Thanks, John. We had a great time and were very proud to accept the award on behalf of our late 
mother. It was very nice and of the Academy to recognize her career of work. Agree that they did a 
great job with the introductory montage, the whole event was first-class and it was a priviledge to 
meet the other honorees.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Spencer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 10:28 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Possibly another reason why Technics is exiting the turntable business


Tom,

I meant to point out to the list that it was very nice seeing you and your brother accept the 
Recording Academy's Trustee award on behalf of your mother. I tried to track you down, but once the 
food and drink start flowing at one of those events it becomes very difficult to find people.

Congratulations to you and your family, I think I had more fun at that awards show compared to the 
main Grammy Awards show.

I'm sure you're very proud of that as you should be. What a moment that must have been for you, they 
had a great video to represent your mother's work.

Sincerely,
John

John Spencer
www.bmschace.com



On Mar 4, 2011, at 9:05 PM, Tom Fine wrote:

> "Stanton" now has a 1200 semi-knockoff with many useful features down below $250 street price, 
> Stanton 500 cartridge included:
> http://www.stantondj.com/stanton-turntables/t92usb.html
>
> I was curious enough about this thing, and wanted a turntable for the office, that I bought one of 
> "factory resealed" units from ZZsounds.com, $240 delivered (with no sales tax). If one wants to 
> play 78's, it's another $40 or so street price for the appropriate Stanton 500 needle.
>
> Let me say from the outset -- I'm not recommending this as a transfer-grade or archive-grade 
> solution. But for casual listening and "vinyl to the iPod" transfers, this thing offers some 
> compelling features. What surprised me most was the decent build quality for that price range, the 
> powerful motor with quick start and speed-lock, the Technics-like tonearm which sounded like it 
> didn't have resonance problems and felt non-cheap. I also liked that it's an exact copy of 
> Technics' dimensions, so you can just swap cartridge/headshell combos. The counterweight and 
> gimble system is cheaper build quality than a Technics 1200, but not junk. The most surprising 
> thing to me was the relatively low rumble and impressive isolation for a low-priced turntable. I 
> can see how Technics can't compete with this sort of product because, at half the price of a 1200, 
> it's about 3/4 as good as far as durable build and probably near equal in rumble, speed accuracy 
> and tonearm geometry. A Technics may well be a good bit more durable in the turntablist world, but 
> these "Stanton" tables are so cheap that durability might not matter as much.
>
> The built-in preamp was OK but not great. It would be fine, for instance, to dub spoken-word 
> records or poor-condition records. For 78's, it clipped when the groove-velocity was high. Note 
> that all of this directly transfers to the digital outs, so keep that in mind when interfacing 
> with a computer. I didn't expect a superb built-in amp with this. When I listened, to a variety of 
> records for hours, through headphones and a decent preamp (nothing too fancy, just a decent-grade 
> Gemini "DJ" preamp), I was impressed by low audible rumble, the decent but not great trackability 
> you'd expect from a Stanton 500, and the nice isolation (the turntable was on a desk and I tested 
> tapping the table at various spots, and then the turntable itself, and didn't get the needle to 
> jump -- I'm sure a good hand-slam on any of these points would have cause a skip, as would a knee 
> into the table). I swapped in a better Goldring cartridge and the sound improved as expected. 
> Looked at the signal on the scope and didn't see the kind of rumble you see on some cheapo 
> direct-drive turntables which I think comes from platter bearing or motor rubbing or uneven-ness. 
> Then I swapped in a 78 needle and put the Stanton 500 back. Playback of 78's was pretty good, what 
> you'd expect through an RIAA preamp. I was able to get the thing to turn at exactly 78RPM by 
> adjusting with a strobe disk. For casual listening to 78's, this is a very appealing option due to 
> it's "low fuss" factor. I should also mention that there's good grounding (no audible hum and very 
> low measured background hum and noise). For background listening at the office, I'd say it's a 
> no-brainer to just use the built-n preamp and connect to powered speakers or the line in on your 
> computer soundcard.
>
> Another plus is that the unit ships with an install disc for Cakewalk's recorder/waveform editor 
> software, so you are not stuck in Audacity hell, there's another option.
>
> Overall, I'd say build quality and features make this a very compelling cheap turntable. I think a 
> produce like this price where this is makes it difficult for Technics to compete because it 
> shrinks the 1200's potential customer base. I also think this particular unit is a good candidate 
> for a "listening station" turntable for a college or archive. It's better built than other low-end 
> turntables I've seen and it seems to have much better isolation than lightweight all-plastic 
> competitors. The S-tonearm also offers some preferable features with some cartridges. The included 
> Stanton 500 is idiot-proof, and one can use a cheap and available (for now) Technics alignment 
> tool to set up the cartridge of your choice or verify the 500 was set up right (mine was delivered 
> slightly too far forward). The conical needle makes it more safe in the hands of less experienced 
> users. The available 78 speed is a big plus, too.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>