Converting to Analog

Is there VPI or Nitty Gritty or...or...or jacket cleaner????:^) Ho the hell is it possible to clean an inner sleaves?? I doubdt that vacume cleaner will be much of a help.

In fact I always have a couple of hundreds new inner sleaves and would never put the dirty record into the new.

Tonyp54:

Hello Tony. Guess what??? I am also becoming an analog convert myself. But only, not to the extent that you are becoming one. While I am getting ready to add analog to my audio system, there will always be a place for digital in my life, if not for the simple reason that I have invested hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars in a CD collection that has taken me twenty years to build. And this is coming from someone who is getting ready to spend up to $1,500.00 on a new digital front-end in the upcoming months (I am looking at a SACD Player. I am considering both, a Marantz SA8260 and a Sony DVP-S9000ES, and at the moment, I am leaning more toward the Sony)(which is when it is all said and done, my analog front-end will cost about as much as my new digital front-end. But more than likely, it will be superior to my digital front-end, go figure ($125.00 for a used Thorens TD-147, plus a Grado Prestige Gold (and later on, maybe a Grado Reference Sonata), plus a Monolithic PS-1/HC-1, plus another pair of MIT Terminator 2 Interconnects, plus yet still, a record cleaning machine (a Nitty Gritty Mini-Pro 1))). And, I intend to keep on enjoying my digital collection now, and continue to do so years from now, while watching it continue to grow while I am watching my vinyl collection grow too.

But that's just me though.

But surely, you can get very good analog sound without spending anywhere close to $10K for it. I am getting into analog also, and I think that altogether, mines is going to be aproaching in the $1,500.00 to about $2,000.00 (and that's for the whole setup...... the turntable, a couple of phono cartridges (may start out with a Grado Prestige Gold, but will later upgrade to a Grado Reference Sonata), a phono stage, and a record cleaning machine). And while my analog setup may not be in the same league as a "state-of-the-art" $10K analog setup, it will be compatable to my setup, it rocks my boat, and I am saying that it will beat the hell out of my digital setup. What I am going to be looking for from my analog setup will be naturalness of tone, warmth, and a palpabilty factor (something that will draw me into the performance, making me become part of the event. That will either involve me singing along with the artist, tapping my toes to the beat, or getting up and actually start dancing right in the middle of my living room).

And my analog setup will consist of the following:

(01). A used Thorens TD-147 that I have recently purchased (I bought it used off of "e-bay" for $125.00 including shipping and handling. It was a $550.00 turntable a little more than a decade ago).

(02). I am going to use a Grado Prestige Gold cartridge with it for the time being. But depending on how good the Thorens is, if it turns out to be better than what I will expect, then it will have a much longer tenure in my system, and then I will upgrade the cartridge to a Grado Reference Sonata next year.

(03). A Monolithic PS-1/HC-1 MM/MC Phono Stage will be arriving in late August.

(04). I am also going to purchase a Nitty Gritty Mini-Pro 1 Record Cleaning Machine.

(05). And I am going to pile up on the accessories as well (some rice sleeves for my vinyl, an alignment protractor, a stylus gauge contraption to keep track of what's going on with my stylus, and to make sure that my arm and cartridge are tracking properly, a record clamp, and some spare belts for the Thorens as well).

(06). My Turntable is going to be placed on a marble top that is going to be placed on my DIY Salamander Synergy 40 "Look-A-Like" Audio Stand.

That's what my analog setup is going to look like when it is all said and done.

And all of this is going to be connected to the following system:

KEF Reference 102 Speaker System with KUBE Equalizer.
Adcom GFA-545 MkII Power Amplifier.
Adcom GFP-750 Active/Passive Remote Control Line Stage.
Magnum Dynalab FT-101 FM Tuner.
Pioneer Elite DV-37 Progressive Scan DVD/CD Player (soon to be replaced by a SACD Player. Probably, a Sony DVP-S9000ES).

JVC XL-M509TN CD Player/Changer (it sounds dreadful compared to my Pioneer Elite DV-37, but the JVC has something the Pioneer Elite doesn't have....... convenience).

Nakamichi BX-300 Cassette Deck.
MIT Terminator 2 & 3 Interconnects.
MIT Terminator 2 Speaker Cables.

Hope this helps you out some.

Best regards, and good luck in your pursuit of "converting to analog".

--Charles--

In no particular order:
Cleaning jackets and sleeves is not something I do, but I have done some Professional Comic Book repair. On the cheap is a cleaning pad available at an art supply store. The pad is filled with a powder. You shake the bag, rub in the powder, and dust it off. You can use a drafting brush if you like.

I have some rice paper sleeves, but don't consider them essential. I have gone thru several thousand of the 7 cent sleeves. The reason is that I really enjoy listening to inexpensive vinyl. I have over 9000 albums now, and have spent a buck or less on all but 1000 of them. Yes, they call me The Cheapskate. Most albums I have cleaned for me by one of my employees at $10/hr. Thats much cheaper than my time, and it's not rocket science.

I use a SAE 5000a and Burwen TNE 7000a. Both are tick and pop removers, and available for about $150 each, but there are many out there that don't work properly. You should pay $300 each if you are confident as to quality. I would be nice if I could buy 8000 albums for less than a buck each, and never have a tick or pop, but I've assembled a collection of several hundred Living Stereo LP's this way, and have bit the bullet on the ones I HAD to have a great copy of.

Most albums I listen to only once. New albums, and expensive albums I'll use Last Vinyl Protectant.

I don't consider the Analogue equipment to have any real cost versus Digital equipment because of the source material price break. You do the math with your figures, but for me 8000 LP's at $1 versus 8000 cd's at $9 equals a $64,000 savings that can be applied to analogue eqipment before the break even point is reached!
Heck, for $10-20 grand you can buy EVERY SACD and DVD audio disk ever made and have plenty left over for Class A players!
I like listening to great music I havent heard before. There is no way to do that in the High End on the cheap except thru vinyl.

The Cheapskate

You should just get out and listen to some TT rigs at various price points to get an understanding of how much it costs it takes to pull it off. IME, there is less diminishing of returns for TT rigs than for other components, so the answer to your first question, for me, is no. That is, if the rig you listened to was $10k. I don't think it takes $10k to beat SACD, though.

I would also suggest that you learn about cartridge and arm setup before you buy. There is a great FAQ section on setup at audioaslyum.com. You really have to be honest with yourself when you consider whether or not you will like or not mind looking for records, cleaning them and setting up your TT. Its a lot more work than comming home HMV and hitting .

GO for it. A second hand table with no movement in the platter at all apart from round and round (sideways rock is BAD). I got a VPI Jr cheap and upgraded it slowly to Mk4 as I could afford it - an Orogin Live modified RB250 arm unless you are feeling rich..... I vote for a Benz 2 glider (with my walett!). mine is medium output, but if you want a cheap phono stage then a high output one will work into a low gain moving magnet preamp fine. Try to listen to a high output Dynavector as well. Grado is also worth looking at, most of all - TRUST YOUR EARS!
Next up for me is an Orogin Live DC motor kit.