Other things being equal, a longer tonearm is always better, with one exception: linear tracking arms.

The reason you want a long conventional arm, or a linear tracker of any length, is to minimise or eliminate tracking error and therefore tracking distortion.

When a tonearm moves across a record, it does so in an arc, because the arm is fixed at a point that becomes the radius for arm motion across the record. Ideally, the tonearm would move in a straight line across the record. That isn’t possible, except in the case of the linear tracking arm, seen on decks like the Technics SL-10 for example.

For conventional arms, the stylus will scribe an arc across the record, the curvature of which is determined by the length of the arm. The longer the arm, the greater the radius, the gentler the arc and the lower the tracking error, and therefore distortion.

This is the single reason why many of the best tonearms are 12 inches long in the old money. Very good arms are usually 10 inches long or close to it, like my Fidelity Research FR-64S, and the standard length is around 9 inches. There are some excellent 9-inch arms, but this is about as short as you want to go before tracking error causes significant tracking distortion.

You’ll occasionally find turntables with short tonearms, mostly sold in department stores. I’ve worked on a few Gold Notes for example with teeny little 8-inch arms. Short arms allow for small turntables, but the compromises are too great and I strongly suggest you avoid anything with a less than 9-inch tonearm.

A great question. Some remasters are better, but often, original pressings are where the gold lies!

The answer varies according to the album and the pressing, due to many technical factors, but remastered records are often worse than excellent, lightly played original pressings, and in my experience, only occasionally better.

A Golden Example

A classic example of a good remaster being beaten by an even better original pressing can be found with one of my favourite records, New Gold Dream, by Simple Minds:

Here are two of my three copies of this great album. The one on the right is a rare gold and purple-coloured first release I purchased new and unopened from Japan. It appears to be nothing special apart from the gorgeous coloured vinyl. It’s a regular thin pressing, but it’s dead flat, very quiet, and from the year the album was recorded, or perhaps 1983, a year later, I’ll check that.

The copy on the left is a recent (a couple of years old) Abbey Road 1/2 speed mastered 180g ultra-hi-fi pressing that I purchased directly from Abbey Road. It is also a beautiful pressing: dead flat, concentric, quiet, and with great dynamics.

Here’s the rub: the original limited gold and purple edition from 40 years ago sounds better. This has been verified by several friends in my reference system and others have found the same. The early, thin pressing is quieter, has better dynamics, more air and detail, and more punch.

Who knew that older things could be bett… Oh, that’s right, I’ve been telling you this for years! 🙂

Age

Here’s what we know about analog recordings made on tape (as almost all analog recordings are): they offer the highest resolution of any medium, but deteriorate over time. The very best versions of the masters, mix-down masters, sub-masters and various analogs that make their way to the record pressing facilities are the ones made as close to when the original analog recordings were made.

What this means for records is that the early ones or those closest to the recording are often the best, all other things being equal. Better still, you want an early pressing from one of the first stampers made from the first mother – the moulds used to create the moulds used to press records. That’s because the moulds deteriorate every time they are used and the original master recording deteriorates from the moment they are made and every time they are played.

Add to this the fact that record plants, equipment, technicians and the people who operate the tape machines were all at their peak years ago, not right now, and the tendency for remasters to be produced too hot and you have a combination that renders modern remasters often disappointing. Don’t just take my word for it though, you can read more about this in many great articles online, like this good primer for example.

The Bottom Line

All that said, if you get the right album, remastered by the right engineer, in the right studio, with really good, intact analog masters as closely as possible to the originals, with good quality, clean vinyl that’s been well pressed, thick and flat, remasters can sometimes sound better than the originals, or at least as good. The problem is, there are not enough like this!

I don’t like either very much, but I generally recommend a good moving magnet cartridge over a cheap moving coil.

If you have say around $500 AUD to spend, and assuming you are chasing a medium compliance cartridge for a typical medium mass tonearm, there are lots of choices. Moving coil cartridges are technically better for a number of reasons. At this low price point, however, (yes, $500 is low for cartridges), moving coils are almost always high-output types and generally don’t sound great. An exception is the venerable Denon DL-103, but it’s not suited to lower-mass arms.

Cheap cartridges with aluminium cantilevers and spherical or elliptical styli don’t sound amazing, no matter the flavour. A nice moving magnet at this price probably has a better diamond and cantilever. It is going to sound warmer, punchier and probably a little easier on the ear, even if it lacks the resolution MC carts provide. There are no surprises here.

The MC Advantage

Much beyond $500, moving magnet cartridges don’t get a lot better because they are technically limited by the mass and therefore the inertia of their moving elements. Low-output moving coils start to come into their own at around the $750 mark. From here, the advantages of moving coils become critically important and this is why most cartridges I recommend from $750 are MC type.

The equally legendary but better Audio Technica AT-OC9, in affordable XEN configuration is available at this price point and crushes most similarly priced MM carts. The catch? You need a really good phono preamp to take advantage of the low output and higher resolution MC carts offer. Your Cambridge Audio 640P and iFi Zen are not going to cut it.

Almost all high-end cartridges are coils and all of my serious carts are or have been moving coils. Listen to any good system and you’ll hear it, but it creates that age-old equipment problem of wanting to spend more and more money! Do not forget or think you can sidestep needing an altogether better playback chain to get the most out of a low-output MC cart.

No Cheap Solutions

A classic rookie error involves listening to a good low-output MC cart on a phono preamp that isn’t good enough to extract the best out of these designs, and then deciding that there is no real difference. You’ll never hear what a good low-output MC cart can do because of the limited resolution of the phono preamp. The best solution is a better preamp and/or high-quality step-up transformer or premium active gain stage like the Accuphase AD-290, in my Accuphase C-290 preamp.

Either a good step-up transformer or an exceptional active gain stage.

Almost nothing does a better job of taking extraordinarily small signals from a moving coil cartridge and amplifying them than a step-up transformer, with maybe one exception, which we will get to.

A Perfect Match

Technically there’s a bit to know, but step-up transformers are great because they are completely passive, require no power and have no electronic or moving parts to degrade sonics or add noise. They match the impedance of the cartridge to the input impedance of the next stage almost perfectly. They can also be chosen to provide a precise level of gain to suit the cartridge and following electronics.

These virtues combine to reveal a level of micro-dynamic detail and resolution you may have thought didn’t exist until auditioning a good step-up transformer in a high-resolution system. When I got my first transformer, a Fidelity Research FRT-3, in 2005, I was amazed.

Moving to an end-game Fidelity Research XF-1 after some very good advice from a friend was the game changer for me, and I’ve used, recommended and supplied many transformers since.

Some of the best phono preamplifiers, such as the Cayin Phono 1 I owned for a while, use transformers for their moving coil gain stages because they offer the best performance and lowest noise for sensible money.

Alternatives

Whilst good step-up transformers are ideal for most people in most cases, there are a few cases where alternatives should be considered. If you have or have access to an ‘S-tier’ all-active phono preamp, it’s worth comparing it to the best transformers.

A couple of years ago I acquired an S-tier Accuphase preamplifier containing a phono preamplifier so good it surpasses my various step-up transformers in terms of performance. Then I sold it and purchased an even better Accuphase preamp and phono preamp combo! Yes, I have a problem, but then don’t most of us?!

Mind you, my current Accuphase preamps cost as much as a car when new and many thousands of dollars even now, some 30 years later. I had to find and import them and there were many risks and costs involved, making this approach just too hard for most people, which I understand.

That’s why in many systems, and for many people, a really good step-up transformer is a great option, especially for those people who already own a good MM phono pre. But, if you can afford an Accuphase C-47 phono preamplifier, or an Accuphase C-280V or C-290 / AD-290 for example, this will be the very best option.

Knowledge

Deep knowledge and hands-on experience with step-up transformers and top-tier active phono preamps is scarce, something of a lost art or one that was never acquired. Most people have never even seen a step-up transformer, let alone owned several of them. How many can say they’ve owned a Luxman C-03, Perreaux SM-2, Cayin Phono 1, Accuphase C-202, C-280V, C-290, AD-290, and Fidelity Research XF-1 L and XF-1M for example?

Retailers are generally only with new gear they are selling, much of which sadly is junk and they know it, they just can’t tell you that, but I can. These days, many discover the almost mythic status of older equipment through sources like Liquid Audio, only to hit their favourite hi-fi store to ask about them and be met with blank stares, or attempts to convince people that new Chinese plastic junk is better!

I consult with customers who wish to utilise our advisory service. The customer who purchased this beautiful Ortofon ST-70 step-up transformer, for example, borrowed one of my transformers before I ordered the ST-70 for him. Likewise, I can offer listening and/or advice on the best active gain stages I’ve used and owned.

Transformer Considerations

The pros:

• Lowest noise when partnered with low-noise MM phono preamp
• Exceptional resolution, micro-dynamic detail retrieval and relaxed presentation
• No parts to wear out, near 100% reliability, forever

The cons:

• Good new transformers are expensive, many of the best transformers are from the 1970s and 1980s
• They require careful matching and are generally only suited to a particular narrow range of cartridge impedance
• Needs a really good MM phono preamp, adding to the cost

Active Phono Preamp Considerations

The pros:

• Potentially the very best performance of all, but only at the real high-end
• The best options have great matching capabilities to suit a range of carts

The cons:

• The most expensive for the level of performance that matches or exceeds good transformers
• Electronics can and do fail, active preamps are not as reliable and will need maintenance
• Affordable (sub $2K) active gain stages tend to sound very ordinary

This is a really good question, variations of which I hear a lot. Let’s look at this in a little more detail, and bear with me as there’s a bit to unpack with this one.

Cartridge alignment is a technical process, but a relatively straightforward one, once you understand it. That said, cartridge alignment, along with tonearm-cartridge matching, are some of the most misunderstood concepts in hi-fi.

Given that alignment is based on math and physics, there’s not a lot of room for opinion, despite the nonsense you may read on this topic. It comes down to understanding geometry and the technical aspects of how to accurately measure and set things up.

I’ve written more about the key parameters involved in cartridge and tonearm set-up, so check that out.

Now, to the most important and yet most misunderstood point:

There is only one factory-correct alignment and that’s one made to factory specifications.

Note: I’m not saying there is only one possible alignment, I’m saying there is only one factory-correct alignment, just like there is only one factory-correct wheel alignment for your car. This concept must be clearly understood, yet an astonishing number of folks including many who really ought to know better, don’t. Why? It’s like anything technical – some concepts are just harder for some to grasp.

Rabbit Holes

Once you enter the world of turntables you can go down one of many rabbit holes. The Dunning-Kruger effect causes people to over-rate their level of understanding of topics they understand very little about, yielding the classic: “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, “You don’t know what you don’t know” and Darwin Awards.

I’m interested in the science of hi-fi because it always yields the best results. One thing you’ll thankfully never hear or read is me saying that I know better than the designers or engineers who created this equipment. You’ll understand why that’s important if you look around a little bit at our approach and results.

Someone, somewhere may think they know better than Technics design engineers, but that’s truly as silly as it sounds. Opinion is the root of many problems, so I’m interested in facts, backed up by experience. As a result, Liquid Audio is trusted by those who value factual information.

Manufacturer-Specified Alignments

Alright, so, what is a factory or manufacturer-specified alignment? It’s an alignment:

• Done exactly as the tonearm/turntable manufacturer recommends
• Made to exact, recommended specifications
• Achieved using a manufacturer-supplied alignment tool, overhang gauge, or protractor, or one that accurately replicates the original design and/or measurement capability.

Factory alignment usually involves setting the correct overhang and cartridge offset at one or two null points. This is most often achieved by setting a stylus tip distance with respect to the headshell-arm junction, which is how Denon, Kenwood, Sony, Technics and almost all manufacturers do it. They achieve this by supplying an overhang specification and/or a paper or plastic gauge or protractor that is unique for the arm.

I use manufacturer-specified alignments and tools wherever possible because the design engineers knew what they were doing and I like to honour those design decisions. In rare cases where the original set-up data and/or tools are not available, I’ll select (or make) an alignment tool appropriate for the job, based on the arm design, its specifications and experience aligning and calibrating thousands of turntables, tonearms and cartridges.

There are folks out there who’ll tell you these manufacturer-supplied specifications are “wrong”. I won’t waste time explaining how stupid this take is.

Confusion

Cartridge alignment involves setting the precise geometric and positional relationship of a cartridge in a tonearm. This ensures correct geometry as the stylus traverses the surface of a record. The stylus describes an arc of a precise radius as it moves, calculated to yield the best (or a particular) total area under the curve distortion result.

The factory-prescribed alignment is designed to generate the lowest distortion at a significant place on the record surface, often an outer track, or the inner grooves where distortion tends to be higher. Change the radius or this arc and/or angle of the cartridge, ie its alignment, not to mention tracking force, anti-skate and VTA, and you will change the result, and how the turntable sounds.

I must mention that most owners shouldn’t be aligning cartridges. This is simply because it’s a technical process that requires some knowledge, tools and experience to complete successfully.

Generic Alignments

When a cartridge is correctly factory aligned, it may appear misaligned when checked with any of the multitudes of cartridge protractors and alignment gauges available. If you align a cartridge with a Shure paper alignment gauge for example, when you check with a factory tool, the alignment will very likely appear wrong.

Why? Because those others are the wrong tools for the job. The simple answer is that each tool delivers a different alignment. Don’t expect five different alignment tools and methods to get you the same alignment because they won’t. None of them may be correct for your deck.

A generic paper gauge “designed for every turntable” (which is technically impossible) cannot render the correct factory-specified alignment for many turntables. Generic tools deliver generic alignments, approximations based on a ‘generic’ tonearm length, unspecified alignment geometry, mounting distance and type of alignment. A factory-supplied template, tool or protractor on the other hand is designed to give the precise alignment specified for your deck/arm.

An example some might better understand would be getting a car wheel alignment done using data from the wrong vehicle. This happened to me years ago when I took my car to a supposed wheel alignment specialist who had no idea what they were doing. My car’s wheels were technically ‘aligned’, just to the specifications for a different model vehicle! idiots!

Generic protractors have a role to play in ‘quick and dirty’ alignments and work well in situations they were designed for, but there is no substitute for the correct factory alignment, tools, or a custom-made gauge specified with factory alignment parameters for your deck.

Multiple Alignment Syndrome

There are three common alignments – Baervald, Lofgren and Stevenson alignments – each yielding measurably different total ‘area under the curve’ distortion. Your arm will likely use one of these alignments. These alignments each sound different, some good, some not so good and random owner and retailer-made alignments can sound bad!

Which alignment is correct in your case? The factory alignment is technically the correct alignment, as the designers intended. It is always best set with a factory gauge, protractor or tool, or a precisely calculated and printed arc-type protractor. Other alignments are possible as we’ve discussed, but in my opinion, it’s preferable to stick with the factory-specified alignment.

Now, it’s technically true that one can improve on some alignments, in certain circumstances, but this is tweaker’s territory. Some alignments (Stevenson) are designed to perform best on 45s and on the inner grooves of 12-inch vinyl, where classical music crescendos often appear. Is it worth deviating beyond factory recommendations for most users though? No.

I’m interested in getting turntables working perfectly for 99% of owners who would also defer to manufacturer recommendations. Of the 1000 or more turntables I’ve worked on over the years, only a handful have been correctly set up, including many brand-new machines. Every turntable that leaves Liquid Audio is perfectly set up, per the manufacturer’s specifications.

Summary

• A cartridge must be correctly aligned for maximum performance
• Correct alignment refers to correct cartridge overhang and offset, azimuth, VTA, tracking force and anti-skate
• The best alignment in most cases is the manufacturer-specified alignment, made with the correct/supplied tools
• You should only change/set cartridge alignment if you understand everything so far, and can accurately assess the current alignment and any changes made to it.

Need Advice?

No problem, check out other FAQs, and reviews for more. For those needing more specific assistance, we offer an advisory service that provides information tailored specifically to you and your equipment. Better still, book your deck in for proper alignment and calibration.

If you appreciate FAQs like this one, you are welcome to shout me a drink using the donate button in the footer.

They do, everything in the signal path and attached to a transducer like a cartridge makes a difference.

Materials and construction improve as one spends more on headshells, wires and mounting hardware. This translates to better detail retrieval and micro-resolution. Naturally, the higher your system resolution, the more noticeable these differences will be, which is why I focus on improving system resolution in consults with customers for example.

Wire

If you are spending decent money on a cartridge, you ought to put it on a decent headshell, with premium wires and have it perfectly, and correctly aligned. Note that these are not the same thing. I’ve found headshell wiring to be especially important and currently use SME silver headshell wires. They are the best I’ve found out of trying various Litz, 99.9999.% pure copper, and other wires.

Silver wire is generally a game changer wherever you use it, but it is costly. Other wires work well too, like Ortofon’s silver wires, Jelco’s Litz wires and some Audio Technica wires. I supply basic sets of wires that work very well, through to high-end wires, whatever you might like to use with your deck.

Headshells

I always suggest using the best headshell you can afford and ensuring that it matches the mass of the tonearm and the range of cart/headshell weight that your arm can support. Headshells are made from a variety of materials, some of them good and some not so good.

Ideally, you want materials that have a high stiffness-to-mass ratio and that can be perfectly accurately machined. This is why various alloys of aluminium and magnesium are commonly used and excellent materials for the job. Wood on the other hand cannot be precisely machined at these dimensions and has a poor stiffness to mass ratio. It is, therefore, a silly material for a headshell, but popular with hipsters.

Want to see what the best headshells are made of? Find some of the best headshells from the golden age of vinyl and see if you find a wooden one…

Fasteners

Fasteners and even the rubber gaskets at the headshell/tonearm interface are important and all of them contribute to the final result. There are two common materials for the fasteners: aluminium alloy and stainless steel. The materials have different densities and so fasteners of the same dimensions will have different masses.

This becomes important when looking at headshell mass and cartridge-tonearm matching. Part of my precision turntable setup process involves assessing the fasteners and replacing them with typoes better-optimised for the turntable and tonearm in question.

Structural Stuff

The general condition of the fixings, arm-headshell interface, turntable feet, miscellaneous screws, fasteners, cable dress, nearby equipment etc all play a part in overall performance, so these things should be considered. Likewise, the record-turntable interface is important which is why I recommend a quality peripheral record clamp, and central collet or mass-style clamps.

Advice

Good advice ties all this together as part of the system as a whole. There is so much pseudoscience and misinformation especially in the turntable space because many are new to it, even some of those working with turntables. Many turntables are hobbled by poor cartridge-tonearm matching, poor headshell, wires and fasteners, and of course poor setup and calibration.

Cartridge-tonearm matching is very important!

In fact, the match is so critical that improperly matched elements can lead to a dangerous condition that can damage vinyl and even potentially break a cartridge.

Without getting too technical, as a cartridge mounted to a radially tracking tonearm moves across the record, playback distortion characteristics change with changing tracking error.

Generally, the highest distortion is found playing the innermost grooves of a record. There will be two points with the lowest distortion, where the radial arc traced by the arm intersects a radius from the centre of the record. On either side of those two points, distortion will rapidly increase.

What you may not know is that certain stylus profiles and cartridge alignments minimise inner groove distortion. In fact, you can ask me to specifically align your cartridge so that it minimises inner groove distortion, though I generally recommend using the manufacturer’s specified alignment in most cases.

Note that linear tracking tonearms don’t suffer from this positionally variable distortion as they don’t trace an arc as they move across the record surface. This is a key benefit of linear tracking arms. It’s also why longer tonearms are preferable. The arc they trace has a greater radius and is, therefore, closer to a straight line, leading to lower variation in distortion across the record.

A number of critical adjustments must be made each time a cartridge is fitted to a tonearm.

These adjustments are vitally important in getting the most out of your records and stylus. Let’s look at them in the order I normally set them, this is a sequence I apply to all turntables that visit the workshop.

Note: most end users and many retailers don’t have the necessary alignment tools or knowledge to correctly set up cartridges. This is not a judgment, merely an observation and something to be considered if you wish to extract the highest possible performance.

Cartridge alignment can be thought of as optimising two sets of parameters: geometry and forces at the stylus tip.

Geometry

The first adjustment is called overhang, which describes the location of the stylus tip with respect to the tonearm mounting point and the spindle. This specification is provided by the tonearm manufacturer and measured, on deck, with either a headshell gauge or an on-platter overhang gauge.

Next is the cartridge offset angle when viewed from above. This is usually specified as correct when the cartridge body, and/or cantilever, are parallel with the headshell’s long axis when the correct overhang has been set.

Azimuth describes the parallel alignment of the cartridge with respect to the record surface when viewed from the front. This is typically measured with a mirror under the stylus, viewed from the front.

Vertical tracking angle or VTA affects the angle of the stylus contact point with respect to the record surface. It can be thought of as approximating the angle between the cantilever and the record surface. It’s usually measured with a VTA gauge and set initially so that the headshell top surface is parallel with the record surface when viewed from the side. This is the starting point and adjustment from there is by ear.

Forces

Lateral balance is a feature offered on some tonearms and should be set at or around this point in the process.

Tracking force, which describes the downforce at the stylus tip. This is typically measured with a digital stylus ‘pressure’ gauge. Note that this isn’t technically a pressure measurement, the common name is incorrect, strictly speaking!

Lastly, anti-skate is a counterforce to the asymmetrical forces that pull the stylus tip toward the centre of the record and place added force on the inner groove wall. It is set to counteract that force as closely as possible.

There is some iteration in the set-up process and I generally go back and check everything again as some adjustments will slightly affect others.

No, a good, well-set-up vinyl playback system should be almost silent and exhibit no audible hum.

This is one of the great revelations about vinyl that folks discover on the typical journey from basic equipment to more aspirational gear. The short version is that, if you haven’t listened to a serious vinyl rig, you need to, if only to have a reference point.

What is Hum?

The term ‘hum’ describes continuous low-frequency tones of a constant frequency or pitch, usually centred around 50/60Hz or 100/120Hz. Hum can be mechanical or electrical in origin and usually indicates a problem in the playback system. Whatever the origin, hum should be tracked down to the source and eliminated or minimised.

Various types of low-frequency noise can be attributable to hum.

Electrical Hum

Bad or missing earths or grounds are a common cause of electrical hum, especially in vinyl playback systems. The high sensitivity and gain of a vinyl playback chain will take tiny ground currents that cause hum and amplify them to the point where they will become an audible problem. Any currents flowing in the ground system will be audible, and so we want to eliminate those ground currents.

By definition, current flows between two points with a different potential or voltage. Ground currents that cause hum flow where two elements in the playback chain reference different grounds and therefore sit at slightly different potentials. Bad cables can play a part here, as some do not have an effective ground linking both ends of the cable structure.

Therefore, the trick to ensure a quiet system is to ensure the turntable/pre-amp/amplifier combination is effectively grounded together and that at least one piece is system ground-referenced. All grounds must be of a low impedance, made using clean, quality wire and connectors.

Mechanical Hum

Mechanical hum can originate from turntable motors and mains transformers. The hum from both sources can often be resolved with the right attention and some new parts, with specific attention paid to damping and isolation.

Cheap phono preamps, cartridges and cables will always be noisier than good ones and active preamps will always be noisier than transformers. An English brand of turntables that shall remain nameless opts not to use a separate headshell/arm ground. These decks are generally always noisier than turntables with better, separated ground arrangements. Equipment type, set-up and installation can all contribute to hum.

Acoustic Feedback

Mechanical vibration from the turntable itself or other equipment can be coupled through a turntable, back into speakers, creating what’s called a positive feedback loop. These loops can occur through shelving for example shared by speakers and turntables, wooden floors and other resonant structures.

In these cases, the hum makes its way to the speakers, which energises the turntable, arm, and record at the hum frequency, which is then fed back into the signal chain and further amplified, creating what we call a positive feedback loop.

Positive feedback loops can very quickly go out of control and destroy speakers and even amplifiers, so if you have a hum that appears to be coupled through your turntable, resolve it or seek expert help immediately!

Rumble

Rumble is another source of low-frequency noise generated by a turntable’s spindle and/or motor bearings. This is typically a broader-spectrum LF noise than hum and may consist of several fundamentals or tones, and their harmonics.

Rumble intensity is generally inversely correlated with turntable price. In other words, the cheaper the turntable, the greater the rumble, and vice versa. This is because cheaper decks have poorer mechanical quality, looser bearing tolerances and greater bearing surface roughness. Consequently, cheap turntables are often rumbly.

More expensive machines have bearings machined to tighter tolerances, better bearing surface finishing, higher quality motors and other parts, heavier chassis, better lubrication, and so on. These elements contribute to lowering the noise floor of better gear, such that it becomes essentially inaudible.

Quiet

In well-set-up vinyl playback systems consisting of quality components, there is no audible hum. The predominant noise in systems like this is groove noise, a residual component of the cutting lathe, the friction between the stylus and the groove itself.

There will also be some phono preamplifier noise in the form of a soft and gentle ‘rushing’ sound that will be inaudible during normal listening. Some white noise is present in all systems, but hum is absent from all good ones.

There’s absolutely no hum in my reference set-up (above) consisting of a Luxman PD-350, Fidelity Research FR-64S, RS-141, Ortofon MC-A90, feeding my Accuphase C-290/AD-290.

Mike, by “no hum” do you mean just a little hum..?

No, I mean no hum – NONE, zero, zip, nada! There will be no low-frequency components in a good vinyl setup.

If you are curious about how quiet a vinyl playback system can be, let me know and if I’m not too busy, you may be able to hear my reference set-up so that you have a sonic baseline from which to make comparisons.

Not if you care about sound quality and preserving your vinyl!

Funky Furniture

Radiograms and stereograms, with few exceptions, are not hi-fi equipment. These are furniture pieces that play music. This was their original design intent, and they work well in this role but don’t expect more of them.

The problems are varied, but generally speaking the turntables in these units range from bad to terrible. They usually use ceramic cartridges that run very high tracking forces and conical stylii that don’t treat records well. This combination causes accelerated record wear and will result in noisy, distorted-sounding records after not very many plays.

The electronics and speakers are designed to fill the room with a warm, ‘easy listening’ sound, typical of AM radio stations of the day. There’s nothing high-resolution about systems like these so you’ll never hear most of what’s on your records. If this is your jam, cool, but if you care about your records, there is still a significant problem.

Vinyl Care

But I play all my records on this and I don’t care!

Owner of the worst one-box unit I’ve ever seen

Someone told me this recently after I reiterated my general advice on this topic, and which he didn’t seem to understand. Not everyone cares, I get that, but thankfully most do!

Almost all record owners should avoid playing precious vinyl on radiograms, stereograms and cheap integrated music systems. If you own precious vinyl or even a modest record collection you care about, get a decent hi-fi turntable with an elliptical stylus, or better. The reduced tracking force and better stylus profile will extend the life of your records and produce far superior sound quality when combined with a decent amplifier and speakers.

Yes, cartridges are a critically important part of the chain, just as important as the turntable itself.

Cartridges are transducers, like microphones, headphones and speakers. You may already realise just how much each of these contributes sonically.

Precision

Cartridges do incredible work, converting minuscule groove modulations, via the stylus and cantilever, into tiny electrical signals, via magnets and wire. These tiny electrical signals must then be amplified in a linear fashion in order not to generate distortion, which is another incredible story.

This work requires a staggering level of precision and materials engineering. That’s why my Ortofon MC-A90 for example is so bloody expensive! You get what you pay for with anything that relies on this level of precision and expensive materials. The cost vs. performance correlation is fairly linear; the more you pay, the better the results and this applies to camera lenses, speakers, musical instruments, and cartridges.

Performance

Cartridges cost anything from $10 to $10,000+ and their performance varies from unlistenably bad record-destroying to sublime! I always recommend people spend as much as they can on a good cartridge as it’s a huge part of the sound of a turntable.

Better cartridges give the added benefits of preserving precious vinyl and longer life. The larger contact area of a Shibata or line-contact diamond exerts lower pressure at the interface between the stylus and vinyl groove. This causes less friction, and therefore less heat and record wear. Quality cartridges/styli provide anywhere from 1000 – 2000 hours useful life, compared to just 200 – 500 hours for a cheapy.

Cheap vinyl playback systems like Crosleys and other department store junk will wear away your records before your eyes! Don’t EVER play your records on something like this if you care about them.

There isn’t one best turntable, just the best one you can afford.

All the really good machines are heavy, for various engineering reasons. Therefore, aim for something solid, well built, preferably costing over $1000AUD new if you want a good first turntable. Alternatively, you’ll get better performance in almost all cases from a second-hand classic turntable from the 1970s and ’80s.

Remember, for many years, vinyl was the highest resolution source that most hi-fi lovers had easy access to. One could argue this still is the case. This is important because the golden age of vinyl and record players was the ’70s and ’80s, so that’s when some of the greatest machines were made.

There is a long-standing myth amongst an admittedly ever smaller cohort these days that belt-drive is a superior drive methodology for turntables. It isn’t.

There’s a bit to know of course, but the TLDR is that the drive method is only one of many factors determining turntable performance. Direct-drive (DD) has many advantages, as does idler-drive, but DD is also more expensive and if you read no further, that’s the end of the story.

Science (Myths vs Facts)

I have a direct-drive washing machine and it’s a much better machine than the belt-drive washer it replaced, but, like a washing machine, a turntable’s performance is the sum of many parts and systems working together, and there are great examples within each drive type.

The notion the belt drive is inherently superior is perpetuated by certain manufacturers who are so ensconced in propagating this myth that they simply cannot now say anything different. The technically uninformed mainstream media and equipment owners swallow this up like gospel, fuelled by a desire to support these manufacturers who pay for spots in these media. All of this, compounded by a general lack of experience on the part of the hi-fi-consuming mainstream leads to the misinformation you’ll often find regurgitated in forums and elsewhere.

One critically important goal of any good turntable is to spin the platter as close to the perfect speed as possible, with as little variation and vibration as possible. Belt-drive offers no inherent advantages in any of these areas and disadvantages in most cases and implementations. It IS cheaper to implement though and this is, without a doubt, why it’s so widely adopted.

The best performers by these metrics are direct-drive turntables. This is science and the data is measurable. That being said, there are exceptional belt-drive and direct-drive turntables. I’m lucky enough to own an end-game example of each and I can confirm that the drive method is not the most important factor to consider.

Costs

Design and manufacturing costs are the overriding reason why you don’t see many new direct-drive machines these days. It’s cheaper to make decent belt-drive turntables and this is why most affordable decks tend to be belt-driven. This suits small manufacturers who can build a belt-drive turntable using readily available, low-cost motors. It also suits the buying public who generally don’t want to spend $20K USD on a turntable, hence the preponderance of good reviews of cheap belt-drive machines.

Direct-drive machines are much more expensive to design and manufacture, but direct-drive has advantages in terms of torque and speed consistency, so where cost is no object, you’ll generally find direct-drive. The performance advantages of direct-drive systems explain why some of the best and most expensive turntables, tape machines and cutting lathes utilise direct-drive. That being said, there are some killer, high-end belt-drive turntables from the golden era and they shouldn’t be discounted.

The bottom line is that you get what you pay for, always. A good turntable, no matter what drive method, is expensive, like all good things.

Apex Use Cases

As I mentioned, most of your records were recorded, mastered and cut on direct-drive tape machines and cutting lathes. Did you know that? Have you thought about why that is? Ponder it for a moment because it vapourises arguments about which drive type is preferable.

People far smarter than you or I choose what’s best in cost-no-object scenarios like record-cutting lathes. It’s their job to pick the best option. Record-cutting lathes are direct-drive for several very good reasons that apply not only to making records but to playing them, as is hopefully obvious.

Superior methods are always used where performance is critical and cost is no option. This explains why many of the great turntables are direct-drive and why those machines are so highly sought after.

Some folks get upset about this, but most of them haven’t owned or even heard a genuinely high-end machine like an L-07D, SP-10/SL-1000 or GT-2000. My perspective, being only interested in what’s best and having worked on and listened to thousands of turntables over the years is simple: show me an excellent turntable and I’ll enjoy it, belt, idler or direct-drive.

My current working reference is a belt-drive Luxman (Micro Seiki) PD-350 and it’s a phenomenal turntable, as you’d expect of something weighing 30kg and costing as much as a motorcycle when new. My best turntable is my direct-drive Kenwood L-07D though.

The Sum of the Parts

As I’ve mentioned in other FAQs, the performance of a piece of equipment is rarely defined by just one part of it. This is certainly true with turntables where the drive method is rarely the defining factor in turntable performance, but merely an element of it.

One must look at all factors, including drive method, chassis construction, platter and tonearm mass and design when evaluating a turntable. Great turntables come in various flavours, belt-drive and direct-drive. You need to choose which aspects of the design and performance matter most, to you!

Ah yes, the record store guy, who paradoxically often knows very little about record players!

With the greatest respect to record store guys, this isn’t a judgement, just an observation based on experience – several of my customers are record store guys, one owns a record store! Nice people, good tastes, but rarely experienced enough with serious equipment to be offering opinions like this. This is true of most of what you’ll read and hear.

There are excellent belt-drive and direct-drive turntables. It’s not the drive method alone or even mostly that determines system performance. Unfortunately, most people aren’t interested in the technical details, nor have they been exposed to the range of equipment necessary to form a valid opinion on this important point.

How many record store guys do you think have listened to an SL-1000, PD-350 or L-07D for example, let alone owned several of these grail machines? Simply put, most people will never hear an end-game turntable and this lack of experience and knowledge lies at the heart of misinformation you’ll often read and hear.

As we always say here at Liquid Audio: knowledge is power. You want the truth? Speak to someone who actually knows what it is!

No, I dislike cheaply made, overpriced, underperforming turntables, 95% of which happen to be belt drives.

There are many amazing belt-drive turntables out there. One of my two reference turntables is a golden-age, end-game Luxman PD-350 (ie Micro Seiki) belt drive turntable. Yes, the other is a direct drive machine, but I wouldn’t own or still be using the PD-350 many years after acquiring it if I didn’t like it, trust me on this!

That being said, the Luxman PD-350 isn’t your regular belt-drive turntable, and this is important. Good belt-drive decks are excellent, but many are ordinary and far surpassed by direct-drive machines. Far too many people have spent far too long reading about hi-fi rather than experiencing it, and as a result, they have no clue about what’s actually good.

I enjoy the honesty and simplicity of older Rega Planar machines. I love decks like the Pioneer PL-514, Technics SL-23 and Kenwood KD-2055, just to name a few. What I don’t like is crappy turntables, no matter how their platters are driven.

This especially extends to modern overpriced underperformers; unfortunately, most of those are belt-driven, many of the famous brands you’d be familiar with…

Ultimately, moving coil, but it depends on how much you have to spend. If your limit is $150, a moving magnet is all you’ve got baby!

That isn’t to say there aren’t some great moving magnet cartridges, especially vintage models. Rather, the best solution – technically – is the moving coil design, because of its reduced moving mass and therefore greater linearity and micro-dynamic accuracy.

Lower mass means lower inertia and therefore better transient response and high-frequency performance. All of that translates to better dynamics, detail, lower distortion and more of that elusive ‘air’. I’ve written quite a bit about this here.

Marketing departments everywhere have tried to convince people that lower-cost moving magnets are “as good” or “nearly as good” as moving coils, but the fact that they even need to try to convince people of this tells you something. They still have these inherent design limitations and speaking from experience, they simply aren’t as good.

Because coils are technically better, manufacturers also tend to spend more on these designs, using better diamonds, more expensive boron or even diamond cantilevers and better coil wire. This means you can spend a ton on a good MC cartridge, but remember that a really good moving magnet cartridge will be better than a cheap moving coil. You get what you pay for.

The caveat here is that because moving coil designs generally have much lower outputs, you need higher quality electronics and even a step-up transformer to get the most from them. People who audition really good MC carts in systems limited by a basic phono preamp might say something like “it didn’t sound that good” or similar.

Don’t expect a really good moving coil cartridge to sound its best on a built-in or cheap external phono preamp. You’ll need a step-up transformer to get the most from a moving coil cartridge.