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Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

My experience is identical to John's in all respects.

When I was fiddling with the support system for my TT, I made CD-Rs of each set-up to evaluate the degree to which they provided acoustic isolation. A CD-R made with the speakers off provided an example of the most I could hope for. I never got there. Even if you eliminate all acoustic feedback coming up though the shelf or plinth to the record surface, you cannot eliminate feedback so long as your record and cartridge can "hear" the music. And since this component of the feedback is in constant proportion to the loudness of the speakers ( except for some possible non-linear effects at very low volumes), it is always there at the same percentage, regardless of volume. The very first hi-fi system I heard at a friend's house nearly 50 years ago had the turntable in a small, separate room that was acoustically pretty isolated from the main room. The TT was near the wall, so that the ICs could be kept short by feeding them through a small hole in the wall to the nearby preamp in the main room. This guy was way ahead of his time.

Also, as John points out, this feedback is a form of distortion, and it has been claimed many times that this "feedback distortion" is part of the appeal or "magic" of vinyl sound, along with other distortions that generally go with vinyl playback. While there are many doubters, my experience along with John's is that one can make CD-R copies of vinyl records that are virtually indistinguishable from the original. However, in addition to being careful to make a good copy, two other things are important for the two to sound the same: the CD-R should be played back on an excellent player, and the speakers should be left on when making the CD-R. As John says, it can be easy to distinguish between the CD-R and the vinyl if the CD-R was made with the speakers off. However, which you prefer- speakers on or speakers off- is another matter. I've found a number of people who have a definite liking for distortion when it is done in a nice way. At the volume levels one friend likes to drive his SET amplifiers, the distortion can reach several percent, quite audible to me. He loves the sound. Each to his or her own, or whatever floats your boat or whatever phrase you prefer. All the above said, I spend most of my time listening to vinyl, irrespective of the higher inherent distortions.

Joe


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