LFF

I consider anything not purchased at a retail store used. No warranty, open box = used.

I vote for ignore - I get lowballed ALL THE TIME. $350 does seem a bit steep for a used phone though. I would think $290 to $300 would be a better deal.

Pete, there are many ways of isolating a Technics. Does your technics currently have the stock feet? If so, order some ash trays that are deep and which have at least 6 notches to place a cigarette. Then go to office depot, buy some heavy duty rubber bands and criss-cross them across the notches. Place one under each foot and you'll have some high-end isolation. I kid you not - it's an old DJ trick to avoid the subs vibrations. If you don't have the stock feet, then use two cutting boards with a tire tube in the middle. Inflate it so that it supports the table evenly. You could also balance the table using 4 or 3 racket blue balls. If you use 3, put then under the table in an equilateral triangle. Good luck.

This is so true, yet we fall for them all the time.

This really gave me a good chuckle.

This is very true. However, with apartment living, it's tough to find the space, let alone not piss off your neighbors. Plus, since I am lacking the skills, I wouldn't even know where to start. Hopefully in the future I can have some space.

That looks like it's going to be a killer turntable. Wish I had the machinery and skills to build one.

Two gay guys show up to a gay Halloween party and proceed to enter only to be denied access. One of the two gay guys demand an explanation and the doorman says that the party is a costume party and since they have no costumes, they are not allowed to come in. The two gay men, desperate for attention, go around the block, find a long stick, break it in half and each one jams one part of the stick into their butt and proceed to party once more. The doorman once again denies them admission for not having a costume. They both reply merrily, "Buy honey, can't you tell we have come back as lollipops."

A very rich man is dying and he calls upon 3 of his most trusted men, his doctor, his business partner and his lawyer. He tells them he wants nothing more from life but to take all his money with him, so he takes all his cash, divides it three ways and instructs all them to put it in a container and bury it with him at his funeral when he dies. Sure enough, the rich old man dies a few weeks later and all 3 of his trusted men show up. The doctor approached the hole in the ground and drops a big briefcase on top of the coffin. The business partner approached the hole and drops also drops in a big briefcase with all the money on top of the coffin. The lawyer approaches and drops a small envelope on top of the coffin. Afterward, as all three men are leaving, both the doctor and the business partner are wondering how the lawyer managed to put his share of the money in such a small container. The both approach the lawyer and ask "Hey, did you keep most of the money?" The lawyer responds, "NO!" The doctor and business man appear puzzled and demand an explanation. The lawyer smiles and says, "I did give all his money back, every penny of it. I simply wrote a check for the full amount. He can cash it anytime he wishes."

Two guys walk into a bar. The third one ducks.

My cassette player has dbx. I find that recording with dbx is great as well. My only question, and it has been asked here before, is what is worth transferring? So far, I can think of only a few cassettes. One of them is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tape that was given away at Pizza Hut when the TMNT were at the height of their popularity. I know a friend of mine has one or two MFSL tapes that might be fun to transfer as well. I'll have to keep an eye out for good cassettes.

Nope. Not a Nak. I did look into those though but they are very expensive. A CR-7A will usually run you over $800.00 and a Dragon, even when broken and not working, will top $600.00. I saw a mint Dragon go for over $1,200.00 a few weeks ago. Way too pricey for me at the moment plus I heard from a friend of mine that they are prone to breakage. The freebie I got is an Akai GXC-5700.

So a friend of mine has been bugging me to transfer some cassette tapes. I am always willing to help out but the problem holding me back was that I didn't have a cassette tape player. Now, as far back as I can remember (1985), my father hated cassette tapes. Almost everyone I knew growing up didn't like them because 1) they jammed, 2) they didn't sound as good as the LP and 3) the art was crap. I guess I grew up with this bias (PUN!). Anyway, I grew up dubbing some stuff to cassette on my tape deck at home. It was a Sony and I believe it cost my parents all of $20.00 or so. I was never crazy about the sound but it was all I had. So I grew up, saved some money and finally got a CD player. Good-bye cassettes! Fast forward to 2008. I have a friend asking me to transfer some cassettes with some old demo material. I started researching a bit and purchased a professional cassette player figuring I would sell it back as soon as I finished. As a bonus, an old friend of mine gave me a free cassette player as well which weighs about 40lbs and was supposed to be quite good way back when. Well, the cassette player I purchased came and I cleaned it following the cleaning procedure studios use on the big tape machines. I popped in an old cassette I had with tons of CD tracks I had recorded on it. The sound - RATHER GREAT!!! Wow. This is soooo not the sound I remember tapes having. Warm, detailed and lush. MMMM - that yummy analogue sound I love. Surely this was because I dubbed it from a CD with superior quality. I tossed it aside and figured that was why it sounded good. So...this past weekend I go home to my parents house to pay them a visit. While rummaging through my room I found a commercially released tape by the title "The Best of Tommy James and The Shondells". Now, this is a commercial cassette tape which has been stored in a shoe box for about 10 years. Before that it lay in the back of my car and even in the trunk for god knows how long. Before that, it lay used for sale in a flea market. I remember I paid $2.00 for it about 12 years ago. My favorite track was the second track on side 1 - Crystal Blue Persuasion. I remember the sound was rather lackluster. Big surprise since most commercial tapes were copied at fast speeds. I figured I would take it home and try to transfer it for fun. I got home, popped it in my "new" cassette player and then my jaw dropped. The sound is fabulous. A little hiss reduction and a tiny bit of EQ and it sounds grand. The cassette isn't perfect as it has been treated rather poorly over the years BUT the sound is still there and it sounds great. I now think it's rather funny how this old cassette sounds so good and how most of my old CD's can no longer play as they have died from CD rot or scratches. So why the bad sound I remembered? Well, a little bit more research, reading and asking questions and it turns out both my cassette players are high end models from long ago, both retailing for over $1,000 when they originally came out. The one I got for free retailed for almost $2,000.00 over 20 years ago!!! Both are considered to be audiophile models and one is a professional model which has even been used to produce commercial recordings. I guess cassettes did sound good but you need a decent rig to produce that sound. Still - it has been a huge shock to find out how these tapes were really supposed to sound. Analogue rocks! So, after all this rambling I bet your curious as to how it sounds. Listen to this! Not bad for a $2.00 cassette huh!!!!

Good luck Ken!

Happy b-lated-b-day!!!!

Wow. I never count calories. Here is what I had yesterday: 1 Big Mac 3 Double Cheeseburgers 1 Apple Pie 1 Sundae 1 Margarita 2 cups of coffee, no sugar 10 cups of water 1 lemonade (fresh squeezed) How many calories is that and why am I still alive?!

This made me laugh out loud. His other videos are hilarious as well. Choosing the Best Headphones for Your Home Recording Studio | Expert Village Videos

At times it can leave a patter, but it in no way affects the playing of the vinyl since the liner doesn't penetrate the grooves. My mat hasn't left a pattern on my vinyl in months. The only few times it has it was because the vinyl stayed on the mat for a few days.

Damn. I knew I forgot something! No sleep = faulty memory. As for mats - buy some shelf liner at your local supply store. Put a record over it. Trace around the record and cut the shelf liner to size. Great mat, anti-static and better bass response. Total cost should be less than $5.00. Use this stuff:

So true. SO DAMN TRUE!!!!!

The Zerostat should be just fine for removing a static charge from the vinyl. The best way to cut down on snap, crackle and pops is to do the following: 0) Remove any bowl of rice crispies that may be nearby. Eating them away from all your equipment is highly recommended. 1) Make sure the vinyl you are playing is in as good condition as possible. A Grade of Mint or Near mint condition is preferable. 2) Clean your records well. I use a VPI 16.5 machine. If using a machine, use good fluid. Coat the record in a layer of cleaning fluid and let it sit on the record for at least 30 seconds. This will allow the fluid to penetrate the grooves and lift out the grunge so it can be sucked out. When you vacuum it, do no more than 3 revolutions as any more will build a static charge. Before I had a machine I would use cotton balls with pure alcohol. Assuming you have no groove wear, most noise comes from small particles lodged within the grooves of the record. Remove these particles and most of the noise will go away. 3) Make sure your needle is clean and properly set up for use with your tonearm. There are many products available for cleaning and maintaining a clean needle as well as setting up a turntable. Google is your friend. 4) Make sure your turntable is level. 5) Make sure all your cables are clean and plugged in correctly. Sometimes a slight movement in a cable will cause a click or pop. That sums it up as far as I know. Feel free to ask questions.

That's just awesome!

Check my first post in the casino about this album!