Should I spend more money on a better turntable?

[Flasher1170]

Agree with what’s been said. I would replace the stylus and get a record cleaner of some sort. I use the Alsop Orbitrac. Inexpensive and works well. Hard to find though. Buy when I see one. Have one for each system (3). Technics made some nice turntables including yours. Enjoy!

I'm fairly happy with the Grado Green on it right now. I have the original Shure Me75P and recently bought a new stylus for it, but have yet to compare the two. I am curious to see how big a difference I notice. Any thoughts on the Spin Clean system? Seems to work pretty well so far.

 

[Flasher1170]

Try taking the in wall speakers and putting something on either external side facing the wall until they are pointing at your ears when in the middle of the room, also see if the tweeters are at about ear level. Imagine will change with music then try a new upgraded stylus or cartridge. If that doesn't work, move on to new speakers. If you're missing detail, get a better stylus with a better diamond on it.

The horn tweeters on the Klipsch are on a swivel, so I'm able to point them towards the center of the room. I'm kind of stuck with in-wall speaker for that location since we use it as a dining room and living room we entertain in. I may create a listening space in my home office, but need to move some stuff around first to do it. In that case I can buy something free standing and potentially better. In the meantime, are there any in-wall speakers that would be reasonable good someone can suggest?

 

[Flasher1170]

This could also be from raising the overall height of the record. Since turntables using "P-Mount" cartridges are all designed around the same physical package for the cartridge, they can leave out many of the settings adjustments that tonearms made for the more common 1/3 inch mount have, including the vertical tracking angle adjustment. The neoprene-like cover would have raised the record up and thrown the angle off, effecting how the stylus responded to the undulations in the groove.

There is a lot to this hobby. Stay with it and be open to learning new stuff. It is a lot of fun and some of it can be a real surprise, in both good and bad ways. But it is fun.


Shelly_D

Thanks, makes perfect sense. I'll try taking the rubber mat off and replacing with the neoprene, which is about the same height. Will let you know what happens.

 

[savatage1973]

The horn tweeters on the Klipsch are on a swivel, so I'm able to point them towards the center of the room. I'm kind of stuck with in-wall speaker for that location since we use it as a dining room and living room we entertain in. I may create a listening space in my home office, but need to move some stuff around first to do it. In that case I can buy something free standing and potentially better. In the meantime, are there any in-wall speakers that would be reasonable good someone can suggest?

As others have posted, I think your biggest obstacle are the in-wall speakers (more specifically, their placement, but that has already been done and is kind of permanent, unless you want to start tearing up drywall). I am a contractor and do builds and remodels to homes/offices/businesses, but also an audio geek, so I care when someone is building a "man cave" or HT room with in-wall installations and try to do it justice with whatever budget we are working with.

In your case, I would just disconnect the in-wall speakers, and try some floorstanders or bookshelfs with a sub or two--then you can play with the very critical placement issue.

 

[heavyrock]

I cannot comment on spin clean. I use a vacuum system and use the triton X + hepstat mixture mentioned in the mega record cleaning thread, combined with a double rinse. Eliminates all static besides deep cleaning. 200 records is not too many so your method might be fine. If you plan on having 20X or many more records than that, well definitely upgrade your process.

 

[AnalogBrad]

I also have a SL-QD2 I bought new in fall of 1985, with money I had made from a summer job. All I have done to it in 30+ years is change the cartridge and stylus. I currently use a Ortofon OMP10, with a new stylus. While I could upgrade it, I kinda enjoy hearing my sons playing LPs on the table I bought when I was their age. Stand alone speakers would be the next upgrade. Preferable cheap, requiring work, or from the side of the road, as many of mine have been.