Record Players

[mike os]

He could also probably tell that the supply frequency of the mains was exactly at 50.1253427 Hz

and that you had used 18carat gold connectors instead of 24.......

when you see what all this is actually recorded on you realise what a total scam this stuff is. Im fine with high quality components, but once you go above "studio spec" you are just wasting money, paying to hear the digital enhancement not the musicians

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

For an orchestra, can you not hear the piano is in the middle the violins to the left, the brass to the right and the precession at the back?
Fair enough in a crap hall with sound reinforcement it becomes more complicated but I don't see the issue.

I agree about headroom ( or lack thereof) and it's one of the reasons I still like analogue and live acoustic music.

I don't much care for super exaggerated stereo separation but liked dark side of the moon well enough when it came out so I think everything has it's place but when you start listening to the equipment and not to the music you are lost.

Music streaming is helping somewhat with headroom.

 

[Maker]

and that you had used 18carat gold connectors instead of 24.......

when you see what all this is actually recorded on you realise what a total scam this stuff is. Im fine with high quality components, but once you go above "studio spec" you are just wasting money, paying to hear the digital enhancement not the musicians

But the digital enhancements are part of the sound!

 

[clift_d]

I've got an ex-BBC Outside Broadcast Unit EMT 948 that I bought over 15 years ago, when they could still be had for reasonable money, so this is my favourite.

If I was buying new today then I'd probably be looking at a bombproof direct drive turntable from a decent manufacturer, such as a Technics 1210.

 

[Lazurus]

I have an NSM Festival juke box, takes some beating on sound quality for 45`s

 

[northwest]

View attachment 253515

I have an NSM Festival juke box, takes some beating on sound quality for 45`s

I rather wish you hadn't shown me that........

 

[jerrytug]

He could also probably tell that the supply frequency of the mains was exactly at 50.1253427 Hz

That may be an average, but it varies constantly..I presume due to the load altering. The Hz at any time is stated on that wonderful National Grid dashboard webpage. I belive the mains hum freq. has been used in murder investigations, to time and date phone calls etc.

 

[badabec]

When I was studying pharmacy at Portsmouth Polytechnic in the early seventies, my room mate came back from the Christmas holidays with his record player, a Dansette type thing, held closed with a trouser belt and containing all his clothes. He forgot his socks and scrounged mine. We went out one night, he opened up a lamp post and pulled out the time switch. He removed the part that allowed for day length and then set it up as an alarm clock.
By the time the the turntable had started, the record dropped and the arm swung across we were wide awake anyway. And if he forgot to turn the volume down from the previous night, it woke the whole house.
I'm not sure which way round the fuse was fitted, but it did have an 'activated' trouser belt holding it together

 

[Kayos]

It all gets a bit anal sometimes. Years ago I remember going to the hi fi show at a hotel near Heathrow.

Folk were getting excited that the could hear the singer drawing breath on the recording

track was Sadness by Enigma

I use Adel 21 to test systems, if on a certain track I hear her step up to the mic and breathe in then its a good system, or rather a well set up system. Same with Killers - Mr Brightside, id made some last minute changes to an install the day before a competition and nothing sounded right, I was moments away from undoing the days work (changing to a fully active 3 way front end, one amp per speaker, tweets and mids now class a) when Mr Brightside came on and I knew in 2 seconds of the intro what id done, the tweeters were crossed, id miss labelled the wiring

Fixed it, i won my class next day

 

[Maker]

View attachment 253618
That may be an average, but it varies constantly..I presume due to the load altering. The Hz at any time is stated on that wonderful National Grid dashboard webpage. I belive the mains hum freq. has been used in murder investigations, to time and date phone calls etc.

I believe if you average over a few days, the frequency, in the uk at least, is exactly 50.000Hz. It'll drop slightly when demand increases and then is deliberately sped up later to compensate for it so mains powered clocks which keep time by counting mains cycles will actually keep time.

 

[jerrytug]

I believe if you average over a few days, the frequency, in the uk at least, is exactly 50.000Hz. It'll drop slightly when demand increases and then is deliberately sped up later to compensate for it so mains powered clocks which keep time by counting mains cycles will actually keep time.

Interesting about the clocks. As far as I know they are just 3-phase alternators driven by steam turbines?

 

[Maker]

I use Adel 21 to test systems, if on a certain track I hear her step up to the mic and breathe in then its a good system, or rather a well set up system. Same with Killers - Mr Brightside, id made some last minute changes to an install the day before a competition and nothing sounded right, I was moments away from undoing the days work (changing to a fully active 3 way front end, one amp per speaker, tweets and mids now class a) when Mr Brightside came on and I knew in 2 seconds of the intro what id done, the tweeters were crossed, id miss labelled the wiring

Fixed it, i won my class next day

I thought of Mr Brightside a couple of pages ago when people were arguing stereo vs mono, you might not hear it a difference at a live venue but you definitely hear it in studio versions and it sounds awesome.

Money by Pink Floyd would have told you what was going on pretty quick too.

 

[Maker]

Interesting about the clocks. As far as I know they are just 3-phase alternators driven by steam turbines?

I don't know how they do it but I'd imagine the turbine can be throttled up or down a little bit.

 

[Kayos]

I thought of Mr Brightside a couple of pages ago when people were arguing stereo vs mono, you might not hear it a difference at a live venue but you definitely hear it in studio versions and it sounds awesome.

Money by Pink Floyd would have told you what was going on pretty quick too.

Dire Straits - Money For Nothing is good for setting up the imaging, if the drums get louder then its wrong, they should sound like they are getting closer to you

Hard to imagine until you experience it for yourself. Ultimate sound quality testing is usually older albums, Queen Greatest Hits, not the remastered (ruined) version or anything by Rebecca Pidgeon will blow you away on a properly setup system

I say well set up as any reasonable kit can be made awesome with how its installed and setup, much the same as you can ruin high end kit by throwing it together

 

[Maker]

I say well set up as any reasonable kit can be made awesome with how its installed and setup, much the same as you can ruin high end kit by throwing it together

I've just bought some nice (Looking) B&W speakers on eBay, need to find an amp and then you can teach me how to set things up properly. I've been eyeing up miniDSP for years now...

 

[Kayos]

I've just bought some nice (Looking) B&W speakers on eBay, need to find an amp and then you can teach me how to set things up properly. I've been eyeing up miniDSP for years now...

Mini dsp would be great if you removed the passive cross overs and bi amped the speakers, making them active. That's what I used in car for many years

 

[Parm]

I've just bought some nice (Looking) B&W speakers on eBay, need to find an amp and then you can teach me how to set things up properly. I've been eyeing up miniDSP for years now...

get the mini dsp. You won’t regret

I’ve got two giving me 4 way active each side. It’s a bit to computery for Me and took a while for me to get my head round it. But when you do the control and possibilities are endless

 

[Maker]

We'll see, there's a long round tuit list, I've had this waiting for a cabinet and amp for two years.

 

[MoreWellie]

All the talk about the right tracks to check things are performing correctly

I went with my oldest to buy his first music system and we settled on Firestarter as our test track

it seemed like a good idea at the time but got old quite fast

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

All the talk about the right tracks to check things are performing correctly

I went with my oldest to buy his first music system and we settled on Firestarter as our test track

it seemed like a good idea at the time but got old quite fast

Weather experience would have made a better reference track. My favourite prodigy tune