Newbie Analogue Journey

I have started my hifi journey many years ago even before streaming are main stream music. CD is predominantly the format in hifi for a long time until streaming changes all that, even more so for the Vinyl record. I personally have been in digital music most of the time with the beginning of FLAC / WAV until moving into DSD. So over the years many DAC I have own with all kind of players too. Few years back, I came to experience in analogue music listening to some pretty nice turntables.

I started to research and read up on turntables. What to look out for mainly for a newbie to get into Vinyl music. Few things to consider when looking for turntables. Firstly, its the drive (motor) to spin the platter. There are 2 types, the belt drive and the direct drive. 

From picture you can clearly see there is a belt being use from the motor to the spindle. This drive and spin the spindle than on top the platter of the turntable. The advantage of this is less motor noise that might introduce into the sound. This is quite important and Vinyl is very sensitive to external noise. The disadvantage of it is the start of the spin and the time it stops spinning is slower than a direct drive.

This picture is show a direct drive turntable with the motor directly attached to the spindle. Is different from the belt drive that this type doesn't required a belt. The advantage of this will be the spin will be almost immediate for the start and stop. The disadvantage will be the noise the motor might introduce into the sound.

The next thing to look for is the speed. Mainly there are 33 1/3 or 45 RPM in speed for turntable. The thing to look for is how easy you can switch in between speed. Some turntable is very easy with just a push of a button. Some have to remove the platter and made adjustment. Example of the Rega P10 turntable with this external power supply has 2 switches to change the speed.

 Next piece to look now is the tonearm. This is very important to having a good steady hold of the cartridge while is tracking the Vinyl record. In this part the thing to think about is how easy it can be adjusted to setup the tracking force of the cartridge and also height of the arm sometimes is important to have the proper tracking. 

The one last thing and the most important is the Cartridge. Two different types of cartridge, the MM (moving magnet) and MC (moving cartridge). The different types have different gain which is important to consider for your hardware which is the phono pre amp. 

Its kind of overwhelming when I first started to read to understand all that. Put that all aside, there are many turntables this days are all ready to plug and play. Some turntables are able to even stream through bluetooth or even USB capable. Technology has change analogue quite a bit too. Out of the box many turntables are good to go and they are reasonably good start.

For me one more thing about vinyl record is all this beautiful records. This is one of the only media you can actually see the beauty as it spins. Good music is important but esthetic is pretty important too as you will be seated to enjoy the music while enjoying the beauty of your records.