Am I really smart or really stupid?


I would like your feedback on this theory. The glory days of vinyl to me, as far as high end hi-fi is concerned, were the late ‘60s, ‘70s and early ‘80s, before the dreaded CD made it’s appearance. Back then vinyl was all you had to work with, and the high end folks really needed to get it right.

My thinking is:

1. A phono section basically supplies RIAA equalization (unless there is boost for a low output cartridge). This is basically boosting the bass and cutting the treble to compensate for making the grooves relatively the same width to cut them on the vinyl.

2. This ain’t that big of a deal. It should not cost $3000.00 to do this. These people are trying to put their hand in my pocket.

3. Why not buy a high end preamp from that era, run your TT into it, come out of the Tape Out as a line stage into your preamp input.

4. I bought a Yamaha C-2 for 100 bucks, run my Linn into it and run it into my tube preamp and it “seems” fine.

Am I stupid or enlightened?

Thanks for your input.

jp
jake42

Showing 2 responses by hammy

Stupid! (hey, your choice) The C-2 was a great piece. Their tuners from that era were fine too. However, it's 30 years old with dried out capacitors, oxidation, and dust in the pots. In addition, you are going through the phono section AND through the pre-amp section before you get to your gear. Buy an inexpensive high-end pre-pre such as the Lehman black cube or even the little Creek units. You may come out ahead financially after selling the antique, which is why it's stupid to keep it.
CWLondon- the main problem I have with it is that the C-2 is not the pre-amp- he's tape looping it to another pre-amp. I'm sure it sounds fine, but you can get a good pre-pre now for $220. There's got to be a point that a goog pre-pre sounds better than c-2 pre-pre plus c-2 pre-amp section. I don't think it's 2 grand. It's probably a lot closer to 200. While GREAT in it's day, like the 104.2, there have been a lot of improvements in 30 years. Even with good old analog, there has been huge progress.