Note to self.  The final ripping process has been established.  The dust cover issue is dealt with, thanks Scott.  A key part of this has been using the eyeglass cleaner, thanks haresfur.  And away we go ...

Tonight I just figured out a whole new way to play the rips back.  Since I'm just ripping whole albums sides to deal with later, the keeper rip is already pretty damn good, so I'm just playing the wav rip like an LP in Soundforge.  I use Soundforge to do all the ripping so its always open anyway   I open it up in a separate window and the folder the rip is is and drag it over to SF and let it open within the program.  Both sides of an album or just the 'good side' if that's the case, since this is old stuff that was made as an album to be played through as a complete thought by the side or ...

After I got started and had played about 5 or 6 sides, I thought that this is just like actually playing the LP by the side just like on a TT and changing the record or flipping the side.  And there was a pile of records on the floor to put away so to speak afterwards cuz there were so many files and layers of open files.  I guess this is something like opening up an Audacity page for each file and cascading them on the desktop and clicking on the different windows to play a particular side using Audacity as a media player.

I can go to various tracks and cue them up while another track is playing, change the file playing with a mouse click and just hit the space bar to start playing.  Keeper !!!!  Not good for individual songs, but for album sides, he'll yeah and a big duh, who knew it would work like this.  Life just keeps getting better.

So after listening to dsotm for umpteen million times and all the fussing and futzing, I'm good to go.  The new cleaner has been tested, which meant ripping ds again, ugh, but its been rewarding.  Just got back from a 3 hour visit to my new bestest buddy at the shop I stopped by about a month ago and actually gave him some samples to work with and covered a lot of ground.  While I was there some tweaker fell through the front door with an armful of lp's he wanted to try and off.  Nothing that any body was interested in, he moved to the front, and wobbly poked around in the bins for about 5 or so minutes and so left.  About 45 minutes later he was back with a leopard print handbag of 70 or so 45's.  

It was obvious to us that he was in need of something to stop his sniffles and was trying to get some quick cash together.  Said he was cleaning out his sister's or somebody house and found the stuff. ok.  Anyway he plopped the 45's on the counter and Dave, the store owner sifted through a couple of times and ended up wanting 29 of them and offered him $30.  He was kinda disappointed but accepted it.

Dave is street smart.  He said that he needed to go to the ATM that was literally right across the street to get him the money.  He left me, another customer he knew and gonzo in the store and went over to the ATM.  You could actually see him out the front window.  He was back shortly, paid the guy and he was outta there muy rapido.  The guy never saw where the register is and what was in it.  Nicely done.

So we settle down and keep comparing thoughts and stuff about anything vinyl while he proceeded to use the original alcohol based spray to clean the 45's with a microfiber cloth spinning them around in his hand while looking up numbers on Discogs.  All done, clean as a whistle in 45 minutes.  They went from dirty dinner plates to shiny clean.  Effortlessly.  He was impressed.  I was impressed.  Learned that you can use Ajax on old 45's and it won't hurt them.  Showed me the Mr. Clean magic eraser piece that he uses to clean his stylus.  I had recently read about and he has been doing it for quite awhile, checking his needle under the microscope periodically.  Cool, no chemicals, have to get one.   Also learned that he knows my buddy who married me and Patty.  The world got lots smaller again.

So he's gonna give the alcohol free cleaner a spin on his VPI's to see how it works.  I'm impressed, its even better than the original.  It was just launched in May and I finally got my hands on it last week to try and pass out.  All the while, I had brought my unopened copy of Wildflowers and parked it, the quad ds and a 1/2 speed master of WYWH on the counter fishing for prices.  Now we're a couple of hours along and the store was empty and we finally starting talking $'s and how I want him to get my JVC V531 cassette deck working again an how I would be willing to trade my Fisher 404 for his time and parts.  He said he could do that, that way.  Cool.

So finally I got to how much he would be willing to give me after I cracked the shrink wrap on Wildflowers knowing it was sealed prior, clean it and rip it and bring it back.  After some back and forth we came to a good deal for both of us and a fair price on the two Floyd lp's.  Alrighty !

We talked about flea markets and how that he and a couple of other stores were going to get a record fair going in October at the Cleveland Agora for something like $20 a table.  I'm in.  Time to get busy and start cleaning and organizing what I have.  Also I'm thinking that my website better be up and running by then so I can pass out Cd's of my cleaning and restorative powers with before and after cuts of a few songs and my name and website on it.  Have to find out about copyright dangers though.  Not selling them, but we all know that things can get funny if you're not careful even if you give stuff away.

That was my day at the new old record store.  I'm in love with music again.  And the people you might see there are as interesting as ever.



 

 kurtster wrote: 
thx

i'll have a look when time allows

Well we're moving along with this vinyl cleaner project.  The samples of the new alcohol free cleaner just got here a half an hour ago !  This will keep me going and busy cleaning and ripping over the weekend.  So many albums to choose from and never enough time, but hey, it'll be good for the head.

If anyone wants to grab some quality wav rips of two desert island albums, see the link below.  I'll take it down after the Holiday is over. 

 

So I got the converter and its all good now.

Happy, very happy with the way things work and sound.  

Inspired by the Loudness Wars thread and the discussion of dynamic range, it just goes to illustrate that the primary difference between vinyl and Cd's is how they are mastered and little more.  My vinyl rips are so good (to me) that I find little compulsion to do anything to them except manually draw out the pops and clicks on the wav file form and then just listen.  I haven't yet done an A / B with vinyl to Cd yet, but I think I know how its going to work out already with most albums.

So here's two albums to try out for S & G's.  16 / 44.1 wav.   The 1st UK pressing of Disraeli Gears which I sent out to some of you earlier by mail and the 1st UK pressing of DSOTM in quad.  This version of DG is far better than the one mailed out and anyone with a surround system might find the DSOTM very interesting.  Its a different mix to begin with in plain stereo and sounds a little different from the stereo mixes I have heard over the years.  The SQ signal should be intact for processing.  My shibata cartridge is designed for the signal first off and secondly SQ is very similar to Dolby Pro Logic, one of the first surround modes found in early A / V receivers.  So I'd be really curious to find out what if any difference it makes in surround.  Again, nothing done to these rips but removing as many of the pops I could find and see.

clicky here

Please do not reply directly to this post so that I may delete the link.

 haresfur wrote: 
How about jumping a 6volt VW bus with a 12volt car ?  does that count ?

No regulators available.  Gonna switch it on and off.

 DaveInVA wrote: 
Thanks very, very much.  It will stay off until I get one.

 kurtster wrote: 
Check with Dave, but maybe get one with voltage regulation, too.

Probably not a huge deal for that but pro tip: Tape over the outlet with the voltage you aren't going to use. Did you know Kitchen Aide blenders have live stuff inside when the switch is off? Do you know what happens when you plug a 110 V one into the 240 V outlet on the converter/regulator?

ETA: also consider whether you want to leave the converter on continuously or are going to switch it on each time. If I understand correctly, it changes the design.

 kurtster wrote: 
500 watts is massive overkill for a turntable that likely uses about 30 watts. But yes something like that only smaller would work fine. Don't run that on 120 as it will eventually fry the power transformer or regulators and maybe other stuff.

 DaveInVA wrote: 
Yes, its 100vac.  So I'm now thinking a voltage converter, such as this

Any thoughts ?

 kurtster wrote: 
Check the voltage rating on it. Japan uses 100vac. I ran into this before when buying stuff from Japan. Stuff intended for export there usually has a voltage changer fror 100,120,220 etc but most of their stuff for domestic is 100vac.

 DaveInVA wrote: 
define not very long.  I've got 30 days to return it,.

 kurtster wrote: 
Cool. But if its a Japan only model its likely to only run off 100VAC which might not like the 120VAC we have here for very long....

So I asked the wife Sunday night if I could get a new turntable.  She said yes if she could get a new purse.  Deal !!

40 hours later, it arrived from Tokyo.  A 1989 Techniques SL 1200MK3, Japan only model in the box used only in a home.

Its up and running and the sound has gone up another level immediately.  So much that I'm starting all over again with the ripping.  For the last time, this time.  My old SL 1700 was pretty good all in all, but jeez, its a toy compared to this.  So up on the shelf it goes with the spare Dual 504.

Back to ripping and some pics soon.   

 ColdMiser wrote: 
yes it is

and good for you (both)

hike on   ;^)

 miamizsun wrote: 
Thanks to both of you for the kind words, its been a year and sometimes seems like last week. But there is truth to the saying the Grass Grows Greener after the fire. I recently met an amazing woman while pursuing one of my favorite activities, hiking. She had also lost her spouse 18 months ago. So there is once again music in my heart as well as on my turntable. Life IS Good!

 Coaxial wrote: 
me too

sorry to hear this

peace

 ColdMiser wrote: 
So sorry. My condolences.

 ColdMiser wrote: 
Thanks.

Yep, the buckies.  Well, if you know you're gonna do it, then figure out what you need and slowly acquire it and before you know it, you're there.  Sorta how I did it.  I will say that I got really lucky with the AT15ss that I bought.  It was virtually unused as stated.  Worth every penny.  The cart is the most important piece in the chain.  This is what I was going to buy if I couldn't score the AT.  Highly regarded and I have bought stuff from these guys.  The shibata stylus is key.  Won't use anything else.   And don't forget to get one of these overhang gauges.  Best and simplest set up tool, especially for S style tonearms.

Then get a good turntable.  Like I mentioned below, I'm after a Techniques SL 1200.  $300 to $1000 used, but easy to find.  But, they are built like the brick shit house and do not loose their value.  They will pretty much always be worth what you paid for it.  The Audio Technica may look just like it, but its not even close.  Forget the built in USB turntables.  Pretty much toys imo and you're stuck with whatever the onboard DAC is.

Start with this though.  The least expensive piece and very critical.

I recommend the ART USB phono preamp.  More detailed info here.  My work horse for 10 years.  Gonna buy the new one just because, it might be time.  The DAC is 16 bit 41,000 khz which is standard CD.  You can plug anything that has RCA connectors in it and it is bi directional, so you can use it for playback or headphones if you like.  Good to use if your receiver doesn't have a phono input as well.  Bus powered so ground loops don't exist at all.  That is a big problem with turntables to computer hook ups.  I don't know about the software currently offered, but Audacity is great and free. The ART works with virtually any recording software.  So get it and play with it, get familiar with it.

One warning though.  I strongly suggest making a separate user on your computer just for this purpose.  For some reason, it messes with the soundcard in that it can change settings and be very frustrating until you get to know the work arounds and fixes.  The settings changes seem to stay isolated on the one user more often than not.  That's the reason for a separate user.

And go for it.  No different from using your LP as a master for a cassette like back in the day.  Play your rip instead of the vinyl and keep it nice for future uses.

This is great stuff Kurt. I'm also in a vinyl re-discovery phase. For years I had my collection in a closet upstairs being un-used. I got used to the convenience of the CD and thereafter the digital download. Thru some Facebook stuff I stumbled upon a group that LIVES for vinyl and I began to get the yen to get my old turntable out and start spinning some of my lost music. When I did get the turntable out it didn't work anymore and my lazy ways returned. I eventually bought a low budget table and a toy to convert to digital. Alas my low level tech skills didn't get me up and running and frustrated I bagged it for another day. 

Recently after my wife passed and I was cleaning out a hutch/bookcase of the million cookbooks she had I decided to get the old records out of the closet and downstairs where I would be more apt to use them. I bought a cheapo little cabinet to put it on, got the old ADS speakers hooked up to my fairly new TEAC tuner and away we go. I've been re-living my teenage years pulling out stuff that I used to crank out of my bedroom back in the day. For me it's about the music and the discovery of stuff that hasn't been in my ears in DECADES. It's like being re-born.

For now I'm happy with my equipment but definitely plan to layout some hard earned $$$ on something better down the road so I can really get the best out of my listening experience. I may even give my hand a try at another conversion toy so I have more tunes to use in my mixed tape world. If only they would come up with a turntable for the car that doesn't skip