Spinning 78's through an RIAA applied EQ Curve- Adjustments?

[4-2-7]

There is no "correct" way to play these. Unless your approach is the only way, which you seem to feel, it is.

I never said that, my way is the only way, you just did not want to hear that your diamond stylus will not last long playing very old Orthophonic and Acoustic records that are impregnated with iron to withstand the use of a steel needle. You like to bicker and fight with people that try to help you.

And yes there is a correct way for mostly everything in life and if you look at I think was my 2nd post in this thread. I said "if it sounds good to you that's cool", incorrect or not.

 

[Arthur Smith]

I never said that, my way is the only way, you just did not want to hear that your diamond stylus will not last long playing very old Orthophonic and Acoustic records that are impregnated with iron to withstand the use of a steel needle. You like to bicker and fight with people that try to help you.

And yes there is a correct way for mostly everything in life and if you look at I think was my 2nd post in this thread. I said "if it sounds good to you that's cool", incorrect or not.

I have a sapphire .3 mil on my Garrard which is built into my Grundig Majestic console, and this .3mil on my AT. I am not kidding, they both sound really good!

 

[4-2-7]

I have a sapphire .3 mil on my Garrard which is built into my Grundig Majestic console, and this .3mil on my AT. I am not kidding, they both sound really good!

Well that's wonderfull

 

[beat_truck]

Actually I was under the impression Edison discs needed a cart that reads laterally. And you can mod a regular cart to do that.

Regular 78s have lateral grooves. Edison DDs and Pathe discs have vertical (hill and dale) grooves. To play them, you can wire one channel of the cartridge out of phase (reverse the + and - leads).

 

[Max77]

There is no "correct" way to play these. Unless your approach is the only way, which you seem to feel, it is.

You must be new here, that's just how 4-2-7 is. He apparently even knows more about playing acoustic 78s than Joe Bussard does. You know, the guy with the greatest 78 collection in the world.

Back on topic, I used the RIAA curve on my pre before I really got into 78s, simple bass/treble adjustments got me pretty good quality. I've since gone to a KAB VSP MK2 and haven't looked back. I don't hear much difference on some of the curves, but the noise reduction is valuable.

 

[jusmee]

Back on topic, I used the RIAA curve on my pre before I really got into 78s, simple bass/treble adjustments got me pretty good quality.

We shouldn't forget that. I find the same.

 

[Arthur Smith]

You must be new here, that's just how 4-2-7 is. He apparently even knows more about playing acoustic 78s than Joe Bussard does. You know, the guy with the greatest 78 collection in the world.

Back on topic, I used the RIAA curve on my pre before I really got into 78s, simple bass/treble adjustments got me pretty good quality. I've since gone to a KAB VSP MK2 and haven't looked back. I don't hear much difference on some of the curves, but the noise reduction is valuable.

Where in my post did I say I was only concerned with the playback of pre-Orthophonic 78's?

 

[beatcomber]

For me the process has always been a bit of a wildcard. On one hand there are several known eq curves used by different companies in the era. My 78 collection while modest spans wwI through the end of the 50's. On top of that some were played by nail-quality needles, especially my blues discs. So a while back I just accepted the preamp I have and adjusted individually, sometimes with my eq but mostly by adjusting the tone and balance.

This is the most sensible post in the entire thread.

I found that my 78s were a lot more enjoyable when I flipped on the treble cut switch on my Fisher X-100. This makes sense because a.) a lot of the crackle was suppressed; and b.) many of the pre-RIAA curves were more treble-boosted than RIAA:

 

[vwestlife]

I found that my 78s were a lot more enjoyable when I flipped on the treble cut switch on my Fisher X-100.

Or you can do the old trick of turning the speakers to face away from you, or put your player at the top of the stairs and listen to it one floor below. The lower frequencies will make it down the stairs, but the higher frequencies (and thus the hiss and crackle) will get absorbed along the way.

 

[Max77]

Where in my post did I say I was only concerned with the playback of pre-Orthophonic 78's?

Where in my post did I say you are only concerned with the playback of pre-Otrhophonic 78's?

 

[rothwellaudio]

Arthur, Welcome to the world of 78s via an RIAA phono stage ! I am thrilled you are enjoying the sound. Home HiFi is really about the enjoyment factor...

What a detailed, informative and thorough post - I was impressed.
I was a lot less impressed by the OP's response below.

This is a hobby, a passion, not a "deep in the weeds" kind of thing. It's for fun. It is a 3 mil diamond stylus. I have ZERO interest in Audacity digital transfers. None. Too kludgy and time consuming. What I might do is hook the turntable line output into the "CD Direct" input on my Onkyo preamp for as flat a curve as possible, and see how it sounds. A

 

[tubeactive]

Hi Rothwell ! Thanks for appreciating the info. Have you checked out the audacityteam EQ chart info ? What a pleasant surprise to see a digital transfer site share so much "simply spin 'em" playback EQ info. Their "go to" EQ info source was/is midimagic, which is also worth exploring.

Are you considering creating a multiple EQ phono stage ? I am always amazed that as the USA usually used four or five EQ curves circa 1950-1965, the European and British record manufacturers used a different four or five curves. This leads to complicated switching and wiring in order to provide all the "usable" curves for the world's vintage discs on one unit. For passive EQ, the chore is much easier than for active feedback EQ...

 

[rothwellaudio]

Hi Rothwell ! Thanks for appreciating the info. Have you checked out the audacityteam EQ chart info ? What a pleasant surprise to see a digital transfer site share so much "simply spin 'em" playback EQ info. Their "go to" EQ info source was/is midimagic, which is also worth exploring.

Are you considering creating a multiple EQ phono stage ? I am always amazed that as the USA usually used four or five EQ curves circa 1950-1965, the European and British record manufacturers used a different four or five curves. This leads to complicated switching and wiring in order to provide all the "usable" curves for the world's vintage discs on one unit. For passive EQ, the chore is much easier than for active feedback EQ...

No, I haven't checked out the Audacity info yet, but I will. I've used Audacity and found it very useful.
No, I'm not considering a multi EQ phonostage as a commercial product simply because I think the vast majority of customers are happy with RIAA playback because they're playing records that were recorded to the RIAA standard. Of course, there are people to have collections of pre-RIAA recordings and they would no doubt be interested in other playback curves, but their needs are already catered for by other phonostages.