Best set up for 78's ?

I have been wrestling with this issue myself. I have been testing out several options for playing old mono LPs and 78s. I thought that I could be smart and use a single TT for both; either by using a single arm w/ removeable headshell or using a deck with two arms. Well, I was wrong - or at least I can say that it is not working out to my expectations.

I have come to the conclusion that to really play 78s to the best of their ability reqyires a dedicated TT and arm/cartridge combo. The deck needs to be heavy - really heavy, as does the weight and tracking force of the arm and cartridge. Also, tight-fitting spindles and more especially weights/clamps are detrimental; I believe because they are coupling the (quite resonant) shellac record to the deck.

I have ended up using an old Rek-O-Kut deck and Grado arm for 78s, and I think that it sounds pretty good. Now we can have a discussion about phono stages for 78s...

I agree with everything that Pryso said. All of theose things need to be taken into consideration besides the TT. But some of the following coments are, I believe, a bit misleading.

You can certainly play 78s on almost any turntable capable of 78 RPM. But unless you are using the right combination of deck, arm, cartridge and Phono Stage w/ EQ adjustment, you will not be hearing the 78s the way that they were meant to be heard.

Cleaning the records is ultra-important. Shellac 78s are much more delicate than vinyl LPs, so you are going to spend some (OK, a lot) of time cleaning them up. Don't even try to clean bakelite 78s which were promotional items mainly meant for a single play.

I have not tried to record 78s at 45 RPM. In my experience warping is not a big issue w/ 78s - they are either pretty even or they are cracked or broken. Yes, they are delicate. Remember all those old movies where one guy breaks a record over another guys head? They didn't need special prop records for that.

Have fun