alex98uk

I'm completely new to vinyl, never used it as a format before, but I found 2 belt driven vinyl players in our garage from previous renters.

Can someone tell me about them? I plugged them in and they spin fine, needle looks good, just a bit dusty. I would love to get some vinyl, especially as a lot of the music I like only comes on it (electro remixes mainly).

I'm not into DJ'ing, so discount that, but I wouldn't mind getting an amp and some nice speakers (my plan even before I found these) to hook up to both my PC and vinyl players, is this possible?

Also, what is the weird plug for!?

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chemicalfan

More detail later tonight, but belt driven decks are CRAP. But they're free, so you can't complain too much! I'll hunt around for a phono amp tonight, you should be able to use any speakers once you've gone through the phono pre-amp

The weird plug is a ground wire - you need that or you just get a loud buzzing out of the speakers.

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alex98uk

Yea, but for just playing vinyl, are they OK? I'm not going to be breaking it down and spinning the discs, just listen.

Would they be poor quality audio though? I'm happy enough just to chuck em out.

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Stillhouse

That weird plug if for grounding, so you don't get a hum in your audio.

From what I can Google, those look to be entry level DJ turntables. I'm not familiar with the brand myself, but since they were free why not give them a spin(pun intended)?

I'd replace the cartridge, since DJ carts aren't made with sound quality as job one. Selling the second turntable would probably finance this. Then there's the matter of setting up the turntable. You'll need to set the cartridge alignment, balance the tone arm and set the tracking force and antiskating. Sounds like a lot to do, but it's pretty easy. A quick search on YouTube will find plenty of guides to help.

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alex98uk

The current cartridges are Stanton 500's. I assume they were meant for entry level DJ'ing?

But, my main question, would this be of poorer audio quality than say, a dedicated vinyl record player? Do vinyl players differ in sound quality? I assumed not as it does not have it's own amp?

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btwalter

I DJ so I can help out here.
Belt Driven TT's are entry level. the clubs use Direct Drive TT's. The difference is the type of motor they use. with the ones you have the belts need to be replaced over time. You'll know it's time when you press the start button, and it takes forever for the platter to engage. belt systems are very hard to learn how to DJ on, due to them being so touchy, however, if you did have a interest in learning to DJ, and learned on this setup, then you'd be able to make the transition to direct drive turntables pretty easy.
The TurnTables themselves do not contain a pre-amp. So, you would either A. need to buy a pre-amp, these range in prices; see here: http://www.frontendaudio.com/Product...oductCode=9579 . Or B. You can purchase just a basic 2 channel mixer which has a pre-amp built in.

You will def want to Ground the TurnTable either way. That's the funny looking "U" shaped plug. This will prevent "Humming" playing through the speaker.
The Stanton500 cart is fine for what you will be doing with it. Will prob want to clean it and the connection to the tone-arm though.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'd be glad to answer them for you.


Edit* forgot to mention. If you where to get a 2 chan mixer, you can have your setup like this:
1/8" adapter in Line-Out on Sound Card, RCA Cables plugged into the 1/8" Adapter, Those RCA's will then plug into Chan 1 on Mixer (Make sure to plug them into the LINE/AUX Input)(no need to have the connection grounded,) RCA's and Ground from Turn Table will plug/screw into the PHONO Input on Chan 2.
RCA's going to speakers will then plug into the MASTER/BOOTH Output on the mixer.

alex98uk

Thank you for the informative post

Well, basically, i'm going to purchase an amp to go between my Xonar D2 and my speakers (which I will be buying (bookshelf style)) and headphones. Is this different to a pre-amp?

Basically, what i'm asking is that with a headphone/speaker amp, will this vinyl player be compatible?

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tUDJ

Some (most) integrated stereo amps have an onboard phono stage, this means you dont need a stand alone Phone Pre amp. For a headphone amp you would almost always need a Phono Pre amp.

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alex98uk

Oh lord, i'm quite confused!

So, if I buy an amp, I couldn't use it for both a 2.1 set of bookshelf speakers and my headphones?

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tUDJ

It depends on what type of amp it is.

Pre Amp - All of the sources connect to this and is used to switch between them.
Power Amp - Does the actual amplifying to power the speakers.
Integrated Amp - A Pre Amp and Power Amp in one single unit.

Pre and Power amps are usually found in higher end setups where someone can afford to spend th extra on seperate units.

You can use either a Pre/Power or Integrated for use with your PC and a 2.1 setup, you can also use headphone with most Integrated amps but the quality of the output varies between makes/models - it's best to check whether the unit you're going to buy has a headphone output as not all do.

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