How do you listen to music in the home?

Meltdowner wrote: Thanks for the advice, I'll see how that goes I usually listen through my headphones because my system is almost all the furniture in a quite spacious room (it's that and my couch ), so the sound through the speakers sounds very echoey.

Yes makes sense...big room, hardwood floors, not much furniture..sound can be like you said since there is nothing to absorb.

Again, if you can, a rug or something like that will make the sound a bit warmer, not echoey as you describe.

Or headphones work!! Do you still use the cassette deck?

And here be, dear friends, a money-is-no-object audiophile system for men of means and fine taste from the faraway 1960. The sad thing about this $54K (in 2014 dollars) system is that there was no prog to listen to!

 

Catcher10 wrote: Meltdowner wrote: My humble analog system  Super nice!! Elevate the speakers a little and spread them maybe 1.2m to 1.8m apart to better the soundstage, if you can. You will be amazed at what experimenting with speaker placement will do. Cheers~!

Sound advice. Good to see this forum still active. Happy listening to both you (Jośe) and Sam.

Meltdowner wrote: Dean wrote:  oops, my bad, I naturally assumed you'd have them further apart, I miss-identified the cable. José is correct - they will sound less "chesty" if you raise them off the floor and the stereo image improve if you move them further apart, also tilting them back a little can sometimes make a big difference too. Is there an easy and elegant way of raise them? I don't understand much about those kind of things

Meltdowner wrote: My humble analog system

Edited by Argonaught - October 01 2014 at 19:37

Meltdowner wrote: I never though about that, and it's cool now that I think about it You're right, the cassette deck is from the 80s: my Pionner cassette deck from the same set doesn't work, I'll see if I can figure out the problem one of these days.I have a problem with my turntable though: it makes some disturbing noises and I'm afraid that it might damage my vinyls. I changed the cartridge two months ago and it still makes the noises.

A common problem with cassette decks is the belt will need changing, it will gum up and stretch out too far to operate correctly, just open it up and look for it. That is a cheap easy fix to change the belt.

What noises are your table making? Is it motor noises or noises you hear coming thru the speakers?

Meltdowner wrote: It's sounds like a stone being dragged and it comes from the speakers.EDIT: I solved the problem. I downloaded the service manual and noticed that the tonearm was lower than it should be: the distance between the stylus and the disc should be between 5 to 7 mm and mine was at 4 mm

Ok I was gonna say check out Vinyl Engine website, they have almost all manuals and great information on turntables.

Your tonearm should be parallel to the vinyl, this is your VTA (Vertical Tracking Angle). From there you can make adjustments based on your ears of either tail up or down slightly. Also to adjust for sibilance if that is an issue.....Sssss should sound as natural as possible. Of course a hot recording cannot be adjusted for

Glad you fixed it! Enjoy...

Meltdowner wrote: ^ I got it on Vinyl Engine; I didn't find anywhere else.I'll check the VTA and I didn't know what sibilance was until now, but I don't think a have this problem.By the way, how do I know if a cartridge is compatible with my turntable? Is there a standard reference for the format?

Yes on VE there is a cartridge resonance evaluator under Tools. Input your tonearm effective mass in grams and it will give you a chart where you can find the RF (resonant frequency) your combination falls in.
You need to know the total weight of your cartridge and mounting screws and the dynamic compliance of your cart.

The top row is the total cartridge weight. The left side is the dynamic compliance of the cartridge, which you need to find out from the mfg website or in the VE database.
Cross reference the two and as long as you are in the green you should be good. Better if you are in the middle of the range, keep in mind this is an estimate, but should be close as long as your input data is good.
I have an excel sheet I use also if you tell me the following I can also check it for you.

Effective Arm Mass
Cartridge Mass with screws, washers, nuts
Dynamic Compliance of your cartridge

Or just tell me what make/model of TT and cartridge you have and I can find myself.

[QUOTE=Catcher10]

A common problem with cassette decks is the belt will need changing, it will gum up and stretch out too far to operate correctly, just open it up and look for it. That is a cheap easy fix to change the belt. [QUOTE]



Edited by Argonaught - October 02 2014 at 17:58

Meltdowner wrote: If you don't mind TT: Technics SL-BD20Cartridge: Technics P24 (it's the original, I changed the needle not the cartridge)Thanks

So your SL-BD20 table according to VE has an effective arm mass of 13.5g including cartridge, since it is a P-mount system and also your VTF (tracking force) is fixed at 1.25g, you do not have a counter weight. Your overhang says 15mm but that should also be fixed again since this is a P-mount, but you can verify that. Overhang is the distance from the spindle to the stylus tip, if your arm will move that far.

Cartridge shows a dynamic compliance of 12x10*6 cm/dyne at 100Hz, since it is Japanese cart need to convert to 10Hz to get 21.6 dynamic, as that is what the VE calculator uses.

Those figures give you a 9.3112 resonance frequency, so your combo is good but not surprised since it is all Technics combo. You want to be in the 8Hz to 12Hz range, now this is just an estimate but usually pretty good. The best measurement is with a test record...I would only recommend one if you had a super high end TT/Cart/Arm combo and needed to match for different mfg.

You are in good shape!
Enjoy