emaidel
07-11-2008, 02:55 PM
Many audiophiles and fans of this hobby feel that vinyl has a sound of its own, and amongst the many adjectives used to describe it, "involving" is one of them. There is no doubt that turntables provide a far greater level of user involvement than any CD or SACD player. And, much of that involvement results in a felling of pride much like standing back and admiring the wall one just painted, as opposed to looking at the same wall had a professional done it
After purchasing a CD or SACD player, all one does is unpack the unit and connect it to one's preamplifier/integrated amp/ receiver, and plug the AC cord into the wall. That's it. Period. The cables can be replaced at a future date, which may (or may not) provide some level of improvement, but insofar as user involvement, or "tinkering," there's nothing left to do but listen.
But with a turntable, there's a veritable plethora of things to do. First of all, in purchasing a turntable, a cartridge also must be purchased, and more often than not, there is a far greater difference in sound between cartridges than there is between turnables. That cartridge must be installed too, via a procedure some regard as a labor of love, which others regard as a royal pain in the a$$. And the cartridge isn't just installed - it has to be properly alinged as well. This can be done either with supplied materials with the turntable, or with separately purchased alignment tools/guages and so forth. Virtually any vinyl fan will tell you that there is a significant improvement in sound between a poorly aligned cartridge, and one properly aligned.
Next, the tonearm has to be balanced. This is usually a pretty simple procedure, but on many a turntable, there are no tracking force indicators on the tonearm's counterweight, and so yet another device must be purchased: a stylus pressure guage. Once the proper tracking weight is applied, the proper (read, "Identical") anti-skating force has to be applied also.
If one's setup doesn't have a phono input, then a separate phono preamplfier is needed. A preamplifier alone will usually suffice, but if the purchase was of a moving coil cartridge instead of a moving magnet, then yet another step up transformer/preamp is required.
OK. The cartridge has been installed and properly aligned and balanced, and whichever necessary preamplfiers, step up transformers, etc. have been employed too. What next? Well, most turntables are susceptible to both external vibrations and acoustic feedback. Here, the user has the option of purchasing a myriad of different items from isolating feet, to outrageously costly turntable platforms. Isolating a turntable from both mechanical and acoustic interference pays off tremendously: who wants to try to play a record loudly, only to have to rush up and turn down the volume control due to annoying, and possibly dangerous, howling feedback? And, there is little else as annoying as the tonearm bouncing all across the record simply from someone walking across the floor.
All right, now that that's done, what next? Well, many different materials are available to replace the rubber and/or felt turntable mats that come supplied with all turntables, and considerable improvements can be made simply by replacing the mat with another (the "Acrhomat," for $100, is such an item, and it does work too). Entire turntable platters can be changed as well, some from the same manufacturer as the Achromat (those are called "Achroplats"). They make quite a difference too.
Often, the internal tonearm wiring doesn't satisfy a purist, and so that too can be changed, albeit with a fair amount of difficulty. The same is true of tonearm bearings and pivots. In addition to the wiring inside a tonearm, the four, short wires in the headshell can also be replaced to provide sonic improvements.
Record clamps also provide audible benefits, and are available in a wide variety of differing price points. Records also get dirty, and need to be periodically cleaned. One can purchase a $20 Discwasher (a device that's only $5 more than it was when first introduced in the early 70's, which still works quite well), or spend a zillion dollars on a record cleaning machine. (CD's rarely ever need cleaning, and SACD's carry a warning NOT to use liquid cleaners of any kind on them.)
All of this stuff necessitates a great deal of user involvement, and the level of personal satisfaction from changing one thing to another, and obtaining a noticeable improvement in sound. No CD or SACD player can come remotely close to providing this level of user involvement, but then one really has to ask, who wants to do all of this stuff in the first place? I know many audiophiles here do, and thoroughly enjoy the process. I don't mind doing some of these things, but certainly not all.
And I still prefer the sound of my SACD player anyway!
After purchasing a CD or SACD player, all one does is unpack the unit and connect it to one's preamplifier/integrated amp/ receiver, and plug the AC cord into the wall. That's it. Period. The cables can be replaced at a future date, which may (or may not) provide some level of improvement, but insofar as user involvement, or "tinkering," there's nothing left to do but listen.
But with a turntable, there's a veritable plethora of things to do. First of all, in purchasing a turntable, a cartridge also must be purchased, and more often than not, there is a far greater difference in sound between cartridges than there is between turnables. That cartridge must be installed too, via a procedure some regard as a labor of love, which others regard as a royal pain in the a$$. And the cartridge isn't just installed - it has to be properly alinged as well. This can be done either with supplied materials with the turntable, or with separately purchased alignment tools/guages and so forth. Virtually any vinyl fan will tell you that there is a significant improvement in sound between a poorly aligned cartridge, and one properly aligned.
Next, the tonearm has to be balanced. This is usually a pretty simple procedure, but on many a turntable, there are no tracking force indicators on the tonearm's counterweight, and so yet another device must be purchased: a stylus pressure guage. Once the proper tracking weight is applied, the proper (read, "Identical") anti-skating force has to be applied also.
If one's setup doesn't have a phono input, then a separate phono preamplfier is needed. A preamplifier alone will usually suffice, but if the purchase was of a moving coil cartridge instead of a moving magnet, then yet another step up transformer/preamp is required.
OK. The cartridge has been installed and properly aligned and balanced, and whichever necessary preamplfiers, step up transformers, etc. have been employed too. What next? Well, most turntables are susceptible to both external vibrations and acoustic feedback. Here, the user has the option of purchasing a myriad of different items from isolating feet, to outrageously costly turntable platforms. Isolating a turntable from both mechanical and acoustic interference pays off tremendously: who wants to try to play a record loudly, only to have to rush up and turn down the volume control due to annoying, and possibly dangerous, howling feedback? And, there is little else as annoying as the tonearm bouncing all across the record simply from someone walking across the floor.
All right, now that that's done, what next? Well, many different materials are available to replace the rubber and/or felt turntable mats that come supplied with all turntables, and considerable improvements can be made simply by replacing the mat with another (the "Acrhomat," for $100, is such an item, and it does work too). Entire turntable platters can be changed as well, some from the same manufacturer as the Achromat (those are called "Achroplats"). They make quite a difference too.
Often, the internal tonearm wiring doesn't satisfy a purist, and so that too can be changed, albeit with a fair amount of difficulty. The same is true of tonearm bearings and pivots. In addition to the wiring inside a tonearm, the four, short wires in the headshell can also be replaced to provide sonic improvements.
Record clamps also provide audible benefits, and are available in a wide variety of differing price points. Records also get dirty, and need to be periodically cleaned. One can purchase a $20 Discwasher (a device that's only $5 more than it was when first introduced in the early 70's, which still works quite well), or spend a zillion dollars on a record cleaning machine. (CD's rarely ever need cleaning, and SACD's carry a warning NOT to use liquid cleaners of any kind on them.)
All of this stuff necessitates a great deal of user involvement, and the level of personal satisfaction from changing one thing to another, and obtaining a noticeable improvement in sound. No CD or SACD player can come remotely close to providing this level of user involvement, but then one really has to ask, who wants to do all of this stuff in the first place? I know many audiophiles here do, and thoroughly enjoy the process. I don't mind doing some of these things, but certainly not all.
And I still prefer the sound of my SACD player anyway!