Samples from USB Turntables: Audio-Technica AT-LP2D-USB Options

[Knowzy]

Turntable Details

Audio-Technica AT-LP2D-USB
Street Price: $100 (US)
AT3600L Moving Magnet Cartridge
Belt Drive
Fully Automatic
Wow and Flutter: <0.25% (WRMS)
S/N: 50dB unweighted
Platter: Aluminum
Tracking force: 4.54g (Measured personally)
More in turntable guide

Photos

The Sample Clips
For background on the clips, see the "Preparation" thread.

All samples are FLAC and under 30 seconds.

Music

• CD LP Peg, Steely Dan, Aja
• CD LP On the Run, Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon
• CD LP Dare, Gorillaz, Demon Days
• CD LP Dum Diddly, The Black Eyed Peas, Monkey Business
• CD LP Rhiannon, Fleetwood Mac, Self-titled Album (Dusty, scratched and skipping album)

Test Tracks

• LP Motor running, no record, tonearm at rest
• LP Ultimate Analogue Test LP, Side A
• LP Ultimate Analogue Test LP, Side B
• LP Hi-Fi News (HFN002) Test LP, Side A
• LP Hi-Fi News (HFN002) Test LP, Side B
• LP Silent Groove, Ultimate Analogue Test LP, Side B, Track 6
• LP 1kHz Reference Tone, Ultimate Analogue Test LP, Side A, Track 1

I eagerly await your opinions and analysis on the samples.

This post has been edited by Knowzy: Apr 23 2009, 22:09

[Knowzy]

Magic Eraser is a sponge, not a marker - it's going to be in the cleaning aisle.

Got ya.

You can tell how much cleaning I do around the house. When I brought a couple boxes home, the wife tells me we already have a bunch of boxes in the garage!

Vinylphiles IME commonly recommend a thorough vacuum/clean of even brand-new LPs.

I seem to have misplaced the LP attachment to my vacuum cleaner.

Seriously, though, I looked around at acquiring vacuum system. I'm not a handy person, so the DIY route is not a viable option. Buying an assembled system means forgoing another USB turntable or two.

I did pick up the old, reliable Discwasher system, though. I'll clean the test LP, ME the stylus and then post another sample of the silent groove.

New pics up for Pink Floyd and Steely Dan samples, check the upload thread for the images and details....

The graphs look great. Thanks for that.

It's hard to derive any more from these plots without probably equivalent masters and/or the test record sweeps.

I'm working on test record samples after this post.

That brings up a good question: Which specific tracks make for the best samples? You can read the track list and details for Ultimate and Hi-Fi News are online.

Here's what I'm considering:

Ultimate

• Side A, Track 1: 1kHz tone (Done)
• Side A, Track 10: Wow & Flutter test Signal
• Side B, Track 1: Anti-skating Test, 315Hz sweep to +12dB
• Side B, Track 4: 1kHz vertical, out-of-phase signal
• Side B, Track 5: 1kHz to 10Hz sweep at -20dB, vertical
• Side B, Track 6: Silent groove (will re-do after cleaning)

Hi-Fi News

• Side B, Track 7: 20Hz to 20,000Hz sweep

Will that do it or are there any other important tracks? Are there any I shouldn't bother with?

[Axon]

I did pick up the old, reliable Discwasher system, though. I'll clean the test LP, ME the stylus and then post another sample of the silent groove.

Take that sh*t back and surreptitiously suggest to your wife that y'all really, really need a $30 pressurized steam cleaner from Walgreens. Look on several other vinyl forums (Audiogon, Audio Circles, Vinyl Asylum etc) on suggestions on how to use it. Combine that with some decent quality microfiber cloths and you'll probably have RCM-quality cleaning right there, just with some more legwork. Without spending any money on vinyl-specific equipment, too! Use a $10 carbon fiber brush to clean off superficial dust.

That brings up a good question: Which specific tracks make for the best samples? You can read the track list and details for Ultimate and Hi-Fi News are online. Here's what I'm considering:

Ultimate

• Side A, Track 1: 1kHz tone (Done)
• Side A, Track 10: Wow & Flutter test Signal
• Side B, Track 1: Anti-skating Test, 315Hz sweep to +12dB
• Side B, Track 4: 1kHz vertical, out-of-phase signal
• Side B, Track 5: 1kHz to 10Hz sweep at -20dB, vertical
• Side B, Track 6: Silent groove (will re-do after cleaning)

Hi-Fi News

• Side B, Track 7: 20Hz to 20,000Hz sweep

Will that do it or are there any other important tracks? Are there any I shouldn't bother with?

First of all, IMHO, don't clean the test records unless you can see specific issues with them that require cleaning. You're putting a lot of trust into the cleaner to not negatively affect the test record results, and there are several (admittedly theoretical and unobserved) ways that can happen. Brush scratches record, dirt embedded in brush scratches record, dirt in brush is left on record, cleaning agent leaves residue on record, cleaning agent + brush moves the dirt around without picking it up, etc. For most other records, there is a good enough potential benefit of reduced noise that cleaning makes sense, but most test records are very well manufactured and maintained, and are also more expensive. That said, it's not the end of the world if you clean the records - no results are compromised - but if we hear a hiss in one of the channels on the silent bands and varies based on the position of the record, I'm going to wonder.

Second, just post the entire needledrops of Ultimate and HFNRR. I can use almost all of the former and most of the latter. And when you're done with all the tables, please re-record each test record with the first turntable you played it on, to establish how much the results changed as a result of all the plays.

This post has been edited by Axon: Feb 20 2009, 05:54