[78-L] New Cheap Turntable

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Lichtman" <jeff at swazoo.com>
>>To answer a question about 78
>>styli, just about all of these cheap TTs use a ceramic cartridge and
>>there is a 78 sapphire available on the web if you look for it. . .
>>Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
> The pictures of the PT-01USB turntable on the Numark web site look
> like it doesn't use a standard headshell mount. In fact, it looks as
> if the headshell might not be removable, which would suggest that it
> uses a ceramic cartridge.
> Numark has another USB turntable, the TTUSB, which looks like it uses
> a standard headshell and cartridge mount. Guitar Center sells these
> for $99 - unfortunately, the specs say it has "78 rpm support via
> software." The Numark TTXUSB has a 78 speed, but it costs around $350.
>
Note that ceramic cartridges are NOT a major problem; in most cases,
their output (c. 1 volt) can be fed into "Line In" jacks of computers or
audio systems. However, ceramic cartridge out can NOT be fed into
most present-day "Phono" jacks, which expect magnetic-cartridge
levels (MANY times lower!).

> Another thing to consider with a USB turntable is what type of file
> it produces. Some only produce MP3 files. I would prefer to get an
> uncompressed file (WAV on PCs) and, if I want an MP3, to compress it 
> myself.
>
See above...

Steven C. Barr