OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
So a few years ago (sometime in 2014) I purchased an open box special from Future Shop/Best Buy, which was a DENON DP-200USB belt-driven turntable with USB. Of course being open box, somebody stole the belt off of it and since I don't have many records it sat until recently when I finally got around to getting DENON to send me a replacement belt, which they did for free.
However, hooked up, the player skipped on a brand new Metallica - Master of Puppets LP. It did not skip on the old British import of LOAD that I had however. Upon doing some research on this issue, it appeared that this player is in fact a commodity unit manufactured by a 3rd party and rebranded by DENON and a few others as an entry-level style offering. It lacks configurable auto-skate or counterweighting, which left me with zero upgradability and a bit PO'd at myself for not looking into this before buying it.
Got searching Kijiji and E-Bay and eventually found an Aurex (Toshiba) SR-Q200, which is a direct drive quartz-locking turntable and looked quite appealing, so I drove out and picked it up last night. Put the skipping LP on it and it played perfectly, and also sounded massively better playing both albums, despite just having the stock ancient Aurex cartridge in it (which looks a whole heck of a lot like a Rega 100).
Now, I'm no audiophile or anything, but there is definitely something to be said for the difference between digital and vinyl. The highs, particularly the cymbals, sound noticeably different.
Now, I know you can spend obscene amounts of money on a record player. A buddy of mine has a custom built unit that is one of those. I can't justify that for my listening purposes. So for those of you who listen to records, how many of you are rocking old girls like this one and what is your setup?
However, hooked up, the player skipped on a brand new Metallica - Master of Puppets LP. It did not skip on the old British import of LOAD that I had however. Upon doing some research on this issue, it appeared that this player is in fact a commodity unit manufactured by a 3rd party and rebranded by DENON and a few others as an entry-level style offering. It lacks configurable auto-skate or counterweighting, which left me with zero upgradability and a bit PO'd at myself for not looking into this before buying it.
Got searching Kijiji and E-Bay and eventually found an Aurex (Toshiba) SR-Q200, which is a direct drive quartz-locking turntable and looked quite appealing, so I drove out and picked it up last night. Put the skipping LP on it and it played perfectly, and also sounded massively better playing both albums, despite just having the stock ancient Aurex cartridge in it (which looks a whole heck of a lot like a Rega 100).
Now, I'm no audiophile or anything, but there is definitely something to be said for the difference between digital and vinyl. The highs, particularly the cymbals, sound noticeably different.
Now, I know you can spend obscene amounts of money on a record player. A buddy of mine has a custom built unit that is one of those. I can't justify that for my listening purposes. So for those of you who listen to records, how many of you are rocking old girls like this one and what is your setup?