Hello from NJ

[James Frace]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to the forum and live in NJ.

I came here looking for a forum where I can pick the brains of others and learn some more. I have over the last 15 months devoted more time and effort into learning "how to" listen to music instead of just hearing it.

In this time frame I have gone back into vinyl after a 25 year absence and have put away the cd player for the most part. I have purchased about 12 turntables in the last 15 months after selling a JVC JL F45 that I had for abut 30 years from when I was a small kid. I settled on 2 Dual turntables and had them fully restored. A 1229Q and a 701. In the meantime I have been trying out numerous cartridges from ADC, Empire, Audio Technica,Denon and a few others and have settled on several I switch out from time to time. I own a Stanton 881S MKII w/D81S stylus, a Stanton 881S which needs a replacement stylus, a Stanton 681EEE with Jico D6800EEE Shibata, a Shure V-15 III w/VN35E original stylus and the Jico SAS VN35E, Shure 1000E, Shure M91ED, Ortofon OM30 and OM40, Ortofon VMS 30E MKII with the Jico replacement stylus. I'm always looking for a new cartridge to compare to what I have and like to buy and sell them when finished. I'm also looking to jump into the MC side.

My phono pre amps are 2 Cambridge Audio 551P's and I'm in the process of testing out a few of Graham Slee's phono pre amps for that upgrade. I'm looking for other recommendations as well and have tried the Audio Technica phono pre but didn't like them.

From the phono pre amps I run out to an audio switch as well as an amplifier switch that then runs into 3 separate tube amps. A custom built dual mono and dual powered in one platform SEP amp that pushes 8WPC. A class A SET amp that runs in triode mode and pushes 4 WPC for my critical listening, and a Yaqin MC-10L Integrated PP for when I really want to play loud music.All 3 amps are hooked into an Aphex 204 Aural Exciter for more defined lows,mids,and highs. The amps then run out to my speakers which are Klipsch forte II with Crites crossovers and titanium tweeter diaphrams.

On the digital side, I have a cd player, and also uploaded all 1400 cds I own to my Dell laptop and out to an external 1TB hard drive that runs into my Musicstreamer II DAC and out to the audio switch.

The beauty about forums like this are that I wouldn't have gotten to this point I am in my humble set up without people to learn from.

So here's looking forward to meeting others and learning a few things.

Jim

[Mr Peabody]

Hi Jim, welcome to AR.

A friend lent me his Dual for a while when I was in high school, I loved it. I wouldn't have any idea how it would compare to today's tables. There is a faction that still swear by the Japanese direct drive. I haven't heard one sound as good as my prior Rega or what I use now but I remain open minded.

You should explore more into the Ortofon line if you like what your current models do. I was wanting to try a Graham Slee MM only stage to see how it did. Zu Audio hot rods the Denon 103 you might find interesting.

I had a set of Forte for a while, one of the models I liked the best and yours should sound good with the upgrades. They even had a more balanced sound than the Heresy III I had.

I used to work at a store that sold Stanton way back in early 90's. Isn't the 681 their dj cart? If not, a radio station sure bought a lot, I think because they could go backwards with no damage. I could have the model mixed up but I'm sure it was a Stanton though. I used some of the L series. I'm not a AT fan based on what I've used in the past. The Shure was nice and the V15 a classic and I enjoyed Ortofon.

Any way glad to have you with us.

[blackraven]

Welcome to AR.