Are turntables dead ? or do you have one? I do!!

**Zacha341** · January-12-20, 12:45 PM

Speaking of older/ vintage items: I have a small mint condition Sony component system [[cassette player with am/ fm receiver).

How do I go about purchasing a pair of red/ white/ yellow corded plug-in speakers?

What are speakers with that kind of connection [[red/ white/ yellow corded) called? They ain't USB or bluetooth!

Once I know the wording I can find 'em fast on eBay I am sure. I just want some book case sized one. Thanks...

...

**wilderness** · January-12-20, 01:13 PM

audio cables. You may by most any store that offers electronics.
You may even use the cables that come with cable tv connections.

**Zacha341** · January-12-20, 01:46 PM

That's it - audio cables! Thank yah.

Originally Posted by wilderness

audio cables. You may by most any store that offers electronics.
You may even use the cables that come with cable tv connections.

**JBMcB** · January-16-20, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by Zacha341

How do I go about purchasing a pair of red/ white/ yellow corded plug-in speakers?

Can you post a picture of the connector on the back of the stereo?

**JBMcB** · January-16-20, 11:52 AM

Record player basics:

1. Needles wear out. You can buy a decent Grado or Audio Technica cartridge for $50. Or, buy a replacement needle if yours is removable [[not all are.) Worn needles damage your records. They can last a long time, but if you don't keep your records clean, or clean your needle, they wear out faster. There are also different types of needles, mainly standard [[two screws on top) and P-mount [[slides in like a cartridge) - make sure you buy the right kind.

2. Make sure your tonearm is set up properly. The main setting is tracking force, measured in grams, usually set by a weight or dial on the arm. Each cartridge has it's own setting - look yours up online and make sure it's set properly. Some arms have an anti-skating weight that can be adjusted as well - make sure that's set up for your cartridge if needed.

3. You can't fix scratches on records, but you can fix clicks and pops caused by dust. Get a carbon fiber record brush - between $10 and $20 on Amazon. If you listen to records a lot it might be worth investing in a manual record cleaning machine - around $70 for a decent one.

4. Most record players need a special phono preamp, otherwise it will sound too quiet and the equalization will be off. If your receiver/stereo doesn't have a phono input, you'll need to buy a separate phono preamp. Decent ones run around $40 on Amazon.

5. If you are buying a new/used record player and want to know if it's any good, a general rule of thumb is that it should be *heavy* A needle is basically a super-sensitive microphone. To keep it from picking up the noise from the record player's motor, or the floor, or anything else, the chassis of the record player needs to be heavy. Used Technics, Marantz and Denon record players are generally pretty good. Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, JVC, etc... made a LOT of cheapo record players, along with some good ones, though the good models are hard to find. Avoid Bang & Olufsen - they look really cool but the needles are totally proprietary and *very* expensive to replace.

6. Keep your records in their sleeves, and keep the sleeves in their jackets. If you don't have sleeves you can buy them for pretty cheap. Ditto jackets. Store your records upright. Ikea makes cheap shelves that fit records perfectly, and can double as a stereo stand [[pretty sure it's a design criteria for most of their small shelving units) Keep your records away from sunlight and heat registers. Don't leave them in hot cars in the summer - I have a horribly warped record to attest to that.