The Set up

Remember how I said to search high and low around local sources for components to your setup? Yeah, well, you should do that and not make the same mistake I did. See, you may find it hard to believe but living in Australia has its downsides (not many, best country ever?) . One of these downsides is the propensity to find useful hi-fi components for cheaper than retail. The lack of content on Craigslist Adelaide and the ‘seldom’ useful advertisements on Gumtree left me at a loss for how to source these bargains. I came to the conclusion that unless I was to visit every single garage sale for the next 6 months, then I would have to bite the bullet and start buying new.

How to improve

I could literally buy iPod speakers right now and it would sound better than my current setup. After all, it is a Crosley. Which, due to its flimsy construction, ceramic needle and resultant heavy tracking force do more harm than good. Because the needle is heavier than many others, it carves up the record, destroying the fidelity of the record in the long run. As I would rather enjoy the records I do own, it would be remiss of me to continue using the Crosley.

Therefore the first priority was sorting out the turntable. And as I mentioned earlier, sourcing a decent turntable locally was proving quite a challenge. So I decided to buy NEW. Prepared to front an extra cost, I set out looking for the turntable that provided the most value at an entry level price. Candidates include the Pro-ject Debut Carbon, Rega Rp3 and the Audio Technica AT-LP120.

After much deliberation, I decided on the debut carbon for its level of clarity (I sound tested it) and overall design. The quality construction of this turntable has been highly spoken of and wow do I love it. The weight of the platter alone is heavier than the Crosley and the sleek finish on the plinth has it looking seriously sleek. Did I mention the tonearm? Overall it is a great looking piece that does a great job for the price. For all the success of the turntable purchase there was still a problem..

What not to do

Buy cheap shit off amazon. Check that. Buy cheap shit without considering the brand, place of distribution and voltage recommendations. I thought my new Pyle Pp-999 phono preamp would be serviceable in completing my set up and boy was I wrong. I take it out of the box and realise the plug looks funny, ‘Oh yeh, its an American plug.. should have thought of that’ the voice inside my head says. The next obvious step is to buy a US to AUS power converter, right? So I plug it in to the socket and after about 20 seconds or so of fiddling around with the socket, I fit it in and maybe 20 seconds after that, it EXPLODES. Literally 30cm from my body, I act as if I had been shot.

When I assess the damage, the back of the adapter has blown off and that industrial smell starts to fill the room. When I try to turn the computer on to search ‘how to put out an electrical fire’ (just in case..) It won’t start. Now I guess I realise that the surge in power has flipped the switch in the power box outside. This realisation provides an odd moment of clarity and reflection that can be summarised in 2 thoughts.

1) Understand what you are plugging into what, especially when it could lead to an electrical fire, or worse, a $500 turntable could be on the other end.

and

2) All you readers out there should be thankful that I made such a colossal fuck up and am documenting it (talk about embarrassing.. do I know anything ?) so you don’t make that same mistake.

What happens next

No preamp = no sound, as the debut carbon does not have an in built phono preamp. For the uninitiated, a setup will look like this: turntable–> preamp –> amplifier –> speakers. Right now I have a decent turntable, and a well below average amplifier +speakers. So this leaves a quality phono pre amp left to finish my set up… for now.

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