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Quiet Tonearms/cartidges??

I have a fairly good system and am considering revamping my turntable. I really haven't played vinyl in 20 years. When I did, I would buy an album, clean it, zap it with my Zerostat, then record it going through a DBX 224 and then play the tape. This would eliminate most pops and surface noise, while also allowing me to play at high volumes without any rumble. I have been reading about the higher quality tonearms and cartridges and understand that the high end models virtually eliminate surface noise of LP's. Is this HYPE or FACT? I rarely play LP's now-perhaps because I have no really good quality way of playing them, and I must admit, I enjoy the convenience of CD's. OK - I'm sure all you vinyl purists are muttering obscenities. I currently have a 1974 Pioneer PL-71 turntable , with a Shure V-15 III cartridge, which was pretty much the best I could buy at the time. I have a Theta CB3 preamp going into Krell KMA 160 monoblocks, driving some Wilson Maxx's (series II) speakers. I'm using a Theta Miles CD transport at the front. My old pioneer turntable doesn't sound "bad", but when I look at some of the new analog stuff out there, I'm wondering if I'm really missing out on some good vinyl reproduction. Don't have the bucks to invest in a turntable to equal the rest of my system, but may want to get into a medium grade line of analog equipment. Do any of you vinyl guys (or gals) have any advice? (Blowing my head off, or ingesting poison is not an option)
handymann

Showing 2 responses by almarg

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almarg
9,670 posts
 
I think that the most significant factor affecting tics and pops is not the quality of your cartridge/tonearm/turntable, but the dynamic range of the music you listen to, followed by the physical quality of the pressing.

If you are listening typically to music with narrow dynamic range, such as most rock music, or classical chamber music, or to recordings which are significantly compressed in terms of dynamic range, you will hear minimal tics and pops. If you are listening to uncompressed wide dynamic range music on high quality audiophile-oriented labels, you will also hear fairly minimal tics and pops. But the worst case would be minimally compressed wide dynamic range music on a mediocre pressing (typically symphonic music from one of the major labels), in which case I would say stick to cd.

Regards,
-- Al
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
You'll find reading through this thread to be highly informative:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1214236406

Among many other excellent points which are made, I would single out for mention Atmasphere's post about how phono stage or preamp designs that incorporate significant negative feedback will exacerbate tics and pops, and also about the criticality of proper cartridge and tonearm adjustment (as Axel also alluded to above).

Regards,
-- Al
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