Post your turntable setup...can't get enough of those spinners!

I hope someone else develops a product as good or better than these, because paying around $800 for products from a defunct company, without support or a warranty, is more than I can swallow.

 

He's actually still doing warranty and support, just no more sales.

 

Oh you just had to tell me that. Damn it people!

Is the Roadrunner a necessary addition, or is the Falcon sufficient on its own? Also what's the deal with this 120v direct model?

Edit: No, nevermind. I'm holding fast and not buying more stuff!

 

Not sure of the validity of some of these statements, but figured some of you guys may find this comparison/explanation of the different VPI PSUs interesting: http://www.turntablepsu.com/vpi.html

They have a page on the Pheonix products as well if anyone is curious about specs or circuit descriptions

 

@Wfojas and @JK47 - Thanks for the info you on how you've setup the Tach.

In light of the fact that these aren't manufactured anymore, I'll probably go down a different path (I have a strong aversion to buying discontinued products/OOB manufacturers, especially at elevated prices), but I do appreciate you taking the time to share the details! I hadn't realized Phoenix Engineering had shut-up shop!

Perhaps I'll have to put something together myself.

 

The SDS is still a great match for the VPIs.

 

I told you about the drugs, right? Actually, a standard belt driven table should be fine, though the roadrunner might make you curious. A rim driven one is a whole other boatload of issues (table suspension compliance, belt surface consistency, etc.).

 

How he doing it? Just curious as I may need it, at some point.

 

At this point drugs would be cheaper!

 

You shouldn't be too concerned, @Merrick . You are not going to be making any more purchases for a while, remember?

(Just kidding, I know how it can be in this hobby.)

 

I see something and I think "That's a good deal!" And then I justify it. I am now stopping to remind myself that what I already have is great. I'm not making any more gear purchases until I have saved up enough to afford a great tube power amp.

 

I fully understand how that works. (I think we all understand.)

Edit: I have had more urges in the LP buying department, myself.

 

Though if you don't have an SDS yet, you may want to think of an Eagle or Falcon before the tube power amp.

 

You don't think the amp would have a bigger impact on the sound?

 

So. You have enough vinyl.

 

I never have enough vinyl but aside from a few things that were ordered last year but won't be delivered till this year I'm planning on cutting way back on growing my collection this year.

 

That sounds like a really fantastic combo! That and it's hard to go wrong with In Rainbows, perhaps the best sounding Radiohead album of them all.

 

Especially if you have the 45 RPM version!

 

Albums ... as they used to be constructed, often told a story or, at least, followed a coherent, musical, progression. Sometimes temporal. Sometimes tonal. Sometimes rhythmic. But a progression nonetheless ... and one that, unless allowed to play out fully, detracted from the individual pieces/tracks. This sort of construct is naturally suited to the nature of analog, mechanical, replay ... i.e. sit on your arse for 15-24 minutes and just listen!

As for my ATT100 sets ... the ones I'm referring to are the all-time top-100 for the various, major, music magazines. So their content is driven by their selections. That's not to say that my personal ATT100 would marry up with any one of them, but theres a surprising degree of overlap. I'd have to think very long, and hard, about what my own top 100 albums of all time was.

But getting back into vinyl had me starting with re-acquiring copies of Rolling Stone's ATT100, which is in the spoiler below.

Spoiler: Rolling Stone - All Time Top 100 Albums

1. Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles)
2. Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys)
3. Revolver (The Beatles)
4. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan)
5. Rubber Soul (The Beatles)
6. What's Going On (Marvin Gaye)
7. Exile on Main St. (The Rolling Stones)
8. London Calling (The Clash)
9. Blonde on Blonde (Bob Dylan)
10. The Beatles (White Album) (The Beatles)
11. Sun Sessions (Elvis)
12. Kind of Blue (Miles Davis)
13. The Velvet Underground & Nico (Velvet Underground)
14. Abbey Road (The Beatles)
15. Are You Experienced? (Jimi Hendrix)
16. Blood on the Tracks (Bob Dylan)
17. Nevermind (Nirvana)
18. Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen)
19. Astral Weeks (Van Morrison)
20. Thriller (Michael Jackson)
21. Chuck Berry: Great Twenty Eight (Chuck Berry)
22. Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings (Rober Johnson)
23. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon)
24. Innervisions (Stevie Wonder)
25. James Brown Live at the Apollo (James Brown)
26. Rumours (Fleetwood Mac)
27. The Joshua Tree (U2)
28. Who's Next (The Who)
29. Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin)
30. Blue (Joni Mitchell)
31. Bringing It All Back Home (Bob Dylan)
32. Let It Bleed (Rolling Stones)
33. Ramones (Ramones)
34. Music from Big Pink (The Band)
35. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (David Bowie)
36. Tapestry (Carole King)
37. Hotel California (Eagles)
38. Muddy Waters Anthology (Muddy Waters)
39. Please Please Me (The Beatles)
40. Forever Changes (Love)
41. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (Sex Pistols)
42. The Doors (The Doors)
43. Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
44. Horses (Patti Smith)
45. The Band (The Band)
46. Bob Marley (Legend) (Bob Marley)
47. A Love Supreme (John Coltrane)
48. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Public Enemy)
49. The Allman Brothers: At Fillmore East (The Allman Brothers)
50. Here Little Richard (Little Richard)
51. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel)
52. Al Green's Greatest Hits (Al Green)
53. Meet The Beatles! (The Beatles)
54. The Birth Of The Sound: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (Ray Charles)
55. Electric Ladyland (Jimi Hendrix)
56. Elvis Presley (Elvis)
57. Songs in the Key of Life (Stevie Wonder)
58. Beggars Banquet- The Rolling Stones (The Rolling Stones)
59. Chronicle Vol. 1- Creedence Clearwater Revival (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
60. Captain Beefheart: Trout Mask Replica (Captain Beefheart)
61. Greatest Hits- Sly and the Family Stone (Sly and the Family Stone)
62. Appetite for Destruction (Guns n Roses)
63. Achtung Baby (U2)
64. Sticky Fingers (The Rolling Stones)
65. Back To Mono (1958-1969)- Phil Spector (Phil Spector)
66. Moondance (Van Morrison)
67. Kid A (Radiohead)
68. Off the Wall (Michael Jackson)
69. Led Zeppelin 4 (Led Zeppelin)
70. The Stranger (Billy Joel)
71. Graceland (Paul Simon)
72. Superfly (Curtis Mayfield)
73. Physical Graffiti (Sly and the Family Stone)
74. After the Gold Rush (Neil Young)
75. Star Time (James Brown)
76. Purple Rain (Prince)
77. Back in Black (ACDC)
78. Otis Blue (Otis Redding)
79. Led Zeppelin II (Led Zeppelin)
80. Imagine (John Lennon)
81. The Clash (The Clash)
82. Harvest (Neil Young)
83. Axis: Bold as Love (Jimi Hendrix)
84. I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You (Aretha Franklin)
85. Lady Soul (Aretha Franklin)
86. Born in the U.S.A. (Bruce Springsteen)
87. The Wall (Pink Floyd)
88. At Folsom Prison (Johnny Cash)
89. Dusty in Memphis (Dusty Springfield)
90. Talking Book (Stevie Wonder)
91. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
92. Buddy Holly 20 Greatest Hits (Buddy Holly)
93. Sign of the Times (Prince)
94. Hank Williams 40 Greatest Hits (Hank Williams)
95. Bitches Brew (Miles Davis)
96. Tommy (The Who)
97. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (Bob Dylan)
98. This Year's Model (Elvis Costello)
99. There's a Riot Goin On (Sly and the Family Stone)
100. Odyssey and Oracle (The Zombies)

Finding some of that on vinyl was challenging ... even though I had the vast majority of it already in the collection I'm in the process of, partially, moving over from the UK. One trick that proved useful, and is probably old-hat to other serious vinyl junkies, is doing mix-and-match for Discogs (etc.) sales. In other words ... it's often much easier, and a hell of a lot cheaper, to make two purchases of the same album to get both cover and disc in VG+ to mint, than it is to buy one unit that is both.

Rather than spending $80 for a mint cover and mint disc ... I spent $6 for a copy where the cover was mint and the disc was only good and another $12 for a second copy with a ragged cover and a mint disc (which really was mint). That yields two copies, one of which adds character to my office wall on the basis of it's disheveled cover and unlistenable disc, and one that is a delight to play and look at, for $62 less than a single purchase ...