response 175 of 194:

Feb 21 01:52 UTC 2000

There is a story there but I'm not going to give you any
more ammunition. ;-)

response 177 of 194:

Feb 21 02:20 UTC 2000

[A search for the string pachelbel turns up
Oldmusic cf, Item #2, Response #175.  Check 
it out!]

response 179 of 194:

Feb 21 12:31 UTC 2000

[Almost choked on my coffee.]

Really, I never thought you wouldn't remember
entering that.  At least now you know there's
someone who faithfully reads what you enter, and
remembers it later one.  That's pretty good, don't
you think?  Okay, well, I guess I'll stop typing now.

response 181 of 194:

Feb 2 21:47 UTC 2001

Good heavens, I was just re-reading this and saw resp:131.
Sindi, Morris Keesan is your brother?  I've known Morris distantly 
through science fiction fandom for 15, maybe 20 years.

response 183 of 194:

Mar 28 05:54 UTC 2001

I don't often buy music, but I've decided I want some.  This looks like
as good a place as any to ask for recommendations. :)

I have some of this stuff on cassette, and some of it on 8-track, but I
want to get it on CD, for durability and because I don't have an 8-track
player and don't carry a cassette player around.  So the question is:
Which is the best CD version to get?  (And yes, I do know that "best"
is a meaningless term. ;)

I'm looking to get a copy of Wagner's Prelude and Liebstod from Tristan
und Isolde and the Ride of the Valkyries (and wouldn't object to Forest
Murmurs, but I may already have that on CD).  I'd like to get R. Strauss'
Also Sprach Zarathustra.  Bartok, but I don't know any specific pieces
(I'd like to try his microtone compostions).  Dvorak's New World Symphony.
Flight of the Bumblebee (I've liked that one since it was used as the theme
for television show; it may have been used on the radio show before that).
Sabre Dance.  And that's probably all I can get right now.

So which recordings do you like?

response 185 of 194:

Jan 30 17:07 UTC 2002

The diamond tip disappeared from my Empire stylus.  We have four Empire
cartridges so I moved over a stylus from a different number cartridge.  THe
second tip disappeared. (Jim tells me if I am going to clean the stylus with
a brush to do it from back to front so it won't knock off the diamond tip).
There are many different Empire styluses that apparently are each supposed
to take a different diamond stylus - why?  The more expensive cartridge wants
one for $50, the others for $25-35.  What happens if I put a cheaper stylus
in a more expensive cartridge?  (I already did that and it sounded a bit tinny
but that might be my speakers or the cartridge getting old - I think it
sounded tinny with the original stylus).

The various styluses are physically interchangeable, at least the Empire 1000
stylus fit just fine into the Empire 5000 XEI cartridge and the other two look
the same (1000E and 2000 and 2000E/III).  The 2000E/III is $50, the 2000 $25
and the 1000E $30 or $35.

We also have a few other turntables with different cartridges that look
like they would fit this turntable.  Should I pick one that is the same
weight, or must other things match?  We can adjust the tone arms for different
weights of cartridge.

I have a 1980 catalog of stereo components that sells separate tone arms as
well as cartridges and turntables, and implies that it is very important to
get a precise match, but Jim thinks that is not necessary since I cannot hear
the differences anyway and don't play things loudly.

response 187 of 194:

Feb 2 21:19 UTC 2002

Another online needle place (needle express) said they had a 2000E stylus for
$50 (advertised online for $30) and an X66 for the 1000E or 5000XEI for $30.
I asked about the 2000 (which I think is not meant to take an elliptical
stylus) and he said to use the X66 (EX66?) and you might need to adjust the
angle at which it hits.  The 2000E stylus should work in the other three but
has a needle guard for the extra $20 (surely this cannot be the only
difference).  Empire cartridges and styluses stopped being made 8 years ago.

THe 1000E stylus is shorter than the 5000EXI.  Jim adjusted the cartridge
somehow so it did not rest on the record (while rebuilding it with a paperclip
because it has always been broken, the single/multiple adjustment never worked
so it is now always single).

According to who you believe, elliptical styluses sound better in new records
but worse in old ones and contact more surface so wear less;  contact less
surface so wear more;  wear out all the frequencies at an even rate, whereas
the conical diamonds contact only the top of the groove and play only the
lower frequencies so wear those out faster;  no difference in wear.  Conical
ones are better at ignoring scratches and more rugged.  Cartridges wear out
and should be changed every two years;  every two needles;  when they sound
bad or tinny;  when they lose one channel.  Diamond styluses should be changed
every 1000 hours or 2 years;  every 200-300 hours;  every 2500 hours;  when
they need it which you determine by taking it to the record store and having
them look under a microscope;  when they sound bad;  when they break or
disappear.  Everyone agrees that diamonds are not forever but wear a lot
longer than sapphire and even more longer than osmium.  I found one site that
still sells diamond needles with 3 sapphire needles as part of the set (which
presumably gives you a few weeks to mail order a replacement while rapidly
wearing out the temporary sapphires) - $3.50-$10 for BSR etc.  They did not
sell Empire, which is too new.  Nobody sells osmium but one record jacket
listed them.  Nobody even mentioned steel needles, or the fact that a record
can still be heard (probably with the quality of a steel needle) after the
diamond tip disappears.

response 189 of 194:

Feb 5 20:20 UTC 2002

Jim is correct that you should brush the needle only from back to front, 
thus simulating the motion the needle would see while riding in a groove.
Exerting much force in any other direction will destroy the needle, yup.
I always used a Discwasher SC-2 stylus brush.
 
Other than that, I mostly cringed while reading sindi's accounts of 
trying to economize on turntable and stylus parts.   But I suspect
I value my LPs a lot more than Sindi does.  I figure the cartridge
and stylus were designed to work as a system, and since a likely 
outcome of messing with that system is wearing away more vinyl
than necessary, I wouldn't want to risk it.
 
I'd never heard anyone talking about cartridge wear before, except as 
a function of age as various rubber parts oxidize a bit.  My current
cartridge is probably over ten years old.  1000 hours was the standard
figure I heard for the useful life of a diamond stylus; I have no
idea how many years that would be for me now, but in the old days
I got a new stylus every 12-18 months.   (I should get a new stylus,
but the price has doubled since last I got one, and I'm feeling 
cheap.)

Phono stylii and their diamond tips should not "break off" under normal use.   
If this is happening repeatedly, there needs to be more gentleness
in handling the tonearm, or else something is very badly set up 
in tracking force, or stylus-cartridge match, or something.
I think this has happened to me maybe once in 30+ years.

response 191 of 194:

Feb 7 23:59 UTC 2002

(Sindi, can I copy the last few responses about turntables & parts into a 
new item to be crosslinked between the Classical and Music conference?
Or should I just link this one...?  )

response 193 of 194:

Feb 8 19:27 UTC 2002

OK, I did some cut & pasting, and item:64 is now for the discussion
of LP playing hardware, linked to the music conference.
Performance evaluations of classical music LPs still belong
here.