On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 13:31:06 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

"Doughboy" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 00:42:33 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


OK, since the inception of uk.rec.audio.vinyl I'm 'avoiding' this sort of
thing here, for obvious reasons, but I would say that if you are looking
to
record to your PC then you want maximum detail. Forget spherical
stylussis,
get the elliptical and set it up right. (Ain't hard, just take your time
and
do it over until you are happy with it and it sounds 'right').

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably pick up an OM DJ E tomorrow. (I
didn't actually know about uk.rav, and it turns out my ISP's server
doesn't even carry it at the moment.)


Don't worry, you're not the only one! (It's a pity because it's been set up
to deal with exactly this sort of enquiry and you are much less likely there
to exhaust anyone's patience on this topic! :-)

I'll look into the procedure for requesting my ISP to add it. I'm sure
they will, once asked.

Especially considering the records I play

Which are what? - Helpful (and interesting) to know, as is which deck you
are using.....

A mix of Hip-Hop, Reggae and R&B. It's the R&B records that tend to
have quite polished production, and present the sibilance. The decks I
have are the Gemini PT-2000 and PT-1000.

Given that it is quite hard (if not impossible) these days to buy a stylus
which is actually crap, I'm now wondering if there's any other aspect of
your gear which is failing to cut the mustard......??

Well I know my mixer is crap, but the problems I've had before have
really boiled down to buying a cartridge to allow me to scratch, when
my decks not good enough for scratching. Or maybe I just never got the
deck setup correctly, or it needs something fixing by a pro.

Ignore the DJ advice here (your own fault for crossposting it all over the
place) as DJ work isn't the issue, but they have made some very interesting
and useful comments - I particularly agree with the poster who effectively
said 'buy 'em and try 'em yourself is the best way to go'. OK, I totally
agree, but it's not always feasible/practical/affordable - sometimes you've
got to take 'advice'...!! (Hence 'ukrav'....)

I guess I thought it was worth posting in the DJ group, as my decks
are DJ decks, and a couple of the carts (OM DJ E and Grado DJ-100) are
DJ carts.

My own personal view is that Ortofon simply do *not* make a crap cartridge
or stylus - if you are not happy with the sound you are getting then
something else might be wrong. I bought a ProJect Debut a while back just to
find out for myself what they were like, as they were asked about quite
frequently - see http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/keith_g/debut/debut.htm if
you are interested (and if the bloody site is working...) and it came with a
'bottom of the heap' cheapie Orto OM5e cart which I thought it sounded quite
excellent. (But WTF do I know?)

To make it clear, I've never tried an Ortofon cart, so my comments
weren't directed at them.

However, there was a touch of the sibilence you mention on the odd
high-pitched female voice and brass passages so I upgraded the stylus to an
OM20. If you are interested, the specs. changed as follows 'from OM5e'
'to OM20' and (OM DJ E) for comparison.

Stylus: Elliptival 8/18 µm Nude elliptical 8/18 µm (Special elliptical
13/25 µm)
Frequency Response: 20 - 20 KHz ± 2 dB 20/20 KHz +2/-1 dB (20 - 20 KHz
± 2 dB)
Frequency Range @ -3 dB: 20 - 25 KHz 20 -27 KHz (20 - 22 KHz)
Tracking ability @ 315 Hz: 65 µm 80 µm (80 µm)
Dynamic Compliance: 20 µm/mN 25 µm/mN (9 µm/mN )
Channel Balance @ 1KHz: 2 dB 1.5 dB (2 dB)
Channel Separation @ 15 KHz: 15 dB 15 dB (15 dB)
Output Voltage @ 1 KHz, 5 cm/s: 4 mV 4 mV (6 mV)

Quite significant, here and there, for a £45 upgrade - it definitely tracks
better and there's no trace of sibilence now, but I'm not sure it *sounds*
really any better......???

Hope this wasn't all too boring (I've cut n pasted the above to my Debut
page), anyway, the upshot is for 'transcription work' get the best
elliptical you can afford and simply set it up *right* - there's no better
option.....

Good luck!

Cheers for the info and specs. Now I just need to find someone that
will sell me an elliptical for a fair price (looking for Ortofon DJ E
or Grado DJ-100 at the moment. I've been told that the OM5e and OM10
wouldn't be any good for my decks, but I've seen them for GBP 22 and
GBP 35 respectively).

Doughboy


Doughboy