At 08:33 AM 12/28/2011, Isaac Marino Bavaresco wrote: >Just saw this at DealExtreme, may be useful to some: > I have some turntables left over from my Radio Broadcast days: 3-=20 Technics SP10 MkII units (pricey, even today) and a Technics SL1800=20 MkII. I use the SL1800 with an ART USB Phono Plus preamp direct into=20 my computer - I chose the ART preamp based on user reviews. The SL1800 has some audible rumble (it shouldn't, being a direct=20 drive model) but its WAY down in the mud and mostly obscured by=20 surface noise of the vinyl record. The ART preamp sounds darned nice=20 and has a much lower apparent noise floor than I remember my old=20 preamps having (I think that's why the turntable rumble is=20 audible). I do most of my listening with Sony MDR-7506 headphones. I still have a couple of old but accurate inverse RIAA test networks=20 hiding in a box somewhere and plan to actually test the RIAA=20 equalization on the ART preamp one of these days (months). But it=20 sounds accurate to my ears. Two of my SP10 turntables are in ready-to-sell condition and I will=20 most likely put them up on eBay sometime next year. I see that they=20 are fetching pretty good prices - I saw one unit go for more than US=20 $1300 recently. That's still only about half what they cost new in=20 the late 70's / early 80's and much less than that when you take=20 inflation into account. The other SP10 has a motor logic drive problem that I need to fix -=20 but I have an original service manual for the thing plus an=20 electronic copy. However, its been more than 25 years since I=20 touched one of those turntables. Should be fun . I don't think that I have any 78 RPM records any more - but I should=20 look. I will need to get an appropriate cartridge and stylus for=20 playing them, though. On the other hand - I'm using Stanton 500AL=20 cartridges right now - perhaps Stanton or somebody makes a suitable=20 stylus for the 500-series cartridge for playing 78 RPM records. I'll=20 have to check. I spent a couple of weekends a few weeks ago digitizing some old 33=20 RPM records that I purchased - this is stuff that just simply is not=20 available in any other format. I've been searching for some of this=20 stuff for years now and just not finding it in digital form. I will=20 most likely put the material up on a website somewhere when I'm done=20 - I'm sure that others are looking for it as well. One record that I played back (and digitized) was the best quality=20 record that I think that I've EVER heard. Its an album by the=20 Garrison Brothers (folk / country) and was produced by the BBC. I'm=20 guessing that the noise floor was sitting somewhere between -70 to=20 -80 dB down from zero - absolutely fabulous. None of my other=20 records come anywhere close to that - even essentially brand-new=20 records having been played only once or twice. Seriously, its almost=20 CD quality. Anyway - I didn't mean to hijack this thread. Merry Christmas and=20 Happy New Year to everyone! dwayne --=20 Dwayne Reid Trinity Electronics Systems Ltd Edmonton, AB, CANADA (780) 489-3199 voice (780) 487-6397 fax www.trinity-electronics.com Custom Electronics Design and Manufacturing --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .