OT: Big Mac's Bar & Lounge: Go See A Star War

[Big McLargehuge]

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[Randy Butternubs]

Take off your pants and your panties.
**** on the floor.
Time to get Schwifty in here.
Gotta **** on the floor.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Don't be gross, Tammy.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

@BlindWilly I got the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon DC in white. It came about 10 minutes after that post. Setting it up was a bit of a hassle thanks to the text-only manual and how much more complicated it is than the Audio-Technica I was using before. Also grabbed a Cambridge Audio pre-amp as my amplifier (also CA) doesn't have phono inputs.

Currently spinning Big Star - #1 Record (repress from a few years back) and it sounds great. It certainly seems to have more depth than the previous setup. The only slight concern I'm not really sure I trust my ears enough to be an audiophile, but uh, I guess for some concrete proof of its superiority I don't need to crank the volume knob nearly as high as I did before to get decent results.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Damn, dude. That's a really nice setup.

As for your ears... I'm sure they are more than adequate if you are spinning Big Star. I can't get enough of that band, lately. Although, unfortunately, there is only so much of it to go 'round.

I have an old matched set of Pioneer Receiver/Turntable/Speakers from 1976 that ol' pops gave me years and years ago. Unfortunately the receiver is all kinds of wonky lately and I've had to rig my turntable through my PA setup. Which actually sounds... pretty ****ing impressive.

Still... bummer. Love that receiver. Oh well... it'll give me an excuse to come up to Pittsburgh to find someone to go through the thing. Though it'll probably cost me a fortune.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Those old sets are great. Built like tanks and sound as good as any of the sophisticated stuff available today.

I mean, obviously I have impeccable taste, but I'm talking about the quality-obsessed angle. When I try to think about it I start worrying about hearing the subtlest of distortion or background noise. I think you can psyche yourself into disappointment with your equipment or the pressing of a record that way. Which is silly for me since probably a majority of the stuff I like isn't exactly Steely Dan in terms of studio perfectionism (i.e. NP: Motorhead - Another Perfect Day).

Right now I am getting a little hum off the pre-amp when there's no music, so I might have to fiddle with some of the cables soon.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

HA! I know what you mean. I've spent hours trying to track down ground loops or fiddling with EQs. I rewired my entire pedalboard the other day because I didn't like how much noise it was making and bought a new power brick hoping it would help... and it did... a little (onward to a BOSS NS-2, I guess).

But yeah, I nearly talk myself out of every purchase I've ever made. I don't spend hundreds of dollars at a time all the time (at least, on fun stuff). And I research stuff to death. So I tend to be picky... though usually I come around.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I'm not so picky. I went with the Pro-Ject because, at the next level from what I had, it's basically universally beloved. There's a few others in that $350-500 price range that are respected but no one has Pro-Ject's reputation. I'm not one for technical nitty gritty and I've been eyeing the upgrade for a while, so after coming into a little extra money, I went for it. After that the hardest part was choosing a color!

Cables and wiring scare the crap out of me. If I don't electrocute myself, I'll break my stuff, I'm sure. Sometimes electronics can just sort themselves out on their own, right? I've had a couple machines do that.

 

[66-30-33]

@Ogrezilla - I don't follow the top players at all, so I have no idea who that is. I assume a top CS:GO guy of some sort who cheats.

Yup. Auto locks onto players and it's undetectable, nor would you see him cheating on his screen.

 

[Ogrezilla]

@Ogrezilla - I don't follow the top players at all, so I have no idea who that is. I assume a top CS:GO guy of some sort who cheats.

Yup. Auto locks onto players and it's undetectable, nor would you see him cheating on his screen.

what a jag

 

[Penguinator]

@ Bruno & Blind, you have houses? Seems like you know serious **** about real installations. My set up is very cheap but quite effective, the thing that made it ****ing annoying though was combining old tech with new tech, both for audio & video. I have a poor man's high tech cross time combo.

Sub-woofing the basement.

 

[Penguinator]

Just watched: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowpiercer

Awesome movie, quite the avant-guarde of S-F although it has numerous inspirations, mainly from the 1982 French graphic novel.

Has everything, s-f, gore, dark comedy & especially that social metaphor, an horizontal Metropolis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(1927_film) like someone said on youtube.

"Babies taste better"!

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

That fancy new turntable is quickly turning into a bit of a nightmare. The buzzing seemed a bit worse, so I decided to investigate and quickly got bogged down in technical ******** on audiophile forums. Seems the buzzing is a somewhat common issue. It seems like the solution will be easy (replacing the notoriously ****** included RCA cable/ground) or insanely complicated. People keep talking about removing screws from the motor assembly but maybe not on this model? It's so annoying and I feel like I shouldn't have to do this out of box anyway. So I contacted the retailer via e-mail and explained the problem and hinted at a return. Then to make things hairier I went to try fiddling with the RCA cable and one of the prongs on the cheap ass ground wire snapped off. So that ****ing $2 piece of crap might sink the return! Anyway I reconnected my old turntable and am listening to that right now. ****ing hell. I hope this place is cool about returns (honestly they could easily re-sell this thing as an open box with a superior RCA connector). I've ordered a new RCA/ground cable so hopefully that helps address the issue if I'm forced to keep the *******. I guess I'd also try experimenting with some of the fixes going around online, since they've apparently made a difference for a lot of users (but others wound up giving up on these entirely).

Should've done more research, though I don't know if discovering these issues beforehand would have swayed me given how highly this thing is praised otherwise.

The thing is it did sound really good while playing music even with the buzz while not player or during silent moments. So hopefully whatever happens I can get this fixed/replaced (whether outright or via refund/other model).

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Someone translate this thread for me.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Watched kingsman: the secret service last night. Excellent movie. Lots of fun.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Watched kingsman: the secret service last night. Excellent movie. Lots of fun.

Agreed... heard they are making a sequel

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Someone translate this thread for me.

tl:dr -- listening to and creating high quality sound is fun.

And is it so odd that I live in a house? I suppose I probably come across as a cave-dweller more often than not. So... fair enough. But I'm also old. One of the few side benefits of being old is that you tend to acquire things. Especially if you are unmarried and without children.

And that sucks, Bruno. I had the same luck with an amp I bought just a few weeks ago, kinda. Played it in the store -- terrific. Played it for a few hours at home -- no issues. The next day after extended use I started getting whistling sounds, lowered volume and unwanted grit. Needs a total re-tube. Maybe more. Likely I'll just exchange it for something a little different. Stuff like that scares me off of build quality for the entire brand/line.

 

[66-30-33]

A guy at my work just had his wife pass away n the hospital, doctors could not find out what she was suffering from. It was quick aswell.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

tl:dr -- listening to and creating high quality sound is fun.

And is it so odd that I live in a house? I suppose I probably come across as a cave-dweller more often than not. So... fair enough. But I'm also old. One of the few side benefits of being old is that you tend to acquire things. Especially if you are unmarried and without children.

And that sucks, Bruno. I had the same luck with an amp I bought just a few weeks ago, kinda. Played it in the store -- terrific. Played it for a few hours at home -- no issues. The next day after extended use I started getting whistling sounds, lowered volume and unwanted grit. Needs a total re-tube. Maybe more. Likely I'll just exchange it for something a little different. Stuff like that scares me off of build quality for the entire brand/line.

I mean, I have a house 'cause I rent it. It's not huge, but it's plenty of room for me and my cat. Housing is relatively cheap in Tucson, too, so it's fairly affordable (though perhaps a bit more than I should be paying).

The retailer got back to me and suggested making sure the power supply isn't in contact with any other wires. Which sounds iffy but I'll see if it helps. It kinda makes sense because the back of my stereo is a mess of power supply lines, RCA cables, and speaker wire. I think I'll grab some electrical tape on the way home and see if I can't tidy the space up a little regardless of whether that tactic works. Also have new RCAs due in tomorrow. If I can at least reduce the buzz I'll be satisfied for now. Might look for a cheaper replacement (the U-Turn Orbit looks good) and turn the Pro-Ject into a project (hah!) if all else fails and it cannot be returned.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

They're right, actually. You should do everything you can to keep your power cables separate from your signal cables. It can introduce that classic 60HZ ground loop hum. from how you are describing it, though... it kinda sounds like your problem might run a bit deeper. Although potentially damaged RCAs are a decent bet, too.

One way or the other... best of luck. It's a terrible feeling getting all pumped up for something cool like that only to have it turn into an ordeal.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

So I cleaned up the wiring and it didn't work, but I made an interesting discovery: if I touch the turntable's ground prong just so with everything on...I get radio through it. Something in the signal chain is overly sensitive and some nearby station must be bleeding in. I also discovered that if I touch the broken end of the ground wire to the amp the right way it kills most of the noise. Hopefully the new cables with ground wire help fix that, but I suspect something else will need to be done to remedy the radio interference.

 

[Penguinator]

At an older appartment i had interference that blocked radio through my amp, it's that day & age...

Dark matter? Meh, so much **** is going through us nowadays...

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

What I've learned is that to truly get the most out of my music, I need to buy a $170,000 turntable and move to the Natioonal Radio Quiet Zone.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

That just a few hours downstate, bro!

And you get to move to my beautiful state! Huzzah!

 

[HuskerTornado]

What I've learned is that to truly get the most out of my music, I need to buy a $170,000 turntable and move to the Natioonal Radio Quiet Zone.

If we get enough people to go in on it, I offer to keep it at my place.