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| Getting Started with Analog Audio
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Find an expert
If you're unfamiliar with LP playback, before you start looking at products you should first find at least one expert to lean on. Much of the vinyl ritual is barely documented, and word of mouth is the only way to find out some of the details. If possible, you should track down someone locally to help you out. It used to be that you could rely on your dealer for help like this. I found that all the stores I visit have relegated vinyl playback to "convenience" status for their customers; they still can order some of the gear if you need it, but the equipment available in the store is minimal, and setup help is hard to come by. I can hardly get mad at them for moving their operations toward CDs, home theater, and all the other things that actually pay the rent. You may be lucky enough to find a local dealer who still traffics in turntables heavily enough to be useful, but I wasn't.
Moving away from the local scene, I contacted fellow SoundStage! author Doug Blackburn. He offered many generic suggestions, but his ability to help me out was limited by the fact that he didn't know the particular turntable I had picked up. There are so many variable factors involved here that it's impossible for someone to know all the details involved with a particular unit unless they've worked with it before. Ultimately, I ended up getting lots of help from Jerry Raskin's Needle Doctor. They seemed a logical place to contact, as they carry the particular Denon model I bought. The people there I spoke with were very helpful, and I would certainly recommend them as a place for the novice vinyl buyer to deal with, if you too find your local dealers can't support you as well as you'd like. Why all the complications, you might ask? You'll see.
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