Sparky was reintroduced to vinyl today!!!

Wow, just wow. Man, I knew I preferred vinyl over the digital formats and today I know why once again. It has been well over three years since I have had vinyl in the rig. Before that, vinyl had a close to 20 year vacation from any rig that I have had. Back when I had first bought the Carver C-16 pre, I purchased the Music Hall MMF-5 TT and I enjoyed about three months or so of vinyl until I replaced the C-16 with the Dodd MLP tubed preamplifier. The Dodd did not have a phono section in it so I was back to being without vinyl once again.

I know all I had to do was get a phono pre but I do not rely on reviews for audio anymore, unless it was from someone who's ears I trust. I wanted to hear something before I purchased it and what my ears like so far is the Jolida JD-9 tubed phono pre that we had hooked up to Sparky at the 'fest last year [borrowed from Jerry]. Well, Jerry really liked the sound of the vinyl rig I had going on at the 'fest so I let him borrow the entire vinyl portion of the rig to play with at home.

When I went down to Florida to visit James and pick up the Polk SDA 1C's, I stopped by Jerry's place [enjoyed a fine evening] and picked the vinyl rig back up. Only thing was that I was back to where I was. I had no phono pre. Well, my brother in arms hooked me up with some $130.00 USB phono pre that lets you preserve your vinyl to a digital medium. I was not interested in doing that but this could be used just as a phono pre until I can scrape up the cashola for a Jolida JD-9 or other phono pre I hear that may trump the Jolida. This would at the very least give me vinyl back in the rig until then.

So, I get home from my trip and hook it all up. Sounded like crap. Farted around with it for about an hour and no matter what I did, it sounded like crap. It had a ground hum, the bass was non existent, crackling right and left and an overall sound that made BOSE sound like the cream of the crop. I just lost interest, figuring that this particular phono pre just wasn't compatible with my rig and left it alone for months.

Fast forward to today. I was on the phone with Jerry and I mentioned to him what went down. After a short conversation, I decided to give it another whirl. Came home, hooked the TT back up, adjusted the tonearm and went to play an album. Same thing. So, I tried to actually give a rat's ass this time and I started troubleshooting. It turned out to be a compromised IC. After repairing the IC, I tried once again and this time it sounded WONDERFUL!

Been listening to vinyl ever since. It's great to be back! Listening to a 180g version of Donald Fagan's "Morph the Cat" as I type this. Best part about today is that I just doubled my music library again. I have 5 boxes of LP's I have been collecting over the years, many of which I have not even heard yet.

Tom.

That's good news, I think vinyl rules.

If you would like to try another Phono Pre, I can bring down my AudioMat 1 Phono stage. It has both MC & MM

Brian

While that would be great, I will not be bringing my rig this year. Part of my criteria for auditioning vinyl pre's is actually trying them out in my rig, so that I know exactly what the end result will be. If we can work something out, that would be fantastic but if this can not happen, no worries.

Just out of curiosity, is it a tubed pre?

Congratulations!!!!

While that would be great, I will not be bringing my rig this year. Part of my criteria for auditioning vinyl pre's is actually trying them out in my rig, so that I know exactly what the end result will be. If we can work something out, that would be fantastic but if this can not happen, no worries.

Just out of curiosity, is it a tubed pre?

Sorry Tom, it's not.
It's a $1800.00 ($600.00 used) solid state preamp, that has very tube like sound.

You can try it with my TT with a tubed preamp and a none tube preamp, and make up your mind
then if you want to try it in your rig we can work something out.

Brian

You young'ens are funny! Welcome to the darkside Tom.

That's cool Brian, I look forward to hearing it. I don't necessarily need a tubed pre for the rig, I guess my thought process is leaning more toward one but the options are many and as soon as I hear what it is that I'm looking for, I'll know. I appreciate you doing this for me more than you know. 14 days, baby!!!

Man, I gotta tell you folks that I'm having a blast looking through the boxes of LP's I've had for decades. I must admit that I am going to throw a lot of them out though. Apparently some of them weren't properly handled by my parents and they are not really worthy of even attempting to listen too. That said, the vast majority of them are in shiny pristine condition and so far I have run across many that look to have never even been played.

I'm discovering that I have songs that I absolutely love and always wanted but didn't really know who the singer or band was. One such an example is Christopher Cross' "Think of Laura". Always liked that song and after doing the cleaning ritual, it sounded great this morning.

Also had a pleasant surprise this morning. I opened one of the boxes and found the ol' Radii 8 watt tube amp that I misplaced years back, along with a selection of tubes for it. That was a nice surprise and now I can finally get around to repairing it, years after I "lost it". For those that do not remember that amp, it was the one that powered the Focal 807v bookies I had in Crackbaby. I look forward to getting it back up and running for the garage rig or a simple bedroom setup.

After just looking at two boxes worth of LP's, I see that I have duplicates of many albums. I think I might bring them to Carverfest and offer them as door prizes to those that have an LP setup. The reason I have duplicates is that my Mom had a small collection of albums when she married my stepdad [who had a rather large collection] and they just threw all that they both had into one collection. It is that collection that I am looking through, along with the LP's I have collected over a couple of decades in preparation for when I had a vinyl setup in the rig again.

My absolute favorite album, Little Feat's "Waiting for Columbus" LP is in the condition I expected it to be in. Worn, and I do mean severely. I used to come home as a young teen and play the entire concert from start to finish everyday that ended in "Y". It's still in good condition but the sound is so degraded, that I think the time has come to retire that album and purchase the 200g LP or maybe even the Mo-Fi LP since it's still available. Maybe even both.

I'm getting ready to open box 3 and see what treasures await me in that box, as I listen to Steely Dan's "Pretzel Logic". I didn't even know this album existed until today. The first cut is "Ricky don't lose that number", another song I dig but never got around to purchasing. I don't really recognize any of the other songs on the album but I am looking forward to hearing them.

God, I love this hobby!

I can tell now that I'm going to have an absolute blast with this collection. I plopped in Mick Fleetwood's "Tango in the Night" album and on song 2, I rediscovered a song I haven't heard in a VERY long time....."Seven wonders". I didn't recognize the song title but as soon as the first note hit, I got all excited because I knew I liked the song and I did remember the tune. Same thing happened on the very next song, "Everywhere". Had no clue what the song was but immediately recognized the tune.

One of the main differences I hear between the comparison of digital versus vinyl so far is that the stereo separation and the 3D aspect of the reproduction is quite different. The bass seems to be more organic as well. I love some of the effects that the vinyl offer that you do not hear or experience on the digital formats. Of course, this does not happen throughout every song...all of the time but when it happens, I sit in amazement that songs that I am quite familiar with [and have different digital versions of] can offer so much more in the effect department on vinyl.

Don't doubt it but keep in mind that part of the "wow" effect is simply that it (the vinyl rig) sounds DIFFERENT from what your mind/ears are used to hearing for a given song. Our minds HATE "sameness" and crave "difference". Not saying some recordings don't sound "better" on vinyl than (perhaps some crappy cram job onto digital media) CD (they surely DO), but simply "different" a lot of the time sounds better...at least until it too becomes too familiar and we one day "discover" another format that "wows" us once again..... Conversely, I'm sure that was also part of the "wow" factor when CD's 1st became available. They sounded a lot different than the vinyl versions of the songs we were familiar with and most people went "gaga" for this wonderful "new" sound....then the pendulum started to swing back the other way...

Ed, when CD's first came out I was one of those that admittedly liked the sheer convenience of the medium but I also did not really dig the sound and I had no "wow" factor concerning CD's other than them being convenient and clean. The earlier CD's were ear piercingly bright and shrill. Of course, they lacked the snap, crackle and pops associated with LP's but I do distinctly remember the sound not being all that great. Clean, yes. Great, no. With the progression of the technology, things improved but still lacked the more organic sound of vinyl and always seemed to offer that "digital edge".

The SACD's, XRCD's, HDCD's and the like offered an even greater sound that these ears really dig. Especially that of the SACD. With SACD being the closest overall sound to that of vinyl IMO, that is the clear winner in my book for digital playback but it still doesn't have that warmth that vinyl offers. Of course, they both have their own attributes and deficiencies and I can appreciate both for what they have to offer. Many of the LP's I own are from the age of recordings that weren't considered all that great for overall sound but I do have a few that are pressed to offer the audiophile some well recorded music. It is those that I am making my comparisons too.

The bass may not dig as deep, the top end may not have that sizzle on vinyl but the overall sound on well recorded vinyl I have always preferred. Since I had no "wow" factor to begin with concerning CD's, I really have no "wow" factor going back to vinyl, with the exception of the stereo separation and imaging within certain parts of the playback. I'm sure that the recording and subsequent mixing play a huge roll in this but as I am reintroduced to vinyl, I find myself making the same observations I did decades ago when the CD first hit the marketplace.

For me vinyl has a greater sense of "space" and "air" compared to digital. I enjoy both formats but my preference is vinyl. You may more often get superior dynamics with digital but imo you can't beat vinyl for the overall "you are there experience". Now if you want the best of both worlds (and you pockets are that deep) try a SoundSmith Strain Gauge cartridge (Sound-Smith.com). This cartridge gives you dynamics and detail that is insane and it does all the other wonderful things you expect from vinyl. Audition it if you can.

For me vinyl has a greater sense of "space" and "air" compared to digital.

I can agree with that, based upon past and present observations.

That Soundsmith is something I have not heard of yet, let alone heard. Definitely sparked some interest from me due to the loss of the mass and the KISS philosophy. I'll have to find out where to audition that. Thank you for the information, Snoop! I must admit, though, I do not think my TT is up to snuff for that kind of gear. I only have a Music Hall MMF-5, isolation pads, a Goldring 101Gx cartridge and a custom clamp for the vinyl rig.....but that doesn't mean I can't upgrade somewhere down the audio road. I am very glad I have the Nitty Gritty and the Shark to clean the LP's though. What a tremendous difference in playback capabilities with just that. Just with those two and my cleaning process, I'm experiencing a loss of unwanted snap, crackle and pops by an estimated 90%.

Anything has got to be better than the cheap phono pre I am currently using. The Jolida JD-9 I used in Sparky at last years Carverfest sounded so much better on many aspects. I am still grateful that I at least have vinyl sound again, regardless of what I'm using to get it.

Equipment used with the Strain Gauge can be more important than usual. With the wrong gear you might end up with a bright sound. Peter Ledermann ( the Strain Gauge designer) told me a audio engineer friend of his had designed a tube preamp to run the cartridge. I had seen it at his showroom but didn't hear it. I think the Strain Gauge would really work nice with tubes.

TOM -- you have been giving me advice on LPs. Now I read you were not even playing them?

You even sold me on a steam cleaner.

I am sorta in your boat right now. I am hoping when Gary gets here, he might have a suggestion. The problem is that he will be here such a short time and may want to sleep a little.

I have been using a new item made by AricAudio. I think I have the only one. It is OK, I have no complaints. Last month, got a Carver Tube Pre with no phono. I hooked the Aric into the Carver to use as just a phono amp. I can't get it to make music that way.

Right now I am using a Behringer phono pre I already had and have been looking at every phono amp that hits ebay or Audigon for many weeks. I want one that looks good and sounds good. So far, nothing much has moved me, but I am in no hurry as the Behringer actually fits in OK.

I have moved the Aric to my bedroom, but will have it at CarverFest.