[IceClass]

I last had a vinyl collection when I left home to go to college. I've been tinkering with the idea of getting back into vinyl to the point of picking up a few records here and there that I have not yet been able to listen to.
Records are so cheap sometimes and there's such a range of interesting titles out there but I've decided I'm not going to get any more until I can score a nice little Technics SL-10 or 15 in good shape for a fair price on fleabay. I like the nice compact form factor.

 

[Socrates3000]

I want to get into vinyl. I am into film and know projectionist, and they feel that the performance of the film and the live audience and the experience is all part of it. A digital projector might have its merits, but it just doesn't do it for them. I'd also like to add that I can't do without live music and that an expensive digital front end is just not worth it for me.

 

[tiggers]

I dabble a bit. There is a thrift store on the way home from work that I stop at every once in a while. Due to the condition of the LP's, I usually only pick up about 1 out of every 10 or 20 that I'm interested in. To date, I have about 20 albums. They get played once in a while on a nice little turntable I picked up at a garage sale. Nothing fancy, but fun to have.

BUT, I do need to find a nice way of cleaning them that's on par with my interest level. Inexpensive carbon brush anyone?

 

[ronnielee54]

Any opinions on this?


MUSICDIRECT - BELLARI - VP129 TUBE PHONO PREAMP

 

[Inz]

I have no experience with it personally, but I know nikongod didn't seem overally impressed with this specification:

Equalization: RIAA +/- 1.5 dB, 20Hz to 20kHz

Not sure if he has actually heard it, but you may want to ask.

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Know Talent /img/forum/go_quote.gif all kidding aside.... I really wonder whether the surface noise has something to do with the appeal. Think about soft white noise like a fan running in the background or a distant babbling brook.

I'm really wondering what noise you are referring to? I mean, sure dirty or wrecked vinyl has some substantial noise but clean vinyl is dead quiet. This should be the benchmark not the damaged/dirty stuff. I am not a fan of any noise at all and want black backgrounds. I get this with vinyl, not all the time but enough that makes me smile when I get it. With headphones any noise is accentuated so yeah...white noise offers me nothing but nasties. Of course I try to listen through it, but those that don't have the patience will want digital certainly.

For me, I got into vinyl for a few reasons:

1) folks kept saying it was what all products seemed to strive towards.
2) 1 billion+ records available and most these days are dirt cheap. Cheap vinyl = cheap music = Zanth is exposed to more music than before for less money
3) albums that were released on vinyl may only be available on vinyl forever more. This was and still is enticing because as it stands, I get a real thrill being exposed to new stuff. If I like it I buy it. If I can't buy it, it is depressing (or if I can but can't play it...)

So here I am a vinyl over. It's a pain often. With CDs or SACDs or even better, FLAC files...I just press play and off I go. With vinyl there is cleaning, there is tweaking there is more cleaning there is ensuring that the vinyl is not being damaged during playback etc. But, for me the end result seems to be consistent: good vinyl sounds more real overall than good <digital format of choice>. It may be a short coming of bits and bytes. It might be a short coming of dacs or what have you, I don't know but I do know that given two albums recorded and mastered by the same folks on the same systems...the vinyl usually sounds better.

Lastly...album art and tactile experience. This can't be beat!

 

[Turn&cough]

In the 80's I left my girlfriend and sold my expensive Oracle turntable with Grado signature cartridge and Pierre Lurné tonearm and sold/gave away all my vinyl records. 25 years later I have a new girlfriend and a Squeezebox. I don't miss my ex-girlfriend or my vinyl records. It's called moving on.

 

[ozz]

A great TT would come in handy for all the music that is not available
on cd.

 

[nor_spoon]

I would love to listen to a good analog setup, but I am not sure if it's healthy for my wallet.

 

[randyruiz]

What was old is now new. Yes CD are a sonic marvel with a super low noise floor. Yes they are far more portable and convenient. However digital files are going to eat CD's for lunch. They have the same capabilities now as any "tangible" digital format and are the holy grail as far as portability. Not to mention that digital files have an infinite capability to scale with changes in technology.


So given all that the days of CD's are numbered. But what about those that yearn for a "thing" they can hold and stare at? Records do this far better than CD's and there is the fact that records can sound remarkable good.

My prediction CD = Dead. Digital files + Records (you know for the cool kids) = Future of Audio Market. Lets not even talk about the fact that vinyl "solves" many of the issues with copyright infringement for the big labels.

 

[bigshot]

I have digital files, CDs and records. I like them all, but ideally, I would prefer to have all my records and CDs captured to tagged high quality digital files for flexibility. Whenever I play a record, I run a capture of it. I haven't been able to part with the original records yet. That's probably like all the boxes of empty jewel cases I swore I would throw out when I put my CDs in books. Never got around to throwing those damn things out!

See ya
Steve

 

[ozz]

I think records,cd's and hard drives will be around for a long time
if the flash memory holds up under time it could replace hard drives
but vinyl and cd's will still be hear. Something about physical media
and album art that has its flare and bragging rights on large collections.

 

[randyruiz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozz /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think records,cd's and hard drives will be around for a long time if the flash memory holds up under time it could replace hard drives but vinyl and cd's will still be hear. Something about physical media and album art that has its flare and bragging rights on large collections.

OZZ,The point I was trying to make in my earlier post was that CD's lack the portability of Digital files and are not better quality so in this match up CD's lose. Now with LP's you still have high def audio but you also get the tangible experience and the album art so in this match up CD's lose again.

 

[Turn&cough]

Quote:

Originally Posted by randyruiz /img/forum/go_quote.gif What was old is now new.... So given all that the days of CD's are numbered. But what about those that yearn for a "thing" they can hold and stare at? Records do this far better than CD's and there is the fact that records can sound remarkable good. My prediction CD = Dead. Digital files + Records (you know for the cool kids) = Future of Audio Market. Lets not even talk about the fact that vinyl "solves" many of the issues with copyright infringement for the big labels.

Albeit a painstakingly slow process vinyl records are being ripped and uploaded on torrent sites. So much for the copyright thing.
But the main reason I'm no longer interested in vinyl, or CDs for that matter, is convenience. I don't find that many albums anymore that I want to listen to from beginning to end. The Squeezebox/hard drive setup gives me the option to omit any unwanted tracks. What I end up with is the "good stuff" vs having to get up every 5 mins to manually lift the needle/hit the remote into another track. There's also the clutter factor. When I was younger I would proudly display my ever growing record collection while now my CDs go into shoe boxes in the closet as soon as they are ripped.
As for the sound quality - It's a hotly debated topic and in any case I think the technology exists today to make good (or bad) recordings no matter what the medium.

 

[bigshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turn&cough /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't find that many albums anymore that I want to listen to from beginning to end.

I never thought I'd say that, but I've found myself in that situation too. (At least for popular music, not classical.) I now listen to music in carefully constructed random shuffles. With pre-1950s music it makes total sense, because a record back then had only one song on a side. My iPod is getting me to think of songs as individual units like that again.

See ya
Steve