Just bought a record player, and uh... now what?

[Canadave]

So the girlfriend and I have wanted a record player for a while. We recently moved into a new (read: bigger) apartment, and since we now have the room we found an used one for sale on eBay, a JVC L-A31 from the early 80s.

Now all I need to do is figure out how to set the bloody thing up properly. Does anyone here know what I need to get it working properly? There are two phono audio cables, a left and a right channel, but as I understand it I'll need an amplifier between the player and the speakers, is that right? Or can they be hooked up directly to speakers? I'd appreciate any help anyone can give, I'm a bit of a n00b at this...

 

[Rackon]

Do you have an integrated amp or a receiver? You will need one or the other to play music from your turntable. You can't connect a record player to speakers directly.

I would recommend a vintage receiver if you don't have one - for a variety of reasons, but mainly because a well preserved, inexpensive vintage receiver in good condition will sound much better than a cheap new HT receiver. Also, most HT receivers do not have a phono preamp section and a vintage receiver will. An integrated amp with phono preamp section will also work. (Most audiophiles have a separate phono preamplifier and amplifier but that's not necessary for a neophyte.)I'm not familiar with your specific model, but do you know if it came with a cartridge and stylus?

BTW, vinyl sounds wonderful, congrats on your new acquisition. There are still many "new" turntables being manufactred for the specialist audio industry. There are thousands of Luddites all over the world who prefer analog over digital sound and an entire industry devoted to serving them.

A good place to go for all things audio is Audio Asylum - click on the vinyl and/or the vintage forums. The folks there will be glad to help you out!

http://www.audioasylum.com

 

[Trekker4747]

So the girlfriend and I have wanted a record player for a while.

Are you posting from 1955?

 

[Canadave]

Do you have an integrated amp or a receiver? You will need one or the other to play music from your turntable. You can't connect a record player to speakers directly.

I would recommend a vintage receiver if you don't have one - for a variety of reasons, but mainly because a well preserved, inexpensive vintage receiver in good condition will sound much better than a cheap new HT receiver. Also, most HT receivers do not have a phono preamp section and a vintage receiver will. An integrated amp with phono preamp section will also work. (Most audiophiles have a separate phono preamplifier and amplifier but that's not necessary for a neophyte.)I'm not familiar with your specific model, but do you know if it came with a cartridge and stylus?

It came with a cartridge, but there was no needle, but I was able to find a site that sells styli and have ordered one that should fit the player. I am correct in thinking the stylus and cartridge are different components, right? As I said, I'm a total n00b.

Thanks for the advice, btw. I'd been trying to Google what I needed, but it was hard to find anywhere with anything clearly laid-out. I'll be poking around to see if I can find a decent receiver somewhere.

EDIT: Found a Kenwood 2090 receiver from the mid-70s for sale on a local classified site. Seems like it's a decent-looking receiver, so I contacted the seller to see if it's still out there.

 

[SPOCKED]

Yes, you'll need an amp. My last turntable (a 1980 Sanyo Q50 -and what a beauty she was) plugged into my colossal, 120 watts Wintec amplifer. Then Van Halen's 1984 and Michael Jackson's Thriller made the whole wide world a beautiful, happy place

 

[Rackon]

Do you have an integrated amp or a receiver? You will need one or the other to play music from your turntable. You can't connect a record player to speakers directly.

I would recommend a vintage receiver if you don't have one - for a variety of reasons, but mainly because a well preserved, inexpensive vintage receiver in good condition will sound much better than a cheap new HT receiver. Also, most HT receivers do not have a phono preamp section and a vintage receiver will. An integrated amp with phono preamp section will also work. (Most audiophiles have a separate phono preamplifier and amplifier but that's not necessary for a neophyte.)I'm not familiar with your specific model, but do you know if it came with a cartridge and stylus?

It came with a cartridge, but there was no needle, but I was able to find a site that sells styli and have ordered one that should fit the player. I am correct in thinking the stylus and cartridge are different components, right? As I said, I'm a total n00b.

Thanks for the advice, btw. I'd been trying to Google what I needed, but it was hard to find anywhere with anything clearly laid-out. I'll be poking around to see if I can find a decent receiver somewhere.

EDIT: Found a Kenwood 2090 receiver from the mid-70s for sale on a local classified site. Seems like it's a decent-looking receiver, so I contacted the seller to see if it's still out there.

There are some excellent vintage Kenwood receivers out there. The best are from the 70s and early 80s, pre digital tuning for the FM section, so by all means check that one out! If it's in working condition it should sound fine - sometimes the caps or little light bulbs need replaced, but these things are from the "golden age" of stereo. I still have my vintage Yamaha and Luxman receivers.

Yup, stylus and cartridge are separate. You will need to align both correctly.

The specialist audio sites are where you need to be, since you've found a receiver, head on over to the Vintage Asylum at AA. Those guys (and gals) will walk you through everything, plus there are several Canadians who participate as well.

Whatever you do, stay away from Bose speakers.

Enjoy the music!

 

[Canadave]

Do you have an integrated amp or a receiver? You will need one or the other to play music from your turntable. You can't connect a record player to speakers directly.

I would recommend a vintage receiver if you don't have one - for a variety of reasons, but mainly because a well preserved, inexpensive vintage receiver in good condition will sound much better than a cheap new HT receiver. Also, most HT receivers do not have a phono preamp section and a vintage receiver will. An integrated amp with phono preamp section will also work. (Most audiophiles have a separate phono preamplifier and amplifier but that's not necessary for a neophyte.)I'm not familiar with your specific model, but do you know if it came with a cartridge and stylus?

It came with a cartridge, but there was no needle, but I was able to find a site that sells styli and have ordered one that should fit the player. I am correct in thinking the stylus and cartridge are different components, right? As I said, I'm a total n00b.

Thanks for the advice, btw. I'd been trying to Google what I needed, but it was hard to find anywhere with anything clearly laid-out. I'll be poking around to see if I can find a decent receiver somewhere.

EDIT: Found a Kenwood 2090 receiver from the mid-70s for sale on a local classified site. Seems like it's a decent-looking receiver, so I contacted the seller to see if it's still out there.

There are some excellent vintage Kenwood receivers out there. The best are from the 70s and early 80s, pre digital tuning for the FM section, so by all means check that one out! If it's in working condition it should sound fine - sometimes the caps or little light bulbs need replaced, but these things are from the "golden age" of stereo. I still have my vintage Yamaha and Luxman receivers.

Good to hear. The one I'm looking at is from 1976, according to the ad, looks like a solid little machine from the pictures. It's not the most powerful model out there, as far as I can tell, but we're on a bit of budget, so I'm not too worried about that.

Yup, stylus and cartridge are separate. You will need to align both correctly.

Sounds like an adventure I'll have to undertake once I get there...

The specialist audio sites are where you need to be, since you've found a receiver, head on over to the Vintage Asylum at AA. Those guys (and gals) will walk you through everything, plus there are several Canadians who participate as well.

Whatever you do, stay away from Bose speakers.

Enjoy the music!

I will! And thanks again for your help, it's always nice getting pointed in the right direction!

 

[Caliza]

So the girlfriend and I have wanted a record player for a while.

Are you posting from 1955?

Actually he is. I got him a TARDIS for his birthday last year, I thought he'd have bragged all about it over here!

~Cat

(aka "The Girlfriend" )

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Whatever you do, stay away from Bose speakers.

This.

Come to think of it, has Bose ever made any piece of equipment that didn't suck?

 

[Technomage]

This New Zealand website sells styli/cartridges for record players to international customers, and also has a useful FAQ page that will probably answer most of your questions:

www.styli.co.nz

I still have a 1981 Sanyo 2003 full rack stereo (turntable, cassette player, am/fm tuner, amp), with a massive 35 watts rms of power! Bought it new, and most of it's in near new condition, although some parts seem to no longer function probably due to it's old age, rather than over-use. The turntable (record player) is a direct drive strobed model, which means it doesn't have any drive belts that can break or stretch. Direct drives are supposedly the better type to buy, due to this. As others have said, you can't beat the sound a good old analogue record player can produce! LOL! ;-)

 

[Pingfah]

One of my friends asked if he could put a record on at my house once, I let him, and he tried to put it on with the needle starting in the centre.

I guess if you've never used one before you'd not know, but I thought it was hilarious. I couldn't believe anybody could not know how to do such a simple thing that was second nature to everyone just 20 years ago.

I'm glad the popularity of vinyl is surging again though, I don't think it's ever going to die out entirely. There was a while in the 90s and early 00s that it was very hard to get new albums on vinyl, but the DJing craze and audiophiles have kept it alive long enough for the public to come round to it again.

 

[Rackon]

Canadave, unless your speakers are big and terribly inefficient, don't worry about mega-watts. Better to have 25-35 quality watts per channel than 100 watts of distorted crud. Those great old receivers - Kenwoods, Yamahas, Sanyos, Luxmans et al were good sounding, and most list their power ratings on the conservative side. I had a Kenwood receiver in college and absolutely loved it.

Nope, I don't think Bose has ever made anything that didn't suck to a large or small degree - absolutely the most over-rated gear and misleading advertising ever. They sure know how to market though.

 

[SeerSGB]

Whatever you do, stay away from Bose speakers.

This.

Come to think of it, has Bose ever made any piece of equipment that didn't suck?

No, and they charge damn well for the suck. But there are people that swear by them...right up till they hear a superior system (which is typically piece mealed from a lot of quality pieces instead of just "out of the box").


As for turntables: I've been crawling through local 2nd hand shops and Catholic Charities looking for furniture and finding a ton of old Jazz and Orchestral performance albums that aren't even on CD much less online for download. It's been enough to make me seriously consider getting an turntable again. Thinking of getting something like this a touch of the modern with a touch of camp, IMO.

 

[Caliza]

One of my friends asked if he could put a record on at my house once, I let him, and he tried to put it on with the needle starting in the centre.

I guess if you've never used one before you'd not know, but I thought it was hilarious. I couldn't believe anybody could not know how to do such a simple thing that was second nature to everyone just 20 years ago.

LMFAO! I was operating record players at age 3 and it was always just..instinctive...

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

So the girlfriend and I have wanted a record player for a while.

Are you posting from 1955?

Are you? Turntables have been back in vogue for some time now.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

I bought one with a built in amp.

 

[SeerSGB]

So the girlfriend and I have wanted a record player for a while.

Are you posting from 1955?

Are you? Turntables have been back in vogue for some time now.

They never really went out with people that like the older...warmth of vinyl, or for people that can't get a lot of older music and/or performances with current formats.

I listened to a digitally "cleaned/restored" Beatles album recently (which one escapes me at the moment) and it just didn't sound "right". It didn't sound bad, but there was something missing from it.

My last turntable punked a couple years before I got married. And I didn't think anything of it cause I was already moving over to digital. 7 years later, and I'm looking backwards cause a lot of the older performances just aren't out there for one, and there's something about going digging through old stacks of records and not really looking for something and finding a gem that you can't get playing around on a I-Tunes account.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

Are you posting from 1955?

Are you? Turntables have been back in vogue for some time now.

They never really went out with people that like the older...warmth of vinyl, or for people that can't get a lot of older music and/or performances with current formats.

I listened to a digitally "cleaned/restored" Beatles album recently (which one escapes me at the moment) and it just didn't sound "right". It didn't sound bad, but there was something missing from it.

My last turntable punked a couple years before I got married. And I didn't think anything of it cause I was already moving over to digital. 7 years later, and I'm looking backwards cause a lot of the older performances just aren't out there for one, and there's something about going digging through old stacks of records and not really looking for something and finding a gem that you can't get playing around on a I-Tunes account.

Yeah, but they've had a resurgence in mainstream popularity lately. Even Best Buy sells vinyl copies of new albums.

 

[Canadave]

This New Zealand website sells styli/cartridges for record players to international customers, and also has a useful FAQ page that will probably answer most of your questions:

www.styli.co.nz

That's actually where I ordered our new stylus from. I'll be sure to check out that FAQ, though, thanks!

I still have a 1981 Sanyo 2003 full rack stereo (turntable, cassette player, am/fm tuner, amp), with a massive 35 watts rms of power! Bought it new, and most of it's in near new condition, although some parts seem to no longer function probably due to it's old age, rather than over-use. The turntable (record player) is a direct drive strobed model, which means it doesn't have any drive belts that can break or stretch. Direct drives are supposedly the better type to buy, due to this.

Ours is a direct drive, which I'm fairly thankful for. Fussing around with belts in a piece of old technology I'm not familiar with sounds like a recipe for disaster. And it does look like it works well, I plugged it in last night to see, and the table spun very smoothly, so that's a good sign so far.

I listened to a digitally "cleaned/restored" Beatles album recently (which one escapes me at the moment) and it just didn't sound "right". It didn't sound bad, but there was something missing from it.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I found the "Naked" version of Let It Be a while ago, which was kind of a misnomer as it was rather heavily "restored". It sounds good, but considering what they were trying to do it's paradoxically polished. I've found the same with the remasters of some Rush albums, they sound good, but there's also a little something that's missing...

My last turntable punked a couple years before I got married. And I didn't think anything of it cause I was already moving over to digital. 7 years later, and I'm looking backwards cause a lot of the older performances just aren't out there for one, and there's something about going digging through old stacks of records and not really looking for something and finding a gem that you can't get playing around on a I-Tunes account.

Yeah, I've already had a hell of a lot of fun poking through the records at a local store, trying to figure out what I wanted to buy to start my collection.

As for the "Why did we buy a record player?" question raised by Trekker, it's true, they're definitely coming back into style. Lots of bands are releasing material on vinyl again, and there's also something that's just damn cool about popping a Beatles or Led Zeppelin album on a record player. I have several friends who own record players, as well... they're pretty popular among students. A friend and former co-worker of mine actually wrote this ode to the record player, which I think sums up the feelings of many people on the matter.

 

[SeerSGB]

Another plus to old vinyl: Album art just fucking rocked.