Target sells new Record albums

I still have my turntable (preamps, etc.) and all of my vinyl. I purchased a few new albums last year and will do so again. Never lost the passion for vinyl, though I've CD and various other ways to play my music or my lovely lady's.

I still have many records, 45s and 33 1/3s, dating as far back as 1958. And I have a turntable.

very cool. Let me know if you need a resource for things like belts, replacement stylus...etc.

My earliest album is 1963...Beatles....wait...Kingston Trio and maybe Harry Belafonte.

My first and still have records, bought in 1958 -
Belafonte - album
Belafonte sings of the Caribbean - album
Whole Lot of Shaking, Jerry Lee Lewis - 45
Great Balls of Fire - 45

These were the very first. I had a 78 of St George and the Dragonette, but my brother dropped it.

Mine broke down a few years ago and was never replaced. Still got the 45s and 33 1/3.

Country? Rock? Classical?

I have one of the cheapie turntables, with a rubber band drive. The sound is abominable, but it has ports for connecting to an active speaker. I was just noticing that my computer speakers might work on it. Guess I will give it a try, later today.

Most TT can be brought back to life by replacement belts and new styli (when replaceable) or cartridge/styli combo. The investment is pretty cheap and very effective.

With the rubber-band type belt TT, they last about 10 years; however, many people never replace them and wonder why their TT doesn't maintain speed properly or flat-out doesn't work at all.

Also stylii only last a finite amount of time. I'd estimate about 5 yeats of regular playing or equiv. Cartridge/stylii are also responsible for the personality or signature of the 'hi-fi' sound. FWIW, the tried-and-true Chevrolet-of -cartridges is Shure brand. Available for cheap - about $30-$35. Sure M95 and M91ED are the most- often used as the go-to replacements. I just poked around on EBay and saw M91ED for $35. I've done this install replacement dozens of times for friends and they've raved about the improvement. No matter how tone-deaf they were they felt the improvement.

Also not known to many people with TT, there's a maintenance item that you can do some of the time. A drop or two of sewing-machine oil (very light viscosity) iside the spindle area. It can be accessed from underneath or when you pull the platter off. A drop or two goes a long way to allowing the bearings to move more freely. Some TT are not able to benefit but I figure it's worth mentioning to those that can lift off the platter (most times you can.)

The sound was terrible from the beginning. The literature suggests providing good speakers as a remedy. I have only played two records on it to date. But I will keep a record of your advice and follow if I can as I go along.

We have enough records to open a small store. That includes a small selection of 78s. What we have found, that with a good turntable, and quality stylus, the vinyl sounds much better than the cds.

We have a rather large collection of Mercury Living Presence classical recordings. One negative, although the records were recorded beautifully, those records had a background sound to them that sounded like a waterfall. With our better stylus, which is hair thin so that if stays deeper in the groove, the background is absolutely quiet.

Great advice, Phoenix. However, for those who might not know and are interested in playing 78s, when playing 78s, you need a different stylus and a TT that knows when to lift up or you'll be running after it when side is done to do the tonearm lifting up yourself.

And..as for smaller (bookshelf) speakers, they too make all of the difference in the world. Besides the large market of good used speakers, there are lots of inexpensive smaller new bookshelf speakers that I could recommend. For less than 150-$200 new( and $100 used) you could be in nirvana. I know our hearing in the high end frequencies disappears after age 50-something but good speakers get rid of muddy, indistinct and unlistenable distortion too.

It's hard to find speakers I can pay for that will plug in there. I still haven't tried the speakers I have.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Can you clarify?
If it's the connectors, they are easy to replace and swap off or terminate the ends to allow connection to your amp or receiver.

FWIW, replacement cables can be what is called lamp cord. Literally the power cords for lamps they sell in hardware store is a great speaker cable. They just need terminating with a spade lug or RCA jacks.

I may have speakers for you. They'd be ok for your purpose. The cost would be just the shipping to you.

The pamphlet calls for powered speakers and shows a red and a white wire from the speakers. I haven't found any of those in the local stores yet.

I just plugged the PC speakers into my record player and it works great for the music I listen to. Right now I have Ray Charles' Greatest Hits blaring out. Got to turn it down a bit.

Ahhh powered speakers. Makes sense now. Different situation. Be back later but it sounds like you're all set for now, right?

NFL games is on. Lions are kicking Bears arses badly. Yeah Lions

I learned that the built in sound must be turned almost off to get good quality out of the added ones. These speakers cost about $15. So I will buy a second set this week.