Dirt cheap set-up

@fuzztone.

Understood. I'm a mite too sensitive to possible irony on message boards. But thanks for your sincerity! 

simao

You must not have tried hard enough.

No sarcasm to be found.

If it makes you happy I’m happy. How could you possibly infer otherwise?

@simao

"But for a $70 (total) turntable, it wasn’t bad at all. It’ll be in the family room system where my boys ( 9 and 7) can use to learn the joys of handling and listening to vinyl."


No, it’s not bad at all. Vinyl memories tend to remain the strongest as you grow up. The whole experience borders on sensory overload - and it usually begins with the sleeve artwork.

Manual cueing is an art in itself. As a left hander I was quite nervous about using my right to cue up manually, esp with a suspended deck, but you develop the touch soon enough.

In fact almost everything about vinyl, from taking out and replacing LPs from their sleeves to cleaning the stylus is an acquired skill regardless of whether you approach it as a professional archivist or an enthusiast audiophile.

Just be sure your boys have got some disposable records to practice on. We used to have some cheap Music for Pleasure discs lying around featuring cover versions of 70s chart hits.

They served as excellent training discs.

@reubent that's a great suggestion! After the new year, will bring my boys to our local record store to pick their own music, no matter what it is. 

@simao  - Great find! I hope you and the boys enjoy it. Have they bought any records yet? Will be interesting to see what they choose to buy as their first albums. My son is a bit older. His first 2 LPs were AJR - "The Click" when he was 15 and Neutral Milk Hotel - "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" when he was 16. His musical taste improved tremendously over the course of a year......

@noromance That's a good call. I'm thinking 50 to 100 hours of running, at least according to stereo file.

Sound should fill out when the cartridge is run in.

@fuzztone.  Trying to detect irony. Or, at least, signs at hopefully you are not miserable with life too much

Happy happy joy joy.