Phonograph needles (Page 2): Sure wish I still had our Victrola. :sm03:...

raymondh Loc: Walker, MI

Longshadow wrote:

DEtAILS

NOW we're all talking the same language.....
Maybe.

(Our 78 needles for the crank Victrola are steel of some sort.)

Sure wish I still had our Victrola.

kerry12 Loc: Harrisburg, Pa.

melismus wrote:

How many remember when phonographs had needles that needed to be replaced every few weeks?

bnsf

Remember when you could purchase a box full of phonograph needles for under a $1.00 and they would fit in a children's 45 RPM record player and last a long time. Then there where the diamond needles that would fit into a cartridge of some RCA Stereos and would cost around $20.00 for the cartridge and needle combos? My Techniques turntable was purchased in the late 1970's and it had a speed control to adjust the speed of the table from 331/3, 45 and even 78's. Finally, after 50 years the drive belt broke and to my surprise found a replacement for under $20.00 and listened to my favorite album of the time "It's a Beautiful" by Beautiful Day. I will never get rid of this album. Try to find it at vinyl record store. Good Luck!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Canisdirus wrote:

I have tried to get back into vinyl...but the modern digital gear has simply gone past it all.
I can now hear...everything...no compression.

Vinyl is still wonderful...but...limited.

If the D-A converters are excellent, there's probably little discernible difference (for the majority of people).
The difference is more evident with poor D-A converters.

Canisdirus

Longshadow wrote:

If the D-A converters are excellent, there's probably little discernible difference (for the majority of people).
The difference is more evident with poor D-A converters.

Not anymore...the recordings today are offering far higher resolution than anything vinyl does.
Vinyl recording signals are compressed by the engineers during the recordings...they have to...else the needle will jump out of the groove....physics limitations of the hardware. Vinyl also limits musical choices when recording...bass tracks near the edge of the record...higher freq songs toward the center...all kinds of limitations.

Digital doesn't have any of that...and the sound reproduction is better...more dynamic...more range.

Vinyl is still great...there is a nostalgia to it....but it's been bested sonically.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Canisdirus wrote:

...
...
Vinyl is still great...there is a nostalgia to it....but it's been bested sonically.

Obviously using excellent A-D converters in creation if the digital copy.
The more samples and larger bit size made during the A-D conversion, the better the resultant sound quality, and the resultant file will be larger.

rustfarmer

Maybe a bit off topic, but when making copies of cds, why do they copies fail after 6 months to a year while the originals last better?

gpc

I knew an electrical engineering student who insisted that washing CDs with ArmorAll improves the sound. He didn't accept my argument that it's just ones and zeros.

There's a term for such people, "Golden Ears." They can hear what we, mere mortals, can't.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

rustfarmer wrote:

Maybe a bit off topic, but when making copies of cds, why do they copies fail after 6 months to a year while the originals last better?

There is a difference in the way the disks are produced. Commercially produced CDs are mass-produced by pressing the pattern into the plastic disk, then covering it with a metal film, then covering that with a protective layer of plastic. The ones you burn at home are a disk with an organic material layer covered with a plastic cover. Your disk writer burns the pattern into the organic material with a small laser. Over time, that organic layer degrades, while the commercial disk with the metal film does not degrade nearly as quickly.

There are different grades of disks available for writing. The cheaper ones have a shorter lifetime (generally) and the ones that have the organic layer that degrades more slowly are generally more expensive.

Canisdirus

Longshadow wrote:

Obviously using excellent A-D converters in creation if the digital copy.
The more samples and larger bit size made during the A-D conversion, the better the resultant sound quality, and the resultant file will be larger.

It's beyond that...it's at the recording sessions themselves...not just in playback.
It's been surpassed. Vinyl is still nice to play with...

lbrande

Terkat wrote:

Good morning Melismus, br br I still have (a... (show quote)

I still use my old Technics that I purchased in the late '70's. For cartridges, I use a Grado Ruby, a Stanton 881S, and a Hana Microline Moving Coil Cartridge. None of these are inexpensive, but they reproduce good sounds.

lbrande

gpc wrote:

I knew an electrical engineering student who insisted that washing CDs with ArmorAll improves the sound. He didn't accept my argument that it's just ones and zeros.

There's a term for such people, "Golden Ears." They can hear what we, mere mortals, can't.

I've heard the same arguments for cables for Home Theater and for music reproduction. Hence the reason that some people pay over $10k for their speaker connects.

SteveFranz Loc: Durham, NC

I have an old crank up Columbia Grafanola (ca1915 - with the original bill of sale, $139 with $5 down). It uses steel needles and the instructions say to use a new needle with each record.

gpc

When I was younger I splurged on an expensive (for me) stereo: Yamaha receiver, turntable, cassette drive, and Allison speakers. I claimed its sound was "realistic," but how would I know - I didn't go to concerts.

At my advanced age of 24 Centigrade (oops, I mean Celsius) my hearing has degraded. I'm quite happy now, enjoying music on Pandora, with my Panasonic ear buds and TDK and Polk Bluetooth speakers.

Ollieboy

rustfarmer wrote:

Maybe a bit off topic, but when making copies of cds, why do they copies fail after 6 months to a year while the originals last better?

May be the quality of the blank cd's your using. Some are way better then others.