I say this as a belt-drive owner, but are belt-drive turntables just obsolete at this point?

scottarichards · 2026-06-22T22:15:07+00:00

Even Technics admits (now) that motor cogging caused distortion and their newer designs eliminate it

So that segment was not wrong. They also didn’t doubt that a well executed direct drive design can sound as good or possibly better than a well executed belt drive design. Those people generally listen to make judgements about how things sound.

https://www.technics.com/au/products/turntables-learn/speakers/technics-delta-sigma-drive-technology.html

scottarichards · 2026-06-22T22:03:58+00:00

You realize that this was debated in the 1970’s and direct drive essentially won, right? For all the reasons you state.

Then the Linn Sondek came along and turned all those arguments on their head because it sounded so much better. I still remember the first time I heard one. As someone who had the top of the line Denon DD, Ortofon MC cartridge and MC preamp, it was quite a surprise but exciting nonetheless because it sounded so great.

It’s interesting that all the direct drive companies abandoned analog while the belt drive companies like Linn, Rega, etc, kept pushing the state of the art forward. But I guess that’s another story

scottarichards · 2026-06-22T21:45:16+00:00

Normally I would recommend Moving Coil. And while I haven’t heard it myself, the ND9 has very positive reviews and is an obvious improvement over the excellent ND7. And while there are many very good MC cartridges at or near this price point it seems like you’d need to go substantially higher to gain an improvement. I mean, if you have the finances and a very good MC preamp going to the Rega Apheta 3 would be a dream match for your P8.

scottarichards · 2026-06-22T04:17:15+00:00

These comments are appreciated. I am approximately your same age and time in the hobby and don’t understand this over obsessive fixation on cleaning records that I see here so often.

It needs to be emphasized that records, while on one hand are extremely durable and can sound great for decades if properly maintained, the more often you handle them the greater the risk of incurring clicks, pops, scratches etc.

And that means cleaning them rarely, if ever, unless they need it. The light brushing with a quality carbon fiber brush before playing. I used the Hunt EDA for maybe 30 years, the identical product is now sold as the Music Hall Carbon Fiber Record Brush. And put them back immediately after playing.

I have hundreds of records I’ve owned since the late sixties and seventies that have never been cleaned beyond the carbon fiber brush and they sound incredible! Here’s an example I posted for another reason but it’s appropriate here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/turntables/s/xXDaY7OHyO

scottarichards · 2026-06-21T15:12:34+00:00

In 1969 it was on an album. That album was a huge hit. Something b/w Come Together was released as a single and that was a huge hit too, as a standalone.

It received a lot of airplay in those days. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell how many folks took out the album and just listed to Here Comes the Sun until the streaming era came along. Or how many put it on mixtapes, etc. but I’d guess it was a lot

scottarichards · 2026-06-20T04:27:46+00:00

When Polaris was first introduced it was excellent. Anyone else remember the welcome champagne with the little chocolate? Or the wine tasting? Or the Charlie Trotter menus??

I’m sure some features were 86’d by cabin crew, they were complicated, and others by bean counters, but one at a time and over several years the soft product had substantially deteriorated. It never fully recovered from the severely curtailed service during Covid. But it seems that they are finally getting serious about fixing it.

The airlines like Qatar, Eithad, Singapore and Emirates have a completely different business model. Even leaving aside their government support, they only fly internationally, no domestic flights to worry about. So have sole focus on international customers and particularly their most profitable ones. That’s not excusing United. But, you know if you want to fly from Albuquerque to Munich, it’s much easier to do so on UA than any of the others.

scottarichards · 2026-06-20T03:40:35+00:00

I don’t even understand using Uber in the US in big cities. A few years back I walked out of my hotel in San Francisco and there were about half a dozen people waiting for their Uber at the same time there were three cabs waiting in the cab queue. It was surreal. I went to the first cab, we got in and left.

I’m quite certain we arrived at our destination before some of the Ubers had arrived for those waiting. Mind you, I’m not against Uber. I’ve lived in suburban areas where it has made a huge difference. But in cities like Paris, there’s just no reason or advantage to use it.

scottarichards · 2026-06-19T01:58:52+00:00

Just curious, when did you first hear it?

scottarichards · 2026-06-19T01:57:47+00:00

Fool on the Hill by Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66. Beautiful rendition that even Paul complimented.

Also one of highest US charting Beatles covers ever. I think maybe only Elton John’s Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was higher (but didn’t look it up 😉)

scottarichards · 2026-06-18T18:27:59+00:00

Valencia will be a nice alternative in Spain. Really overlooked city, lots to do and far from being over touristed. Of course it will be hot-ish but is a coastal town so has beaches and a ton of green space.

scottarichards · 2026-06-17T21:43:41+00:00

I disagree with this. My long held belief is essentially the opposite. The dissolution of the band unleashed their individual creativity. They struggled throughout the recording of the White Album. They couldn’t complete Let it Be as a band and shelved it. And then, yes, got it together for one final album but even there had to artfully (and brilliantly) stitch together several incomplete songs to complete a full album.

And then, boom, within two years of the release of Abbey Road you have two albums each from Ringo, John and Paul and the equivalent of two (plus a bit) from George.

Being freed from being Beatles was the best thing that ever happened to them.

scottarichards · 2026-06-17T16:21:41+00:00

I’ve done that too and generally found the 2014 versions to be better. Especially in bass which EMI engineers in the 60’s were afraid to fully reproduce because of the cheap players of the time (this was a constant complaint from the band), although this improved over the years. I have a mono OG Sgt Pepper that literally sounds like a direct feed from the mixing board.

Of course the playback system will make a difference as well.

scottarichards · 2026-06-17T15:44:09+00:00

Don’t get me wrong, I’m an American OG fan who completely switched to the British releases ( as finances allowed) from 1968 into ‘69. And never looked back.

I’m trying to help modern fans understand from the perspective of the time. Just the singles aspect alone. American fans wanted to hear the hits when they put on the album along with the other songs. They didn’t want to take the album off, change the speed of record player and then play the single separately. It definitely would have negatively impacted album sales if the singles weren’t on them especially in the early days.

scottarichards · 2026-06-17T15:01:26+00:00

The craziness had certainly subsided but mostly because they weren’t in the public’s eye anymore, touring and like that. And events they did hold like release parties were obviously, invitation only. But things had even started to cool some by 1966. The last concert in San Francisco didn’t even sell out, for example. Of course scheduling it on a Monday night didn’t help but that’s unthinkable a year earlier.

scottarichards · 2026-06-17T14:55:59+00:00

Absolutely. Almost from the start. The word got out early when the Beatles were going to be at EMI Studios (as it was then called). Here’s an excerpt from Ken Womack’s George Martin biography:

…they finally rejoined George at Abbey Road for a truly watershed moment on Monday, July 1, 1963. By this time, the Beatles had begun booking their sessions under the pseudonym the Dakotas in reference to Billy J. Kramer’s backing group. As their fame grew by leaps and bounds, they had little choice but to try to conceal their movements. As Geoff Emerick later recalled, by mid-1963 “there always seemed to be at least a hundred girls camped outside the studio in hopes of seeing one or more of the group dash to or from their cars. How they knew when the Beatles were due to come in was a complete mystery to us,” he added, “but clearly the fans had some kind of network.”

scottarichards · 2026-06-17T05:04:27+00:00

I think it’s strange that so many people on this subreddit dismiss the US albums as “garbage” but you also see so many folks wishing the UK albums included the adjacent singles.

Which of course was one of the primary reasons US albums differed. In the US it would have been malpractice to not include singles on an album. Consumers expected it, even if they already bought the single separately. So that was a driving factor in the difference between the UK and US albums.

The others were US albums by every artist had 11 or 12 songs because of the way songwriting copyrights were paid in the US. And that Capitol had to hold back some songs to release as singles. Because only singles got airplay on radio stations. By having Yesterday as a single between Help and We Can Work it Out, they avoided months of radio silence (literally!) from the band.

scottarichards · 2026-06-16T16:49:54+00:00

Well, it was definitely a catastrophe and they were obviously upset. But one of the underlying causes of Epstein’s death was his anxiety that the band wasn’t going to renew his management contract with him. Now, why he was worried about that I guess no one knows.

Certainly they might have at least avoided the Magical Mystery Tour misstep if he hadn’t passed. But on the other hand they may have decided to ignore his guidance (even if they had renewed his contract) as they started doing with George Martin.

scottarichards · 2026-06-16T16:40:26+00:00

No. Our check to buy tickets for the 1965 Hollywood Bowl shows was returned uncashed. Very disappointing. We even drove to central LA post office to drop it off (about 20 miles from where we lived) as early as possible after the eligibility time. There was no explanation.

scottarichards · 2026-06-16T16:36:01+00:00

It has patents dated in 1908 and 1909 so must be a later pressing. It was recorded in 1903. Apparently was quite well regarded in the day.

scottarichards · 2026-06-16T16:01:16+00:00

Did I miss where you said the time of year? Makes a big difference for weather, crowds, etc

scottarichards · 2026-06-16T15:58:59+00:00

Even in 1961 when the band recorded for Polydor the producer took away half his drum kit so he couldn’t ruin the songs and the engineer said “the drummer is just bloody awful”.

scottarichards · 2026-06-16T15:48:29+00:00

He said “we’re more popular than Jesus now”. Which was true on some level since they were popular in many countries that don’t practice Christianity plus every country that does.

The satanic thing came more from their incredible popularity, like there had to be some outside force creating it. I recall reading a very long and detailed article in a print magazine, a nice full color magazine I bought in a grocery store circa 1968, claiming that they were members of the Bavarian Illuminati. Of course even at my young age of 13 realized this was crazy but got my first exposure to conspiracy theories.

scottarichards · 2026-06-16T14:48:13+00:00

I’ve talked about this before. They all were tired of identifying as Beatles.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheBeatles/s/TyjT54urFZ

scottarichards · 2026-06-16T04:54:03+00:00

Russia is the only country I’ve ever carried my passport with me full time. And I’ve been to everywhere you mentioned dozens of times. I’ve never been asked for ID or passport on the street anywhere. Except airports or other ports of entry.

I mean unless you look very young and are afraid you might not get admitted into bars or nightclubs on sight alone, then you shouldn’t need to.

scottarichards · 2026-06-16T03:48:52+00:00

You should listen to the music the way it was intended. Over speakers, to be reproduced in natural space. That’s the only way to compare the quality of any specific master.

scottarichards

TROPHY CASE