Damn. That sounds hard. To say the least. Respect to you for showing up. An awful lot of people don’t… And as for the need to keep a low profile on the RAFT, I understand (& props for an ingenious solution) but I don’t think it’ll be necessary. I predict a cooling off of the political heat, & not just here. Hope I’m right. When it comes to US politics I have zero faith in my ability to predict anything at all — but my intuition tells me that more and more of us are beginning to buy into the crazy idea that just because someone belongs to that other tribe doesn’t mean that we can’t still work together on common projects and discuss our many commonly held values and interests. Like vinyl :-)
Thanks much. Your thoughts are very much appreciated.
Yeah, until I got a call from the rehab place where my Mom was just deposited in earlier in the day after being discharged from the hospital.
All hell has broken lose. She is refusing to comply with anything and refusing her meds. I had to stop in there this morning on my way to work to read her the riot act about doing what she is told to do. Dementia has become undeniable among other things. I have a meeting with staff on Monday and have to work on getting to be made her conservator. Other than that, life is great.
The empty posts ? I'm going to start logging my vinyl spins in here so as not to piss off certain people. I can update them here in the empty posts without them showing up in the RAFT since they will just be edited as opposed to new.
Just making adjustments to new realities.
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Damn. That sounds hard. To say the least. Respect to you for showing up. An awful lot of people donâtâ¦
And as for the need to keep a low profile on the RAFT, I understand (& props for an ingenious solution) but I donât think itâll be necessary.
I predict a cooling off of the political heat, & not just here. Hope Iâm right.
When it comes to US politics I have zero faith in my ability to predict anything at all â but my intuition tells me that more and more of us are beginning to buy into the crazy idea that just because someone belongs to that other tribe doesnât mean that we canât still work together on common projects and discuss our many commonly held values and interests.
Looking at your posts Kurt, it seems like you had a quiet New Years Eve.
Yeah, until I got a call from the rehab place where my Mom was just deposited in earlier in the day after being discharged from the hospital.
All hell has broken lose. She is refusing to comply with anything and refusing her meds. I had to stop in there this morning on my way to work to read her the riot act about doing what she is told to do. Dementia has become undeniable among other things. I have a meeting with staff on Monday and have to work on getting to be made her conservator. Other than that, life is great.
The empty posts ? I'm going to start logging my vinyl spins in here so as not to piss off certain people. I can update them here in the empty posts without them showing up in the RAFT since they will just be edited as opposed to new.
So the Cartridge Warmer is real. Had to see if such a beast does exist. Makes sense if you have deep pockets and want to hear what you're playing sound right from the drop of the needle on. I'll just warm it up as I go as I have been since I'm ripping not playing to listen. Even then, I would try using a small lightbulb first if I really had the need.
So the Cartridge Warmer is real. Had to see if such a beast does exist. Makes sense if you have deep pockets and want to hear what you're playing sound right from the drop of the needle on. I'll just warm it up as I go as I have been since I'm ripping not playing to listen. Even then, I would try using a small lightbulb first if I really had the need.
Years ago towards the end of my days of ripping to cassettes, I heard the advice to always play the album 3 times and use the 3rd play as the keeper copy.
The primary reason behind it was to play the album and in the process the nasties on the vinyl surface would be loosened to be cleaned away with primitive process of brushes, pads and various mystery cleaning solutions. Along the way you would hear the scratches and what ever issues the vinyl had. Maybe just simply stop the record before a bad track or even just eliminate a song that you didn't like. Also the process would allow you to set the ideal levels for recording using the good ole VU meters. There were other benefits and the final one only came to be realized as I go through the process of breaking in the new cart mentioned below in an earlier post.
The same rules kept working going digital with the same primitive cleaning processes. But now with a better turntable, this also included setting the VTA (Vertical Tracking Angle) of the cart to the particular piece of vinyl being played. Too low, extreme bassiness, muted vocals and high end, too high too trebly and sibilant with the loss of bass. And vocals can be muted or brought forward in that process as well. That could sometimes take more than 2 spins. Would have to play back different takes keying on certain parts of a song to make the decision. The better the cart the more this matters. Just a .25mm height adjustment can sound profoundly different on some albums. Now also with adding a full tilt RCM to the process, playing though and finding ticks and what not and an occasional once more through the RCM to try to get rid of what ever the source might be. Sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't or it is simply a defect, there forever, to be removed later in the editing process now that we are full digital.
Now for the final revelation and reinforcement for the Rule Of 3.
The break in time for a new cart or stylus can run up to 50 hours. What you are actually breaking in mostly is the suspension. This is the compound that joins the cantilever / stylus to the "motor" or the internal parts of the cart that generate the electrical signal from the vibrations received from the stylus. Used to know the usual components but forgot them long ago. The suspension must be used / played in order to get the suspension loosened up and properly conditioned for accurate signal generation. As the stylus ages through playing, the suspension does get worn out and will cause sagging of the cantilever resulting in the need for higher VTA's to compensate for the sag.
The cart I just retired had 2344 album sides on it or nearly 800 hours, which approaches the end of life for a Shibata stylus. Hard to say how worn it actually is without going back and playing earlier rips using the same cart. I will eventually as I do record everything I play, every time. I do need to know, but for now I have a rough idea.
The first listen of the new cart was truly amazing, just because the resolution was so improved. As a few hours began to accumulate it became apparent that the suspension was loosing up and the VTA had to adjusted. After about 80 sides (@20 minutes per side) or about 26 hours total time it started to sound much better. Bearing in mind that this cart dates back to the early 80's so it has sat for 40 years and how well the suspension compound holds up after all those years can be hit or miss. But this being AT's flagship cart of the day, they put the best they had into. So far, so good.
I am now in the process of re ripping the first albums played during break in. The first eye opener was doing Todd's WATS album again. The first 5 minutes of side 1 are really full of all kinds of scratchy noises and it still sounded pretty bad. After about 15 minutes it started sounding like it should. Hmmm. Light goes on time. A few years ago doing research and poking around I heard of a thing called a cartridge warmer. A small light used as a heat source is put next to the cart for a half an hour or so to warm up the cart. What it turns out that it actually does is warm up the suspension to the point where it is like it has been used for a half an hour or so.
So I finished up side 1 and went to side 2 and it was sounding as expected. Afterwards I went back and replayed side 1 and the difference was night and day. The cart was now at its optimal warmth needed for the suspension to operate properly. Also using a direct drive TT, it generates heat from the platter motor which helps this process as I have come to conclude. Belt drives stay cold and do not ad heat to the platter. So if you want to hear an album properly from the beginning with a cold start, if you do not preheat the cart, it won't sound right until you're nearly done listening to side 1. Never gave it any thought before. The Todd album made this obvious.
So once again playing an album side 3 times served as a proper warm up of all of the moving parts making sure to get and keep the best sound. That is the purpose of ripping anyway, to record the album in its best possible conditions and archive it. It will likely never sound as good again if recorded properly. Never have to set it up to properly play it again, and to preserve the vinyl by not using it. Which was the initial reason of ripping going back my 8 Track days. I don't need the physical part to be happy. I am collecting the actual sound itself. That is all that matters. I get the physical touchy feelie part going through the recording process and quite frankly it is a PITA, but in the end it's worth every second of it.
These are my observations of the break in process and putting a whole bunch of acquired knowledge along the way into a context and conclusions based upon observation over 4 or 5 decades of indulgence. So grateful that I actually reached this level and still have my hearing so that I can enjoy it.
As of this hitting submit I've logged 112 album sides since I began about 13 days ago.
