I am creating this thread to thank this wonderful forum for introducing me to some great people.
I have always longed to listen to a turntable. The most abiding memories of music was what I listened to on a uncle's HMV gramaphone and a TT that a friend loaned when I was in college.
However whenever I read the terminology and the jargon that populated the talk in forums I was apprehensive. I could never ever imagine doing the kind of things that those finicky turntable owners were doing to get music out of their equipments.
However I remember my good friend Gobble speaking effusively about turntables.
Private messages to Dr. Bass and Stevieboy made me more comfortable and suddenly it didn't seem so daunting.
Then I got in touch with Mr Kuruvilla Jacob and that changed forever the way I listened to music.
But it wasn't after much agonising moments. The first TT he offered me (because I wanted something with the convenience of a fully automatic player) was the Onkyo CP1057F. Not many have heard about this direct drive. But exchanging private messages with very satisfied Onkyo owners in other forums made me realize that this was indeed a very special player.
Mr Sridhar kindly allowed me to buy the phono in two easy instalments.
But somehow this player was never meant to be mine.
Then Mr Jacob gave me some options out of which this Thorens was seemed the best for its pedigree, its simplicity and most importantly for its music playing abilities as attested by Mr Jacob.
Finally it arrived.
The music from it was a revelation. Still there were some more to be learnt. Initially I put to much weight and the rumble was prominent. Mr Jacob gave me phone tutorials on what had to be done. Youtube also helped. The rumble was gone. The music was good. As I have mentioned earlier rock was a revelation. The bass was tight and controlled.
However I wanted to improve the cosmetics so went ahead with the plinth cabinet and the tone arm board build. In spite of protestations from Mr Jacob who cautioned me against doing something which I had never done before. Reubensm and Joshua were especially kind with their immense knowledge. So finally the cabinet was ready and after spending a greater part of the afternoon, my carpenter and me finally got the platter spinning smoothly. Then we found there was no sound from one channel but an almighty hiss. We had used a drill to saw the tone arm out of its original board. The drilled had messed up the wires inside the RCA cord. Fixing that got rid of the hum. But still no sound from one channel. Mr Jacob proffered advice over the phone. Joshua sent me detailed emails and diagrams.
Finally the problem was rectified and here I am listening to blissful music.
Since I have not listened to much great gear my opinion about sound will have to be taken with a pinch of salt. But there are two irrefutable conclusions. The TT sounds better than my marantz 6002 cd player and the musica DAC. And secondly this whole package of experience with the TT makes me want to listen to music more. And lastly my wife who doesn't care about sound swears that the 'record player' sounds very good.
I have always longed to listen to a turntable. The most abiding memories of music was what I listened to on a uncle's HMV gramaphone and a TT that a friend loaned when I was in college.
However whenever I read the terminology and the jargon that populated the talk in forums I was apprehensive. I could never ever imagine doing the kind of things that those finicky turntable owners were doing to get music out of their equipments.
However I remember my good friend Gobble speaking effusively about turntables.
Private messages to Dr. Bass and Stevieboy made me more comfortable and suddenly it didn't seem so daunting.
Then I got in touch with Mr Kuruvilla Jacob and that changed forever the way I listened to music.
But it wasn't after much agonising moments. The first TT he offered me (because I wanted something with the convenience of a fully automatic player) was the Onkyo CP1057F. Not many have heard about this direct drive. But exchanging private messages with very satisfied Onkyo owners in other forums made me realize that this was indeed a very special player.
Mr Sridhar kindly allowed me to buy the phono in two easy instalments.
But somehow this player was never meant to be mine.
Then Mr Jacob gave me some options out of which this Thorens was seemed the best for its pedigree, its simplicity and most importantly for its music playing abilities as attested by Mr Jacob.
Finally it arrived.
The music from it was a revelation. Still there were some more to be learnt. Initially I put to much weight and the rumble was prominent. Mr Jacob gave me phone tutorials on what had to be done. Youtube also helped. The rumble was gone. The music was good. As I have mentioned earlier rock was a revelation. The bass was tight and controlled.
However I wanted to improve the cosmetics so went ahead with the plinth cabinet and the tone arm board build. In spite of protestations from Mr Jacob who cautioned me against doing something which I had never done before. Reubensm and Joshua were especially kind with their immense knowledge. So finally the cabinet was ready and after spending a greater part of the afternoon, my carpenter and me finally got the platter spinning smoothly. Then we found there was no sound from one channel but an almighty hiss. We had used a drill to saw the tone arm out of its original board. The drilled had messed up the wires inside the RCA cord. Fixing that got rid of the hum. But still no sound from one channel. Mr Jacob proffered advice over the phone. Joshua sent me detailed emails and diagrams.
Finally the problem was rectified and here I am listening to blissful music.
Since I have not listened to much great gear my opinion about sound will have to be taken with a pinch of salt. But there are two irrefutable conclusions. The TT sounds better than my marantz 6002 cd player and the musica DAC. And secondly this whole package of experience with the TT makes me want to listen to music more. And lastly my wife who doesn't care about sound swears that the 'record player' sounds very good.
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