Better Sound from your Phonograph

Preface 2nd edition: Science of 'vinyl' and how-to reference...records sound better than digital over-processing and clipping that breed distortion. Level compression empties digital’s least significant bits, reducing dynamic range to 12 usable bits (vinyl’s equivalent). It gaslights shoppers to mistake immediately louder as better. Yet if you’d simply turn up play volume, recordings would be louder but also retain natural dynamics (loud v. soft), harmonic relationships (tone color,), and sound better. For many, over-compression artifacts are irritating. For others, artifacts are 'brightness,' possibly making up for deficiencies in their systems. Or the distortion becomes habituated, their new normal, though false - not high fidelity! Yet since the 1950s, analog vinyl still qualifies as high-fidelity.   Among many clarifications is the technical term 'cutoff' in the chart on p22. It defines the top of any filter’s cliff, not the bottom. Where the signal has only apparently fallen 3dB at a 'cutoff frequency,' f3.  But it’s not the end of the world at the bottom, down several tens of dB. For 'vinyl,' cutoff is the onset of loss of high frequencies (HF). The chart on p22 also speaks to the issue of vinyl v. digital. For example, a CD does not suffer in HF by end of disc - it has the same technical quality beginning to end, measurable in frequency response, distortion, and noise, the limitations of which engineers must heed mastering vinyl. Making test cuts, they check the sound with a 'transparent' cartridge, finely aligned in its tonearm - the aim of this book for you!  If trouble occurs while cutting the master, the side is scrapped and begun again. This diligence is one reason why vinyl now outsells CDs and downloads.   The new order follows the journey that begins with the engraved groove. For reader convenience, page referrals are in green type. Some readers may wish to save for later history stuff in purple, or higher-tech stuff brown. Some redundancy remains for readers’ convenience, or for emphasis.    Again, the styli in micro-photo posters stand in for comparable products of other makers - it’s not possible to include every tip by every manufacturer. They all share the science you will soon know in this book. In buying audio, seek honest specifications as cited throughout, and know how to compare.   Most digital devices are ’plug-’n-play,’ but warn 'No user-serviceable parts inside.' This book encourages turntable users to delve inside. Because most anomalies can be minimized by readers, either hobbyists who like tinkering and science, or professionals who need optimal performance. By those who like music and other content on disk that will sound better after optimization. New micro-photo posters are key to choosing styli by performance and wear of your records and themselves. New context about other components in an audio system, and about who mastered the 'loudest record ever recorded.' For easy reading, the gnarliest math is in the footnotes. Let’s turn the page...