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Best set up for 78's ?

I have been coming across some incredible old 78's, early jazz mostly, that I cannot listen to. Years back I had the pleasure of listening to a great 78 set-up. Turntable, pre-amp,equalizer, cartridge and speaker. This guy was a real collector and had a collection of over 10,000 78's, what a rig. I remember that the sound he got from his 78's blew me away, if you can beleive it even topping the sound of our precious LP's. 78's are direct-to-disc recordings (everyone of them) and the realism is palpable. Anyway, I am going to attempt to cobble together a modest 78 front end and was wondering if antone has any suggestions pertaining to turntable, cartridge etc... Thanks.
lostchord83

Showing 7 responses by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,636 posts
 
"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."

I wonder what the "state of the art" in playback that defined how these might have been meant to be heard was back in the age of 78's?

Surely, technology today should lend itself better to playback if one is so motivated to invest, but I wonder how good the old 78s might really sound given a modern SOTA treatment?

I suppose I'll find out eventually when I carve out the time to tackle playing and preserving the handful of 78s that I currently have.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,636 posts
 
I could use a recommendation also for a specific inexpensive rig I could add to my system to play back some old 78s that have been in my family for years?

I already have the CD recorder I need to get them to CD from there, just need something to hook to my system and play'em.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,636 posts
 
Anyone tried this digital solution where you play the 78s at 45 rpm and let the software program do the cleanup and conversion?

http://www.dak.com/reviews/2020story78.cfm?Ref=G&PM=78Con&type=GSrch&Srh=78_rpm_turnable&gclid=CMWC7O7Oo5sCFcZM5QodeWuBCw
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,636 posts
 
I used to play these old 78s on basic ceramic cartridge players I had as a kid that commonly supported 78 rpm back then. My recollection is that these were higher output than MM carts and this worked OK without any special processing, though my audio senses were not very refined back then.

Do ceramic cartridge rigs typically apply RIAA equalization curves? I wonder how much better if at all most old 78s created back before the days of RIAA and 331/3 playback would really sound on good modern rig with cartridge? How wide was their frequency range really?
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,636 posts
 
Zowie, thanks for all that useful information.

I'd have to say my best current reference for how good or bad old 78 recordings might sound is some of the early period tracks on the Ken Burns Jazz CD box set.

I listen to these regularly on my good system. They are all quite listenable and some are quite good in their own unique way within their frequency range limitations. I suspect the transcription and remastering was done quite well!
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,636 posts
 
Zowie, interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing!
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,636 posts
 
Victory!

I picked up an old Admiral 3 speed ceramic cart table at a yardsale today for $10.

Bingo! It works and the old 78s sound wonderful!!!!

They really sound fine on the OHM Walshes.

Comparing what I hear to well remastered CDs and similar music over internet radio, I see little value in investing more unless perhaps one has a ton of 78s to transfer. I only have a couple dozen (so far).

VEry cool! These old recordings really take one back, at least one my age.

Just thought I'd share.....
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