Ableton Forum

so I just got this yesterday http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/pml/e ... 97292.html. I tried out a couple of vinyl records and it sounded horrendous. I a/b'd them with my ipod plugged directly into the stereo and the mp3 sounded fuller and more dynamic. Pretty much it was the exact opposite of what I thought it was. Now I'm thinking could it be because of the turntable? It was $50 so would the quality of it have to do with the terrible sound?

the quality of the turntable and the CARTRIDGE and also the quality of the vinyl record are what will determine whether or not it sounds good or not. Mint condition vinyl on a nice turntable with a great cartridge which is in good nick should sound very nice.

Some vinyl albums don't have as much as top end or low end as digital formats, in order to cram tracks onto the disc . This is why 12" singles often sound so good, you can increase the bass frequency (which eats up disc time) but not run out of space on the vinyl (typically 20 mins per side or so, given you are usually only putting 1-2 tracks per side). Then again, low bitrate (128 Kbps or less etc) compressed mp3/aac/wma/ogg recordings often have extra shelving of low frequencies and high frequencies to allow the conversion process to focus the bits on the most audible part of the music.

leedsquietman wrote:the quality of the turntable and the CARTRIDGE and also the quality of the vinyl record are what will determine whether or not it sounds good or not. Mint condition vinyl on a nice turntable with a great cartridge which is in good nick should sound very nice.

well the vinyl are brand new so that's not the problem. I was thinking the cartridge too. Would a bad cartridge make the record sound lifeless and have no bass

It can be a factor.

I don't think you can expect a cheap turntable, or one of the new cheapish USB turntables etc, to sound very good, although if you can replace the cartridge with a better one that can help. There's a reason why DJs still stick to old gear like Technics SL1210s etc !

How are you amplifying/playing back the turntable?

duplicate post - pls. delete.

leedsquietman wrote:It can be a factor.

I don't think you can expect a cheap turntable, or one of the new cheapish USB turntables etc, to sound very good, although if you can replace the cartridge with a better one that can help. There's a reason why DJs still stick to old gear like Technics SL1210s etc !

How are you amplifying/playing back the turntable?

I'm just plugging it into the aux input of my stereo

kanuck wrote:

leedsquietman wrote:It can be a factor.

I don't think you can expect a cheap turntable, or one of the new cheapish USB turntables etc, to sound very good, although if you can replace the cartridge with a better one that can help. There's a reason why DJs still stick to old gear like Technics SL1210s etc !

How are you amplifying/playing back the turntable?

I'm just plugging it into the aux input of my stereo

That is the why. Turntables dont usually have internal pre-amplifiers and dont give out line level signal. You need to plug your turntable to the phono/turntable in on your amp.

oh. allso get a new cartridge.

OT: I think djs stick to the SL1210s because they are reliable and have strong motors. I dont think that the spinning mechanism affects the sound unless it has a really sloppy belt drive..

rosti wrote:

kanuck wrote:

leedsquietman wrote:It can be a factor.

I don't think you can expect a cheap turntable, or one of the new cheapish USB turntables etc, to sound very good, although if you can replace the cartridge with a better one that can help. There's a reason why DJs still stick to old gear like Technics SL1210s etc !

How are you amplifying/playing back the turntable?

I'm just plugging it into the aux input of my stereo

That is the why. Turntables dont usually have internal pre-amplifiers and dont give out line level signal. You need to plug your turntable to the phono/turntable in on your amp.

The seller stated that the turntable had a built in preamp.

Oh yea. I didn't click the link

The title of this thread should be:
"Cheap sh*tty turntable sounded worse than ipod."

Be careful playing your vinyl on that piece of junk, you'll destroy it.

twisted-space wrote:The title of this thread should be:
"Cheap sh*tty turntable sounded worse than ipod."

Be careful playing your vinyl on that piece of junk, you'll destroy it.

Absolutely +1, case closed.

Kanuck, get yourself a (used) technics 1210, and I suggest looking into Shure cartridges:
http://www.shure.com/americas/products/phono/index.htm
but there's probably better out there if you look into it, but you almost certainly won't get more than you pay for. so if you see russian brand cartridges for sale on craig's list for $3 ... avoid.

By the way - the reason you need proper amps for turntables is down to the RIAA EQ curve
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIAA_equalization

So, if you end up with a turntable but no suitable amp to plug it into.. keep the RIAA EQ curve in mind until you do get an amp. I've read reports of folks getting decent results by recreating the curve themselves with their software EQ's. Do some googling/forum-searching on that.


All the breast.

kanuck wrote:so I just got this yesterday http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/pml/e ... 97292.html. I tried out a couple of vinyl records and it sounded horrendous. I a/b'd them with my ipod plugged directly into the stereo and the mp3 sounded fuller and more dynamic. Pretty much it was the exact opposite of what I thought it was. Now I'm thinking could it be because of the turntable? It was $50 so would the quality of it have to do with the terrible sound?

As the others said, the cartridge might be crappy. The LP-versions that you have might be crappy (I have an incredibly evil mastered vinyl of a Talking Heads album ...)
Also check your ipod, maybe you have some eq activated there that makes it sound "fuller".

^

Vinyl on a technical level is pretty shoddy. Noisy & distorted, lovely.