U-Turn Orbit Turntable

Kornbread

Looking for an inexpensive turntable, and at a base price of $179 it appears pretty solid.  Lot of good reviews but there are also a few really rotten ones out there.  Anyone here have any experience with one?  Any other turntables out there, as good as or better than, for the price?  Have some new vinyl coming that needs spun. 

jr@mac

Apparently Fluance builds a pretty nice budget TT. I have been considering it myself.

Tom_S

The Music Hall MMF 2.2 looks like a decent table. It's a little more money though - on sale @ $225 at Music Direct. I'm guessing they are closing these out - that's 1/2 of the MSRP. It comes with a rebranded Ortofon cartridge.

An aside - I was looking at the Mag-Lev table today. Some user videos show a lot of wobble in the platter. Not what I would expect for $3K even considering how novel the whole concept is. 

Kornbread

What ... a levitating platter but no laser?

Turntables can be rather sensitive with picking up vibrations, think that floating platter would eliminate that? 

Nicholas_23

Guys , this isnt PE , you can post links 

Kornbread

U-Turn Orbit http://https//uturnaudio.com/products/orbit-customMusic

Music Direct Music Hall mmf2 http://https//www.musicdirect.com/biggest-holiday-specials/music-hall-mmf-22-turntable 

TAS ELP laser turntable http://http//www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/elp-lt-1lrc-laser-turntable/   

Kornbread

Went with the Music Hall mmf 2.2 ($450 on sale for $225). Reviews cite good after sales service and quality, comes with elliptical Ortofon cartridge preinstalled, and unlike some of the other models, all the important stuff on the tonearm can be adjusted.

Thanks for the tips guys and thanks for the heads up @Tom_S ; on the MMF. 

FYI, several reviews cited hit or miss quality, and poor customer service with the Fluance brand.     

Time to choose a phone pre, looking heavily at the Shitt Mani.

D1PP1N

Im quite happy with my music hall mmf. 

Tom_S

Glad I could help. I hope it works well for you. It seems like a great deal considering the new mmf-2.3 is going for $750. It looks like all they did was change the arm wand to carbon fiber? I was tempted to buy the 2.2 myself, but I have too much gear in the basement already and no where to put another turntable...and I really don't use the ones I have all that much.

Kornbread

I know where you could put one of those turntables.  You still got my address?  UPS delivers. 

Kornbread

Ordered the Music Hall MMF 2.2 from Music Direct on 12-31.  Their website said 3-7 days before it shipped.  That's fine.  So I've been anxiously awaiting the santa in brown all week.  Finally sent them an email. 

They cannot fill the back-order and have cancelled my order.

Music Direct, if you can't fill the order, fine ... but at least have the decency to let me know you have canceled the order so I'm not wasting my time waiting for the damn thing. 

But "If you would like to discuss pricing on another order for any item you are interested in please call our sales team at XXX ANYWHERE BUT MUSIC DIRECT! 

Oh Hell no!   

Tom_S

It amazes me how often this kind of thing happens. You would think with modern inventory control, they could figure this crap out.

Kornbread

They should have cared enough about a customer to let them know it wasn't going to happen.

They could have then followed that up with a similar offer and kept in good standings with the customer.  As it now stands, they have one less person who will do business with them.    

kennyk

I will suggest trying the used market. Craig's list, thrift stores, pawn shops, etc. There maybe some selling cause santa was generous.

Kornbread

  No good stuff and high prices, but he had several albums from my earlier days so I picked up a few more pieces of vinyl.

Jethro Tull, Stormwatch - Not familiar with this album but have Songs From the Wood and like it.

Foghat - The one with I Just Want to Make Love to You,  classic. 

Deo, The Last In Line - The album takes me back to the younger days.   

Led Zeppelin, The one without a label, has Stairway to Heaven, gotta have that. 

Van Halen, Van Halen - Jamie's Cryin, Ain't Talking Bout Love, back when David L. Roth was still with them.

Van Halen, 1984 - Man, this album brings back memories of a young punk kid having a good time and trying to get laid.  

 Just have to find a decent TT now.          

kennyk

There won't be much this soon after the holidays. You have to wait for them to restock or get lucky on a return. you could check for "open box", returns and refurbished.

Kornbread

What's a Dual 1215 "needs stylus" worth? 

Tom_S

Depends on what kind of shape it's in. Dirt cheap on Ebay if they need a little work. I wouldn't pay over $100 even if it's very clean and running smooth. Is it local so you can test it?

Here's a good thread that talks about the Dual 12xx line - https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?t=75089

Tom_S

My main table is actually a lowly Sansui SR-626 I found at a garage sale years ago. It sounds surprisingly good. Fully manual direct drive - I think it's a knife edge horizontal bearing in the arm. They seem to fly under the radar and rarely show up on Ebay. Maybe they didn't make many of that model or people keep them because they don't have many problems. 

Kornbread

Not local.  I'll keep looking. 

Kornbread

I just posted this on PETT but I know some of you guys have a certain dislike for that place so ...

You guys have been encouraging me to hit the thrift stores in search of a good turntable. As luck would have it, we got the weekend off, which gave me a chance to get some homework finished and part of a day for me time.

Well, I can honestly say there is exactly 1 turntable within an 80 mile round-trip of my home. It wasn't a keeper.

But I did score some vinyl at the local flea-markets and Goodwill. If Goodwill was a little closer I'd be hitting it at least once a week.

This stuff may not be collectors items but for $<40 there's some good music in the stack ... and that's not all of them. I love finding the old cloth like binders containing multiple albums and their story book. In this one the pictures are printed on different paper and pasted onto the story pages, the vinyl looks like brand new. Kool!

Kornbread

Pulled the cheap ole' TT from the attic.  Fisher mt9050 (sanyo) and found out it has a p-mount RadioShack rx1500 cartridge which appears to be a rebranded Audio Technica at102 w/ellipitical needle.  The needle is available for <$20. 

I don't see how to change tracking force but the counter weight can be set to adjust downforce.  If only downforce can be adjusted, is it worth it to seek out a 'better' p-mount cartridge in the never ending quest for better sound or just replace the needle?  Prices run the gauntlet. 

What about 78's?  I have several and it appears they require some kind of special needle?    

 

PaulEbert

If that Royal Ballet Gala Performance set is stereo and in good shape, it's worth a lot of money! How much? Well, at one point it went for over $1000 in mint condition, but collectable audiophile vinyl is not what it used to be. In all my years of collecting, I've never seen an original stereo copy.

PaulEbert

Kornbread said:

Pulled the cheap ole' TT from the attic.  Fisher mt9050 (sanyo) and found out it has a p-mount RadioShack rx1500 cartridge which appears to be a rebranded Audio Technica at102 w/ellipitical needle.  The needle is available for <$20. 

I don't see how to change tracking force but the counter weight can be set to adjust downforce.  If only downforce can be adjusted, is it worth it to seek out a 'better' p-mount cartridge in the never ending quest for better sound or just replace the needle?  Prices run the gauntlet. 

What about 78's?  I have several and it appears they require some kind of special needle?    

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Down force is tracking force. You might be thinking of anti-skating force which is the tendency of the tonearm / cartridge to move inward towards the spindle. Less expensive tables didn't have anti-skating.

78s absolutely require a special needle.

Kornbread

I have several albums set in a cloth like binder similar to this one.  How does one go about finding their lineage?  The vinyl is fairly thick, in my hands it feels common to the other red dogs, maybe a touch stiffer which to me usually indicates it's an older record.  Many 78's are thick as a plate ... and just as easily broken.  Only thing I found was the book was printed by Skira and a 'printing' date of 1959.  The lettering on the inside groove of the record is too small for me to read.  The binder and book shows some age like would be expected if someone put it on a shelf and left it there for a loooong time.  Apparently technology at the time meant the pictures were printed? onto different paper which was then cut out and pasted into the pages of the book.  The paste has started to let go on several pages.  It also has the smell of old vinyl.       

Kornbread

Woops, got confused and thought you were referring to the Handel album. 

Trying to figure this record lineage thing out.  It looks like The Royal Ballet has matrix # side1 is J2RY-7958 side2 is J2RP-7955, side3 is J2RP-7956, and side4 is J2RY-7961.  Side 2&3 have LD 6065-2 while side 1&4 have LDS6065-1 and says living stereo.  I find the J2RP here but not the J2RY?  It's almost like one is stereo and one mono?    https://www.discogs.com/Ernest-Ansermet-The-Royal-Ballet-Gala-Performances/release/6731288   

PaulEbert

Yes, one is stereo and the other mono (or, it's mislabeled, only playing them would say for sure). Does the case say LDS6065 or LD6065 on the bottom of the black edge?  LDS was stereo. It may be that they wore out one or the other and consolidated two sets into one or got a stereo replacement disk.  Do you see -#S anywhere on the matrix number where # is an integer (for example, J2RY-7958-1S)?  That tells the stamper number and, typically, the lower the better sonically (and collector value-wise).  This particular set wasn't sold very long here in the US, so any copy is likely to be early.  The Soria series (which this is part of, along with the Beecham Messiah) didn't have the Living Stereo banner on the top.

Regardless, it's a stupendous sounding recording. I have a recent (2000 or so) vinyl reissue (all analog, of course) and it sounds phenomenal.  The dynamics and bass are at least as good as almost any CD and the string sound and sense of space are vastly superior to any CD.  As was typical, especially of ballet music, Ansermet did a fantastic job.

The Beecham Messiah is controversial performance-wise. He kind of pulled out all the stops as if it were composed by Mahler instead of Handel. Sort of the opposite of the "original instruments" philosophy.

Kornbread

Have the turntable up and running.  Don't feel it's worth messing with any further.  It's nearly impossible to get tracking weight right.  Voices sound fuzzy and it doesn't track very well. 

On another note, the records I recently washed with that Knosti look nice and clean but they sound like there's still a ton of dirt on the records.  Going to try a repeat wash, then rinse with water, then micro-fibre towel and see what happens.        

jhollander

here's a diversion you might like 

Kornbread

Pretty neat trying to understand how records work.

Hit Goodwill again.  Don't recall running across many rca dynagroove, MHS Erato???, Deutsche Grammophone Gesellschaft, or a London ffss before.  The rest are red dogs.    

 

Ed_Perkins

I don't have a TT, but had to google Dynagroove.  Interesting article on Wikipedia and the hubbub it caused with the "golden ears" at the time.