Suggestions for playing 78's on new equipment.

[larryh]

I have picked up once again some 78 albums in fairly good shape, mostly classical. I have two suit case portable type, fold down turntable sets. One a GE 500 and the other a Magnavox. Neither is wonderful quality but you can get the idea at least with some tone and not too much surface on a good record.

I also have a Dual 1009 that I have been using for other speeds. I purchased a 78 stylus which I haven't gotten yet. I tried to play my records once before on my Elac Turn table with a stylus I got for it. But the newer type amplifier just made the surface unbearable. I know people are playing their 78's with new equipment. Any suggestions on if there are used amp.s that might have some kind of switchable filter in line for 78's? Or how do you set your controls if not. I had not tired to reduce the treble way down because it seemed it would unbalance the records, but that may be the only thing I can do?

Any helpful hints on what others are doing.

Larry

[bart1927]

I have picked up once again some 78 albums in fairly good shape, mostly classical. I have two suit case portable type, fold down turntable sets. One a GE 500 and the other a Magnavox. Neither is wonderful quality but you can get the idea at least with some tone and not too much surface on a good record.

I also have a Dual 1009 that I have been using for other speeds. I purchased a 78 stylus which I haven't gotten yet. I tried to play my records once before on my Elac Turn table with a stylus I got for it. But the newer type amplifier just made the surface unbearable. I know people are playing their 78's with new equipment. Any suggestions on if there are used amp.s that might have some kind of switchable filter in line for 78's? Or how do you set your controls if not. I had not tired to reduce the treble way down because it seemed it would unbalance the records, but that may be the only thing I can do?

Any helpful hints on what others are doing.

Larry

Hi Larry, there are several ways to do this, and you can make it as expensive as you want. The cheapest option is to wire your phono cartridge for mono output (Google for instructions) and get a generic stylus for 78 rpm records (2.7 mil). When playing records just turn the bass down and the treble up, especially with electrically recorded records.

When playing 78's with your standard lp stylus the stylus tip is too small and it will ride in the bottom of the groove. A bigger stylus will overcome this problem. The standard 2.7 mil stylus is ideal for records from the 1950's but may still be too small for earlier records. You can get various other custom made styli from Expert stylus (sold by Nauck) but they are a bit pricey.

If you want a dedicated equalizer for playing your 78's I can recommend the KAB VSP (Vintage Signal Processor) MK 2. You can choose between 8 different equalization curves, you can make a mono mix from the sound of both groove walls allowing you to choose the most quiet one (so no need to rewire your cartridge), and it even has a vertical/lateral switch, in case you want to play Edison's or Pathé's. It also has an impulse noise filter which is very effective in removing the little clicks caused by, for instance, hairline cracks. And all filtering is analogue and real time! Of course you have to be careful not to filter too much, otherwise the music will start to sound dull. But because it's all analogue, you don't run the risk of introducing those strange sounding digital artifacts.

Here's an mp3 I made in order to give you and idea how a record in V++ condition sounds when played through the VSP. Using the AE curve (early electrics), and without filtering except impulse noise.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... f=3&t=2634

And here you can find more info on the VSP:
http://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?/ Look in the phono preamps section.

[beaumonde]

What Bart said!

I'm so glad the KAB VSP MK2 is back in production (finally, after several years of hiatus). The price is about the same as I paid (if not less) back in 2002. It has served me well over the years. That combined with ClickRepair and the related DeNoise really does the trick and can produce transfers which are better than most commercially available 78 transfers (IMHO). Of course if you get the KAB, you should invest in several different sized styli from Expert (Kevin Barrett sells these too) and a variable speed TT (one that can extend at least from 70-82 or so; 65-85 is better).

[Phototone]

While it is best to have a purpose-built equalizer for old records, you can get quite good results by acquiring a common graphic equalizer as used in home component stereo systems, and these are often quite inexpensive as they were at one time made for low-end rack systems. You want to eliminate the high frequencies above the audio recorded on the disc to minimize surface noise, and boost (or cut) the low frequencies to achieve a flat (as possible) response. To use one of these inexpensive graphic equalizers, you have to have a stereo amp that has an input and output to accept a graphic equalizer, but these are very common, and can be found at goodwill stores and flea markets and popular auction sites.

[larryh]

I have a follow up here. I was able to purchase a 78 needle for the Dual 1009 from Bluz Broz. in Flordia. They ordered me a mid price 78 needle for it from france. I received it today, and was really expecting the same problems I incurred with the Elac Turntable with severe sounding surface issues. To my surprise it plays the records with no more issues, in fact less than my portable GE I was using to hear them. And that is with all the settings left in neutral as I do for regular vinyl recordings. The only odd thing I have run into so far is that a popular piano piece that sounds alright on the GE is muffled and seems to blur the sound on the Dual. While the classics I have played have been quite amazing sounding. So it must be something about the Decca surface that is causing the issues. I haven't yet tried any other pop albums, but I expect them to do fine most likely.

Larry

[larryh]

Some time it takes me a while to fix something. On the Dual which has a 10" turntable when it drops 12" records the first one makes quite a loud noise as it hits the turntable, enough to make you wonder why its not cracked. After that they are much quieter. So finally today I decided to put a 12" vinyl record on the turntable and then start the set. Should have done that a lot sooner, its reduced the sound to a much more normal landing. I wonder if the turntable always did that of if the rubber pad is at fault? I had to fix the little rubber pads on the 2009 spindle fashioning new ones from an old jar rubber ring which seems to be the right size. Most of the time it holds the stack up well, but evidently the mechanism is made for a smaller thickness than many of the older sets which can get hung up on end up hanging crooked on the spindle once in a while. A good set will normally drop as you expect but it can be rather scary.

I ended up putting the turntable on top of a old time radio cabinet that held a early tube radio and battery cabinet below. The amp I put in place of the radio and I put my two bookshelf Infinity speakers below. It really resembles the old console set ups I recall from the 40's and early 50's. I am going to make a grillwork to put over the front when I wish to hide the two speakers and give it a more original effect.

Larry