2. analog
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direct drive tt's?

It is very hard for someone who grew up in the cd era to know much about turntables, and what to look for and what to avoid. No area dealers have analog set-ups I can listen to, and I am the only person I know who even listens to records. So I thought I'd post here to gain a little knowledge hopefully.

I found a early 70's Miida direct drive turntable in the trash a few months ago. Model number 3115 I believe. The thing was in fine condition, very clean, and ran much quieter than the Thorens 140 belt-drive tt that I was using, so out went the Thorens and in went the Miida. But what I want to know is, what are the shortcomings of dd turntables? What kind of tweaks might be worth experimenting with to get the maximum out of the tt, or are such turntables not worth even fiddling with? What cartidges would be worth thinking about for such a tt, and for the quality of records I play (my collection is mostly from thrift stores and yard sales, but I do have a nitty gritty to clean my finds, and I also have some valuable records I certainly do NOT want to do harm to)? Is it possible or worthwhile to upgrade the tonearm on such a table?

Any advice and information would be welcomed. As I say, its hard to know much about vinyl playback and its subtleties when all you have ever seen are cd's and digital gear.

btw, I run the ol' retro-looking miida into BAT electronics and Snell loudspeakers.

thanks :)
pcanis
pcanis

Showing 1 response by bluefin

bluefin
111 posts
 
I like classical on record more than CD. Very different experience. I have both DD and BD TT, they all give better result to classical on records. Listening to violin is a quick evidence. Dynamic range is a big difference for orchestra. I doubt your speaker may not have the capability to show off symphony or your TT may be the cause. For rock music, less dynamic, you are probably hearing the smooth sound from your TT and amps. But whole system(including room) is not showing dynamic range enough. I have some record and CD on the same recording, LP always win in sweet high, dynamic range, and soundstage except bass and that "Bili Bili Fufu" noise from record.
(used oracle vs Sony ES + P3 DAC (hey! not bad sound for digital)) I would complain about bass of TT but not in your case!? set up is different.

I do like Sumiko blue point special (sweet high/bass shy) and grado (nice med).

I don't buy new pop records, my digital is well good enough.
For classical, I can stand that "bili bili" to get my dynamic range and sweet sound from classical music.
I am buying more and more classical records than CD's.
Actually, after my TT, I start to realize that Angel, Decca and DG have world class recording team back to ~1960. And they have a gold years up to ~80 before CD start to take over the market. Reasonable CD sound can be achieved at lower price, that's when lots of small studio came out. But hey!, I respect those engineers in those big company at that time, recordings are great even in today's technology!
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