Cart storage and display. What do you guys use?

[S0und Dragon]

Pretty straight forward. I have been using an old model car display case with technics alignment gauges glued on the base for years. I went to see about making another one, only to discover that the alignment gauges are not peanuts anymore. So that got me thinking…..what do you guys use?

 

[Fran604g]

I'm not remotely in the same class as you guys (I do look up to y'all) but, here's what I'm currently using. Not much for displaying the few carts I have set up in DUAL headshells but, you know, I'm very budget restricted and the quintessential frugal "Yankee".

 

[S0und Dragon]

I'm not remotely in the same class as you guys (I do look up to y'all) but, here's what I'm currently using. Not much for displaying the few carts I have set up in DUAL headshells but, you know, I'm very budget restricted and the quintessential frugal "Yankee".
View attachment 77370

When I first made that case, it was well under $40 all in…including the crazy glue…lol. It is unfortunate that I can’t duplicate that outcome for the same or similar cost.

 

[JohnVF]

I use these plastic containers I got at the container store that are divided up into little units just big enough for a cart. And I know its not idea, but I use those for my kind of not-worth-a-lot carts. They're almost like tackles boxes but I think they were made for hobbyists to keep track of beads or tiny parts or whatever. Everything else, as in, the spendy or rare stuff, is in individual boxes that various carts came in as new or as shipped to me, bolted or screwed in- though there's no rhyme or reason as to what cart is in what container as I have a whole bunch of random containers that I've picked up over the years without carts.

 

[je2a3]

from EMJ Music Inc

 

[S0und Dragon]

View attachment 77373

View attachment 77376View attachment 77378

from EMJ Music Inc

That’s more like it!

 

[ajward549]

Has a clear plastic cover to reduce dust build up that isn’t pictured

 

[Rudy]

Audio-Technica, about $29.



I don't plan on ever having more than three, so it's plenty for me. Not perfect but eh, I just want them covered up and out of the way so I don't destroy them. Does the job.

 

[JohnVF]

Most of my tables have fixed headshells so most of these options are off the table for me. Unless I just store them on headshells.

 

[adaug]

Audio-Technica, about $29.

View attachment 77552

I don't plan on ever having more than three, so it's plenty for me. Not perfect but eh, I just want them covered up and out of the way so I don't destroy them. Does the job.

and looks sort of like a tube amp!

 

[Rudy]

and looks sort of like a tube amp!

True! I need some sort of glowy LED filament thingies to pop inside of them. 😁

I actually don't like one aspect of it--if you're not very careful, it's easy to lop off a cantilever. I don't have stylus guards for some of the carts or if I do, they are so difficult to use that I risk damaging the cantilever more than if I left them bare. But this does the job well enough. Keeps the dust off, and the working bits relatively safe.

 

[Robert Young]

Some of these have moved on to new owners, so now i’m using only 2 stands…hope to get down to 1.

 

[Rudy]

"You know you have a problem when..."


😁

 

[Robert Young]

"You know you have a problem when..."


😁

“…when your wife points out that you don’t listen to most of them.” But, but, but….

 

[S0und Dragon]

“…when your wife points out that you don’t listen to most of them.” But, but, but….

Le sigh….. Though I rebutted that I could always go back to my previous hobby, motorcycles. That usually ends any debate about my stereo stuff.

 

[jblnut]

Le sigh….. Though I rebutted that I could always go back to my previous hobby, motorcycles. That usually ends any debate about my stereo stuff.

Yup...since I sold the Guzzis I don't get near as many questions about the system. And it has allowed me to ahem, expand the performance envelope of our 4 wheeled transportation devices :-)

 

[Rudy]

I think all I would get is, "What do those things do? Don't they go on the turntable?"

A couple of years ago, she walks up to the turntable. Gives it a long, thoughtful glance. "That looks expensive."

I had no comeback for that one! 😄

We generally don't fret about these things though. She has her interests, and I have mine, and as long as all the bills are paid it's all good.

 

[JohnVF]

I’ve explained the carts that arrive in the mail as a way of engaging in my audio obsession that doesn’t entail us needing any more storage space. Which is true. My wife never really cared about the money, it was the clutter that annoyed her. She’s a neat freak.

 

[Rudy]

My wife never really cared about the money, it was the clutter that annoyed her. She’s a neat freak.

Not so much a neat freak, but more like, "We need to get rid of all the crap in this house!" But I agree there. We have way too much accumulated and given all that has been going on, there's been almost no spare time to declutter and downsize.

My audio toys in the family room are fine, but I don't really need all those stacks of mid-fi junk and all those pairs of speakers I'll never listen to again.