thinking about buying a turntable

[Karl5150]

Dave,
I went with Clarity Caps for all the film caps in the system. I didn't change out the last electrolytic in the power supply because it is my understanding that the shunt regulator portion of the Integration negates the need. (BH gurus please chime in if I'm confused on this.)
Karl

[Deluk]

Consider the Schiit Mani Phono Stage. Good price, good sound and well liked. But, have a look here
https://www.analogplanet.com/content/u-turn-pluto-versus-schiit-mani-votes-are

[aragorn723]

Hi,

I'm getting very close to pulling the trigger on a Uturn Audio turntable.  Usually I like to make decisions on audio purchases after hearing them, but I haven't figured out a way to hear different cartridges, short of listening to YouTube samples. 

The question is what cartridge to pick from these 3:
Ortofon OM-5E
Grado Black
Ortofon 2M Red

Anyone have experience with these?

Dave

[fullheadofnothing]

Your tire kicking on this is now entering its third year.

Are you ever actually going to buy something?

[aragorn723]

I have the turntable figured out, which is the hardest part.  Was hoping to get some suggestions on the cartridge before pulling the trigger next month.  Right now i'm leaning towards the Ortofon 2M red, and found out that the best buy near me has a pro-ject debut carbon, which has the 2M red.  Granted the Debut Carbon and Uturn are 2 different animals, but at least it will give me a good idea of what it sounds like.  My only concern is it possibly being too bright.

We are buying a house at the end of next month, and then i'll have room for a turntable too, so that will come next.  Got a 2 year old and 5 year old, so keeping it somewhere safe is very important.  That's the main thing that's been keeping me from getting one. 

Dave

[ALL212]

ya...keeping it safe might be important.

I thought I had my Technics SL1300MK2 from years ago what I thought was high enough...

Found one of my kids with one hand on the arm driving it like a car - zoom zoom - back and forth over the record....

Was laughing too hard to get worked up about it.  Cost me a new cart.  Sold it all a few years later.

[Karl5150]

Maybe budgeting for a wall mount might help keep curious hands at a safe distance.

[aragorn723]

ya...keeping it safe might be important.

I thought I had my Technics SL1300MK2 from years ago what I thought was high enough...

Found one of my kids with one hand on the arm driving it like a car - zoom zoom - back and forth over the record....

Was laughing too hard to get worked up about it.  Cost me a new cart.  Sold it all a few years later.

That's a good reason to upgrade your cart    I laughed when i read that and was picturing one of my kids doing that too. 

Went to see the debut carbon at Magolia Hi-fi today.  It looked really nice, unfortunately that, along with an Essential III, and an Expression were all out of calibration.  Kind of disappointing.  They did have a Mcintosh one that was really nice, it was the brand new one that just came out.  Unfortunately it was out of my price range    Going to try and find another dealer and hopefully will have more luck.

Dave

[JamieMcC]

If your after some good performing phono on a tight budget take a look at the Boozhound Jfet RIAA kit pick up the PCB's for $29 and stuff them with surplus Russian Teflon caps and for around $100-$150 you will have a cracking little phono recently I was able to compare it with the Lounge Audio LCR phono $300 (£500 here in the UK!) the Boozhound walked all over it imho. I put the Boozhound in a Bottlehead style enclosure.

Not to sure on how I managed to end up with three US phono amps at the same time. The Eros is of course in a different league alltogther.

[aragorn723]

Thanks for the tip!  For now I need to get a turntable first.  Got a phono stage in my old Sony 70's integrated amp.  If it doesn't sound too good, I'll definitely have to build something.

That does look really cool!  Normally I lean towards tube equipment in general,  but even the stock kit looks pretty good!  The voltage is pretty low, looks like a good candidate for battery power   How are you powering yours?
Dave

[JamieMcC]

Hi Dave it will run on a 12-24VDC supply so batteries are always an option. I just use a standard cheap 19v switching laptop power supply. I built mine stock first with the paper in oil caps the same as they sell with the kit then later swapped them out for the Russian teflons for the RIAA and output stages and thought it gave a solid improvement.

[aragorn723]

Very cool!  I thought I saw someone post that they used a voltage regulator along with 2 9v batteries.  Is the voltage regulator really needed?  Also, does more voltage mean the phono stage will have higher output?

Dave

[aragorn723]

Is it easy to use a record player without a cue lever?  Uturn audio offers an optional cue lever for their turntable (which can be added later).  Was wondering if it makes sense to try playing records without it, and save the $40 temporarily (to buy more records of course!).  Eventually I think it would be nice to have.

Dave

[Jay]

If you have a fairly steady hand, the cue lever is not necessary.

[aragorn723]

I can always try without it.  I'm not too old yet   Figured it would be better to get a few more records first, since right now I have 5.  Got a pretty good list going, so maybe I can score some deals at the local record shop or garage sales. 

I've read its a good idea to clean records before playing.  Is a carbon fiber brush good enough to start with?

Dave