CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

MrBlonde83 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 132 Location: Lansford, PA

Clarence · Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 1:42 am Post subject:

Got my Little Bear phono pre-amp last week. I like it, but it's got a low hum... enough to light up a couple of lights on the spectrum analyzer even when a record isn't being played. I thought v2.5 was supposed to eliminate that grounding problem, but it's definitely there. Can't notice it when the record is playing though.

Turns out the distortion I was getting was from my cartridge, not the cheap SS pre-amp. Swapped out the stylus and all is well. Really sounding sweet.

MrBlonde83 · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 132 Location: Lansford, PA

Yeah, My EQ sometimes has a few spikes when a record isn't playing. I don't know if its static electricity from me walking around the room or what. Maybe its the old wiring in the house?

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 2:57 pm Post subject:

Just keep in mind if you're playing 'Whole Lotta Love' by Zep, the part where the guitars and drums kick in after Robert Plant's screaming break, the distortion is on the original master tape, as they were all drunk while recording it. The tape got hit too hard, and saturated. It drove me nuts in high school, then when I finally got the CD, it was still there. Years later I read an interview online where either Page or Plant admitted they were S-faced while recording it. Smile

Clarence · Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 3:11 pm Post subject:

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 4:37 pm Post subject:

'Intentional' part of the song? Yeah, right!

There was a local CD that I picked up years ago, and it has a fraction of a second of a test tone in the hit single. It's a great song, but the edit/cue tone drives me INSANE! Smile

Clarence · Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:09 pm Post subject:

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

Clarence · Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 8:50 pm Post subject:

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Holy smokes, you've only been back into vinyl for 5-6 months and you have over 400 albums. You got it bad, dude. Laughing

Clarence · Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 1:07 am Post subject:

Rolling Stone magazine's Top 500 seems to be a nice collection.

I add the album cover to this list once the LP is on my shelf...
http://loco-photo.com/rs500.htm

But it highlights how much my young collection is missing.

Clarence · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2015 1:56 am Post subject:

I stopped by a record store next to my son's college and found 8 more of the Top 500 in the $2 bins! The shop owner says he just bought 15,000 LPs from a hoarder and needs to move a lot of stock to make room.

And these are all VG+.

#450 Jackson Browne - For Everyman has some heavy cover edge wear/peeling, but the vinyl is minty.
#147 CSNY Deja vu
#338. Big Brother & Holding Company - Cheap Thrills
#71 Simon, Paul - Graceland
#187 Gabriel, Peter - So
#61 Sly and the Family Stone
#158 John, Elton - Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy
#359 John, Elton - Honky Chateau

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

I just spent 3 hours last night listening to vinyl with a friend, it was a good time. He brought over a lot of stuff I don't normally listen to or even know about, including blue grass and some country by Female vocalists. I must admit I enjoyed it, must be getting old Laughing

We also put a CD in the BD player and listened to it ( 2-channel) just to make sure it still sucked Wink

He also brought over his Rega - Fono Mini A2D, which was noticeably inferior to the little Bear , despite costing $25. more. The Bass really hollowed out and it pushed everything forward, so a lot more of an edgy presentation. Those 2 things are almost forgivable, but the sibilant issues it added to vocals was really bad. Vinyl will typically have a little in most systems, but with this phono pre it was spitting out slurred SSSs's's's' like nobody's business.

Just noticed this morning It has a USB out, dam I should have borrowed it for a few days

jask · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 10187 Location: kamloops BC

Nice stuff! I count Graceland as one of the great albums,but those are all excellent. I lucked out on some vinyl today as well

Lynard Skynyrd One more from the road
Santana ( three)
Bad Co. Rough Diamonds
" " burning sky
whitesnake come and get it
Rainbow On Stage
" " Rising
Police Regatta de blanc
Alice Cooper Killer
greatest hits
welcome to my nightmare
love it to death
schools out

and some greg kihn, Eurythmics,Kings, Chris Rea, Graham Parker, Honey drippers

All in MINT MINTY MINT-O -LISHOUS condition, flawless not even fingerprints, most with original plastic , and poly outer album sleeves........ averaged price.... 1.50$ each

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

my biggest problem now is cleaning, all old records need cleaning and i have 2 dozen sitting that I've picked up this year, some are decent while others are filthy.
Put that on my "snow day" list of things to do.

jask · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 10187 Location: kamloops BC

I have a small pile of dirty records that I have been procrastinating for too long about cleaning... keep hoping I can gradually find better replacements....

Here is the ONE TRUE METHOD to clean vinyl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY6uKQmvOro

Wink

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

Clarence · Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2015 9:49 pm Post subject:

draganm · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 8990 Location: Colorado

almost anything from the 70's is good, but there's some good material from the 80's that suffers from the "digital disease". Put on Steve Winwoods Back in the Highlife , and I could tell immediately from the upper-midrange glare that it was a digital master. That and Winwood has "programmed" digital drums into every song. not that they sound bad per se, but they just don't sound like drums and I'm not into "sound effects" when I want to listen to music.

I guess it was just a sign of the times, but a lot of these were recorded on tape so there's hope for a pure analogue remaster at some point.