Author Topic: An Afternoon At The Crack House  (Read 280474 times)

jsaliga

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #120 on: April 20, 2011, 07:39:08 AM »
I took a few chances recently and bought some records on eBay from sellers that I didn't know.

These Wagner opera sets are are completely worn out.  The vinyl is dull and has no luster whatsoever, and all the records in the London set have so many spindle marks that parts of the labels are worn off.  These records belong in a landfill; not on a turntable.  I get the impression that the seller owned them for years and played them until they were no longer listenable, and then sold them on eBay.  I'm going to send a note to the seller today and give him hell.




But this 78 shellac set of Beethoven's 5th by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra was a big win.  This set was issued on 4 12" 78 rpm records (10" records were far more common in the 78 era).  How does it sound?  In a word...excellent.  This recording has been reissued on vinyl several times.  I have a number of them and none sound as good as these 78s.  This set is easily worth the $20 I paid for it.



--Jerome

Offline richidoo

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #121 on: April 20, 2011, 09:25:28 AM »
Wow, not bad catch for $20. Do you use a mono stylus for the old records?

jsaliga

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #122 on: April 20, 2011, 09:47:05 AM »
I use a dedicated Miracord Elac 50H German-made turntable and 78 stylus mounted on a Stanton cartridge.  

All 78 rpm records are monophonic and have much wider grooves than microgroove vinyl.  You need to use a stylus made for 78 rpm playback.  Some music was recorded and mastered in stereo beginning in 1954, but did not show up on consumer media until about 1957.  By that time we were well into the vinyl era and 78s were on their way out.

--Jerome
« Last Edit: April 20, 2011, 09:58:22 AM by jsaliga »

Offline tmazz

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #123 on: April 20, 2011, 12:28:42 PM »
That Toscanini must sound sweet. He was such a great conductor. It is really a shame that he passed away just before the golden age of classical recordings started. What I ouldn't give for some London Blue Back or RCA Living stereo recordings of Toscanini's work.  :drool:
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Offline richidoo

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #124 on: April 20, 2011, 12:49:35 PM »
Hence the old flippable stylus for LP and 78s.

jsaliga

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #125 on: April 20, 2011, 01:07:20 PM »
Hence the old flippable stylus for LP and 78s.

Never seen one of those. Were they primarily sold in the 50s and 60s?  I bought my first turntable in 1974 and very few decks on the market back then even supported 78 rpm.  My Sansui didn't, nor did the Kenwood and Technics that followed it.

eleazar

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #126 on: April 20, 2011, 01:48:35 PM »
Hence the old flippable stylus for LP and 78s.

Never seen one of those. Were they primarily sold in the 50s and 60s?  I bought my first turntable in 1974 and very few decks on the market back then even supported 78 rpm.  My Sansui didn't, nor did the Kenwood and Technics that followed it.

Yes my first TT had it that's if you could call it a TT. A hand me down from my dad. You know the kind drop down TT
swing out speakers and a spindle for stacking LP's. My next TT was a semi auto Hitachi.......Bill

Offline richidoo

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #127 on: April 20, 2011, 02:25:02 PM »
I guess you would call them "record players"   :rofl:



Two styli per cantilever, one on each side. Flip the lever to get the other stylus. One is for 78s and one is for LP. 

Offline etcarroll

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #128 on: April 20, 2011, 03:50:12 PM »
Yup - had it. :roll:

I guess you would call them "record players"   :rofl:



Two styli per cantilever, one on each side. Flip the lever to get the other stylus. One is for 78s and one is for LP. 
"...if you want to enjoy your gear, don't listen to anything that might be better."

jsaliga

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #129 on: April 20, 2011, 05:43:09 PM »
Did both styli track at the same VTF?  Or did you adjust it whenever you switched?  78s generally require a much higher VTF than vinyl.  My 78 setup tracks at 4.5g and my vinyl rig at 2.2g.  If I tried to adjust the 78 down to 2.2 it would not track at that VTF...the stylus would skip right across the record.

--Jerome

Offline tmazz

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #130 on: April 20, 2011, 08:20:22 PM »
You know the kind drop down TT swing out speakers and a spindle for stacking LP's. My next TT was a semi auto Hitachi.......Bill

I had one of those too. Made by RCA.

Found pics of the exact model on Google

Opened

Closed

Although I didn't have the stand.
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Offline tmazz

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #131 on: April 20, 2011, 08:28:20 PM »
Did both styli track at the same VTF?  Or did you adjust it whenever you switched?  78s generally require a much higher VTF than vinyl.  My 78 setup tracks at 4.5g and my vinyl rig at 2.2g.  If I tried to adjust the 78 down to 2.2 it would not track at that VTF...the stylus would skip right across the record.

--Jerome

The arms of that vintage didn't have any adjustments on them at all as far as I remember.

Just a plastic arm and if you had to replace the Cartridge you got the matching one from the factory. Of course given the materials they used back then the stylus (they called them needles back them) needed replacement quite often, but it was user replaceable and available at most electronics shops.



I don't even want to think about what the tracking weight was (I'm sure it was n excess of even the  4.5g you are using. And whenever you have trouble tracking a record (usually due to scratches) the common fix was to balance a quarter on top of the headshell (and carve your initials into the vinyl  :duh)
Remember, it's all about the music........

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• Sunfire True SW Super Jr (2)
• McIntosh MC 275
• ARC SP-9
• VPI HW-19 Mk IV/SDS/SME IV/Soundsmith Carmen Mk II ES
• Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 DAC/Rasp Pi Roon Endpoint
• DigiBuss/TWL PC&USB/MIT Cables

Offline tmazz

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #132 on: April 20, 2011, 08:49:30 PM »
OK guys, things are back to normal at the Crack House and all is right with the world.  8)

I don't know who was there over the weekend pricing out the records individually, but for whatever reason they are back the single 69 cent price for all LPs.  :yay2:

Stopped in today and found5 really nice condition Shaded Dogs and oh, by the way they were running a one sate storewide 50% off sale so I got them for only 35 cents each :beer:

What can I say, some days you're the statue and some days you're the pigeon.  :rofl:
Remember, it's all about the music........

• Nola Boxers
• Sunfire True SW Super Jr (2)
• McIntosh MC 275
• ARC SP-9
• VPI HW-19 Mk IV/SDS/SME IV/Soundsmith Carmen Mk II ES
• Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 DAC/Rasp Pi Roon Endpoint
• DigiBuss/TWL PC&USB/MIT Cables

eleazar

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #133 on: April 21, 2011, 03:49:23 AM »
Did both styli track at the same VTF?  Or did you adjust it whenever you switched?  78s generally require a much higher VTF than vinyl.  My 78 setup tracks at 4.5g and my vinyl rig at 2.2g.  If I tried to adjust the 78 down to 2.2 it would not track at that VTF...the stylus would skip right across the record.

--Jerome

The arms of that vintage didn't have any adjustments on them at all as far as I remember.

Just a plastic arm and if you had to replace the Cartridge you got the matching one from the factory. Of course given the materials they used back then the stylus (they called them needles back them) needed replacement quite often, but it was user replaceable and available at most electronics shops.



I don't even want to think about what the tracking weight was (I'm sure it was n excess of even the  4.5g you are using. And whenever you have trouble tracking a record (usually due to scratches) the common fix was to balance a quarter on top of the headshell (and carve your initials into the vinyl  :duh)

I did the quarter thing many times  :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

jsaliga

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Re: An Afternoon At The Crack House
« Reply #134 on: April 21, 2011, 04:19:31 AM »
I don't even want to think about what the tracking weight was (I'm sure it was n excess of even the  4.5g you are using. And whenever you have trouble tracking a record (usually due to scratches) the common fix was to balance a quarter on top of the headshell (and carve your initials into the vinyl  :duh)

Now that you mention it I remember that too, and we would start with a dime, then a penny, nickle, and finally a quarter.  Thank god we never needed to use a half-dollar.

--Jerome