[frozeneyeball]

Great thread!

Here's my setup. It's a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Esprit SB turntable, Mackie MR5 Mk 2 monitor speakers and a Pioneer A-20 amp.

[DrRhythm]

What does the team think of this thing? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gr ... -turntable

[deathwaltz]

Looks completely ugly .
Built in speakers ? No thanks .
Can't believe people are backing this.

[texasvinyl]

Ahh, Kickstarter, land of scams, bad business ideas, failed products and records that won't come out for a year, where backers are rewarded with a never-ending torrent of update emails and requests for more money.

Hard to believe >2000 people backed this vertical Crosley

[static14]

Finally a solution for the vinyl lover that lives in a home under a foot wide.

[Jimmy_Mike]

Noob question here: I see a lot of duel decks with a mixer in between on this board and social media in general, why that setup for home listening? Is everyone an amateur home DJ or am I missing something?

[texasvinyl]

I have two decks and a 4-channel mixer. The mixer serves a few purposes besides mixing. It has phono pre's so I don't need a separate preamp. It lets me feed out a line to a downstairs receiver for multi-room. It has gain & EQ. And along with a firewire audio interface it is the connection to my PC which gets me the ability to record mixes, rip audio in Audacity, use my monitors to play audio from the PC, and hook into an Akai APC40 controller & Ableton.

[chuck]

I have a sonos connect amp which unfortunately only has one phono input so switching between turntable and cassette deck means I literally have to unplug and plug in leads. I've recently found this switch from btech with 3 inputs so you can just click between them. A little more discreet than a mixer and only about £15. I've yet to buy one so not sure what the build and sound quality is like..l but I'll be sure to report back.

http://www.btechavmounts.com/product-ra ... ducts/bt31

[Jimmy_Mike]

@tex very interesting. Which mixer are you using? Thanks guys.

[texasvinyl]

I have a poor man's pioneer, aka a Behringer DJX750. Not as fancy as the Pioneers which are over $1000, but I got it for $100 on craigslist and it is very feature-rich for that price!

[Spun out of control]

It's Friday, I could do with a morning coffee... this place looks awesome...

VINYL GROOVE CAFE

[chuck]

Finally! After yet another house move, this time for good my setup is, I think, complete! Over the course of a year I've slowly hunted and seeked out various components to make the best I can with a limited budget... And I can say that, to my ears, it's sounds really great. Here she is in all her glory -



Technics sl1210mk2, rega rb250, ortofon 2m blue, acromat 1200 mat, isonoe feet and pads
Tandberg TCD 310 cassette player
CA 640p pre amp, sonos connect amp
Celestion Ditton 33

As the sonos only has one analogue in/out I added a 4way switch to flick between the two components, to my surprise this also has a 3.5mm headphone jack... Which I've yet to try

[Spun out of control]

Looking slick chuck, cool storage units too

Always amazes how Ikea catalogue-like neat and tidy people's set ups are - I always have a sloping tower of books, CDs and other ephemera growing around my turntable, leaflets, receipts and other bits 'n bobs of a busy life...

[chuck]

Cheers @spun! It's an ikea unit, which I stained that funky blue!

It didn't look this neat prior to the photo being taken... As a matter of fact you should've seen the dining table out of the shot... Full of crap, receipts, junk mail take out menus!!

[Bezulsqy]

Chuck, that does look really cool. Love the vintage and new mix. Great VU meters on the Tandberg

[chuck]

Cheers @Bezulsqy, glad you like it!

The new and old mix wasn't intentional. My knowledge on hi-fi equipment is rather limited, but I got plenty of help scanning this thread and other such forums and just searched daily on eBay, gumtree, etc. and when things popped up for a good price I'd jump on them. The Celestions were £100 from a very local seller. He'd taken great care of them and they're in great shape. As for the Tandberg, I picked it up from an eBay charity auction for £35 postage paid and its in perfect working order... Think I lucked out there. However, I just hope it doesn't fail on me anytime soon, as trying to find parts for it is going to be a bloody nightmare.

Thanks again

[texasvinyl]

Is anyone knowledgeable about turntable repairs?

Both of my technics SL-1200 mkii decks have a rattle in the bearings. Any vibration on the desk they sit on or heavy footsteps nearby will cause an audible rattle during playback.

I suspect I need to find a good repair shop and have the full tonearm assemblies replaced?

In that event, is there a particular S-tonearm I should consider or just go for OEM replacements?

Many thanks. I am not a hardware guru!

[Pain_Bubbles]

Did something happen to your SL 1200's? They should not develop loose arm bearings by regular use (or even DJ use), certainly not two at a time.
Loose bearings are also not the first thing I'd think of when footfall and other vibrations cause noise.
If both tables developed this issue simultaneously chances are it's something else entirely.
Did you hook them up in another system/location, maybe use a different cartridge to eliminate any other potential source for the problem?

Are they set up properly? On a level and solid surface? Enough tracking force? Are the feet still 'springy"and not screwed in too far? Is the stylus and cartridge suspension still ok?
Is the little lever that secures the hight adjustment locked tight?

All of these things, and probably a few more could cause your problem.
Bearings would have to be extremely loose before causing someting like this: On my SL1210 I can completely loosen the arm, bang my fist on the table and still get virtually no audible feedback through my speakers.
You can check for loose bearings , just be very careful, any applied force could damage the bearings.

[texasvinyl]

It isn't a new problem, I'm just sick of hearing it! The friend I bought them from a few years back probably didn't take great care of them and did use them for some DJing.

They're set up right, cartridge/stylus in good shape, etc, I really think it's the tonearm assemblies. I can "jiggle" the tonearms a bit.

[static14]

@texas if you're mildly handy with a soldering iron you can save a good chunk of change by doing it yourself.

KABUSA.com has everything you'd need. while you're at it you might want to rewire the arm assemblies with cardas or litz. (or you can buy them all ready rewired from kab)

[Pain_Bubbles]

If you can feel play on the bearings it might be worth having it checked.
(If the turntables are older than a few years, get the grease in the hight adjustment ring replaced while it's open, it tends to dry out)
If they cannot be tightened and have to be replaced I'd go with original parts, the tonearm is still available for around 90€ new (At least it is here), which really is a bargain for the kind of quality on these arms.
Although the Technics tonearm has a bad reputation amongst some audiohphiles, the overal quality and manufacturing tolerances is on par with, or better than more expensive models from other brands.

If you are only using it for listening and money is a concern I'd just get one fixed with original parts instead of fixing up both with cheaper alternatives.
At the risk of repeating myself but: Serious play on an SL1200 tonearm is probably a sign it got abused pretty badly, so find a reliable tech and have it checked thoroughly.

[deafmetal]

I finally wrapped up a vintage restoration project for the family room:

The 2270 receiver has been in the family for decades, but the 6300 turntable was a replacement for long-lost deck. The goal was to put together something that anybody in the family could use, young or old. I was not gunning for pure audiophile with this effort, and I know they should not be so close together. Marantz is not everybody's favorite, but I like the look of these old wood/metal tanks. Sounds huge, even on my mid-sized JBL speakers. Perhaps a speaker project next...

[static14]

Lovely stuff @deafmetal! A pair of AR's would look great with that setup. Some 2ax's or 3a's (if you're feeling spendy). They're also fairly easy to refoam, recap, etc.

[deafmetal]

@static Thanks, I will check those out. It's great to finally hear the outcome of a months-long project.

[J.R.]

I photograph mine, but it's fairly unimpressive. A Numark TTUSB hooked up through my Sony surround sound amp and playing through it's speakers, the same speakers for my Bluray/DVD player, my Xbox One and my TV. Does the job at a price I can afford.