[BC] Turntables (WAS:Achieving good S/N)

[Robert Orban]

At 07:14 AM 1/3/2006, you wrote:
>Subject: [BC] Turntables (WAS:Achieving good S/N)
>To: broadcast at radiolists.net
>Message-ID: <20060103095652.5769.qmail at web32906.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
>With all this talk about turntables, I'm just wondering if there are any
>good-quality ones out there today which offer a fully automatic mechanism.
>
>
>It seems that this feature is only common on low-end consumer-grade
>turntables, like my Sony PS-LX250H, while mid-grade turntables feature
>only a semi-automatic mechanism, and all the high-end turntables I've
>looked over (the ones aimed at DJs and audiophiles) are fully manual, and
>will leave the stylus clicking away on the run-out groove when the disc is
>finished playing.
>
>This may be fine for DJ and broadcast use where you'll be constantly
>moving the stylus by hand, but for casual in-home listening I've gotten
>spoiled by the convenience of putting a disc on the platter, pushing the
>"Start" button, and letting the turntable take care of the rest.
>
>It also would be nice to have a cartridge which can survive the tracking
>torture tests on the classic 1959 Command LP "Persuasive Percussion",
>whose selections are well-known to cause even so-called "hi-fi" cartridges
>to break down into the tell-tale crackling, snaps, and distortion caused
>by mistracking.  (Quite surprisingly, "Persuasive Percussion" actually
>made it to CD in 1995 and is available on Amazon.com, but without the
>attraction of putting an 'audiophile' turntable through its paces, the CD
>version is now simply marketed as 'bachelor pad music'.  Thus my original
>LP is worth to me far more than the $1.00 I paid for it at a used record
>store.)

The ELP laser TT is automatic; it works like a CD player except that it 
needs a first pass over the record to locate the bands between the cuts.

Other than that, I don't know of any high-quality automatic turntables; I 
don't think there would be enough of a market for them. They would be an 
anathema to audiophiles, who have looked down on "record changers" (mostly 
with good reason) for long before Harry Pearson created the "high end" concept.

Bob Orban