One other comment about this "starter" vinyl system. It will definitely produce far superior sound
to vintage record-wreckers, anything sold by "Crosley" and most other catalog-sold self-contained
"record players." If any listmembers or their friends/family are considering plungeing into vinyl
(it'll be a deep dive before you're done, be forewarned!), I recommend the following:

1. read the manual carefully to your turntable. Understand how to align a cartridge. You will not
enjoy playback without a properly aligned cartridge. Any of the Technics-like Chinese turntables can
use the Technics alignment gauge/headshell holder. You can still find these little plastic do-dads
for a few bucks from Needle Doctor or KAB. You can find a good, useful alignment grid from Sleeve
City.

2. also from Sleeve City, you will find several options at low cost for record cleaning, I would say
that the Spin-Clean is the minimum system likely to properly clean the records you get for a buck at
the Goodwill or yard sale. There is a good stylus cleaner sold by Sleeve City, too. They also sell
reasonably-priced record crates. The assemble-yourself model, for about $20, can be copied if you
have a few wood-shop tools. It's very useful for keeping your "in rotation" records near your
turntable.

3. finally, from Sleeve City or the place in Rochester NY (which is more costly than Sleeve City),
invest in good plastic-lined inner sleeves. Always dump old paper and plastic inner sleeves, and
dump most of the inner sleeves included with new-issue vinyl, especially those pink plastic inner
sleeves used by Sony. A few cents invested will save a lifetime of scuffing on the record. Vinyl
"guru" Mike Fremer makes a convincing argument that if you clean and store your records properly
from the get-go, and keep your stylus clean always, and set your cartridge tracking angles
correctly, and track at the light weights recommended by the manufacturer of your cartridge, your
records should not wear out over hundreds of plays. Antique record-wreckers will destroy your
platters from the first play forward.

4. A good phono preamp will sound superior to what's built into any of these "USB turntables." I
would say that should be your first upgrade. There are many choices under $200 that do the job well.

Bottom line, if I were starting out in the world of LP records, I'd set it up this way:

1. Music Hall USB turntable - $250

2. Shure M97 cartridge - $100 or Denon DL-110 cartridge - $130

3. Cambridge Audio phono preamp/USB ADC - $230

4. Audio-Technica ATH-M50 headphones - $150

5. figure $300-500 for a good headphone amp, more like $500 if you want a decent USB DAC so you can
listen to your laptop or PC.

6. if you want powered speakers, there are many choices at many price ranges. Anything with a woofer
smaller than 8" will not give you very good bass response, so figure on a subwoofer.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Ramm" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2014 11:04 AM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] WSJ article on vinyl playbackl equipment


> Not to start a discussion but for those who don't get the Wall Street
> Journal you might enjoy reading this if interested in NEW "Home" playback
> equipment:
>
> _Svelte Systems for Spinning Vinyl - WSJ.com_
> (http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303795904579433222363701870-lMyQjAxMTA0MDEwNTEx
> NDUyWj)
>
> Steve Ramm
>
>