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THIS IS A HOBBYIST'S
WEBSITE FOR HOBBYISTS
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Sound
Fountain is your site for audio and music, analog and digital reproduction,
audiophile recordings and vintage equipment.
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UPDATED
: AUGUST 29, 2010 - SOUNDFOUNTAIN AT ONLINE DOT NL
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Starting Playing Records
with a Simple Audio Set
Some
people who want to start playing vinyl records get confused
by all sorts of details, technical stuff and contradictory
advice. This stops them from trying and from getting adventurous.
They do not know that playing records is in fact very easy.
It
suffices to add a good second hand $100 turntable with a
quality $50 cartridge to the phono stage of the existing
amplifier. If the amplifier does not have a phono input,
the easiest thing to do is to buy a second hand integrated
amplifier that has phono inputs at least for an MM cartridge.
Simply connect the Tape Out to the Auxiliary (line) input
sockets of the existing amplifier. Or buy a special Phono
Stage with RIAA circuits built in and connect it to the
line stage (AUX). You can upgrade your system in this way.
If you follow the simple and
effective instructions for setting up the turntable/ arm/
cartridge correctly, you can enjoy the analog sound
of many vinyl discs. And if you like it, from there you
can gradually exchange parts of the system in order to improve
the sound reproduction. Only if you want to. That's it.
And then...just enjoy!
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The
Turntable Mat
Record
Storage
Available
owner's and instruction manuals for:
TD124,
TD125/ TD125mk2,
SME 3009/ 3012 pu arms, Technics
SP10mkII, Technics SE-9060 Owners Manual
+ Schematic Diagram, Rabco SL-8E tonearm,
Luxman 2003 Electronic Crossover.
THE
DECCA LONDON RIBBON HIGH FREQUENCY TRANSDUCER
After
DECCA Special Products acquired Stanley Kelly's development
of the Ribbon Horn Loaded Loudspeaker, they made the Decca
London Ribbon tweeter with a larger horn and a lower cut off
frequency and many designers incorporated this extraordinary
tweeter in their top quality loudspeaker systems.
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LOUDSPEAKER
PLACEMENT
Are you planning to buy new loudspeakers?
Do you need a new amplifier? Or cables?
Maybe you just need repositioning your loudspeakers!
READ MORE
>>>
L i n k Page
 
HET POSITIEVE EFFECT VAN LAST RECORD PRESERVATIVE EN STYLAST
About
Copyright:
Linking
& Quoting
Check
WHAT IS COPYRIGHT
Linking
to my site or a specific page is of course appreciated.
Quoting a short paragraph is permitted when at the same time
mentioning the source and possibly adding a link to my specific
page or my web site
If you want to use and publish content of my pages for whatever
purpose, please contact me first.
My pages do generate a lot of
traffic for which additional bandwidth has to be bought.
If you like the advice and it was useful to you?
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Review
of Acoustic Revive
RR 77 Pulse Generator
50
Years Mercury Living Presence:
Wilma
Cozart Fine
is Mercury.
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Thorens
TD-124 Page
A legend
fits into modern times.
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SUBMIT
YOUR DESERT ISLAND DISCS...
Want
to know the technical specifications of cartridges? Go check
the CARTRIDGE
DATA-BASE.
It is a pitty though that no pF (capacitance)
values of the MM cartridges are given to determine the best
match with a specific
(pre-)amplifier.
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THE
REMINGTON SITE STARTS HERE
The
Record Cleaning Page
If you
do not have a professional record cleaning machine you
still can clean records at low cost with the recipe
for making your own cleaning liquid, ideas for record
storage, cover cleaning and repair.
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WHY COLLECTING VINYL?
As
a young kid in 6th grade I spend a holiday with an aunt and uncle
who lived in a small fisher's town. I remember the beach walks
with my cousins and the movies we went to see. But there was more
what I remember.
My uncle was a radio technician. He had made himself a beautiful
tube amplifier with a separate power supply. He had constructed
a turntable driven by a cotton thread and the arm was an Ortofon.
The loudspeaker was also home made: a big reflex enclosure with
a unit made by Philips with a dual cone of paper. The cabinet
had a large square mouth.
When he played a 45 RPM Telefunken record with the title "In
der Bar nebenan" (In the bar next door) on which a pianist
was accompanied by a bass player and a drummer, my mouth fell
open because of the realism in the sound. Just then and there
did I realize that the reproduction was completely something else
than the sound of the radio we had at home. It was a pivotal experience.
My first one.
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Much later similar experiences would follow. For
example when I had bought "Checkmate"
played by
Shelly
Manne and his Men, my first Contemporary Lp.
Or when I heard Jan Endenburg's 3KF loudspeaker systems incorporating
the Ionofane high frequency units and also the versions with the
Decca London Ribbon tweeters, combined with the great Janis
subwoofer. And
of course with his turntable-arm-cartridge setup.
Today many people just collect vinyl because the discs are cheap.
I must admit that I have quite a few records in my collection
which I would not have bought if I had to pay the original price.
Many people
collect records because it is cool to do so. They do not care
about the quality of the reproduction. They will never understand
and enjoy the benefit of analogous sound. There is also a category
of collectors who buy so they can sell. And there is yet another
category who collect because of the performers and the performances.
Another reason for buying is the sound quality of vintage
stereo recordings
and of perfect pressings from the nineteen seventies, and even
digital recordings pressed on lp from the nineteen eighties of
the last century.
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Not everybody falls strictly in just one category. There is mostly
more than one reason for
buying records.
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Calligraphy
by Tsuneo Kobayashi <tsuneokobayashi@hotmail.com>
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But if you had
an enlightening confrontation with a good sound system at a friend's
place, if you were struck by the performance of a good system at
a show or in a shop, then that event could be your pivotal experience
which would make you discover that the high frequency region was
more extending and added to the naturalness of the instruments,
only of course if the recording was not damaged by a bad needle.
And you would also find that definition in the lower and mid region
gave more depth than the CD is able to.
In that case my pages are for you. Here you can find information
which can help you to enjoy the richness of any good analog Lp you
have discovered. The front end should be as perfect as possible:
a good turntable, a good cartridge which is well aligned
and adjusted, a turntable weight or clamp,
and a device or a method for cleaning records.
Enjoy!
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COMPLAINTS
IF ANY....
Very
often we hear from hobbyists, audiophiles and music lovers who have
complaints concerning a malfunctioning product, a bad repair, or the
unwillingness of a manufacturer or importer to take responsibility
for their product. Many people assume that if they pay a lot of money
for a high end product, also the guarantee and the service are provided.
That is however not always the case and the customer is not only disappointed
but he is without the proper functioning product he initially bought
or had serviced. We soon will report those cases when a manufacturer,
dealer or importer gave bad service or no service at all.
The following examples will be published soon:
How a Kiseki Purple Heart Sapphire was sent to Jan Allaerts to be
repaired by him, and when he damaged the cartridge he promised to
replace the coils with his own and would include his best tip, but
after 5 years of delays and promises he just sent back the damaged
cartridge in parts. It was Aalt Jouk van den Hul who refurbished the
cartridge and did the final repair and turned it into a fantastic
sounding cartridge.
Another example is how the importer of Shure needles in the Netherlands
tried to sell an imitation tip for the V15VXMR as being the original.
These stories and more will be published on this page as a warning
always to check carefully when buying a product, to be cautious when
choosing the repairman or shop.
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Poem
of Ecstasy
The
strings lie in a golden bedding,
eyes wide open, tensely awaiting
the moving gestures of the virtuoso.
All
is quiet yet. The scanty light
is mirroring in the black lacquer.
Steps are approaching softly, and
a chord will hesitantly emerge.
It
will resonate a brazen warmth,
and will fill the air with thunder.
It will simply die and go away again.
R.A.B.
Gina
Bachauer playing
Rachmaninoff's Prelude
No. 10, Op. 32.
(Erato STU 70768)
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Important:
Cartridge
and Needle Check. When
was the last time you had the diamond tip of your cartridge checked?
More than 2 years ago?
Then
it is time to have the tip checked by an expert. Or you can
do it yourself if you have a microscope. Some people think that
new needle assemblies are no longer available or that a specific
MC cartridge is no longer in production. There are still over 3000
types of diamond styli available. Just find a dealer or an importer,
or contact the manufacturer directly. Remember: a diamond stylus
will last for 1000 hours of playing time. Quality tips (like van
den Hul's special shaped tip) have a life span of 2000 hours of
playing time.
And remember:
you should always ask for the original replacement stylus which
sounds the best. Only if it is no longer available you have to opt
for a cheaper imitation or change the cartridge for a modern type.
If it is
a Moving Coil cartridge you can have a genuine van den Hul tip mounted.
Ask him about the possibilities of retipping your specific cartridge.
Sometimes the distortion you hear is not from the damaged grooves,
but is generated by a worn diamond tip. A perfect stylus lowers
the distortion and will increase the life span of your treasured
records. See also: Turntable
Adjustment
Audio
& Music Bulletin
Copyright 1998-2009 by Rudolf
A. Bruil and co-authors
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Quality Second Hand:
Amplifiers,
Turntables, Loudspeakers, Recorders, CD Players, etc.
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Go
to the Links Page
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Audio&Music Bulletin
- Rudolf A. Bruil, Editor - Copyright
1998-2009 by Rudolf A. Bruil and co-authors
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The Universal RSR
Stefano
Pasini's book (
