Frequently asked questions about turntables and vinyl, belt-drive vs direct-drive, cartridges, headshells, alignment and more.
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 […]
Should I play my records on radiograms and stereograms? Read More »
Yes, it’s a critically important part of the chain, just as important as the turntable itself. Cartridges are transducers, like microphones, headphones and speakers and you probably already know just how much each of these contribute to the sound you hear. In the case of cartridges, these tiny little transducers do incredible work, converting groove
Does a cartridge really affect the sound of a turntable? Read More »
No! Never buy or use Crosleys or other cheap plastic record players if you care about your records and how they sound. Cheap plastic turntables like Crosleys destroy vinyl due to their crude engineering and super-low-quality cartridge. The gems in these cheap styli – diamond or sometimes sapphire, have terrible profiles, are often poorly polished
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
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
Ah yes, the record store guy, who paradoxically often knows very little about record players! Record store guys know more about records and less about turntables. This isn’t a judgement BTW, just an observation. There are excellent belt-drive and direct-drive turntables, it’s not the drive method alone that determines system performance. Unfortunately, most people aren’t
But the record store guy says belt-drives are better! Read More »
No, not at all. I dislike overpriced, underperforming turntables. Most of them are newer belt-drive decks. There are many amazing belt-drive turntables and one of my two reference decks 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 use or own the PD-350
