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hydroman
02-06-2009, 10:47 AM
So there i was picking the carcass at the vulture feeding frenzy that was the closing of the Circuit City store (i actually used to work at a decade or so ago)...

i saw an ION USB Turntable for a decent price (~ $90 IIRC). MIC (made in china - so you know it's of the highest caliber...) :0:

It sounds okay.

Features:
Built-in pre amp (pretty shabby - i used my old NAD pre amp until it expired. I could really tell the difference)

El cheapo cartridge... First upgrade! Stand BY. I plan on getting a Shure V15s if i can scrounge one up...

Does allow balancing of the tone arm - but it is of the slip-shoddiest of precision.

Comes with USB cable and s/w to burn to computer (relies on iTune s/w you download for free). Can even handle 75RPM with provided s/w when recorded at 33.3 RPM...

Gripes:
- s/w won't let you easily burn a double record - it really only records one side of LP at a time. You have to go through the whole HokeyPokey again for each side. Gets old fast i gotta' tell ya'...

- No ground wire - i have to gin one up to take care of some low level hum...

- no auto feature or tone arm damped/soft drop.


BUT i can burn some old/rare vinyl that won't be found on a CD... Status Quo Live anyone?

Summary:
Don't buy. Listen to the previous forum discussions & just get a good turntable and download the better software that exists (MUST exist)...:skep:

Luvin Da Blues
02-06-2009, 12:29 PM
... Status Quo Live anyone?

Check out my last post in the "Lyrics" thread. :3:

Reticuli
02-25-2009, 12:34 AM
Ion is the budget brand from Numark/Alesis. That hum is probably from the motor or power supply, not insufficient grounding. If you switch the turntable off but leave the cart on the record, it probably goes away. Yes?

GP49
05-05-2009, 07:59 PM
So there i was picking the carcass at the vulture feeding frenzy that was the closing of the Circuit City store (i actually used to work at a decade or so ago)...

i saw an ION USB Turntable for a decent price (~ $90 IIRC). MIC (made in china - so you know it's of the highest caliber...) :0:

It sounds okay.

Features:
Built-in pre amp (pretty shabby - i used my old NAD pre amp until it expired. I could really tell the difference)

El cheapo cartridge... First upgrade! Stand BY. I plan on getting a Shure V15s if i can scrounge one up...

Does allow balancing of the tone arm - but it is of the slip-shoddiest of precision.

Comes with USB cable and s/w to burn to computer (relies on iTune s/w you download for free). Can even handle 75RPM with provided s/w when recorded at 33.3 RPM...

Gripes:
- s/w won't let you easily burn a double record - it really only records one side of LP at a time. You have to go through the whole HokeyPokey again for each side. Gets old fast i gotta' tell ya'...

- No ground wire - i have to gin one up to take care of some low level hum...

- no auto feature or tone arm damped/soft drop.


BUT i can burn some old/rare vinyl that won't be found on a CD... Status Quo Live anyone?

Summary:
Don't buy. Listen to the previous forum discussions & just get a good turntable and download the better software that exists (MUST exist)...:skep:

============================================

Almost ANYBODY who has an old Technics, Dual, AR, Garrard, Pioneer or other old, GOOD turntable can do better than the ION. Almost anybody with an old receiver or amplifier lying around has a better preamp than what's in the ION. If you have the ability to plug a stereo audio cable into the tape output of your old receiver or amplifier, and into the line inputs of your desktop computer, all you have to do is download the Audacity software for free, and you can convert your LPs to digital files that can be burned to CD using the software that comes with a CD-RW drive...or with Windows Media Player or Real Player.

As for the ION software not being able to burn both sides of an LP...the ION I tried came with two programs: one crummy one that's apparently written for dummies, and Audacity. If you use Audacity, you CAN record both sides of an LP to a single digital file. You start at the beginning of Side One, and when the record plays to the end of the side, hit the PAUSE button with your mouse. Flip over the record, clean it, cue up the stylus, and release PAUSE. Recording will resume. Recording from LPs (or analog tape, for that matter) is a realtime process anyway. You can't just hit RECORD and walk away. In any case, you really should be sitting there, listening and taking notes as to the times when you hear particularly bad clicks and pops that your software won't be able to remove (Audacity is only fair at click removal).

I prefer to separate the digital files by record sides. Audacity can easily put them together if I want to, but most of the time I want to separate a side into several tracks, anyway. For me it's less cumbersome to do so when a file is made up of one side instead of two.

I tried an ION, just to see what it was like. It was serviceable (I returned it because using my own stuff works better) but its arm had high friction in the horizontal direction (never mind antiskate...the friction offsets skating!) that limits it to operating at no lower than about 2 1/2 grams. The cartridge, perhaps surprisingly, was of decent quality. It's a MM with spherical stylus from Sanyo that performs well in the 2 1/2 to 3 gram range where the arm "likes" to work, though I was able to use it at under 2 grams in a better arm. An elliptical upgrade is available from several vendors. As for the tracking weight, I prefer to dub LPs using a heavier-tracking cartridge, unless it's a pristine LP; the 3 gram range is better for many typical LPs, seeming to suppress vinyl noise better and be more stable on the ever-present warps.