If you can't afford Techs (yeah I know most will tell you to save money for Techs, well I don't) a couple of good alternatives are

Numark Pro TT1/2
Gemini PT-2100/SA2400
Stanton STR8-80

i would recommend to save up for the techies but if you can't or won't or don't care then i'll tell ya this...i've played on numarks and didn't like them, i've played on geminis and thought they were alright, and i've never played on stantons. i cannot recall the model numbers. what i didn't like about the numarks was the lack of torque. the geminis seemed to hold up fairly well so i didn't mind them. that's about it from me. cheers!

lost

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"This book is dedicated, with love, to Bobby who found the only pound of pure - Faith in a Loving God." Hubert Selby, Jr. dedication to the latest edition of Requiem for a Dream

i forget where i read this, but it said you should steer away from straight-arms if you're not going to be doing any scratching or anything of that nature...

apparently straight-arms decrease the quality of sound, though im not sure how much or if its even noticable at all...

anyone know anything about this?

Yes, I do!

Straight tonearms (especially the Vestax ASTS tonearm, because it is so short) degrade the sound quality of the record. They do this for the following reasons.

The tonearm has a fixed pivot point. fact. You can't move the tonearm swivel from one place to another. The needle, therefore, through simple geometry, cannot possibly be perpendicular to the record at every possible place on the record. Also through simple geometry, it is a fact that the longer the tonearm, the less the angle deviation from perfectly straight at any given point, which is what you want. So, therefore, the shorter the tonearm, the less likely it is to be perfectly straight in the groove.

The reason this is bad is because the needle was only designed to go in to the record at the correct angle. The further away it is from the correct angle, the less well it is doing its job. When you have a large angle of deviation, you will get noticable phase difference between the right and the left channels. That is to say, waveforms that are coming out of the right speaker will be slightly ahead of those coming out of the left speaker, or vice versa depending on whether the record is before or after the halfway point (the needle will be fully perpendicular at 50% play time).This is more noticable the greater the angle, and hence one of the reasons why short tonearms are worse than longer ones.

Another reason is that the greater the angle of deviation from straight, the more damage is going to be done to the needle and the record. The needles just aren't designed to go through the record sideways!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with straight tonearms as a rule; if it is a long, straight tonearm then it is just as good as a long, S-shaped tonearm (as long as the headshell is mounted at an angle) as the shape of the tonearm is irrelevant, its just the distance from the pivot that counts. It's just that straight tonearm systems from the likes of Vestax and Stanton are always too short, and hence giving bad sound quality and damaging your records.


Shit! I've been wnating to write that for a long time to finally clear up this issue, but I just have never got round to it. Good to have finally got it off my chest!

I would go for a pair of gemini pt-2100($450 pair) turntables. Imo as far as the way the respond and power I can't tell the difference between them in techz...but techz do feel more solid and they feel as they can take a lot of abuse...

Straight tonearms are meant for scratchers; that's as far as my knowledge takes me, thanks for the lengthy lesson, DTDJ!
I would recommend Denon DP DJ-101s or DP DJ-151s.

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Melodic Progressive.

Better than sex.

nothing wrong with gemini pt2400 or sa2400...

WHat angle should the Stanton STR8-80 needle be at. I bought the 60 and it's tilted tot he left and I bought the 80 and it's tilder to the right. SO which one is the right way?

i have a pair of stantons, and actually I have never noticed any sound quality problems at all. the tonearms are actually pretty long, longer than the vestax ones at least. I never noticed any excessive wear on my needles or records either.. great traction though, and I think it feels better lifting up the headshell, and positioning the needle onto the record ,with straight tonearms. dunno, just feels better moving it than the 1200's. I suggest you get the Stanton 80's. they're beautifull (much better than numarks) and not bad power for the $.

hmmm after reading this thread, im more confused than i was before.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Mikey Mike hmmm after reading this thread, im more confused than i was before.

LOL, too many cooks spoiling the broth

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Melodic Progressive.

Better than sex.