A Beginner’s Guide to Turntables [INFOGRAPHIC]
Not a week goes by without someone asking me for advice on vinyl and turntable. Just last night, Kathleen emailed to ask me about a Yamaha YP-211, a belt drive record player.
If you’re trying to figure out what to buy, Paste has posted this very helpful infographic. Click on the image for a better look.
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I bought a fantastic-sounding 60s Dual model (1019), with a Shure cartridge. It sounds amazing, but I’m finding it a touch finicky.
My big regret is that it’s idler-wheel drive. I didn’t know any better. Replacement belt: $8. Replacement idler wheel: $80.
Hopefully I don’t need one soon. I had trouble with the pitch changing while playing, but I suspect that may have been caused by the record slipping.
Mark, sorry to say but pitch changing and needle skip are typically not related. Skipping is generally due to a vinyl problem, or a tone arm tracking issue. Pitch changing is typically due to the drive system (motor, idler, etc.) The worst case (and I hope it isn’t true) is you have a bad motor that needs to be replaced. That will typically be more expensive than the idler.
I wrote “slipping” not “skipping”, fortunately never had a skip. The reason I thought the pitch-shifting might have to do with vinyl slipping is I observed it happen once with my eyes when the needle first hit the record.
I don’t seem to have had any trouble since ensuring the records are firmly down on the rubber matting. I also reseated the platter once, but I feel the drive-system is unlikely to have been the cause because of how heavy the platter is (7.5 lbs) and how much momentum is involved.
So, I got a message my first response timed out… I mis-read “slipping”…oops. Might be an easier fix: tracking set too heavy, or you might need a record clamp / weight to hold the record more firmly to the platter.
Yeah I lost a reply too.
Anyway as I said, just making a point of pushing the vinyl down seems to have worked. I’ve noticed the holes in a lot of modern albums are … brutal. Some aren’t wide enough, some look completely gouged out.
Oh one thing that did happen though, the Dual 1019 platter has rubber matting bands around where 7″ and 12″ records touch.
For 10″ records it’s just steel. I completely wrecked the original needle by putting on a 10″, and the automatic function missed the edge. I also didn’t notice for a minute because I’d gone to another room.