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I hate turntables

I was curious about the sota that slipped through Old-School's hands. That table was a deal and even if the Benz was wore slap out it was still the kit to get. But then I set up TTs and have been for decades. I can see how it would be too much for those that want plug and play or can't bother with finding and using the owners manual.
 
KDAC said:
:D If this site made available a smiley for applause, I'd reply to you with one without hesitation, Old-School. Every single incident you mentioned, in addition to a toddler and kindergartner at the time, led to me permanently packing up my belt drive Sony turntable in 2004 after "ripping" the records and CDs I owned at the time to .mp3 while in the process of setting up a server to access my family's music via LAN around the house and WAN while away from it. The good thing is that I didn't have to go through what you went through to arrive at the same conclusion - I simply became sick of the trebly hiss, pops, cracks, and, as you so eloquently stated, speed variations and decided that I want to enjoy listening to music without it being so laborious to do so. Fourteen years later, I'm averaging two to five CD purchases/borrows a month, ripping them to my server, and am simply lost in the music. On the opposite side of the coin, I will admit that a table with the aforementioned issues resolved, situated on a stable surface, and in a decently "treated" room with a good amount of watts per channel sounds divine. While I do miss the jacket/gatefold/label art and larger liner notes, I simply don't like having hundreds, if not thousands of LPs occupying a large footprint in my house, having to flip through them to find a selection, and having to flip an album to hear the other side. The CDs that make up the overwhelming majority of my collection are well maintained, stored properly in their original jewel cases in a room at the appropriate termperature and are readily available if I ever need to "re-rip" one due to hard drive damage/failure. As several posters mentioned, they love the degree of involvement a turntable brings. More power to them. Like yourself, I don't, simply don't miss the format, and have no plans of returning to it - even if I do admittedly drool over the photos in "Vinyl only spin list" thread.
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Digital music sucks. There I said it. With CD's to remove all hiss, snap crackle pop some SQ suffers, compared to vinyl. As far as I know you only live once and replaying Kuiama (ELO) tonight on the same vinyl I bought in 73 with all it's flaws renews my spirit. I have heard the same song on my CD and it is not near as crisp and sharp. When CD's came out I like many embraced the extra engineering that went into the SQ. Most were encoded from original tapes and "cleaned up" or remastered. I listened to this for over 20 years as well as cable music ,MTV, whatever. I use XM in the vehicle which is great for travel but when i get home the vinyl starts spinning 2-6 hours a day. Turntable is like any other Hi-tech device. proper care and whatever maintenance necessary should bring thousands of hours of pleasure. As my ol uncle used to tell me. Tis a poor craftsman then blames his tools. I learned to outsmart my turntable.
 
Tim64 said:
I used to repair turntables for a couple local record stores and only ran across a couple beyond reasonable repair. I myself had a Dual 1029,Technics SL-D3 and a Realistic Lab 400 and all were great machines after some TLC. I now am using cd as my only format, bought a Denon that plays HDCD and SACD and have been happy with my decision. I like the convenience of cd and the main reason was building two identical collections of music struck me as kind of ridiculous plus I hate pops and ticks. But there is no reason to rag on turntables, once set up correctly they can sound awesome. Have to add after reading a post here no reason to rag on the cd format either if you have a bottom line Sony from 1990 it's not going to sound that great. Think of low end players to cd as a crosley is to records.
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I love my bottom line Sony from the '90's :(
 
The Pioneer PL 50 I once owned is a prime example. Had one which kept having speed issues, even with new motor mounts, new serviced motor, new belts (and it was finicky about belts and a Military PX example). My Pioneer PL 12-D I owned never had issues. My Pioneer PL-530's automatic return another (previous owner had jammed the timing motor, it never worked right again)
 
DCH said:
I love my bottom line Sony from the '90's :(
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Completely wore out my original technics CD Player. Very early one. A JVC finally quit running. Couple years ago I bought a TEAC CD-P650 UR which has a good improvement over the early two. Look it up.
Still the media limits the playback. Not all CD are created equally. Vinyl can also easily show SQ differences. Some times artists hit it, sometimes they don't.
 
I liked my turntable in the 70s, but that was my main source of music. I played records a few times and then recorded them. Then they got put away while I played my cassettes. I had a great collection of them. But there was always static and hiss, and I could never turn it up loud enough without getting distortion. Then I had kids, and cds, and vinyl sat idle. I loved getting a higher output by just playing CDs. I dabbled with them for a while. Got into home theatre. Slowly stopped listening to that classic music because it didn’t sound good anymore. I thought I outgrew it. I was wrong. Proven by a MAC1900. That started me down this slippery slope. I resisted turntables for a while, but eventually succumbed, because I framed a few records. And my sister gave me back the part of my collection she had in her basement. I let her have her pick in 2006, when I was getting rid of all my vinyl. Everything was mp3 sitting on a file server. Then it was on a NAS.

Wonderful!

But I missed something.

I bought a Denon direct drive. Put a Stanton 681XXX on it. Sounded pretty good! Started cleaning records, got even better!

Started upgrading my turntables. Marantz 6200, Hitachi PS-48, Technics SL-10, Thorens TD-160, PL-L1000, B&O 4002, Yamaha PX3, Sony PS-X600, Dual 1019. I put good cartridges on them, I clean my records, and I’m finding satisfaction again.

I’m even enjoying making mixed tapes! And repairing cassette decks I find that I either can on my own, or I find worthy. I even fixed the Aiwa M700 that one of my techs had for over a year and said it couldn’t be fixed. Trial and error, but I eventually got there. It’s getting easier now.

It all sounds great to me, except those records that I’m looking for a good copy of.

Records aren’t for everyone, but they are for me.
 
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It’s really hard hate ‘em when you can get a functional turntable with working cartridge for $5.
Yesterday’s thrift store find - a $5 direct drive cheapo Technics with a Shure M104E P-mount and usable stylus. It was priced $9.99, but it happened to be 50% off day! Missing the dust cover but it actually plays OK. BTW - Found a beautiful copy of Tea For The Tillerman there too - $2.

I’ve never been a Technics guy (don’t care for plastic turntables of any brand) but for $5, I can give it to a kid who wants to play some “vinyls”. :rolleyes:
 

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BilboBaggins said:
I liked my turntable in the 70s, but that was my main source of music. I played records a few times and then recorded them. Then they got put away while I played my cassettes. I had a great collection of them. But there was always static and hiss, and I could never turn it up loud enough without getting distortion. Then I had kids, and cds, and vinyl sat idle. I loved getting a higher output by just playing CDs. I dabbled with them for a while. Got into home theatre. Slowly stopped listening to that classic music because it didn’t sound good anymore. I thought I outgrew it. I was wrong. Proven by a MAC1900. That started me down this slippery slope. I resisted turntables for a while, but eventually succumbed, because I framed a few records. And my sister gave me back the part of my collection she had in her basement. I let her have her pick in 2006, when I was getting rid of all my vinyl. Everything was mp3 sitting on a file server. Then it was on a NAS.

Wonderful!

But I missed something.

I bought a Denon direct drive. Put a Stanton 681XXX on it. Sounded pretty good! Started cleaning records, got even better!

Started upgrading my turntables. Marantz 6200, Hitachi PS-48, Technics SL-10, Thorens TD-160, PL-L1000, B&O 4002, Yamaha PX3, Sony PS-X600, Dual 1019. I put good cartridges on them, I clean my records, and I’m finding satisfaction again.

I’m even enjoying making mixed tapes! And repairing cassette decks I find that I either can on my own, or I find worthy. I even fixed the Aida M700 that one of my techs had for over a year and said it couldn’t be fixed. Trial and error, but I eventually got there. It’s getting easier now.

It all sounds great to me, except those records that I’m looking for a good copy of.

Records aren’t for everyone, but they are for me.
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Poetry !! My journey is similar , if not as high end as yours , but the sentiment is the same !!
 
I love turntables and I spin vinyl at home 90% of the time. I have several thousand records and too much equipment. Let’s face it, those of us that keep spinning vinyl or even playing red book CDs are just a bit odd.

I could stream lossless files and sell all my turntables, records, RCMs, cartridges, phonostages, SUTs, cables, even my CDPs and CDs, and invest in a fabulous DAC. We could pay for access to millions of songs and albums in lossless format and even get multiple mixes of each.

Think of the ease and simplicity, not to mention the decluttering of our lives.

Yet we don’t.
 
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I thought my BIC 960 was simplistic in design. Much easier to get running than my Garrard SL-95B. Both decent turntables when running/adjusted correctly.
 
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