The hobby of playing vinyl records is having a strong resurgence in recent years. Not only in the world, but this movement is also gradually gaining popularity in our country. Many outsiders love technology toys, headphones, or multi-room speakers but want to experience the fun of vinyl. Many people don’t even know what vinyl is and how it works differently than a normal CD or digital music file.
Note:
This article is only about playing vinyl records, not about the price. Because money goes hand in hand with quality, it is necessary to know the knowledge to determine the price. If the player has money but is ignorant about this “art,” it will be a pity. Besides, vinyl is very durable; many discs released from 1978, like If You Know Suzy, still sound clear and clear. Using the right equipment and setting it up right from the start will not only help you maintain your equipment well but also keep your vinyl collection “longer.”
Origin of birth
The first idea appeared 140 years ago thanks to Edison’s phonograph design. The first records also appeared for the first time in 1948 in Columbia with the world’s first 12-inch vinyl record. It was first presented to the public on June 20, 1948, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York. Since then, many new technologies and new mechanisms for listening to music have been born. Pulling a vinyl record out of its holster, gently placing it on the turntable, and lowering the lever still causes an intense kick for most music players.
Things to Know When Playing Vinyl Discs
- Slots on vinyl records
A vinyl record has grooves thin around the perimeter of both sides in a spiral. These are the tracks containing audio information; these tracks are quite tight and close together. The grooves on a turntable have a slight twist towards the center of the disc. Usually has a small groove width of only about 0.04-0.08mm (depending on the intensity of the sound). The total length of the grooves on a vinyl record can sometimes be up to about 500m.
The two sides of the slot are opposite each other.
The two sides of the slot will be opposite each other and undulate differently. Each side of the track will carry the audio signal of one channel (2 track faces = 2 left and right channels). The face closest to the outside of the turntable ring is the side that holds the right channel’s information. This information is expressed through areas as small as a micron (1 thousandth of a millimeter). So it is possible to see such a disc, but it contains a lot of audio information. That’s why turntables, vinyl record players are extremely sensitive to vibrations from the outside.
Dust particles easily get in and fill the grooves.
Besides, because these grooves are so small, it is easy for tiny dust particles to enter and fill the grooves. If the needle sweeps through, it will make a small click to touch a small dust particle. These sounds are called “beautiful noise” by audiophiles in the West. For MC needle with a small stylus tip, it is not affected. However, if the needle is MM, it will easily lead to damage. So when playing vinyl, you need a dusting brush and a demagnetizing brush.
- Cartridge
There are two types of needles, MM and MC, collectively known as cartridges. The job of the cartridge needle is to sweep up the small grooves above. Then, transmit the vibrations on the grooves on the turntable in the most accurate way. The needle consists of 2 parts, the stylus (needle tip) and the body.
Needle tips are often used with extremely high hardness components and are usually industrial diamonds. Compared with diamonds in jewelry products, there is no purity and clarity. However, they still have the same stiffness. The diamond tip is usually sharpened to a very small point. There are a few different needle standards such as Nude, spherical, elliptical, Shibata. Each type will have a different sharpness and a different point of contact to the disc groove. The more pointed, the more exposed, the more expensive, typically fine line and elliptical.
When scanning the track, the motion and magnitude of the stylus’s movement are converted into frequencies and loudnesses. The sounds you hear are initiated through the stylus tip first. The stylus drives into the small and slim cantilever, the conduit where the stylus tip is placed. Vibrates along the tip of the needle, which transmits the vibration to the inner part of the cartridge body.
Overview of 2 types of Cartridge
There are two cartridges: Moving Magnet (MM) Cartridge and Moving Coil (MC) Cartridge. Both cartridges use the physical principle of recreating current based on motion in an electromagnetic field.
As the name suggests, the Moving Magnet, the magnet part of the MM needle, will be located in the moving cantilever to reproduce the current. Meanwhile, the two coil sections on the Cartridge will be fixed. For Moving Coil, the tail of the cantilever will have a coil attached to the tail, and the magnet will be fixed.
Ortofon 2M Red MM
The MM tip will be a regular needle tip that can easily change the stylus and is more durable than the MC. The amperage is also higher than the MCs hence high output. The MC head is more expensive, uses a smaller diamond, is more difficult to manufacture, and cannot replace the stylus. More fragile and less amperage than MM needles. Therefore, a step-up transformer or a separate phono preamplifier circuit is needed for the MC to increase the current to match the phono stage.
Denon DL110 MC Cartridge
Because of the small needle tip and slender cantilever, MC needles are less susceptible to resonance. Fast response to notches in disc grooves and less dust tripping. As a result, playing vinyl records, we hear the sound is often cleaner, quieter, and clearer than the MM needle.
Working principle
Regarding the working principle of the MM and MC needles, a variable magnetic field is generated from the magnet. The small coils will generate small, variable amperage signals. The current will be amplified and transmitted to the amplifier to output the speaker. It is necessary to use a phono stage as an intermediate bridge between the turntable and the amplifier/pre-amp in many cases.
- Turntable and tonearm
A turntable consists of a platter connected to a shaft located in a rotating bearing. The post and platter rotate on a bearing located at the base of the cylinder and in contact with the bearing. These two components will rotate thanks to the motor or belt and plinth. These are the three main components of a vinyl tray.
Music Hall MMF 11.1 Turntable
The platter is usually made of aluminum or solid copper to avoid resonance. Platter usually weights 3-5kg for stability, anti-vibration. The turntable needs to be balanced so that the platter and shaft don’t lose gravity, tilting to one side. It is easy to damage the belt in the long run and wear out the bearing if tilted. The motor also needs to be lubricated to prevent it from drying out and squeaking in the long run.
Some good turntables will often have height-adjustable anti-vibration feet. In addition, there are some wheels like Linn Sondek LP12 or AudioCraft AR-110; in addition to the anti-vibration feet, the platter face is connected to the tonearm set surface. These two components are supported by springs and separated from the case and the motor to suppress vibration completely.
Linn Sondek LP12 is a classic and loved by vinyl players.
The tonearm is to attach the needle up. The tonearm consists of a counterweight, an anti-skating element, and various moving mechanisms: unipivot, gimbal, bearing. Good tonearm materials are usually brass or titanium nitride. Because they are very light and have good anti-resonance, there is no vibration when playing loud and deep bass music.
- Phonostage
Cutting Lathe
Many people still think that the sound of a vinyl record is the most original and closest to the recording. That is just the concept of the salespeople’s say only. In addition to the discs mixed and cut directly, some vinyl records are remixed from an original master tape. After that, it is cut and molded into different versions. In the process of creating a vinyl record, the signal is processed, fully EQ adjusted. Because the cutting lathe needle is difficult to engrave information that is too large and the cross-sectional area cannot be too deep. That will affect the life of the workpiece cutter (usually very expensive).
So some subwoofer frequencies will be pushed up by an interval. This range is regulated and regulated by the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America), and the EQ range has become the norm.
Amplifier without phono stage circuit
If you’ve ever tried plugging a Turntable’s output directly into an amp’s line-level input, usually the sound is very small, and the sound quality is thin, bright, and without bass. That’s because our amplifier does not have a phono stage circuit.
Phonostage by Thomas Mayer uses EC8020 – a high gain bulb with very low noise and very expensive.
A phono stage by K&K Audio
The importance of Step-up transformer
For normal MC needles or low-output MC needles, you need an additional Step-up transformer. This amplifier uses two transformers and amplifies the signal according to the ratio of the turns. Since the transformer is a passive device that works by the magnetic field, noise is almost non-existent. Some MC circuits in the phono stage can also adjust gain not to use step-up to save. But usually only from the popular phono stage or less.
Note when buying a step-up transformer.
Since the MC needle needs a large gain ratio of 1:20, sometimes 1:30 and 1:40, an active amplifier will have a large noise floor. That is unacceptable, so few big companies are going in this direction. The choice of a step-up transformer depends on the impedance and voltage output of the MC needle. So not every needle attached to expensive step-up sounds good. Sometimes the impedance matching is wrong; one is the loss of treble, the other is the loss of bass.
Lundahl’s step-up transformer uses two pieces of LL1931ag, permalloy core, pure silver wire.
Each phono stage has an RIAA EQ circuit that reverses this process. Therefore, it will push the bass range and reduce the treble to balance the sound quality. Phonostage is also an amplifier with an output voltage of only a few thousandths of a volt. Meanwhile, the standard output of DACs and CDs will be from 2V – 2.5V. So the output signal of the turntable needs to be amplified before it is sent to your amp.
Built-in Turntable
- What is the Integrated Turntable?
Integrated turntables are becoming more and more popular these days due to their low cost and making it simpler to play vinyl. Today, most all-in-one trays are integrated with many features such as Bluetooth, USB, or even a built-in headphone and speaker port.
- Problems When Using the Built-in
The problem of the life of the wheel, the ability to maintain
Cheap integrated turntables often won’t be able to replace the MM needle or tonearm. Therefore, once damaged, even a part of the Vilyn may have to be discarded. Meanwhile, a few decades old is completely normal if a wheel can be replaced from needle to tonearm.
Sound quality
One of the leading factors that determine the sound quality is the ability to resist vibrations and the quality of the tonearm. When cheap all-in-one turntables often have poor anti-vibration capabilities and some charcoal wheels with built-in speakers like Victrola, this will add unnecessary resonance. You can also see the phenomenon that when the speaker is close to the Vilyn. It will also cause a buzzing feeling if the noise cancellation is not good.
In addition, the phono integrated inside the soundbar often has not-so-impressive sound quality. If you choose built-in turntables, choose ones that offer a choice between phono and line output. To be able later to use discrete phonos with much better sound quality.
- How to choose a suitable integrated Vilyn?
It would help if you chose a changeable and customizable Vilyn. The most important thing is that the cartridge needle tip can be changed (most integrated charcoal trays use MM needles). Then the adjustable counterweight is essential for easy needle replacement.
To check if the tonearm is good or not also requires a lot of experience. You can check the anti-vibration of the Vilyn when testing is also quite simple. Place the Vilyn on the table surface and then vibrate to see if the tonearm vibrates more or less. In addition, a Vilyn should also choose a charcoal tray with the ability to choose line-out or phono-out output so that it can be upgraded later using a separate phono model of better quality.
Ending
At this point, you can probably understand the basic mechanism of playing music through the vinyl and terms used when playing vinyl records. However, setting up a turntable is something that requires knowledge and attention to detail. That’s why cartridges are small but expensive and extremely well-maintained.