[-=Germania=-]

I recently got into vinyl and it was mainly one album that made me want it so badly.

The Original "Porgy and Bess" Ella Fitgerald and Louis Armstrong Stereo LP

I didn't have the album when buying the turntable or even when getting the first 20 albums.
Managed to find a sealed copy (the heavier 180g) of this and had been debating whether or not to open it for the last week. My roommates (all of which are musically inclined/music majors) convinced me to open it. My reluctance was because it was more valuable than the turntable and I was interested in playing it, not collecting.

Well, it has been playing and the CD's and other media cannot compare to this original even off of my cheap turntable. These remastered onto CD recordings just don't convey the life, rawness, or even the same amount of detail as these original pressings do for rock and jazz. (Classical IMO think still sounds better on CD generally, but it is likely my cheapo table).

It is hard to believe what I was missing out on vinyl for this long. My favorite album, now played better than ever.

My Humble setup

Anyways, just wanted to share my new found love for vinyl. If you like vintage jazz and rock, I can think of nothing better.

Now, to get a better table....well maybe in a few months...

 

[LFF]

I recently remastered the original vinyl of Porgy & Bess as sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

It's an awesome LP with great sound.

The key to vinyl is finding pressings in good condition. No stylus of any kind or any amount of cleaning will fix an LP that has groove damage.

On the whole though, vinyl really rocks.

Cassette tapes aren't that bad either.

 

[Jubei]

20 odd years ago, I used to own vinyl. My major complain is I had a hard time setting it up - the traction thing, the angle of the stylus etc. Back then, I owned Dark Side of the Moon and Iron Maiden's Seventh Son on LP.

Maybe one day when I get a decent job with decent pay and decent spare time, I might delve into this vinyl thing again

 

[Rednamalas1]

vinyl isn't bad at all

I still need to build up my music library though. For now, pink floyd's meddle doesn't sound bad at all.

 

[AudioDwebe]

Welcome to vinyl. Yes, it can be quite awesome.

Suggestion: Get a record cleaning machine.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Germania, I think your next project should be a vacuum tube phono stage. Either that or a sturdy record rack - vinyl has a way of accumulating.

 

[-=Germania=-]

Yeah, I have about another 100 or so albums waiting for me when I come home for the holidays.

Good thing my dad is a pretty hard core rocker.....and mom's LP's were mostly jazz/beatles/elvis.
Not a big beatles or elvis fan, but all of the records seem extremely playable.

Where to go from the At-PL50? Get a better stylus? It definitely needs a rubber platter cover as it came without that part.
Maybe just a better table is in order....

The Phono stage sound like a good idea since right now it is using an internal RIAA one.

 

[ComfyCan]

Vinyl is very rewarding, once you get past the initial investment stage. In my view, the "initial investment stage" also includes picking up a record cleaning machine. I had trouble believing the hype, but now that I have one I do not know how I survived without it. It turns junk into gold.

 

[JadeEast]

The music from Porgy and Bess certainly was one of the great sources of jazz standards. I have two favorite Vinyl recordings from P&B.

The track from "I loves you Porgy" by Nina Simone off her "little girl blue" lp just knocks me out. The first chords of the piano and the way she handles the emotion of the song. She was fairly young when it was recorded but you can hear the depth of an old soul in this song.

The other is Joe Pass & Oscar Peterson "Porgy and bess". Oscar chose to play the Clavichord the historic precursor to the Piano giving the recording a completely different sound that any other jazz recording I can think off. The Clavichord sounds like a old toy, hard, brittle and percussive but played by Oscar Peterson it shakes that off and becomes at times even a bit funky.

 

[skeeder]

I've been looking at diving into this vinyl thing for a while...I would prefer to snag a few LP's first!

 

[melomaniac]

while vinyl is fine for many things, I am still happy I sold enough of my records to get a vintage car about twelve years ago, and if I ever feel like I'm missing out, I have two insane neighbors with megabuck analog rigs I can enjoy. I don't miss it that much... but I do enjoy watching them bicker over their japanese cartridges, tube phono stages, record cleaners, special tools for turntable adjustments, weighty stands, more weighty stands, and best of all: the right way to sort vinyl on the shelf so you know what's where. hah!

 

[jonathanjong]

How to sort vinyl? Autobiographically, of course.

 

[milkweg]

I grew up with vinyl until I was 29 and I'm glad I don't have to clean records and the needle any more. I can hear the needle tracking on vinyl so IMO cd's sound cleaner and more pristine. I'm sure there are more but the only vinyl recording I ever heard that sounded better than the cd was Lou Reed's Transformer and that was probably becasue they messed up the remixing on the cd or something. And that was on a Rega Planar turntable with a Grado cartridge. Just the needle cartridge cost double of what a decent cd player costs. If you prefer the colored sound of vinyl then at least admit you prefer a colored sound instead of claiming they sound better when IMO they don't.

 

[jsaliga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkweg /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you prefer the colored sound of vinyl then at least admit you prefer a colored sound instead of claiming they sound better when IMO they don't.

Did it ever occur to you that some people prefer vinyl because they believe it actually sounds better? Why would their opinion be any less valid than yours?

--Jerome

 

[olblueyez]

You never know, maybe some of the Elvis and Beatles might grow on you now that you have a nice vinyl setup. I also agree with Uncle, build a tube phono stage. Nice looking desk setup.