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Do you have ways to ease use of vinyl?

The reason for this post is to help some of the older guys here who recently said they gave up on vinyl because of its physical challenges. And at 66, I could not agree more. I used to have a two shelves rack for my turntable, which placed the top of the platter above knee height, at 25". To flip vinyl was either bend over and hurt my back, or doing it and one knee and hurt those.
Well, NO MORE.
Late last year I purchased a 4 shelves rack which puts the top of the platter at my belly button height, 40". Btw, I am of average height, 5'10".
What a difference! My back and knees will be forever thankful.
Here is another thing that greatly eased my vinyl experience.
I use an outer ring, center weight and brush my vinyl for each play. This was the process it entailed: Put on the center weight before brushing because I play my vinyl on a bare aluminum platter. Wait until the brushing was done before putting on the outer ring because I brushed the conventional way, finishing by dragging the brush outward to get rid of the dust. Once brushed, removed the center weight so I could install the outer ring and then reinstall the center weight and I finally could drop the needle. Ouf!
NO MORE!
Now I put on the outer ring first, then brush the record taking the brush INWARD instead, leaving the minute dust on the label (and I found out it does a much better job of brushing since the brush moves in the direction of the grooves, inward). Once brushed, simply put on the center weight and drop the needle. Voila!
Easier ten fold.
Another important pointer, the center weight, brush AND OUTER RING must be near the TT and at the SAME HEIGHT. Your back will thank you.
Those changes took me over 50 years to figure out and they have literally made my listening to vinyl experience a dream instead of dreading to flip those vinyl. 
Please share any tip you may have to ease up the physical burden that some older folks here may have about using vinyl. Thanks.

baylinor

Showing 4 responses by sokogear

sokogear
1,104 posts
 
Best tonearm lifter is the Tru-Lift from Integrity Hifi in Canada. Smooth as butter and built great. They are super nice, and are glad to talk to you, but only sell through dealers. They basically configure it with stainless steel discs to make the height fit your turntable. For me, the Tru Lift doesn't even touch the plinth. Anyone with a Rega P8 or P10 should absolutely get one of these things. They also know a lot about turntables, and even make what they say is a fantastic arm that doesn't touch the plinth for $4K. I would look at that if I wanted to spend double on a table versus what I have. They also have a duster that picks up dust while the record is playing (I don't like that idea on my table). It is the greatest thing that Tru Lift, and to not have to worry the stylus is wearing out and you may hear some noise. It's not cheap, but worth every dime. Price varies by height of the device. I got it about 9 months ago and wish I knew about them 10 years ago when I would have been willing to fork over the $300. Tina answers the phone there and is very nice.

Another issue is where are you keeping the records. My records are inside a credenza/cabinets where my stereo sits on top, only a few inches off the ground so it's a deep bend to get them out, but I leave them out until there are about 15 total in 3 different sections before I put them back. Getting them out one at a time is easier than replacing them. When the day comes and I can't bend down easily all the way, I'll have to get some kind of rack so they're a few feet off the ground. That'll be a major "discussion" with the wife.

Table is about 3" high since I put it on a wall shelf - something else I would recommend if you can do it. Perfect height, a slight bend.

My turntable company (Rega) does not recommend or tolerate anything that adds weight to the table, so for me it is easy, just brush the record (outer to inner turning the brush up on the second swipe), my records are all very clean (and they are never left out when not in a mofi sleeve and a jacket with vinyl sleeve, so no record cleaning machine - 95% of my records were bought new), so just  drop the stylus and you're done. No clamps or weights. And if I can't get back right away, no anxiety. Maybe some of you guys would benefit from getting away from all these contraptions and simplify life with a Rega.

I think getting up out of a chair is good for you every 20 minutes, even better yet, enjoy the even better quality of 45's and get up every 10 or so.
sokogear
1,104 posts
 
@mijostyn - I’ve never had any issues with the Tru lift other than forgetting to reset it after it lifts the arm from a record before I put another record on. Of course then it restricts the arm from moving and makes it skip. It happened once in a while when I first got it, but now that I’ve had it for a good while, it might happen once or twice a month when I forget what a great option I now have.

Maybe a unipivot arm could have this issue, but Regas use gimbal arms, which are much easier to use IMO.
sokogear
1,104 posts
 
@articdeath - get yourself a Tru Lift as I mentioned above. No more worries about late night listening and falling asleep.Turntable will still spin, but at least your stylus won't touch the record and wear out prematurely. There's cheaper options out there too, but not as good. You don't want any auto return function on a turntable - simplest is best. Other motors add noise.
sokogear
1,104 posts
 
@arcticdeath - the company is Integrity HIFi, but this is sold only through dealers. Usually, you can order through a dealer and Integrity will drop ship it to you. I would call them to make sure you order the right size. They might know of a dealer close to you that isn't in their listing, like mine wasn't.

https://www.integrityhifi.ca/

dealers are at https://www.integrityhifi.ca/dealer-listings

They're not supposed to discount, but my dealer did. Don't tell Tina at Integrity, she wouldn't be happy. She is very helpful and nice and helped me when I was too stupid to figure out how to install it exactly as intended, and helped me find damping fluid after I dropped the thing and it was then lifting too quickly. Even had a video on how to add damping fluid.
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