Getting Into Vinyl : Part Two – Turntable

So, in Part One we discussed why on Earth anyone would get into vinyl. To recap, basically the biggest difference between digital and vinyl comes down to the convenience. Part of the convenience we discussed was the ease of playback with digital. You basically just take your music files, pop them onto a memory card, insert that into your favourite music player, and away you go. It can hardly be any simpler.
With turntables, however, there is some more preparation and consideration that needs to take place. But, before we can get into any of that, we need to consider the turntable itself and which features you’re gonna want to look out for.

Before we can get onto that, I feel that I need to add in something here. Throughout this series of articles you will see that I put immense emphasis on properly setting your equipment up, considering how your environment can affect your playback, as well as how to handle the records. All of this is in an effort to get the most out of your collection and making them last longer. So really, all of these factors need to be in place before you even think about dropping the needle on a record. So in saying that, I cannot urge you enough to exercise some discipline and save the purchasing of your first record as the absolute last step. Get the turntable, set it up, and sort out your environment first. It’ll pay off in the long run.

OK, let’s crack on with it.

 

Getting The Right Turntable

There are numerous specs that can be debated, but there are a few things (features) that I feel must be taken into consideration.

Unfortunately, there are some big brands out there that are just downright terrible in terms of how their products might damage your records and the overall longevity of the product. By longevity, what I mean is that, because these are mechanical devices, the frictional forces at play does mean that there will be some wear-and-tear on both the turntable components and on the records themselves. So, it’s exceptionally important to look at features that will minimize this as much as possible.

 

Cartridge

The cartridge is the housing that you’ll see at the end of the tonearm. But the main part of the cartridge that we want to focus on for the moment is the stylus. What we have here is a very small needle which has an even smaller diamond or ceramic tip. As this gradually wears away it will need to be replaced. A general rule of thumb is that a stylus will last you around 500 – 1000 hours. That might not seem like a whole lot, but if we were to play some records for a total of 2 hours per day every day, that means that a stylus could last you between 8 and 16 months. On some cartridges you can replace just the stylus portion, whilst others do require a whole new cartridge. Prices vary from around $20 or so up to several hundred and sometimes even in the thousands.
Now, of course if you’re looking at getting a turntable it’s nice if it already comes equipped with a good quality cartridge. But, the more important thing is whether the cartridge is actually replaceable. If it’s not replaceable, then that means you might as well throw the entire turntable away after those 8 – 16 months. Also be on the look out for brands that have their own replaceable cartridges. These usually have proprietary connections and so you’ll only be able to use those cartridges. Turntable brands such as Audio-Technica, Reloop, Rega, and Pro-Ject are all good quality brands that have replaceable cartridges. They even come shipped with very decent cartridges from the likes of Ortofon to begin with.

 

Adjustable tonearm

Another aspect which is exceptionally important to consider is whether or not the tonearm is adjustable. Again, there are a couple of brands (such as numerous Crosley models) that don’t have adjustable tonearms. But you may be wondering, why would this even be needed?

Remember how we said that the stylus has a small diamond or ceramic tip? Let’s think about this for a second – records are made of plastic, and essentially what you’re doing is dragging that small diamond or ceramic tip across the surface of that plastic disc. Do you see what I’m getting at?
Plastic is much softer than either of those 2 materials, so it really doesn’t take much force for it to damage your records. This is why being able to balance the tonearm is an absolute must. Again, it all comes back to protecting the vinyl and doing things in a manner that will see you enjoying your favourite records for many years to come.

So, when we talk about an adjustable tonearm, we’re mainly talking about the counter-weight at the very back of the tonearm. Some tonearms do have a height adjustment as well, but this isn’t something that I’d consider to be absolutely crucial.
The whole purpose of the counter-weight is to ensure that the amount of force that is exerted by the stylus onto the record is no more than what is absolutely necessary. This is of course to minimise wear-and-tear both to the record and to the stylus as much as possible. We’ll get more into that in Part 3 of this Getting Into Vinyl series.

I also strongly suggest to look for a turntable that has a tonearm lift lever. This is just to make sure that when the tonearm is lifted or lowered onto the record, it does so in a smooth straight up and straight down manner. This is because any lateral movement could potentially scratch the record.

Then there’s also an “anti-skating” feature that we ideally would like to have. As the record spins round, there is a natural force that acts on the tonearm which will gradually pull the stylus toward the spindle centre. This is not due to the spiralling nature of the record grooves, though. If we take a turntable that has no anti-skating and allow the needle to play on an uncut side of a record, we will see this phenomenon. Ideally, when we think of the grooves in which the needle sits, we don’t want the tip to be riding along either side of the groove wall, but rather dead in the centre. The entire groove is the music, so if the needle is mainly riding along on one side, then there’s a bunch of the music that won’t be played. So for this reason, it’s best to get a turntable that offers an anti-skating system.

 

Drive-type

OK, so now that we’ve got the tonearm under our belts, let’s consider another belt. There are 2 basic types of drive-types for turntables – belt-driven or direct-driven.
With direct-driven systems the platter is coupled to the motor directly, whereas in belt-driven systems there is a belt that connects the platter to the motor.

Most “audiophile” turntables are belt driven because these tend to have a better signal-to-noise ratio. Because the belt is made of some type of rubber or silicone compound and it decouples the platter from the motor, the belt tends to absorb a lot of the rumble created by the motor. When it comes to turntables, we need to reduce all forms of vibration as much as possible as it will in most cases creep its way into the music. In Part 3 we’ll look at reducing vibration introduced by the environment that you place the turntable (i.e the table/surface).
However, because of the nature of the material of these belts, it does mean that they stretch over time and so will eventually need to be replaced. In this instance it’s also helpful if if the speed of the motor can be adjusted by small increments (not just 33.3 or 45 RPM selections) in an effort to get the platter to turn at exactly the right speed.

Direct-drive systems are more prevalent on DJ-type turntables as these have a high amount of torque and often have an electronic sensor that keeps the platter spinning at a constant speed. The build quality on these have gotten much better over time, and so the amount of rumble from the motor that finds its way into the audio stream is becoming less and less. But, for the most part, belt-driven turntables still tend to be quieter.

 

Speed adjustment

We’ve just briefly touched on this but it may be something that you need to consider. Most turntables will have the ability to play at 33.3 RPM and 45 RPM. This will require you to either simply flick a switch to change the drive-motor speed, or in the case of some belt-driven system, you’d need to adjust the position of the belt in order to make the appropriate change. 33.3 RPM is by far the most common speed as that’s what is used for the vast majority of 12-inch records. 45 RPM is mainly used for 7-inch singles but also for a few 10-inch albums. Then there is also 78 RPM, but this isn’t something you’d need to consider. There are very few 78 RPM albums and so most turntables (especially belt-driven) don’t have the option to play 78 RPM records. These records require a completely different cartridge anyways, so don’t go out of your way to find a turntable that has a 78 RPM option unless you know you will actually need it.
Some direct-drive turntables also may have some sort of slider or turn-knob switch that will allow you to finely adjust the speed of the motor, and this is something that can be helpful, but not something that I’d consider to be particularly necessary for recreational vinyl listening.

 

 

Outputs

Of course, when you play a record, the sound needs to go somewhere. On some newer turntables (such as the Reloop Turn 3) you might get a USB output option. With this feature the turntable has a built-in analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) which will enable you to “save” your record in digital format. But, the quality of the ADC will matter greatly, as that will dictate how accurately the audio is captured. Again, unless this is something you absolutely need, don’t be too fussed about this feature. There’s no use in paying for a feature that you won’t actually end up using.

The more important outputs to look at would be the RCA analogue outputs. When the stylus “reads” the vinyl record, basically what it is doing is converting the movement of the needle into an electrical signal via magnets and coils. The problem here is that the voltage it produces is very small, and so this would need to get amplified. This is partly why a preamp is required.
The other reason why a preamp is required is because a very special equalisation curve needs to be applied to the analogue sound signal.
Essentially, when the records are cut or pressed, the grooves are a physical representation of the sound that will be produced. But, because of the nature of the “micro groove” vinyl, the amount of grooves that are needed to fit onto a single 12-inch record is quite substantial. This is a problem for the bass region of the sound spectrum because it requires a wider groove. The wider the groove, the less grooves can fit onto the vinyl (and the thinner the walls between each groove).
So, to get around this, engineers of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) decided that it would be better to apply a very specific equalisation curve to the waveform that is to be pressed or cut into the vinyl, and then apply an inverse of that EQ-curve within the preamp stage in order to get the sound back to what it should be. So, what this RIAA EQ-curve does is to reduce the bass region and elevate the treble region. By elevating the treble region, what this means is that, once the inverse of the EQ curve is applied in the phono preamp, surface noise that is produced by the contact between the stylus and vinyl record also gets reduced.

So, some turntables will either have a built-in phono preamp, or you will need to purchase one separately. The RIAA equalisation curve is something very precise, so the quality of the preamp will have an impact on the final audio produced. As such, separate phono preamps generally tend to be of better quality, but you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to get a really good quality phono preamp though. Schiit Audio makes the excellent Mani for just $129. Or you could opt for something considerably more complex such as the iFi Micro iPhono2. But, what I will add here is that, if you kinda already know that you’re gonna want to get a better quality phono preamp, then save yourself the cash right from the start and don’t buy a turntable that has a built-in preamp.

 

Dust Cover

This might be the last item on the list, but is by no means the least important thing to look for, as it’s often an overlooked feature. Most of the time when you look at pictures of turntables (especially modern ones) or see them in stores, they’ll often be displayed without a dust cover. This is either because it’s just an aesthetic thing and so it makes the product look more appealing without the cover, or the turntable doesn’t come with a dust cover.I cannot urge you enough to consider the importance of a dust cover. Yes, more often than not a turntable does indeed look nicer without the cover, but keeping things clean and dust-free is super important.
As we briefly discussed in Part 1, keeping the records clean is just one of the crucial aspects of not only making them last longer, but getting the best playback experience. We’ll look more into the cleanliness of the equation in Part 3.

 

Closing Thoughts

Well, I hope that has given you some useful information regarding what to look out for when buying a turntable. At the end of the day we all want to get the most out of our products, and in the case of vinyl, your due diligence truly will directly affect your overall experience and the longevity of your records.

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