i'd like my hat sauteed with some garlic please

ok,
i'm contemplating dipping my toe into the wonderful world of VINYL not in my main rig as that's striclty digital only but in such a way that i can 'rip' albums to flac which i can then play on my main rig.
i'd be using my laptop to sample / encode so what i need are recommendations for....
1) the necessary hardware / software gubbins to allow me to take a direct input from a turn table (preferably without a phonostage in the middle or at least with one built in) - would prefer to rip at a high word width / data rate and then get the s/w to down sample to 48khz (the max my dac and flac can handle)

2) a decent turn table / arm / cart

budget - as little as possible for something that's gonna sound good - absolute max would be about £350 all in but would prefer to spend half that - it'd have to blow my socks off for £350.

why? well, i like's me dance music see and unfortunately most dj's are luddite deck spinners so the tunes are only available on black pizza so i'm seriously considering this as a solution.

no problems with second hand - as long as it all works and keeps working for a while...
cheers


julian

 

May i suggest a tomato and basil sauce to go with your hat, possible a thyme and olive oil dressing with rocket salad.

 

Your only option without a phono stage would be the Pro-ject Debut Phono, about £200 all in. You'd do better with something like a P2 with a Graham Slee 2 and the Goldring 1006. That would be about £350 all in, or the Thorens 160 seems to be very popular. Cheaper would be a Pioneer P12D, you could get one of those for £50, the Cambridge MC phono stage at £60 and a Denon DL103 for £100 and have a very nice sounding set up. The Denon is a little groove machine so is fantastic for dance. Software I don't know, but I'd be interested to find out

 

julian why not just get a decent analogue to digital converter.

you can rip what you want on my rig if you bring such a device over!


if you want a TT - then I'd suggest what I just did for another chap = a thorens td160, a rega arm, a graham slee phono stage and a denon cart.. all in about £300..

but you'd still need that A to D converter..

can your laptop take a feed from an A/D conv?

 

chris,
that's what i was after with the 1st bit of my question. there are a number of external usb soundcards which could do the job but they mostly top out at 24/96 which is ok though 24/192 would be better - if not fp/352.8 but i don;t think you can get that yet best bet so far is an audigy 2nx afaict. as for software i'd be looking for something that would allow me to sample at the max input rate of the card and then dither down to 16/48. noise filters etc would be nice too.

thanks for the offer to let me use your rig to rip stuff - i may just take you up on that in the interim while i save up cos it looks like my budget at the mo isn;t up to an adc / external sound card AND a deck with all the bits.
cheers


julian.

 

Why do you need such high sample rates? I wouldn't think you'd ever notice the difference.
Technics and a mixer

 

A Pioneer PL12D would be a great budget choice but please not with a Denon DL103! A MM cart is all its up to.

 

anex,
like anything else in this insane hobby we all share i want to be able to proudly wave my willy and proclaim mine is as fat, wide and long as it possibly can be. who cares if you can hear the difference feel my word width.
seriously though - when sampling from analogue the bigger the word length and faster tha sample frequency the better - of course it'll end up as 16/48 but if dithered down to this rate properly you'll get a more faithful reproduction of the original.
cheers


julian.

 

As an ex-DJ for many years I can tell you that the Technics while being many DJ's choice is not one I would consider for ripping vinyl.

I still have many contacts in the DJ World and a few of us belong to a select music sharing/pool online. I use a Heybrook TT2 turntable with a Rega RB300 tonearm with the top-end counter balance weight upgrade (£60.00). Cartridge is (was,...until it broke this week), a Sumiko BPS.

My friends in the music pool all agree that my vinyl rips are far better than any of theirs on their trusty Technics. We have all ripped the same vinyl release and shared it around and notice in comparison that all the rips on the Technics (and even Vestax) sound very dull and flat with very unpleasant bass response.

I would scan the LOOT, ebay and anywhere else for a good second hand Rega, Thorens or similar deck.

Of course, I/we could be available for DJ mixing tuition on Technics/Vestax if required.

 

What about the NAD 555? AFAIK, they are actually an OEM version of either the Rega P2 or P3? They go for about £250 new. The 533 - also a rebadged Rega was also very highly regarded and you may be able to pick one up second hand for a decent price.

 

are dual 505's any good?

 

I think the dual is a re-badged Project.

 

this is an oldish one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5834369717&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWA:IT&rd=1

 

Julian, don't p*ss about with Duals and the like, the 505 was a decent budget deck but not a patch on a Rega. Get a secondhand Rega Planar 3 or P3 with RB300 arm (shouldn't cost more than £200 tops for a mint example), stick something like a Goldring 1006 on it, and something like a Project or NAD MM phono stage (around £40 new).

-- Ian

 

Not a 505!!!!! please no!!!!!!! I borrowed my mates and was shocked by how poor the build was, my brothers Debut tinkles on it from lofty heights. I have a 160 still not in service but it feels so much better than a 505 you just know it will sound much better.

 

I'll second that, I had a 505-4 and every Thorens/Rega I've ever heard would crap all over it.

 

Probably would be overkill, but the cart grooves like a bugger, and would still be there if you decided to improve the deck.

 

I think it depends on the cart. I'd also add that I dont rate Vestax having suffered several over the years. Allen & Heath Xone:62 and better still the Xone:92 are a whole different ballgame IME. Now I'm not sure how what I saying is useful to Julian though

Edited to add - ah I think you meant the Vestax deck rather than mixers. In which case even more so - the Vestax decks dont exceed the Technics in any area in IME.

 

looks like a rega p3 is going to be the right solution (for vinyl replay at least) it seems to tick all the boxes and is on budget.

as for vestax, mixers and technics, well i'm just looking to 'archive' dance music to listen to not actually mix it myself (i've tried and found i have no innate ability with mixing whatsoever - i understand the theory of beat matching but am a clumsy **** so end up scratching - literally)

now i've found a few potentialy good bits of software but the biggie now is a usb soundcard that can adc at at least 24/96 for under 50 quid - any ideas?
cheers


julian.

 

as it happens I still have my Pioneer PL12D. I had not planned to go vinyl until I retired - still some way off - but I'm pleased to have the endorsement. I've also the Systemdek II to which I upgraded in the 1980s before putting TTs away when small children took control over the household! they have now left ...