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New user phono question. Comes with free story.

So once upon a time I saved a record player from the trash.  It don’t think it was anything special as those things go, but it was much beloved by me.  It was the first, and until recently, the only “system” I had ever heard that made me understand why people sit and spend hours just listening to music.. And did I ever put in the hours.  I was in school then, and time was a luxury I had.  That little record player spun so much that it eventually started spinning faster and faster until I couldn’t listen to it.  Without the knowhow to repair it, or the money to replace, it went into the trash with the intention to replace it.. Someday... Then came wife, then came kids.

Fast forward 15 years, and it occurred to me one morning that I had the time to listen to music again.  To me the choice of media was obvious.  I had fallen in love with vinyl, and it was time to rekindle the love afair.  That was about two months ago. It all started innocently enough, borrowing dusty components from be basements of friends and family to cobble something together that would reproduce sound. It was okay, but the first attempt didn’t come close to the sound I remembered.  From there I started shopping for better components and things spiraled out of hand rather quickly.

So far, I’ve bought an old Sony PS-X6 turntable with a Sure M95-ED cartridge, a Technics SU-V6 amp, and a set of Vaughn Triode speakers.  I wanted to encourage my kids to use the stereo too, so to make it more convenient, I decided to add a digital source.  That wound up being Amazon music, a Lavaudio blue-tooth adapter, and a Denifrips Ares II.  And this brings me to the problem.
 

The digital source sounds better, as in WAY better.  On digital, listening gives me that first date butterflies feeling every time, and I just want to turn it up, and up some more.  On vinyl there is just less, less of everything.  Now I am at a cross roads.  I have to decide weather to put more money into the vinyl or just abandon a few hundred pounds of records which I have recently discovered are all available in very nice quality digital anyway.  This finally brings me to the question.  Budget is a concern for me and I’m wondering if I have just fluked into some equipment that under-performs on records, or dollar for dollar, is it just harder to get performance from vinyl?  Do you think it would be realistic to get to the performance of the digital side of the system for say, a $1000 investment, or is that just a pipe dream?  I already have an integrated MC phono stage, so maybe I should try another cartridge?

If you’ve read this far. Thanks!

128x128justin572

Showing 2 responses by blisshifi

blisshifi's avatar
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blisshifi
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I agree with ghdprentice. Digital and vinyl investments used to be almost equal about ten years ago. Now I find that one needs to invest about $4-5K if they want their vinyl to rival their $1-2K digital front end. Does that mean the digital front end at that investment performs exceptionally? Not at all, but it is easier and cheaper to get farther with digital than it is with vinyl. If you have limited budget and can deal without the sacrilegious rituals of flipping vinyl, I encourage you to do so.

I have tried to walk away from vinyl and have gotten awfully close in the past, but as Stingreen mentions, my setups too are now at a point where it depends on the production. Instead, I’ve slimmed down the vinyl that doesn’t make the cut.

blisshifi's avatar
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blisshifi
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Increasing the tracking force will not help the output gain of the Shure on your Sony table. Your Shure cartridge is listed at a 4.7mV output, nearly double of the 2.5mV output from a Rega Carbon MM (if that’s what’s on the Rega RP1), so that is very surprising that the gain is lower. It should be a bit louder. But even if tracking force is too light, as long as the sound is coming out, it should be amplified at that output. 

On the other hand, always ensure you have a stylus scale on measure tracking force and always follow the tonearm’s instructions for setup. 

It sounds to me as if the cartridge and/or table are problematic. That said, the RP1 is a very limited beginner table. Should you ever want to invest more in vinyl down the road, the RP1 will be one of the first things you will move from because of the quality of the plinth and lack of adjustability in the tonearm to ensure cartridges are set up optimally. 

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