Turntables

Hi guys!Im a big fan of vinyl and we have lots of good recordshops here in Stockholm .Tomorrow is NTD when my new Rega planar 6 arrives.It was time to upgrade my planar 3 from 94.What turntable are you using?

 

I still have the Denon DP-11f I bought new in 1982! I don't listen to my vinyl collection much, and Have only bought a couple of new LPs in the last 30 years, but a few times a year I get a wild hair and fire up the turntable.

 

Just a cheap Audio Technica, for me.

 

I just recently spent about $400 on a Sony TT and a Receiver at Breast Buy which is an over-priced electronic store here in the states.



Man, when I was a kid in the early 90's, you could find TTs and Rec's for five bucks apiece at yard sales. Used to get records 25 cents a pop and doubles for 50.

Started seeing records in stores about...idk...6-8 years ago, and it took about a year and a half to catch my attention. Bout 5-6 years ago, I started seeing retro radio looking TTs with built in speakers and BluTooth

[You wanna have some fun? Hook up BluTooth in the store, crank volume, walk away, and get creative with your playlist.
My buddy who is really really dark skinned started playing the most racist music you ever heard inside a Target store lol. Employees come running and we're a few aisles away just LMFAO. He walks over and starts cussing em out for it asking if they're playing that cause he's black. Oh, man, almost pissed myself laughing.]

I been looking for cheap ones at pawn shops and stuff for a really long time and haven't found any so, I finally bit the bullet.

I've got it all hooked to some vintage 60w 8ohm Sony speakers my pops gave me.

Thanks to eBay, I'm listening to an original October 1963 copy of "Little Deuce Coupe" by The Beach Boys as we speak. Also got a double live TBB album, and Shut Down Volume II which I think is an early 1963 pressing. (Capitol records had a compilation album called Shut Down in 1962)

I bought hits collections for CCR, B Segar, Skynyrd. Bought Eat A Peach my The Allmans, Back In Black, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

I'll be buying more as money allows.


When buying vintage albums, I strongly recommend figuring out the track listing on YouTube first to determine what you're willing to pay for it. I paid too much for SDVII for the songs on it

 

Pioneer PLX-1000

 

Used to own a Denon DP-7 as of last year, but gave it to my nephew (college musical voice major) when he moved into his own place, along with most of my 33LPs.

 

Technics SL-B1. I purchased in 1976 when I was 16 y/o. The belt broke years ago and on a whim stopped at a local audio shop that sells high end turntables and inquired about the possibility of a belt replacement. The sales rep reached around behind and grabbed a new belt from a box. Obviously I had a stupid look on my face because he stated he gets the same request frequently on this particular long retired model. I had no idea it was going to be that easy. I love vinyl. When CD's first came out I couldn't wait to get a CD player. Got one but quickly realized something was missing besides the crackles and pops. It was different but in a bad way. Kind of like solid state vs tubes. Vinyl equating with tubes.

 

Dual 604 direct drive.
Great deck, and has the bizarre ability to play a record even on a major angle/tilt.

 

Technics Quartz. Getting back into vinyl after a long absence.

 

I haven't had a turntable in many years, but I just picked up 5 boxes of my Dad's old records a couple of weeks ago and his all in one player, and I've already realized I want something better to play them on.

The thing that has blown my mind, besides revisting old friends I haven't heard in almost 40 years, is remembering that records make you slow down. I'd forgotten that listening to vinyl is an experience unto itself and you don't rush through it like a cd or mp3. Pulling up a chair, cracking an adult beverage and putting on a record and letting life slide on by as you listen to a long lost friend is quite enjoyable as well as relaxing, for me at least.

 

Today was Record Store Day in the US. One of the days I look forward to every year - it brings back memories of going to different stores, never sure whether they’ll have what you want or not, or what else you might find. I normally hit 5 or 6 stores on this day looking for 7 or 8 things.

This year? I’m in Buffalo to see the Frozen Four hockey championships. Gah!!!! I gave my wife a list of the top three priorities and asked her to go to my first stop every year. No way I’d ask her to do what I do. She went to that store and got all three. Sweet - a Zappa, Brian May, and Elton John. My son and I trekked our to three stores up here. Third store we really should have skipped - it was a branch of the second store we hit. But the other two? I found a bunch of things that I was considering, so much that I passed on a few things because I couldn’t justify spending the money today. The hardest put backs were a Rush picture disc, a Monty Python picture disc, and a South Park box that I couldn’t justify the cost. But I did score Bill Hicks, Alice Cooper, Ace Frehley picture disc, and a couple 7” and 10” records.

One of the harder ones to pass on was a Robert Johnson 10” - a reissue of a Vocalion release. But then again, I got to hear one of the rare Johnson originals - worth tens of thousands - a few years ago. Man, what a feeling standing in that room. I told my wife I felt kind of silly driving to the store to hear them play a record, but I’d kick myself forever if I didn’t go.

 

No affiliation, but I just ordered one of these.
rokblok.co

 

All this talk of turntables, makes me want to forget the diy today and get my Denon separates out of storage and play Holy Diver at a very un-Sunday volume!

Congrats on your NTD! Enjoy

 

Sounds like a great plan!

 

A year ago my wife and I visited Maine and found a really cool, fun record shop, Bull Moose Records. Really fun store and I found a Lightning Hopkins Album, Texas Blues Man and a Buddy Guy one, "Born to Play Blues" and a Santana one. I thought that I have every Santana album. I have 30+. but this I had never seen before. It is Santana Live at the Rynearson Stadium.

So instead of continuing to stare at them, as I have for the last year, maybe I should find the turntable somewhere in the basement and actually play them?

 

I am using a rebranded AT turntable. The cheap stuff works just fine, so long as the important bits are up to scratch.

I run it into a dirt cheap behringer phono pre and an old Japanese stereo as a power amp. I don't even know what brand my speakers are, I had a whole pile of panasonic, yamaha and sony stuff and went with what sounded the best

 

I saw several copies of the Sunn O))) record, but it wasn't on my radar. I've hit four stores since I've been home, with two (maybe a third) to go. Of my highest priorities, the only things I haven't seen are the Billy Joel live album and the Prince cassette. Today I found the Queen 7" of "Bohemian Rhapsody" that I hadn't found. I've at least seen everything else I wanted, even if I passed on it (for now).

I think it's more nostalgia than dedication - it brings back the thrill of the chase, when everything wasn't just a click or two away.