philodox

Yeah, I wouldn't kick them out of bed anything.

Hey, I like the HE90's, and the HE60's are ok in my book.

Looking forward to hearing what some of you guys think of these when they start rolling in. If things look good, I might get a pair after tax season. Specifically what I'm looking for is transparency, comfort, excellent imaging and a distinctly un-sennheiser-like sound signature.

Hey Nate, just thought I would post here as I don't want to log on to head-fi. I think Jude said somewhere that the connector looks like a lemo and that all the rep told him is that it is an easily sourced connector that any cable manufacturer should be able to get their hands on. As for the HD800... I'm undecided as to whether it looks horrid or ok. Would really have to see them in person. They just remind me too much of headphones that I dislike right now.

Oh, I am, never fear. Might have to swap vinyl in the next christmas exchange. Well, according to most of the people in the portable forum on head-fi... yes. Thanks buddy. It sounds pretty good to me, but I've got a long way to go I'm sure.

Just finished: Right now: It's my first time hearing neko case, but it is going over pretty well so far.

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.

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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