which to listen to music via the stereo. Have made a point of not entertaining the notion of bringing a TV in there, as I prefer to have at least one recreational space in the house in which advertising doesn't have a chance to weasel its way into my thoughts (unless I'm somehow accessing the internet).

In conjunction with this new setup, I acquired a couple of speaker stands, such that the bookshelf speakers are now a little over three feet off the ground. This and the purchase of some Mogami RCA cords for the whole setup seems to have made a positive difference in the overall sound.

The entry-level hi-fi turntable we got several years back was a source of some dismay, some headaches/misery (not really worth going into). It got swapped out with a more sturdy DJ turntable with an S-shaped arm and I'm now much more happy listening to records. So far, there have been few issues.

There's also a standalone CD player now, a tape deck, and an AUX in. Overall, I'd say it's pretty, pretty, pretty good. Am sure a more fussy/hard-to-please audiophile could find bones to pick, but I'm happy with it all. The room isn't spacious enough to foster entertaining more than a small handful of people, but it's a nice place in which to spend time.

Have found that over the pandemic, my enjoyment of music has, if anything, increased. This is partially due to having a better setup and streamlining my collection. But more and more I think disabusing myself of the need to "stay on top of things," the illusion of "keeping up," and instead just focusing on the proportionally smaller slice of recordings that bring joy, has been a factor too.


So yeah...stereo playback...not too fuckin' shabby, huh?