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Gramophone Turntable Workshops, March 6 and 7, 2025

How do you enjoy your music?  Streaming from a service like Qobuz, Tidal, Deezer or Spotify? FM radio, CD’s, or maybe even… vinyl records?  Vinyl ruled the roost until the mid - late 1980’s, when the affordability and convenience of compact discs made them the musical medium of choice.  Vinyl sales proceeded to drop each year for a good 15-20 years. The growing availability of digitally streamed music in the 2000’s seemed to assure that vinyl records would be a forgotten medium.

But beginning in 2004 or so, vinyl record sales, once an afterthought, began to rise.  Turntable sales began increasing in popularity too.  We’ve now seen a phenomenon rarely seen in this day and age; a once forgotten, old-school, left-for-dead technology has resurrected itself. Why? Aside from the nostalgia value of physical albums, vinyl records can sound really good - and serious music listeners have taken note.  

At Gramophone, we’re both happy that vinyl has made a comeback and eager to introduce this old school/new school music format to our customers who aren’t currently enjoying vinyl.  We’ve teamed up with Robert Bruce of Pro-Ject to host workshops on Thursday, March 6th at Gramophone Columbia, and Friday, March 7th in Timonium.  

We plan one seminar at 4 pm each day, and a second, identical seminar at 6 pm.  You can sign up for the seminars here:

What can you expect at the workshop?  We’ll discuss the important elements of every record playback system - from the quality of the base, or plinth; the quality of the motor and its power supply; the bearing, platter, tonearm, phono cartridge - and even the phono preamp that your turntable is connected to.  

Next, we plan to cover the impact each element contributes, and talk about how some vendors cut corners that impact sound quality. Pro-Ject has a huge advantage over many other manufacturers, because rather than out-sourcing most of the work, Pro-Ject designs, engineers and manufactures almost every part of their turntables and phono preamps in-house. 

We’ll discuss ways to optimize the performance of your existing recprd playing system, no matter what brand, or where you purchased it.  We’ll cover best practices for record cleaning, record care and stylus care.  We also plan to discuss ways to make logical upgrades to your existing system, and when it makes sense to move into a new, higher performance component. 

We will also play some vinyl records, and compare the sound of the same system in a single-ended (RCA) configuration to a True Balanced (XLR) configuration. We will compare a lesser model turntable, cartridge and phono preamp combination to a better-quality turntable, cartridge and phono preamp.

Let’s not forget about some Q&A!  We’ll engage our attendees and listeners with the opportunity to ask questions of an analog playback system expert. Robert Bruce has over 40 years of experience setting up the finest phono systems from around the world. He can offer unique insight into ways to get the most out of your vinyl playback experience.

We also hope to share some one-on-ones. Time permitting, we’ll help attendees who are close to investing in more advanced analog playback systems, discussing how to proceed with good component choices, for the best possible results in your home.  Please join us for a fun music experience at Gramophone on Thursday March 6, and Friday March 7 - see you there!