Re: [ARSCLIST] Need Turntable advice for amateur archivist

[James L Wolf <jwol@xxxxxxx>]

   I've transferred a lot of Edison Diamond Discs at the Library, so
this is something I know pretty well. For basics, you need a turntable
that will do 80 rpm and a preamp capable of getting the vertical signal.
I've used a Stanton cartridge (I forget the exact model, 500?) with
interchangeable styli, but I know things are different with different
cartridges. We used to play them back with 3.7 and 3.5 conicals but at
David Sager's suggestion, I started using smaller needles recently, like
2.7, sometimes 1.5 or 1.0 and this works much better IMO. Rarely a
larger one will work better. Obviously you don't want a truncated
stylus. As for stylus shape, all I've had to use in the smaller sizes
are elliptical, so I can't say what combination of shape and size will
work best. The best thing is to play around with various styli you have
access to and see which works best. If you can only get one, go with
something close to Stanton's 2.7.
   When EQing, there's usually a lot of rumble to get rid of and a good
bit of high end can be tossed out without losing any music. How much on
either end depends on the disc. Same with corrective EQ of the musical
material, but I usually just leave that as is. There is a lot of variety
in quality to Diamond Disc recordings, especially if you include the
dubs from cylinder recordings.

James

>>> frank.strauss@xxxxxxxxxxx 07/11/03 02:01PM >>>
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>I have been following this thread for the past few days with much
interest. I would like to begin recording a collection of Edison Diamond
Disks to CD, and wonder if anybody on the list might share advice such
as: turntable recommendation, cartridge and stylus, Software and
hardware. Thanks. Frank Strauss
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