philodox

Yeah, but do you HAVE any of this so called 'lesser gear'? I'm pretty pumped... if I get/make another set of speakers, I'm gonna have around 5 functional rigs at my new place. Scary.

That sounds like a nice and easy fix.

Please invite me to this party. Sounds like a good way to go.

Well, I ordered the 'backup' table. Can't wait to try that new cart out.

LFF I agree, it really helps you get a better idea of how high end the component was considered in its day. Duggeh/Grawk If someone wanted to buy my K340's they would have to shell out a hell of a lot more than $725. [Mine are modded/recabled though in fairness] Remember, that is MSRP, so the price in stores would likely be lower. And I would totally pay it for a brand new [and likely updated] K340. Value is a relative thing. How much does a SR-007 cost? What's the going rate for a used K1000? I don't think either is a bad headphone, but I prefer my K340's overall. I realize there is more than sound signature and fidelity that goes into the price of a headphone though... if only my K340's *looked* like the Omegas and had their quality of construction. As an aside, I actually did pay $350 for my K340's... but they were NIB/NOS. I got my first pair for under $100 though, so it evens out. EDIT: I'd also imagine that the design money spent and cost of manufacturing the K340's was much higher than the costs associated with the K1000.

Some fun with time and money... I realized the other day that I now have a headphone which was last sold in '84, a reciever that was last sold in '74 and a turntable that was last sold in '64. Did some looking around and found the indexes for those years as well as 2008 and figured out what they would have cost me new in todays money. AKG K340 2008/1984 = 2.07 Original MSRP = 350 MSRP today = 724.5 Marantz 2230 2008/1974 = 4.36 Original MSRP = 350 MSRP today = 1526 Garrard Lab 80 2008/1964 = 6.94 Original MSRP = 110 MSRP today = 763.4 That's all in USD as well, so given the current CDN exchange rate, I got some pretty killer deals on my gear.

Cool, I'll check that out. Thanks Steve.

Ah, just a standard level. Thanks for the help guys. So is there any way I can clean my records without a fancy machine? Any recommendations for a good record mat? When I pull the record off the player there is a lot of static I've noticed... and this is after spining it on both sides and using the antistatic brush. Might just be where I have the table now. We'll see if this improves once I've moved it to its permanent location.

I agree. Thanks Steve. You've given me an excellent excuse. As for it being clean... that took a bit of work. Still not completely done there yet, but I've got my isopropyl alcohol and goo gone, so I should be fine. Thanks for the tip on the grease. Well, my Lab 80 is no 401, but it sounds pretty nice to me. We'll definitely need to do a vinyl meet. I have much more space now that I'm moving in with Rachel. Thanks buddy. I know next to nothing about JBL's, but I've been thinking about either building some speakers or buying some speakers from Fab Audio... just because they are Canadian and I've had good experience with them. They are high sensitivity, so I could get into the whole SET thing. Seriously though, I'm happy with my Polks at the moment. My Grado RS-1's sound pretty nice out of the Marantz, but it has so much gain that I don't get much play on the volume knob. Can't wait to try my K340's. As for the 301/401 quest. You just got more competition. Trying not to get sucked in to deep as I am currently quite happy with what I've got, but the 'fancier' Garrards are certainly on my radar. Listening to Portishead's Dummy right now on vinyl. This is something else. Why did I have to get this damn turntable?

I've been keeping my eyes open for thriller, but no luck yet. I owned that record when I was 10 or so. Ok, I really need to get to Rachels. Itching to play some King Crimson.

Haven't got a biggie album yet, but I got some Public Enemy. Where are you at now Jamie? Still out east?

Those 103's seem pretty pricey from what I've seen so far. I've actually been considering buying this: Vintage Garrard Lab 80 Turntable & Empire 880 Cartridge - (eBay.ca item 360118884333 end time 22-Jan-09 21:34:04 EST) It looks like the cabinet is in better shape [no bowed cork], it has the long automatic spindle, and from some quick googling, that empire 880 cart actually has some pretty good vintage audiphile cred. What do you think? Shipping is pricey, but it will basically end up costing me the same as the one I have... and I'll have one to break, er tinker with.

Yeah, I downloaded the manuals from there. The mounting template should come in handy for the work I want to do on the suspension. There are even a couple guys in the forum who have the Lab 80 and like it. Most other 'audiophile' forums I've come across seem to discount it, favoring the more popular and higher end 301 model, but I have found a couple threads here and there where people who have actually heard the thing say some pretty positive things. Either way, it sounds good to me at the moment and that's better than having a big audio penis. At least I think it is. Hmmm. lol @ the Warhol. Actually, we were thinking about wall mounting my plasma at the new place and putting the Marantz and the Garrard on top of the table/cabinet underneath for a little bit of an old meets new aesthetic. If it goes in the office instead though, I think you've got an excellent idea there. EDIT: I nearly got an older Dual, which probably would have been a safer bet, but now that I've heard it I am really glad I went with the Garrard instead. I love the solid walnut cabinet as well. The Dual I was looking at was just veneered.

Yeah, the tonearm made me swoon in the store. It's not solid wood though, being mostly steel I think. I was so surprised by the Marantz at Christmas. I mentioned how I love them off hand to Rachel over 6 months ago. She consulted Renato on the deal though to make sure she wasn't being ripped off though, so I knew it was an audio or computer related gift. In response to the other post: The only thing I was thinking of changing was to possibly remove and completely disable the automatic function, improve the support for the suspension [its warped on one side underneath] and to give the mechanics a clean and lube. I'm not planning on recasing it or bothering with other arms or anything. I actually ran into a lot of good press regarding the 103 on my travels, and it was on my short list. Now its at the top. I'm loving it too, can't listen at the moment though as its at Rachels... I think I'm gonna jet over there in a bit. Got a two albums from a shop at lunch that I haven't heard yet.

.

Thanks buddy. I still need to give it a good clean, but I brought my isoprop and goo-gone from work and will get to it soon. The guys at the shop lubed some of the mechanical workings, but I'm going to give it a more thorough once over after I've digested the service manual. Anyone have any tips on the type of grease I should use? If there are bearings and they look dry, do I use oil? The cartridge that came with it is a Stanton 600. Can't find anything about it online except one offhand reference that seems to say it is the precursor to their audiophile line. There are some '600 series' cartridges I found that are labeled 680 and whatnot, but those seem to be 'club cartridges'. Mine just says Stanton 600 on it. Very confusing.

I have an anti static brush and will hold off on the gauge until I get a new cartridge. Comes with a mat, but I'll probably get a new one at some point, so I'm interested to see if there are any recommendations on those. Is there something wrong with the sleeves that come with the record? Should I clean records that aren't dirty? Is there a 'in the sink' cleaning method that doesn't require any other hardware? WTF is a spirit level?

Made a new thread for my vinyl questions so that I don't clog this one up: http://www.head-case.org/forums/home-source-components/5283-my-new-vinyl-setup.html#post192017

Thought I would start a new thread to ask all my newbie questions and host the pictures.

Ojhins - Ok, sounds like a plan. It's sounding great at the moment, so I'll probably hold off on a new cartridge for a while. Al - That's the way I usually do it, was just worried that they would be blocked by the forum. Good to know about the sizing in flickr though. I resized these all to 800x600 before uploading, but in the future when I take some better pics [had crappy lighting] I'll just upload them and then change the size when posting. Checking out all the little vinyl shops in Toronto has been a blast so far. I've managed to get some pretty good deals too... will take a pic of my meager collection the next time I have the camera out at Rachels place.

The guys at the vintage shop that set it up for me calibrated everything. I don't have anything to measure the force... it does have a cueing function that lowers the arm though, so I assume it stops once it makes contact. Not sure though. Should I be worried? Any way I can tell without a gauge?

Grawk - Cool, I love it. Not sure what Rachel paid for it, but it was completely serviced and cared for inside and out. Works like a charm. I love the wood cabinet as well. Unfortunately my speaker cables are too big, so I can't try it powering the speakers directly yet. It sounds great as a phono and a pre though. ojnihs - Thanks. Haven't been able to find out a heck of a lot about the Garrard Lab 80 yet, but I love the look and it has a pretty unique design. The automatic functions don't work as that requires a longer spindle, but I doubt I would use them anyways. I printed up the manual and all the service info I came across. Comes with a mounting template, so I expect this was used in a lot of the older cabinet systems.

Ok, it looks like all the computer problems I was having were related to my mouse finally biting the dust. Luckily, my wireless keyboard came with a companion mouse, so I'm good to go. Just uploaded everything to Flickr. Lets see how this works out... Vinyl - a set on Flickr ...well, that was pretty easy. Will just link the set for now, but is quoting the actual images possible/easy on most forums? EDIT: Nothing earth shattering compared to the vinyl rigs people have on here, but it sounds way better than it has a right to. I really like the old table and have some mods/maintenance that I am planning on doing. It was last sold in 1964 and was around $100 USD at the time. $7 extra if you want the solid walnut case. [which mine has] EDIT 2: Not sure about the cartridge, a Stanton 600, but perhaps someone on here could recommend something down the line? From what I understand the metal/wood tonearm on it is pretty high mass.

I'm sure that's what the cannibals said and they stopped. Don't get me wrong, I don't think eating a dog is any worse than eating a cow, but I do understand why people find it socially unacceptable.

lol, my ego has always been big. If my head gets any bigger I'll be a circus freak.