MiTT
Super User
One can't help but notice that there have been a LOT of posts recently pertaining to analog. Whether it's a link to an article about the resurgence of analog in the mainstream press, or questions about turntable set up from folks either just getting into analog, or pulling out their old rigs and setting them up again, there is a fair amount of interest in the dark side of late. I haven't jumped into the fray, there wasn't a point. We have a number of very knowledgeable analog folks here who have analyzed, accessed, diagnosed and disseminated great advice on analog tribulations. Dave (Twich54), Jeff (Tonepub), Bernard, Risabet, Justin (User211) among others are all certainly analog guru's and I for one appreciate their input and council as colleagues in the not so secret "Brotherhood of the Black Pizza" (we are currently working on our coat of arms). I don't want to generalize, but I think there are some commonalities within the Brotherhood. I think analog guys tend to be a little less "analytical", but a bit more anal. I think we tend to be more ritualistic. I think we tend to be music "collectors", and by shear necessity we must be "active" rather than "passive" listeners. I also think we tend to be more devoted spouses, generally more handsome and better hung, but I have no scientific evidence to back this up.
Never one to be shy about voicing my opinion in matters analog, I thought rather than posting multiple times in various threads merely for the sake of upping my post count, I would instead just put a few thought on analog into a single thread; a smorgasbord if you will of analog observations. Perhaps dare I say, an analog primer.
Setup
Imagine the uproar if you were asked to mount, align and focus the laser in your CD player to within a few thousandths of an inch and insure that it would faithfully track the pits on every disk every time it were asked to do so. There would be open revolt in the streets! "That's what assembly robots and highly skilled technicians are for!" we would cry out. Yet that is exactly what we need to do when we're setting up a turntable for either the first or 50th time. It isn't a task for the fumble fingered or squeamish. Imagine the flop sweat you might break into if you were called upon to mount that gleaming new Goldring or Koetsu - where a slip of the tweezers or even a gentle sneeze might send a $10,000.00 cartridge skittering across the kitchen table. You could literally see your investment crashing faster than a Madoff hedge fund. Even if you have the manual dexterity to mount a cartridge you are then faced with the task of connecting 4 very delicate wires, setting the overhang, setting the azimuth, setting the tracking weight, setting the vertical tracking angle, setting the anti-skate. Oh, and by the by, the adjustment of one thing may or may not have an effect on any of the others. It seems overwhelming - but take heart, it really isn't rocket science, it can be done and it can be done very, very well. You just need to READ THE MANUAL (something most of us are not genetically pre-disposed to do), or read the many printed or web based materials available, or buy Michael Fremmers set up DVD. Pay attention, work sequentially, be patient, breathe, check and re-check. It can be done over time. Fifteen years and thirty pounds ago I used to race mountainbikes. Beyond the physical and mental demands of racing at a competitive level, 30 mile cross country races at 10,000+ feet in the Colorado Rockies necessitated that you also become something of a bike mechanic not only that you might place well in the race, but that you make it home safe and sound. I'm still a decent bike mechanic, but I never mastered the real art of truing a wheel. Every time I try I end up making them lean one way or another or lumpy. I've come to accept my own limitations. When I need a wheel trued I take it to somebody who knows what they are doing. Sage advice when it comes to setting up a turntable too, there are experts out there who know what they are doing.
Setup (part deux)
Did I mention SETUP? OK, so you have the cartridge mounted. Is the phase correct? Are all the screws tightened (but not too tight). The tonearm is dialed to be within a gnats a$$. Are you sure? Did you add damping fluid? Should you add damping fluid? Is there too much? Too little? When I switched from a Sumiko Blue Point Special to my Grado Statement I had to use a Q-Tip to remove some of the damping fluid from my pivot bearing to increase detail retrieval. Again, read your manual, know your system. Take the time to know what everything in your analog rig does and how to tweak it. I have a buddy who set up his turntable over a period of days and when I came over to see it we watched his drive belt ride up the side of the platter and then fall down the side of the platter, then walk up the side and down again over and over. His tonearm setup was great, but he forgot to level the table.
Cables
I'm a guy that believes everything in audio matters. Every part of the chain makes a contribution or forces an omission. Tonearm wiring and cables are one of those things that may have a HUGE effect on your sonic landscape. Think about the low level of the signals coming from your cartridge feeding your phonostage. Some high end cartridges have outputs as low as .07mv! Getting those signals to the phonostage intact is important, so choose as good a cable as you can afford. AND Don't forget the ground wire. Not only does it reduce hum, it also serves as a shield against RFI and EMI.
Mounting and Resonance Control
Turntables are Mechanical-Electrical transducers. Speakers by contrast are Electro-Mechanical transducers. The function of the analog system (cartridge/tonearm/turntable) is of course to track the groove modulations contained on the record surface and convert them into an electrical signal that is then fed upstream and amplified. Your CD player is an Opto-Electrical transducer serving the same purpose, but by virtue of depending upon the reflectance of photonic energy (i.e. it is free of mechanical interference) as it retrieves information from the pits of a disc, CD players, while not immune to mechanical resonances, are certainly less directly effected by them. I believe that ALL audio devices benefit from resonance control, but in analog setups it is absolutely critical. Think about it, if you walk by your CD player while it's working, even on a springy suspended floor, you would likely never notice it. Even if you tap the top of the player while it's playing you probably wouldn't hear anything. If you smack the player or the shelf it's on hard with your fist, you might make the CD skip or possibly even mis-track enough that you have to re-set the disc, but it's not likely. CD players have error correction circuits that are continually adjusting for any mistracking that might be occurring unless the mis-tracking is so gross in nature that the player simply can no longer read the disc. Analog systems are more sensitive, but less discrete. If you walk by a turntable on a springy suspended floor you're likely to make it skip, but there's no error correction. It's going to let you know EXACTLY what sort of distress it's encountering by passing that signal on through your entire system, and it will do that every time it is presented with those sorts of mechanical disturbances. Turntables must be mounted in such a way that they prevent not only the transmission of those gross influences, but even the smallest of resonances and vibrations. You have to think about what your cartridge is doing at the micro and even molecular level, because that is the realm wherein it does it's job. Think about the tip of your stylus tracing the grooves of a record. At the other end of a cantilever is either a set of coils or a set of magnets moving (hence Moving Coil or Moving Magnet cartridges) back and forth across an opposing set of magnets or coils inducing the flow of flux that IS the signal you will then send out to the rest of your system. It's frankly a wonder that it works at all, so imagine the influence and havoc that a footfall or bump of a fist has upon this process. Equally present but less apparent are the effects of bearing surfaces grinding against one another, airborne vibrations reflecting off of every surface in the room including your tonearm, platter and the record itself, motor induced vibrations - the list goes on and on. That is why it's so important to provide your turntable with a safe haven not only from the most insidious of interferences, but from even the smallest and least obvious ones. I have published a tweak in our tweaks section and in my member system where I placed my drive motor on a trio of small ceramic cones because it reduced vibrations emanating from the motor. I could feel it's effect with my finger and I can hear it as a quieter background in my music. My turntable is mounted on a dedicated box filled with about 80lbs of sand sitting on top of a dedicated audio rack that is mechanically coupled to my floor. Long story short, you need to think about mechanical mounting and isolation.
Synergy
I know I sound like a stuck record (pun intended), but your analog system is an analog SYSTEM. It has to be thought of in terms of how any aspect of that system interacts with any other component of that system. Is your cartridge a good match for your tonearm? Is your tonearm suited for your choice of turntable? Where will my turntable be situated in the room? Is it subject to vibration, close enough to my phonostage? A highly compliant cartridge may not be well suited to a heavy battleship of a tonearm. A low output cartridge may not stand a chance of sounding good if your phonostage can't be loaded properly or has insufficient gain. It's like asking Danaka Patrick to play linebacker for the Steelers. Sure, she's an expensive, fast, hot little number but she simply isn't suited to the task. Make sure you understand the role of each player, their strengths and limitations, and obviously, factor your listening preferences into the decision.
Ritual
I was raised Catholic, I had my First Communion before Vatican II and I spent 2 years in Seminary studying for the priesthood. I am both familiar with and comfortable with Ritual. I'm a lapsed Catholic now, no less spiritual, but I might say my religious practice has evolved. I spend my Sunday mornings in the Church of Audio Nirvana (Can I get an Amen?!). That's why I started the "Sunday Morning Music" thread here a few years ago and I'm very happy that it's still active. What the hell does that have to do with analog music reproduction you may ask. Well, everything frankly. Turntables take time to set up (see above), turntables take maintenance. Equipment must be acquired. Records must be acquired. Records must be cleaned, they must be handled properly, they must be stored properly. For me to play a record I first take it off of my very proper LP rack, pull it out of the outer plastic sleeve (ALL of my records have protective outer plastic sleeves), pull out the protective inner sleeve (ditto previous), I clean it either on my VPI 16.5 wet/vacuum cleaner or at a minimum with a dry brush once it's placed on the platter, it's clamped down to the platter with a heavy threaded center spindle clamp, I raise the tonearm, I clean the stylus, I que the stylus, I lower the tonearm, I un-mute the phono stage and then I scamper over to my listening chair to soak in the unadulterated bliss of analog heaven. A few minutes later it's time to flip the record or put on another and I repeat the whole experience. If that isn't ritual I don't know what is. I may as well throw on one of my old cassocks and burn some incense.
Here's the bottom line. If you are uncomfortable with ritual, or don't have the time or inclination to participate in it, vinyl may just not be your bag. Vinyl requires your involvement.
Never one to be shy about voicing my opinion in matters analog, I thought rather than posting multiple times in various threads merely for the sake of upping my post count, I would instead just put a few thought on analog into a single thread; a smorgasbord if you will of analog observations. Perhaps dare I say, an analog primer.
Setup
Imagine the uproar if you were asked to mount, align and focus the laser in your CD player to within a few thousandths of an inch and insure that it would faithfully track the pits on every disk every time it were asked to do so. There would be open revolt in the streets! "That's what assembly robots and highly skilled technicians are for!" we would cry out. Yet that is exactly what we need to do when we're setting up a turntable for either the first or 50th time. It isn't a task for the fumble fingered or squeamish. Imagine the flop sweat you might break into if you were called upon to mount that gleaming new Goldring or Koetsu - where a slip of the tweezers or even a gentle sneeze might send a $10,000.00 cartridge skittering across the kitchen table. You could literally see your investment crashing faster than a Madoff hedge fund. Even if you have the manual dexterity to mount a cartridge you are then faced with the task of connecting 4 very delicate wires, setting the overhang, setting the azimuth, setting the tracking weight, setting the vertical tracking angle, setting the anti-skate. Oh, and by the by, the adjustment of one thing may or may not have an effect on any of the others. It seems overwhelming - but take heart, it really isn't rocket science, it can be done and it can be done very, very well. You just need to READ THE MANUAL (something most of us are not genetically pre-disposed to do), or read the many printed or web based materials available, or buy Michael Fremmers set up DVD. Pay attention, work sequentially, be patient, breathe, check and re-check. It can be done over time. Fifteen years and thirty pounds ago I used to race mountainbikes. Beyond the physical and mental demands of racing at a competitive level, 30 mile cross country races at 10,000+ feet in the Colorado Rockies necessitated that you also become something of a bike mechanic not only that you might place well in the race, but that you make it home safe and sound. I'm still a decent bike mechanic, but I never mastered the real art of truing a wheel. Every time I try I end up making them lean one way or another or lumpy. I've come to accept my own limitations. When I need a wheel trued I take it to somebody who knows what they are doing. Sage advice when it comes to setting up a turntable too, there are experts out there who know what they are doing.
Setup (part deux)
Did I mention SETUP? OK, so you have the cartridge mounted. Is the phase correct? Are all the screws tightened (but not too tight). The tonearm is dialed to be within a gnats a$$. Are you sure? Did you add damping fluid? Should you add damping fluid? Is there too much? Too little? When I switched from a Sumiko Blue Point Special to my Grado Statement I had to use a Q-Tip to remove some of the damping fluid from my pivot bearing to increase detail retrieval. Again, read your manual, know your system. Take the time to know what everything in your analog rig does and how to tweak it. I have a buddy who set up his turntable over a period of days and when I came over to see it we watched his drive belt ride up the side of the platter and then fall down the side of the platter, then walk up the side and down again over and over. His tonearm setup was great, but he forgot to level the table.
Cables
I'm a guy that believes everything in audio matters. Every part of the chain makes a contribution or forces an omission. Tonearm wiring and cables are one of those things that may have a HUGE effect on your sonic landscape. Think about the low level of the signals coming from your cartridge feeding your phonostage. Some high end cartridges have outputs as low as .07mv! Getting those signals to the phonostage intact is important, so choose as good a cable as you can afford. AND Don't forget the ground wire. Not only does it reduce hum, it also serves as a shield against RFI and EMI.
Mounting and Resonance Control
Turntables are Mechanical-Electrical transducers. Speakers by contrast are Electro-Mechanical transducers. The function of the analog system (cartridge/tonearm/turntable) is of course to track the groove modulations contained on the record surface and convert them into an electrical signal that is then fed upstream and amplified. Your CD player is an Opto-Electrical transducer serving the same purpose, but by virtue of depending upon the reflectance of photonic energy (i.e. it is free of mechanical interference) as it retrieves information from the pits of a disc, CD players, while not immune to mechanical resonances, are certainly less directly effected by them. I believe that ALL audio devices benefit from resonance control, but in analog setups it is absolutely critical. Think about it, if you walk by your CD player while it's working, even on a springy suspended floor, you would likely never notice it. Even if you tap the top of the player while it's playing you probably wouldn't hear anything. If you smack the player or the shelf it's on hard with your fist, you might make the CD skip or possibly even mis-track enough that you have to re-set the disc, but it's not likely. CD players have error correction circuits that are continually adjusting for any mistracking that might be occurring unless the mis-tracking is so gross in nature that the player simply can no longer read the disc. Analog systems are more sensitive, but less discrete. If you walk by a turntable on a springy suspended floor you're likely to make it skip, but there's no error correction. It's going to let you know EXACTLY what sort of distress it's encountering by passing that signal on through your entire system, and it will do that every time it is presented with those sorts of mechanical disturbances. Turntables must be mounted in such a way that they prevent not only the transmission of those gross influences, but even the smallest of resonances and vibrations. You have to think about what your cartridge is doing at the micro and even molecular level, because that is the realm wherein it does it's job. Think about the tip of your stylus tracing the grooves of a record. At the other end of a cantilever is either a set of coils or a set of magnets moving (hence Moving Coil or Moving Magnet cartridges) back and forth across an opposing set of magnets or coils inducing the flow of flux that IS the signal you will then send out to the rest of your system. It's frankly a wonder that it works at all, so imagine the influence and havoc that a footfall or bump of a fist has upon this process. Equally present but less apparent are the effects of bearing surfaces grinding against one another, airborne vibrations reflecting off of every surface in the room including your tonearm, platter and the record itself, motor induced vibrations - the list goes on and on. That is why it's so important to provide your turntable with a safe haven not only from the most insidious of interferences, but from even the smallest and least obvious ones. I have published a tweak in our tweaks section and in my member system where I placed my drive motor on a trio of small ceramic cones because it reduced vibrations emanating from the motor. I could feel it's effect with my finger and I can hear it as a quieter background in my music. My turntable is mounted on a dedicated box filled with about 80lbs of sand sitting on top of a dedicated audio rack that is mechanically coupled to my floor. Long story short, you need to think about mechanical mounting and isolation.
Synergy
I know I sound like a stuck record (pun intended), but your analog system is an analog SYSTEM. It has to be thought of in terms of how any aspect of that system interacts with any other component of that system. Is your cartridge a good match for your tonearm? Is your tonearm suited for your choice of turntable? Where will my turntable be situated in the room? Is it subject to vibration, close enough to my phonostage? A highly compliant cartridge may not be well suited to a heavy battleship of a tonearm. A low output cartridge may not stand a chance of sounding good if your phonostage can't be loaded properly or has insufficient gain. It's like asking Danaka Patrick to play linebacker for the Steelers. Sure, she's an expensive, fast, hot little number but she simply isn't suited to the task. Make sure you understand the role of each player, their strengths and limitations, and obviously, factor your listening preferences into the decision.
Ritual
I was raised Catholic, I had my First Communion before Vatican II and I spent 2 years in Seminary studying for the priesthood. I am both familiar with and comfortable with Ritual. I'm a lapsed Catholic now, no less spiritual, but I might say my religious practice has evolved. I spend my Sunday mornings in the Church of Audio Nirvana (Can I get an Amen?!). That's why I started the "Sunday Morning Music" thread here a few years ago and I'm very happy that it's still active. What the hell does that have to do with analog music reproduction you may ask. Well, everything frankly. Turntables take time to set up (see above), turntables take maintenance. Equipment must be acquired. Records must be acquired. Records must be cleaned, they must be handled properly, they must be stored properly. For me to play a record I first take it off of my very proper LP rack, pull it out of the outer plastic sleeve (ALL of my records have protective outer plastic sleeves), pull out the protective inner sleeve (ditto previous), I clean it either on my VPI 16.5 wet/vacuum cleaner or at a minimum with a dry brush once it's placed on the platter, it's clamped down to the platter with a heavy threaded center spindle clamp, I raise the tonearm, I clean the stylus, I que the stylus, I lower the tonearm, I un-mute the phono stage and then I scamper over to my listening chair to soak in the unadulterated bliss of analog heaven. A few minutes later it's time to flip the record or put on another and I repeat the whole experience. If that isn't ritual I don't know what is. I may as well throw on one of my old cassocks and burn some incense.
Here's the bottom line. If you are uncomfortable with ritual, or don't have the time or inclination to participate in it, vinyl may just not be your bag. Vinyl requires your involvement.
. Good on her! She was also unquestionably wearing the best stage dress I have ever seen - with a new outfit for every song. Premium lighting too - including a laser shone from above onto a sequined hat during Love Is The Drug to staggerring effect in the concert hall.
