Thread: turntables
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Old 24th March 2009
DrJ DrJ is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Gold Country, CA
Posts: 507
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OK -- so this is partially for sentimental reasons. That's fine, and some of the collection sounds pretty rare.

Regarding cleaning, here are two options. The first is bare-bones, and mostly works; the second is much, much better but of course comes at a cost. I don't know the vendor, so don't take this are a recommendation one way or the other.

http://www.questforsound.com/accesso...asherVinyl.htm
http://www.questforsound.com/analog/analog_vpiHW165.htm

You might be amazed at the difference the second one makes in the sound quality. There is a lot of junk (including bacteria) that accumulates on records and in their grooves, and the phono cartridge of course obligingly sends whatever it traces, whether it is intended or not.

In the old days, the high-end audio salons would rent time on their fancy record cleaners to their customers for $1 each record. You might want to check if that service is still available in your area (and it might not be).

Here is another manufacturer of cartridges:

http://www.sumikoaudio.net/sumikocar...idx_oyster.htm

The Blue Points might be too expensive for you, and the others have been well-regarded for their price. I had an original Blue Point back in the day, and it is decent though I preferred others.

If in addition you need a headshell, I use this one and it is fine:

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/52354

On many tone arms, you mount the cartridge into the headshell, and then attach the headshell to the tone arm. Yours might have that built in. Some less expensive tone arms use a "P mount", where the cartridge fits in directly to the arm. It is convenient, but not as rigid or as adjustable.

Enough detail yet?
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