Panadola Diction

I’ve been slowly getting into vinyl since my grandfather gave me his box of old records last year. I picked up an old plasticy Bush mini-system, which is truly awful, and ran it through the Aux-In on my 10 year old Aiwa hi-fi thing, which isn’t exactly top of the range either.

Regardless, I amused myself, and irritated others, with the diverse collection of records, which range from great, to interesting, to hilarious. T-Rex, Bad Company, Joe Dolan, Perry Como, Charlie Pride, The Sounds of Sandhurst, 20 Hits of Mother Ireland, The Pope Visits Dublin, The Best of Bing, Now That’s What I Call Music (the very first one), Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlett, James Brown - the list goes on.

The initial novelty of it all was then backed up by a few gems I found in charity shops around Dublin (my best find so far being a haul of good-as-new Cure vinyl from some place on Aungier St), and now I’ve found myself unable to walk through town without digging through the 7’s in whatever record shop, and my little collection is starting to mushroom.

So, it’s time to upgrade. After consulting with a couple of people who seem to know what they are talking about, I’ve been pointed in the direction of Cloney Audio in Blackrock, and their range of Pro-Ject turntables. So, I think I’m going to get one of these:

It’s a Pro-Ject Genie, and I believe it should be a little better than my old Bush…. It’s pretty much their entry level model, but it’s supposed to be a good deal for the price, sound wise. And it looks rather delightful. I’ll be needing a pre-amp too I think, and it’ll still be going through the old Aiwa in the short term, but, all going well a full separates system might be on the cards soon.

Anyone got any turntabley advice before I bite the rotating bullet?

I collect turntables and have a wide range of freaky ones but the turntable that I use for my regular playing of vinyl is a standard Sony that I picked up for about €100 a few years back. I put it through a twenty year old JVC amp that I got for nothing about 14 years ago. Unless you’re a complete audiophile its pointless wasting loads of cash on fancy shit from Cloney. The improvement in sound by buying that kind of equipment is about 10% on buying some good value basic models from somewhere like Richer Sounds. Richer Sounds in Belfast will deliver anywhere in Ireland also.

Here’s a decent amp:
http://www.richersounds.ie/asp/product.asp?ObjectID=&Mode=0&CategoryID=2&SUB=16&ProductID=7

Here’s an Ariston turntable that’s an exact replica of my Sony (except its silver):
http://www.richersounds.ie/asp/product.asp?ObjectID=0&Mode=0&CategoryID=2&SUB=20&ProductID=66

Only cocksuckers and corrupt solicitors buy Bang&Olufsen gear.

Later,

Matt

Cheers Matt,

I see where you’re coming from, and I’m not an audiophile - I don’t think I would notice much difference in sound quality between something fancy and something, er, not fancy. But you could make that arguement about anything. I’m getting rid of the Bush because it plays records slightly too fast, and it’s extremely ugly.

I had also been looking at a Sony in Peat’s, which is €125, and would do nicely, but looks like a dog from space. The Pro-ject is twice the price, which is a bit much, but it’s a lovely piece of design, and is something I would presumably enjoy for a long time.

Anyway, cheers for the advice. I will continue to mull it over. I’m off to suck cock and swindle salt-of-the-earth punters now.

I have one of my dads Bob Dylan records that I recorded onto tape when I was about 12, then recorded onto Minidisc about 5 years ago, burnt onto a CD and now it’s on my PC and MP3 player, complete with the original vinyl crackles.

The sound’s a bit muffley becuse of it’s days as a tape, but dammit i love those crackles.

Just thought I;d share.

[...] have finally gotten around to purchasing this, and with the help of many wires, I’ve managed to rip some songs from my dusty old records. [...]