New Turntable Imminent

[Al ears]

Just been chatting with Jeff (Audiomods) who said the 1042 is fine, so just about to place the order via e-mail

Excellent choice Sir, enjoy when you get it.

Thanks Al Jeff said it would take around a month to supply. He'll be sending it direct to Inspire, so probably very shortly after that I get my new TT. The problem now though is choosing a colour!

After that you have problems with colour? Colour of what?

 

[Freddy58]

Just been chatting with Jeff (Audiomods) who said the 1042 is fine, so just about to place the order via e-mail

Excellent choice Sir, enjoy when you get it.

Thanks Al Jeff said it would take around a month to supply. He'll be sending it direct to Inspire, so probably very shortly after that I get my new TT. The problem now though is choosing a colour!

After that you have problems with colour? Colour of what?

Sorry, colour of turntable.

 

[Al ears]

Just been chatting with Jeff (Audiomods) who said the 1042 is fine, so just about to place the order via e-mail

Excellent choice Sir, enjoy when you get it.

Thanks Al Jeff said it would take around a month to supply. He'll be sending it direct to Inspire, so probably very shortly after that I get my new TT. The problem now though is choosing a colour!

After that you have problems with colour? Colour of what?

Sorry, colour of turntable.

Aha! The plinthy bit you mean....... well that's going to be tricky. But rest assured, it is not going to effect sound quality........

 

[Al ears]

All this talk of the Goldring 1042 makes me reminiscent of my (sky blue) Rega Planar 3 with 1042 and Rega's optional tungsten counterweight that I had for eleven years between 1996 and 2007. (Plus two replacement 1042 stylii during that period.)

It had a tendency for some very 'dark' and even 'cavernous' bass with reggae content (especially Sly & Robbie at their best in records like 'the Dub Factor' and 'Sheffield Steel').

Try and play a mint condition copy of XTC's 'English Settlement' double LP with the 1042. Made for each other!

The 1042 is THE moving magnet for all those 1980s, 45rpm 12" singles too.

The 1042 was / is a great all-rounder for the money. It has been around as long as it has for a reason.

 

[Freddy58]

Just been chatting with Jeff (Audiomods) who said the 1042 is fine, so just about to place the order via e-mail

Excellent choice Sir, enjoy when you get it.

Thanks Al Jeff said it would take around a month to supply. He'll be sending it direct to Inspire, so probably very shortly after that I get my new TT. The problem now though is choosing a colour!

After that you have problems with colour? Colour of what?

Sorry, colour of turntable.

Aha! The plinthy bit you mean....... well that's going to be tricky. But rest assured, it is not going to effect sound quality........

True, but it could affect my quality of life. You know, the mrs

 

[Al ears]

Just been chatting with Jeff (Audiomods) who said the 1042 is fine, so just about to place the order via e-mail

Excellent choice Sir, enjoy when you get it.

Thanks Al Jeff said it would take around a month to supply. He'll be sending it direct to Inspire, so probably very shortly after that I get my new TT. The problem now though is choosing a colour!

After that you have problems with colour? Colour of what?

Sorry, colour of turntable.

Aha! The plinthy bit you mean....... well that's going to be tricky. But rest assured, it is not going to effect sound quality........

True, but it could affect my quality of life. You know, the mrs

Indeed, it certainly pays to keep them happy.

 

[Freddy58]

Estimated time for the completion of MY Audiomods 5 is 22nd Feb, so I figure the deck should be with me a week after that, at most *smile*

 

[Lost Angeles]

The big problem is which LP will you play first. Enjoy.

my go to record is probably Tango in the Night

It looks looks this could be re-issued in February this year, I wouldn't mind a 2 LP 45rpm copy.

 

[Freddy58]

and will be posted to 'Inspire' tomorrow *smile*

 

[Freddy58]

Turned up today, and I have to say that to my eyes, it looks fab! All I have to do now is set up the arm. Yeah....right *scratch_one-s_head*

 

[Al ears]

Turned up today, and I have to say that to my eyes, it looks fab! All I have to do now is set up the arm. Yeah....right *scratch_one-s_head*

Have the right equipment to hand and take your time. What exactly did Inspire do then just fit it??

 

[Freddy58]

Turned up today, and I have to say that to my eyes, it looks fab! All I have to do now is set up the arm. Yeah....right *scratch_one-s_head*

Have the right equipment to hand and take your time. What exactly did Inspire do then just fit it??

Yes. I imagine it's somewhere near, but will need fine tuning.

I'll be ok with the setting up, apart from the VTA thing. It sounds a bit confusing when you read the instructions. I also need some scales, any recommendations?

Edit : All connections are in place and cartridge fitted, carried out by 'Inspire', just in case I gave the wrong impression.

 

[Al ears]

Turned up today, and I have to say that to my eyes, it looks fab! All I have to do now is set up the arm. Yeah....right *scratch_one-s_head*

Have the right equipment to hand and take your time. What exactly did Inspire do then just fit it??

Yes. I imagine it's somewhere near, but will need fine tuning.

I'll be ok with the setting up, apart from the VTA thing. It sounds a bit confusing when you read the instructions. I also need some scales, any recommendations?

Edit : All connections are in place and cartridge fitted, carried out by 'Inspire', just in case I gave the wrong impression.

Nice of them to fit cartridge as this can be trickiest part. VTA not a huge contributor to SQ unless it's miles off. Easiest rule of thumb is to set tracking weight correctly then put an lp on deck without motor going and try to see if flat bottom of cartridge is parallel to the record surface with the cartridge down in a playing position.

Scales can vary in price dramatically depending on if manual pivot-type or digital electronic. Don't pay over the top just because it has a hifi manufacturers name on it as most come from the same factory in China. I always go back to my old Shure SFG2 manual scales especially with moving coil cartridges.

 

[Freddy58]

Turned up today, and I have to say that to my eyes, it looks fab! All I have to do now is set up the arm. Yeah....right *scratch_one-s_head*

Have the right equipment to hand and take your time. What exactly did Inspire do then just fit it??

Yes. I imagine it's somewhere near, but will need fine tuning.

I'll be ok with the setting up, apart from the VTA thing. It sounds a bit confusing when you read the instructions. I also need some scales, any recommendations?

Edit : All connections are in place and cartridge fitted, carried out by 'Inspire', just in case I gave the wrong impression.

Nice of them to fit cartridge as this can be trickiest part. VTA not a huge contributor to SQ unless it's miles off. Easiest rule of thumb is to set tracking weight correctly then put an lp on deck without motor going and try to see if flat bottom of cartridge is parallel to the record surface with the cartridge down in a playing position.

Scales can vary in price dramatically depending on if manual pivot-type or digital electronic. Don't pay over the top just because it has a hifi manufacturers name on it as most come from the same factory in China. I always go back to my old Shure SFG2 manual scales especially with moving coil cartridges.

Thanks for that Al. I see they have those scales on Amazon, for around £30, so I'll place my order

 

[Al ears]

Turned up today, and I have to say that to my eyes, it looks fab! All I have to do now is set up the arm. Yeah....right *scratch_one-s_head*

Have the right equipment to hand and take your time. What exactly did Inspire do then just fit it??

Yes. I imagine it's somewhere near, but will need fine tuning.

I'll be ok with the setting up, apart from the VTA thing. It sounds a bit confusing when you read the instructions. I also need some scales, any recommendations?

Edit : All connections are in place and cartridge fitted, carried out by 'Inspire', just in case I gave the wrong impression.

Nice of them to fit cartridge as this can be trickiest part. VTA not a huge contributor to SQ unless it's miles off. Easiest rule of thumb is to set tracking weight correctly then put an lp on deck without motor going and try to see if flat bottom of cartridge is parallel to the record surface with the cartridge down in a playing position.

Scales can vary in price dramatically depending on if manual pivot-type or digital electronic. Don't pay over the top just because it has a hifi manufacturers name on it as most come from the same factory in China. I always go back to my old Shure SFG2 manual scales especially with moving coil cartridges.

Thanks for that Al. I see they have those scales on Amazon, for around £30, so I'll place my order

They have gone up a bit in price then. They are basic but will last for years. The digital ones may be more accurate but there are some rubbish ones out there and some very expensive ones also. I have a set but cannot recall manufacturers.

 

[Freddy58]

I've ordered them. I took the last one in stock, apparently, so hopefully they do actually it. I can carry on with some of the setting up, but will have to wait for the scales to arrive before I can actually play anything.

A few words about the deck/arm. I have to say that 'Inspire' have done a great job. I went for a light American oak veneer, and the finish is superb, no sign of any joins. Also, the colour matches perfectly with my rack (HiFi racks). I had thought about going with a contrasting colour, but was a bit worried about an odd looking clash. As it is, I'm very happy with my choice *smile* As to the arm, the build quality is top notch, AFAIC, I don't know how he can produce it at that price, given the amount of time he has to devote to the manufacture. There are two finishes available, matt or polished. It took a while to decide, but opted in the end on the matt finish as I thought it would look better against the frosted/white platter. Again, I think I made the right choice. So, it all looks great, time will tell if it actually sounds better, to my ears *smile*

If I could, I'd post a pic *dash1*

 

[Freddy58]

Ok, scales turned up and have been spending a bit of time setting up. I wasn't sure the bottom of the cart was entirely flat, so following the advice given in the paperwork that came with the tonearm it was time to take off the cart, great....not. The advice given was to use a 17mm gauge that should sit flat on the underside of the head-shell when placed on a record. Unfortunately, as mine isn't the micrometer version of this arm, it didn't come with this gauge. No problem though, I borrowed a 'slip' from work. It turned out to be spot-on. Then it was time to re-fit the cart, blummin' fiddly! That done, next I had to set the cart to the two 'null' points using the card template that came with the arm. That wasn't too bad but took quite a bit of messing about, to and fro. I think I pretty much have it spot on as the overhang seems to be correct, at just over 17mm. Ok, now the stylus tracking force. I have to say the Shure stylus force gauge was a doddle to use (thanks Al

) and adjustment was easy as there's two counterweights on the arm, the main/heavy counterweight and a smaller one on a thread. Bias, I can't quite get to grips with this. Someone gave me a test record that has a blank section (no grooves) and the idea is that once the stylus is lowered onto this the arm should stay put. There is however an initial movement towards the centre but it soon settles, so maybe it's only the amount of time it takes for the full tracking force to come into effect? I have played with the anti-skate and on the face of it I have somewhere near, but I'm not 100% confident.

ok, time to put on some music. Initially I couldn't detect any difference, but I'm beginning to notice certain things, especially on good recordings. Percussive sounds seem to have more punch and focus and I'm noticing bass-lines that I hadn't noticed before. Whilst listening to a Supertramp tune, the bass drum was there right in front of me, it was quite uncanny! At this stage I'm not noticing any difference in HF detail, but things seem more precise. Of course, these are my impressions and no doubt there will be expectation bias playing a part. It would have been useful to do a side-by-side, but I have to rely on memory and impressions, not very helpful *biggrin*

New cart? *biggrin*

 

[Al ears]

Ok, scales turned up and have been spending a bit of time setting up. I wasn't sure the bottom of the cart was entirely flat, so following the advice given in the paperwork that came with the tonearm it was time to take off the cart, great....not. The advice given was to use a 17mm gauge that should sit flat on the underside of the head-shell when placed on a record. Unfortunately, as mine isn't the micrometer version of this arm, it didn't come with this gauge. No problem though, I borrowed a 'slip' from work. It turned out to be spot-on. Then it was time to re-fit the cart, blummin' fiddly! That done, next I had to set the cart to the two 'null' points using the card template that came with the arm. That wasn't too bad but took quite a bit of messing about, to and fro. I think I pretty much have it spot on as the overhang seems to be correct, at just over 17mm. Ok, now the stylus tracking force. I have to say the Shure stylus force gauge was a doddle to use (thanks Al ) and adjustment was easy as there's two counterweights on the arm, the main/heavy counterweight and a smaller one on a thread. Bias, I can't quite get to grips with this. Someone gave me a test record that has a blank section (no grooves) and the idea is that once the stylus is lowered onto this the arm should stay put. There is however an initial movement towards the centre but it soon settles, so maybe it's only the amount of time it takes for the full tracking force to come into effect? I have played with the anti-skate and on the face of it I have somewhere near, but I'm not 100% confident.

ok, time to put on some music. Initially I couldn't detect any difference, but I'm beginning to notice certain things, especially on good recordings. Percussive sounds seem to have more punch and focus and I'm noticing bass-lines that I hadn't noticed before. Whilst listening to a Supertramp tune, the bass drum was there right in front of me, it was quite uncanny! At this stage I'm not noticing any difference in HF detail, but things seem more precise. Of course, these are my impressions and no doubt there will be expectation bias playing a part. It would have been useful to do a side-by-side, but I have to rely on memory and impressions, not very helpful *biggrin*

New cart? *biggrin*

It's fun isn't it?

 

[Freddy58]

Ok, scales turned up and have been spending a bit of time setting up. I wasn't sure the bottom of the cart was entirely flat, so following the advice given in the paperwork that came with the tonearm it was time to take off the cart, great....not. The advice given was to use a 17mm gauge that should sit flat on the underside of the head-shell when placed on a record. Unfortunately, as mine isn't the micrometer version of this arm, it didn't come with this gauge. No problem though, I borrowed a 'slip' from work. It turned out to be spot-on. Then it was time to re-fit the cart, blummin' fiddly! That done, next I had to set the cart to the two 'null' points using the card template that came with the arm. That wasn't too bad but took quite a bit of messing about, to and fro. I think I pretty much have it spot on as the overhang seems to be correct, at just over 17mm. Ok, now the stylus tracking force. I have to say the Shure stylus force gauge was a doddle to use (thanks Al ) and adjustment was easy as there's two counterweights on the arm, the main/heavy counterweight and a smaller one on a thread. Bias, I can't quite get to grips with this. Someone gave me a test record that has a blank section (no grooves) and the idea is that once the stylus is lowered onto this the arm should stay put. There is however an initial movement towards the centre but it soon settles, so maybe it's only the amount of time it takes for the full tracking force to come into effect? I have played with the anti-skate and on the face of it I have somewhere near, but I'm not 100% confident.

ok, time to put on some music. Initially I couldn't detect any difference, but I'm beginning to notice certain things, especially on good recordings. Percussive sounds seem to have more punch and focus and I'm noticing bass-lines that I hadn't noticed before. Whilst listening to a Supertramp tune, the bass drum was there right in front of me, it was quite uncanny! At this stage I'm not noticing any difference in HF detail, but things seem more precise. Of course, these are my impressions and no doubt there will be expectation bias playing a part. It would have been useful to do a side-by-side, but I have to rely on memory and impressions, not very helpful *biggrin*

New cart? *biggrin*

Obviously too boring and full of twaddle to elicit more than one response, my apologies

 

[stevebrock]

nice to hear - like Al says great fun discovering all your records again

Cartridges & Arms are a minefield and you can really tune your vinyl front end to your tastes

I keep flitting between my Gyro & RP8 - seriously the RP8 is just a lot more exciting for my ears - got a Nagaoka MP500 on the RP8 and it sounds so musical - these Nagaokas are brilliant carts - even the MP200 is a gem - loads of mid range on them

Enjoy..............

 

[stevebrock]

What I meant was try a Nagaoka !

 

[GeoffreyW]

+1 on that, mine sounds great, so much detail. Keep being lured away, though.

 

[stevebrock]

Go up the range - the MP200 is a steal - boron cantilever too