On Wed, 5 Oct 2011 11:08:41 -0700, bob wrote
(in article ):
On Oct 4, 11:11=A0pm, Audio Empire wrote:
You certainly have a point there. While there are retailers who know vinyl
and are qualified to recommend arm/cartridge combinations (and can even
properly install them), my take is that they are few and far between. 'Jerry
Raksin's Needle Doctor' has the reputation of doing a good job at this and
will professionally install a cartridge in a turntable package as can 'The
Audio Advisor', 'Music Direct', and 'The Elusive Disc', et al (at least with
the packages they sell), but these people are mail-order. From talking to the
folks at most =A0local shops, I'm not sure I'd trust most of them to properly
install a cartridge (or even suggest proper matchings), as I've seen no
evidence that they posses any special competence with record playing
equipment, if they sell it at all. In the SF Bay Area, where I live, there is
a dealer called the "Analog Room' who know their stuff, but they are about
the only dealer I know that exhibits any real vinyl expertise.
I'm sure there are dealers who know this stuff. I'm sure there are
others who don't. The question is, how is the consumer to tell,
without developing the very expertise in question? At which point, of
course, you know longer need the dealer's advice.
And given what else they sell and promote--magic cables, magic pens,
magic stones--I'm mystified as to why we should trust any such dealer
to be right about anything related to audio.
As the Brits would say, that is somewhat of a "sticky wicket". See, things
like cables, magic pens, mrytlewood blocks and special rocks et al, are very
high profit items and I'm sure most shops have to carry them in order to meet
the "needs" of their customers, many of which probably believe that these
snake-oil nostrums actually do something positive to their stereo systems. It
doesn't actually follow that these dealers (1) believe in the efficacy of
this junk themselves, or (2) that a belief in this audio voo-doo
automatically disqualifies a dealer for having the skill-set available that
allows them to do a good job pairing arms and cartridges or installing them.
More likely, the lack of this skill set is due to the proliferation of
digital sources over the last 25 years having supplanted the need for audio
sales and technical personnel to know about turntables and the other minutia
of vinyl playback. Those who DID know how to do this correctly are now
approaching retirement age and only a few younger people have undertaken to
learn it.
I think the average vinyl owner would do a lot better to either buy a compete
manufacturer's ensemble, with cartridge preinstalled, or to learn the basics
and select and install the cartridge one's self.
Probably good advice, although I'm not sure the issue is as critical
as you've made it out to be. My understanding (open to correction, of
course) is that neither high-compliance carts nor ultra-low-mass arms
are very common these days, market trends having moved in the higher-
mass-lower-compliance direction. So even someone picking components at
random has a decent chance of getting something that'll work.
I wish that were true. Getting it right is not that easy. I get to see a lot
of cartridges and I have but one arm, a Jelco SA-750DB
http://www.jelco-ichikawa.co.jp/e_tone_arm.htm
That I chose because it has a universal SME headshell which facilitates
changing cartridges and is well thought-of in the industry (a number of
high-end turntable manufacturers supply Jelco arms as original equipment in
their turntables). About one out of three cartridges I've tried in it
actually "work" properly (I.E. are relatively free from warp-wow, insensitive
to foot-falls, or exhibit good, tight, mud-free bass.) without either adding
mass (easy enough) or removing it (not easy).
Still, there is no substitute for actually learning the material and
doing the work. It has always struck me as odd that people would adopt
a technical hobby like audio, then go out and spend substantial sums
of money without learning the technical stuff. But my occasional scans
of audio discussions suggest that an awful lot of people who at least
think of themselves as audiophiles have no real understanding of this
issue.
That's certainly true. Audio is one technical hobby that seems to be very
susceptible to mythology and misconceptions due to ignorance. It's not the
only hobby so plagued, however. A quick trip to the local auto parts store
will show shelf-after shelf of useless nostrums such as oil additives that do
nothing that a good grade of oil won't do by itself, "fire-injector" spark
plugs promising more power and higher fuel economy, additives that claim to
cure leaky head gaskets, "turbine plates" which, when installed between one's
air cleaner and one's mass air intake will cause the air to swirl in such a
way as to, again, add power, reduce fuel consumption, make for easier
starting and smoother running, etc.
I blame Atkinson, because there's no point blaming Fremer.
These people cater to a readership that doesn't really want to learn the
electronics or the physics or the digital signal theory necessary to actually
understand the basics that they need to understand in order to make
intelligent, well informed buying choices in the first place. Blaming them
for writing to an audience is a largely empty procedure.