Comments on: Vinyl vs. CD: listening test 1 (Miles Davis’ “Eighty-One”)

By: The Future of Music event to be held at Tampa’s Audio Vision’s South | Tampa Calling

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:55:11 +0000

[...] gathering will give music lovers a bunch of useful tips on gear, vinyl, accessories and more, and focus on how to maximize your music experience: AVS invites you to bring [...]

By: 3db

3db — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:31:03 +0000

Hi
The comparison was abit unfair as you picked an entry level turntable against a solid midlevel cd player. You’ll need to up the anty on both cartdridge and turntable, in around the $600 range to make it more fair. Your suspicions did proove you right.

As for the hum, I beleive its simply a ground loop problem. Make sure you turntable is grounded and that all your electrcity is sourced from the same wall outlet/circuit. I have a steel platter on my last 2 turntables and never had an issue with audable hum.

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:08:15 +0000

Eric:

Your low level hum at higher volume is probably due to acoustical feedback filtering back into the tone arm. You can try a couple of things to fix this. You can leave the dust cover up (or take it off completely which is not very convenient on the Pro-ject) which may reduce this. You can also look to relocate your speakers away from your components to reduce the vibration being picked up and/or away from the wall. Speaker stands with points could also be a good investment if you don’t already have these. I have a Pro-ject as well although it has a decoupled/suspended platter and tone arm that helps reduce this issue although I sometimes fight the same battle due to the way my hi-fi is set up.

If all else fails ask Scott or go back to George at AVS as I’m sure he has suggestions, too. Speaking of, way to go for supporting Audio Visions South, the only place in Tampa to buy decent hi-fi from caring and knowldegable folks. Long live analog sound.

Cheers

By: Joran Slane

Joran Slane — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:41:40 +0000

The hum is most likely due to that steel plate underneath your turntable and probably won’t go away without some serious rewiring. I acquired an old Quanta 400 Belt Drive not too long ago. Same problem.

A google search explained a lot of it for me. Because of all the variables and moving parts, vinyl will sound different using different platters, needles, stylus’s etc., and will always be the preference of hobbyists, audiophiles and people who can afford to invest in modular pieces (not to mention sit at home and listen to records).

I think an interesting (third) entry in your comparison would be the “Hi-res MP3 through a tube-powered receiver” method which is gaining in popularity and I think will rival them both, providing the clarity of digital and the warmth of analog.

But, alas, there are a couple more pieces of equipment you’d have to buy!