The Steel Guitar Forum Store 

Post new topic LP to CD. Ion vs. Audio-Technica
Reply to topic
Author Topic:  LP to CD. Ion vs. Audio-Technica
Bob Kagy

 

From:
Lafayette, CO USA
Post  Posted 2 Feb 2007 10:31 am    
Reply with quote

A recent NY Times article compared 2 turntables plus software that hook in to your PC for converting LP's to CD's.

One unit is the Ion iTTUSB; the other is the Audio-Technica LP2Da. (each can be google'd).

Has anybody had hands-on experience with either or both, and would you have a recommendation?

From the article, it looks like the Audio-Technica might be a little more user friendly.

Thanks for any comments.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Greg Cutshaw


From:
Corry, PA, USA
Post  Posted 2 Feb 2007 12:46 pm    
Reply with quote

Bob, my Dual turntable died just before I got ready to convert a bunch of LP's to CD. I researched both turntables a lot and ended up getting the AT-PL50 which is the turntable that comes in the AT-LP2D package. The AT turntable has a metal platter, built in RIAA preamp (can be switched off) and a decent dynamic cartridge. Most of the reviews of the Ion at Amazon showed a high level of disatisfaction with the ION including it's felt/plastic platter which is too light to provide good speed regulation and too slippery to grip the LP's without slipping (the AT comes with a high grip rubber mat very similar to the Dual).

There's no advantage to going into the USB bus. I found the gain of the built-in AT pre-amp to be too high for my computer's sound card line level input so I ran the AT into an old Kenwood amp I had lying around and then took the tape out of the amp into the computer. All of my recordings are crystal clear. I used shareware software to create the .wav files then WMP to convert them to .wma files to burn to disk. I really can't say that this cheap AT turntable (no anti-skate, no adjustable tracking, no adj. speed) worked any worse than my expensive Dual turntable. In fact the speed although fixed was right at 33 1/3 as close as I could time it on my watch.

At Circuit City the AT alone lists for $99. I paid $74 for it and it went on sale for $49 a few weeks later. My second choice would have been to get a Technics servo turntable off of ebay.

Greg


Last edited by Greg Cutshaw on 3 Feb 2007 6:45 pm; edited 2 times in total
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website Yahoo Messenger

Bob Kagy

 

From:
Lafayette, CO USA
Post  Posted 2 Feb 2007 3:21 pm    
Reply with quote

That's a nice review Greg.

Many thanks.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Delvin Morgan


From:
Lindstrom, Minnesota, USA
Post  Posted 3 Feb 2007 8:25 am    
Reply with quote

So therefor I can copy my cassette tapes onto the computer via my sound card? I don't need any USB powered tape player?
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail

Greg Cutshaw


From:
Corry, PA, USA
Post  Posted 3 Feb 2007 8:40 am    
Reply with quote

Delvin,

I copied my old cassettes using the same technique, cassette player to Kenwood amp, tape out of kenwood amp to soundcard. Most any recording software you use will have a stereo indicator that will tell you if the sound card is receiving both left and right channels ok and you can also assure that your recording level is ok that way. With your cassette player you may be able to run directly into your sound card's line input or stereo mic input since no RIAA equalization is needed.

All of the cassettes and LP's I have recorded this way are completely indistinguishable from the originals. Same warmth with no extra noise or noticable distortion. Remember that the original LP's and cassettes were not super high fidelity to begin with so this recording process easily maintains the original fidelity.

The process I used was to record the entire LP or cassette one side at a time. Then use the recording software to highlite and save one song at a time as a .wav file. This speeds up the process a whole lot. You can burn the final files as .cda files and get about 26 songs per CD. Or you can burn them like I do as .wma files at 44 khz and 192 kbps and get about 185 songs per CD.

Greg
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website Yahoo Messenger


All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Jump to:  

Our Online Catalog
Strings, CDs, instruction,
steel guitars & accessories

www.SteelGuitarShopper.com

Please review our Forum Rules and Policies

Steel Guitar Forum LLC
PO Box 237
Mount Horeb, WI 53572 USA


Click Here to Send a Donation

Email admin@steelguitarforum.com for technical support.


BIAB Styles
Ray Price Shuffles for
Band-in-a-Box

by Jim Baron
HTTP