I've got an AR-ES1/Linn Basik arm/Rega Elys cartridge, purchased in 1984 to replace my Dual 1229.
Interesting buying experience at Innovative Audio in Brooklyn, NY:
Salesman first played an lp on a direct-drive Denon table to replicate an example of typical mid-fi playback. Then he moved the same lp up the 3-model line: entry level B&O, AR-ES1/Linn Basik, and then Linn Sondek LP12. As the record moved from 'table to 'table, you could clearly hear the improvement in the retrieval of detail. Also, the price went up. At the time, the $800 for the Linn was out of my price range, so I settled for the AR and have been quite happy with it.
I've got somewhere around 1000 lp's, and around 500 CD's. Some vinyl sounds better, some CD's sound better. In my experience, CD gives you better-defined, better-controlled bass, but vinyl often has a greater sense of immediacy. I do know that it's especially difficult to spin vinyl in my car or on the train to and from the office. And the vinyl revival is terrific, but there's something galling about having to pay 30 bucks for a record that should have been manufactured properly the first time it came out. (Much of the vinyl of the '70's was horridly produced, in terms of warpage and surface noice. There was often a tremendous amount of defective product returned. Part of the appeal of CD's to the music industry was the virtual elimination of the hassle and expense of defective product. Not to mention people shelling out to replace their lp collections. And then doing it again when the remastered CD versions came out. But wait, now here's the expanded 2-CD version with a new booklet and 3 more mediocre tracks that were left off the original album because they sucked).
Anyway, it's about the music, people— enjoy.
