Hi-Fi

Some time ago, I was lent an old Dual 1229 turntable by Nicole's parents. It served its purpose pretty well for the time it was in service. When I got it, it had no cartridge and was a mess. I took it into Hawthorne Stereo and had them take a look at it. The guy there said that this particular turntable was his first when he was a teenager, 30 some-odd years ago. I asked him if we could get a cartridge for it, and he pulled out a Grado Black cartridge and proceeded to mount it on the Dual's tonearm.

I took it home and played with it a bit and it sounded pretty damn good. I bought a few records here and there and recorded them into the computer. It did well, until a few days ago. Nicole had bought two new records and the old Dual just couldn't play them very well. The left channel was barely working. When it did, it'd be fine for about a minute, and then cut out, leaving only the right channel to do its thing. Finally, we gave in and bought a Numark TT-1600 DJ turntable at Guitar Center up in Lynnwood.

What an improvement. I don't consider myself too knowledgeable about turntables, but putting this one together was a good learning experience. Today, I managed to get the Grado cartridge mounted successfully, replacing the stock Numark cartridge. I don't really hear much difference between the two, but I figured if I paid $40 for the Grado cartridge, I might as well use it.

Thanksgiving was good. We went up to Nicole's grandmother's house on Camano Island. I'm still waiting to hear from my mom or my sister about my sister's forthcoming first child. Any day now....