Needledrops and demo tracks

RobHolt

RobHolt

Moderator
Joined
Oct 23, 2004
Messages
4,126
Reaction score
12
Have a nice vinyl front end or been doing something interesting with it lately?
Found a £15 cartridge that beats a £5000 Koetsu? ........ well let's it!

This is the thread for posting links for download so that we can all sample what you've achieved.

Doesn't have to be a vinyl front end of course.
Could be digital transports, cables, pre amps........
 
Cartridge Loading

To kick things off hear (ho ho) are the results of my first tentative steps into DIY - loading plugs for the phono stage.

I recently swapped from a MC cart to a MI cart. My phono stage - P75 - has only one setting for MM/MI which, as is usual, is set to 47Kohm. My cart is supposed to be best at 32KOhm so I grabbed the iron and a couple of RCA plugs and soldered a 100Kohm resister across signal to earth. Adding a 'Y' adaptor to the input of the phono stage allows the input plugs to be used in parallel with the output from the cart, providing a correct load.

I only used one album to compare. It may not be ideal (ie. you may not like the songs) but does serve to demonstrate the impact of changing the loading. The links below are two samples of a couple of tracks, one using 47KOhm load and the other using 32KOhm load. They are recorded at 24bits / 96Khz and saved as .flac files. If you don't have software to open them with, you can download Audacity which will enable you to play.

Miss You (47)
Miss You (32)

Before they make me run (47)
Before they make me run (32)


I think the effect is more apparent in the second track (before they make me run), and has certainly addressed what for me had been a very slight annoyance.

Stuart.
 
Stuart thanks but I think you can do a lot better recordings these look & sound suppressed & the difference is not significant

If you experiment with upping the sound level in Audacity to around 3 - 6dB below where it clips you should get better results

You may have to play with the recording level on the computer settings
 
Needledrops I have done in the past certainly have enough resolution to enable people to hear the differences in the equipment as I hear them at home, albeit not quite as well. I'll do some new ones for ZG and post soon.
 
Stuart said:
To kick things off hear (ho ho) are the results of my first tentative steps into DIY - loading plugs for the phono stage.

I recently swapped from a MC cart to a MI cart. My phono stage - P75 - has only one setting for MM/MI which, as is usual, is set to 47Kohm. My cart is supposed to be best at 32KOhm so I grabbed the iron and a couple of RCA plugs and soldered a 100Kohm resister across signal to earth. Adding a 'Y' adaptor to the input of the phono stage allows the input plugs to be used in parallel with the output from the cart, providing a correct load.

I only used one album to compare. It may not be ideal (ie. you may not like the songs) but does serve to demonstrate the impact of changing the loading. The links below are two samples of a couple of tracks, one using 47KOhm load and the other using 32KOhm load. They are recorded at 24bits / 96Khz and saved as .flac files. If you don't have software to open them with, you can download Audacity which will enable you to play.

Miss You (47)
Miss You (32)

Before they make me run (47)
Before they make me run (32)


I think the effect is more apparent in the second track (before they make me run), and has certainly addressed what for me had been a very slight annoyance.

Stuart.
Click to expand...

Had a good listen to both tracks.

Those at 47k sound a little more extended at the top but also a bit splattery on transients. The 32k files trade a little extension for precision.

Decca London or perhaps a good Grado?
 
RobHolt said:
Had a good listen to both tracks.

Those at 47k sound a little more extended at the top but also a bit splattery on transients. The 32k files trade a little extension for precision.

Decca London or perhaps a good Grado?
Click to expand...

Rob - yep, that's exactly it. At 47K the very top end is too peaky, loading at 32K tames it somewhat. I've not investigated capacitive loading yet.

Would be nice to have a phono stage that allowed easy adjustment of these parameters.

Good guess on the cart as well - London Gold.

Stuart.
 
UK Duty Paid said:
Stuart thanks but I think you can do a lot better recordings these look & sound suppressed & the difference is not significant

If you experiment with upping the sound level in Audacity to around 3 - 6dB below where it clips you should get better results

You may have to play with the recording level on the computer settings
Click to expand...

Hi,

If you mean the difference between the two loading values is not significant then yes, it is a very minor change in frequency response at the very upper end which may or may not be significant to different people. As to suppressed I'm not sure what you mean here - the levels weren't too low IIRC. Perhaps you could try this one - Rainy Day - which is a more simple piece, and explain where you think things are going wrong?

Thanks,

Stuart.
 
No I'm talking specifically about the graph. There is a lot of white space above & below which with a higher recording level gets filled.
I downloaded before they make me run & thought it sounded suppressed played via computer through my system & speakers

I'll try the other track
 
Hi Stuart

I downloaded the Stones & I'm of the same opinion. The recordings are thin sounding. I looked up the track on Spotify & while only the remastered version is listed it is more what I would expect it should sound like.

In terms of the loading the 32 Kohm is better on this cartridge.
 
Well its going to a while before I can do a new recording so here is one I did about a month ago:-

http://www.mediafire.com/file/enejdhmizmn/Rite of Spring.wav

Using the system on my sig and a Creative Audigy NX USB2 ADC with Audacity 1.3.

Its Stravinsky - Rite of Spring - Philips red label #9500 323 - concertgebouworkest, Amsterdam - Colin Davis - 1977.

I think this is about the best recording I have ever done!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
UK Duty Paid said:
No I'm talking specifically about the graph. There is a lot of white space above & below which with a higher recording level gets filled.
I downloaded before they make me run & thought it sounded suppressed played via computer through my system & speakers

I'll try the other track
Click to expand...

Worth noting that he used 24/96 so plenty of res, though I'd agree always better to max the level.
 
If you experiment with upping the sound level in Audacity to around 3 - 6dB below where it clips you should get better results
Click to expand...
Stuart's recordings are within 3-6dB of clipping.

'Some Girls' was recorded and mastered in the 70s when engineering standards were high. It has dynamics. If it sounds thin or quiet turn it up on a competent system. It's likely the 'remaster' is compressed and therefore sounds fatter and louder, but probably not better.

Worth noting that he used 24/96 so plenty of res, though I'd agree always better to max the level.
Click to expand...
FWIW the file contains 24 bit samples but I think only 16 bits are used. I suspect Audacity, which, on Windows at least, cannot capture at more than 16 bits.

I think my copy of 'Some Girls' needs a wash but nevertheless here's a matching clip. If it's too quiet use Audacity to normalize. It's genuine 24 bit/96k.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ofgwtgz2zzi

Paul
 
Rite of Spring has a HUGE dynamic range. Quite stunning, as well as being a beautful piece of music. Almost 'English' in its slight madness/paganism.
 
flatpopely said:
Rite of Spring has a HUGE dynamic range. Quite stunning, as well as being a beautful piece of music. Almost 'English' in its slight madness/paganism.
Click to expand...

Yup - and it sounded great Andrew.

Just one question.
Any idea how I remove burn't ESL diaphrams from the stators! :D


Paul Ranson said:
I think my copy of 'Some Girls' needs a wash but nevertheless here's a matching clip. If it's too quiet use Audacity to normalize. It's genuine 24 bit/96k.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ofgwtgz2zzi

Paul
Click to expand...

Paul that doesn't sound like a Troika to me, at least compared to Stuarts's version on the Decca.
New cartridge?
 
RobHolt said:
Yup - and it sounded great Andrew.

Just one question.
Any idea how I remove burn't ESL diaphrams from the stators! :D

QUOTE]

Get some ES14s! It's good that the recording/replay process has kept some of the music intact.

Playing that track in the car makes me realise how far ahead real hifi is than car audio; and as Dev will testify mine is not at all bad!

Shame you can't make the bake off, that track alone is really quite special on my system IMHO.

Andrew.
Click to expand...
 
Here's one with plenty of range - The Tivoli Symphony orchestra.
This is an 80s Ortofon Direct Cut disc taking the output from the concert hall straight to the cutter with no tape in between.

Needs to be played LOUD with the windows wide open for best effect ;)

http://www.mediafire.com/?2iy2inz2kux
 

Latest posts

Back
Top