Currently the stereo that is right by my PC and record cleaning machine is out of commission while I convert a rather huge pile of MP3 download cards on to my Sony HAP-S1, which is one of the final pieces I need to add to my main stereo in the great room upstairs, but we will save that for another blog entry.
Point is, I sorted a bunch of R&B/Soul/Funk 45’s this afternoon and evening. Then I fired up my VPI Cyclone record cleaning machine for the first time (it replaces my trusty HW-16.5 VPI machine, which I am moving upstairs to continue servicing my personal record collection after seven years of trusty dual service) to clean the lucky ten I decided to list on Discogs tonight.
The reason I only cleaned ten 45’s this evening was that I’m a meticulous fellow and knew I was going to be using the bar stereo for play testing and my phone for listing the records, which is not my optimal set up. But I also think it is a crime for a record seller to not play test 45’s if they are working anywhere near a record player. Don’t most of us listen to music while we work? While I’m not saying you can’t efficiently grade and list records by sight, 45’s are so dang short! Why not just play grade them and give your buyer the satisfaction of knowing you play tested the record?
This Numark Pro TT-1 is about twenty years old. It was given to me by a good friend close to fifteen years ago and had been my main play testing workhorse turntable until last year when I got an Audio Technica AT-LP120-USB turntable because my PC tower is literally right next to my turntable when my office stereo is set up properly, and I make digital copies of a lot of stuff I sell. The Numark is an incredibly sturdy and reliable turntable, while clearly not an audiophile table, it is great for play testing records on and has served me very well in that capacity over the years. Obviously the Shure M44-7 is a great fit for this type of turntable and the type of listening I’m doing on it. I always say that if the Shure can’t track it, nothing will!
Lastly, I am using this first generation PS Audio Sprout to power everything. I just LOVE The Sprout and will do a proper review of it and the new Sprout100, which I have upstairs as the solid state component on my big stereo. The Sprout is small, simple, elegant, and has Bluetooth! While it is great to be able to spin records downstairs if I am having some of my music nerd friends over to help me sort through some new collection I just bought while drinking a few beers and chewing the fat, it is also nice to be able to just switch the amp to Bluetooth when normal company is present and get a good Spotify playlist pumping through the vintage Polk Audio SDA-II’s I have it hooked up to. My mother graciously let me pinch them from my dad’s 4-speaker stereo setup after he died a few years ago. I think she was glad to have the space back, and I was glad to have some sweet vintage speakers I grew up listening to that helped push me in the direction of becoming interested in hi-fi.
So there you have it. My simple basement bar stereo. It isn’t anything special but it sounds pretty good, can do Bluetooth, and gets loud! That pretty much covers all of my basement listening needs. I also have a mid 90’s Kenwood cassette deck hooked up to it, because I needed to have one tape player in the house to play all those mix tapes I worked so hard on in the 90’s and in to the early 2000’s…
*For full disclosure, links provided are affiliate links, so provided you followed the link and bought something I would stand to make a few pennies from Amazon.