Rob Leftwich wrote in 990406 MMDigest:

> Don't forget that for playing 78 RPM records you will need a
> spherical stylus, not the elliptical type normally used for 33-1/3
> LP's.  The old 78 RPM groove was cut wide and the modern elliptical
> will not make contact with both the outer groove walls. Stanton,
> ADC, Shure and some others still have spherical styli for use in
> their cartridges.

The Shure styluses for 78s are also elliptical, but bigger than the
styluses for 33/45.  The elliptical shape gives a better fit in the
groove.

> If you have an equalizer in your system, you can get some pretty
> fair reproduction from the old 78's.  The RIAA equalization curve
> did not come into play until the first LP's.

However, the only result of using RIAA is a bit of bass boost.
Provided there is no bass feedback, I find most 78s sound fine
played with the LP equalisation.

Some of the people replying here have assumed that 78s are bound
to have rubbishy sound and therefore any old junk turntable will do.
This is not so, the actual sound is often very natural.  It is the
noise level that is the problem.  The better the equipment, the less
obtrusive the noise.  It is worth using a good turntable and cartridge.
Then, if you digitize the sound, you have a good signal for processing
with a de-crackle program, if you can find a good one.  (There are some
bad ones around).

Tip: equalisers, treble controls and other things working in the
frequency domain are _not_ useful for removing clicks and crackles.
Software for this job must detect and remove the individual spikes
in the signal.

Regards

Don Cox
doncox@enterprise.net