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Vinyl Records
Aziraphale:
SubaroStephen, any luck getting rid of the chipmunks?
SubaruStephen:
--- Quote from: Aziraphale on 11 Mar 2015, 10:58 ---SubaroStephen, any luck getting rid of the chipmunks?
--- End quote ---
AAh, yisss 8-)
After much YouTube research, googling, (and even more procrastinating), I managed to get my cheap little record player sounding great. (Better than a 17 year old, all plastic $50 turntable has any right to sound)
It had 3 main problems:
#1, the stylus was worn out, and also had a slight bend from being dropped on the moving rubber platter mat. :-(
I replaced the stylus and switched the rubber mat with a cork mat.
#2, the arm doesn't have a counterweight, so the Vertical Tracking Force (how hard the needle presses on the record) wasn't adjustable. A high VTF wears out the record grooves.
I bought a cheap VTF scale off Amazon, found that it it was too heavy. 3.5 grams was the maximum allowed according to the specifications (and 2.5 minimum), mine had 4.2 grams. There was enough flat space on the back of the arm to place some coins as a counterweight, and once I had an acceptable VTF, I superglued the coins together and used double sided tape to attach the 7¢ stack to the arm.
#3, the damn thing was spinning too fast, Rush's 2112 sounded like Geddy Lee was on helium.
I found out that there is something called a "strobe disc" that is used to check and calibrate the speed (you can download and print one for free from http://keystrobe.com/Discs.html). I took the bottom off the record player to see if there was any way to adjust the speed. I found 2 tiny holes on the bottom of the motor that control the high (45 rpm) and low (33 1/3) speeds. And I mean tiny, good thing I have some old watch repair screwdrivers on hand, I got both speeds adjusted correctly.
Now Jim Morrison sounds like Jim, Geddy Lee sounds like Geddy, and Black Sabbath's Paranoid (on new 180 gram vinyl) is making the walls crumble. :-D
I can only imagine how good the sound will be once I save up enough scratch for a quality player.
Edit: holy crap, I just listened to Behemoth by Gost. By the end of side A my hands were literally shaking.
SubaruStephen:
--- Quote from: SubaruStephen on 23 Sep 2016, 19:54 ---I can only imagine how good the sound will be once I save up enough scratch for a quality player.
--- End quote ---
Well, crap.
It looks like I'll finding out sooner than later, the motor has taken the short march to death.
2 days ago it started slowing down, speeding up, slowing down...and now it smells like burning whenever I turn it on :x. I took it apart and the plastic around the motor has melted, as well as one of the arm return gears, making it impossible to just replace the motor.
Went to the audio store and ended up special ordering a $400 Pro Ject Debut Carbon, and also had to order a pre-amp online because the Debut doesn't have a built in one.
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