Best selling audio product on Amazon this year was...

[DulceLabs.com]

Turntables.

[16251]

I work with many young people and they are totally into vinyl. What I find funny is they seem to have no problem spending $35 for one album. (I'm not saying all vinyl is that expensive, but you'd never find me paying those kind of prices.)

[MotiDave]

I'm not going back to vinyl, the nostalgic appeal has no grip on my psyche. maybe people forgot all of the reasons those of us that grew up with them went away from them.

 

I know a couple younger artist working on indy records who plan to print in vinyl. uh ok, i assume they know more people than I do with turntables.

 

I know zero.

[Threadslayer]

The world is just an amazing place.

[JimboK]

[Sam Mullins]

I'm not going back to vinyl, the nostalgic appeal has no grip on my psyche. maybe people forgot all of the reasons those of us that grew up with them went away from them.

 

 

+1

[Ed A.]

I'm not going back to vinyl, the nostalgic appeal has no grip on my psyche. maybe people forgot all of the reasons those of us that grew up with them went away from them.

 

Probably just that the Millennial hipsters never experienced the problems with vinyl before.

I would never go back to vinyl.

[16251]

I guess it's time to consider selling my record collection before the truth is discovered about vinyl.

 

I am curious what an album like this sounds like on vinyl?

 

[video:youtube]

[mate stubb]

Remember these? This company was from my home town.

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lztLQUxqy_g/T8_hM69dCyI/AAAAAAAAAYE/ndEDYmLt-LU/s1600/discwasher.png

 

[Lindaru]

16251 . . . I believe that cool groove would sound exactly like that on vinyl.

 

 

Mate Stubb . . . I do remember those. Glad to be done with them.

 

 

Never going back to vinyl here either. I just got done learning how to scratch my virtual turntables on my deejay program with my cursor.

 

 

[Joe Muscara]

Remember these? This company was from my home town.

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lztLQUxqy_g/T8_hM69dCyI/AAAAAAAAAYE/ndEDYmLt-LU/s1600/discwasher.png

I still have that stuff, including the big bottle which still has some fluid in it! I still have two turntables that almost never get used. One was the turntable I bought in high school, an AT linear tracking one. Unfortunately, something is wrong with it and IIRC, it thinks it's at the end of the record before it is. The other turntable is one I bought in the early days of going to MP3 to convert vinyl. It has a built-in pre-amp, I think. Both are collecting dust, as is the vinyl collection.

[Brad Saucier]

I bought my first TT in high school, an Optimus (Radio Shack) LAB-2250 linear tracking. I thought it was the coolest thing at the time. Well, the tone arm eventually stopped tracking halfway through an LP. I could have repaired it myself since I knew the issue was a broken wire. Instead, I sent it in for warranty. Mistake. Next thing they are telling me it's "not repairable". Young, easily swayed me agreed to swap to a newer, cheaper model that wasn't linear tracking and not as cool. Lesson learned.

 

Found a video someone made of one... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXePF_4AXMk

[Keysguy]

Sold my collection Yeats ago. The only thing I miss is the great album covers and liner notes. Still have a few Classics but no turntable.

[Krakit]

Instead of going back to vinyl, I'm waiting for a higher fidelity digital option. I lost ALL of my records (over 300 LPs) and about a thousand CDs in my house fire. I'm not going back to any physical formats ever again. Having said that though, there is a very discernible difference in fidelity between digital (especially MP3 digital) and analog playback. I expect there is a threshold of human hearing that is technologically reachable to make zeros and ones just as sweet to the ear as analog waveforms.

 

Hope that day comes soon.

 

Carl

[cphollis]

FWIW, I have a modest turntable, plus a collection of Sinatra, Coltrane, etc. that's the perfect match for the format. Cue up an album side, pour a nice scotch in front of the fire on a snowy day -- perfect.

[El Lobo]

I no longer have a turntable, a stereo receiver, a cassette player, or a CD player. Technology has moved on.

 

If you like vinyl and turntables, maybe we should all go back to acoustic instruments.

[Marzzz]

I still have all of my stuff, but in storage. Back in my college years I went thru this "audiophile" phase and got a Rega Planar 3 turntable, Linn Kans speakers, an NAD amplifier, etc. (didn't fall for the speaker cable hype, though) and would spend over $20 on Japanese pressings of my favorite prog albums. Still have the vinyl and the turntable, maybe they're worth something now?

[J. Dan]

I still have my record collection and a decent turntable, and bust out the records occasionally. Unfortunately I never took good care of them, so they have a lot of crackle and pops, but I still enjoy listening to them. That doesn't mean I'd buy something new on vinyl, but it IS a different experience. I think the appeal to the youngsters is something they never experienced before.....the album cover! Not to mention the experience of listening to your music one album side at a time. I might buy albums if the purchase included a digital download of the content.

 

Speaking of turntables, when vinyl was initially being challenged by CD's I got a pretty cool linear tracking turntable that had an optical sensor that would scan the record and identify tracks. You could push a button for that track and it would go to it. It worked pretty well and gave some similar functionality to a CD player. Plus, it kept you from damaging the record by manually trying to set the needle down between tracks. But being digital, and completely motorized, once it crapped out it became useless. I ended up later finding a decent Technics direct drive turntable at a pawn shop for cheap and am still using it today.

 

I remember the guys that were really serious about this stuff would buy all the pieces separately - Base, platter, tone arm, cartridge, preamp, etc. some of them had really massive bases to prevent rumble.

[Lindaru]

I inherited this from my Dad who purchased it when I was just a toddler. He got rid of the original speakers and we replaced them with decent vintage replacements but it needs work.

 

Voice Of Music stereo almost as old as me

 

 

[joegerardi]

I still enjoy vinyl LP's. The analog sound, that tubbiness in the low end, the overall warmth still appeal to me.

 

Albums might need care, but so do older analog synths. Don't hear a lot of people complaining about those...

 

..Joe

[PianoMan51]

If people my age were nostalgic about vinyl, then it wouldn't be cool.

[Aidan]

After a couple of years of not having a serious hifi in the living room (just a Roberts ghetto-blaster type thing), I decided I wanted to have a solid music option back in that space. But for all sorts of reasons, I didn't go back to vinyl. Instead, I bought a Denon MD400 mini unit (CD/DAB/FM/USB port) and some nice Q Acoustics bookshelf speakers. Part of me flirts with the idea of getting a turntable again (a decent one, now I can afford it) but I have no vinyl left (gave it all away) and really don't have the room. I suspect that if I did buy a deck, it would be for conversion of obscure vinyl to digital anyway.

[Markay]

Only ever owned one turntable, AR XB1, belt drive isolated platter, still have it and about 100 long players, EP's, and a couple of 45's. Plus every known record cleaner and solution to get rid of the snap crackle pop. I never use it but I think it has Shure Mk111 cartridge in it.

 

I recently asked a hi-fi store what they would recommend as a cartridge replacement and they suggested a hand wound replacement starting at $800 by an Aussie who is based in NYC. I passed, I will sell the lot as is to a retro hipster, with 4 ultra special isolation feet - otherwise known as yellow dot squash balls.

[Craig MacDonald]

My brother worked in the record industry for years.. Starting out part-time in a record store, and ultimately as a buyer for a number of record companies, the last of which was HMV here in Canada. He has always loved music, and collected LP's and CD's for years, but unfortunately he's been disabled due to a series of strokes, and now he's in an adult assisted living facility with no room for either his albums or his stereo(s). I have his record collection, 1500 great LP's, many of which are rather unique releases/records. In some cases the records are signed and he even has pictures of himself with some of the artists who signed the records. He also has a couple of gold records framed with messages thanking him for records reaching certain sales marks. On top of this I have 3 different stereos that he had in different parts of his house and they're in the middle of my rec room floor while I try to figure out what to do with all of it! The thought of selling the stuff bothers me because I'd like to think that he will be back living in his own some day, and he'll get to enjoy his collection again, but sadly that's unlikely.

[ElmerJFudd]

I can't think of anything nicer to do for your bro than a sweet pair of comfortable, great sounding headphones, an iPod Touch, and an iTunes or Spotify account.

 

Getting old sucks donkey balls.

[SteveCoscia]

Buying blue vinyl was supposed to be a BIG investment towards future wealth. Remember these?

 

[drawback]

A few years after giving my son-in-law the favourite albums I'd kept after parting with the majority of the collection, I heard them played on the most recent visit. He has a thing about Technics products so his system largely consists of Technics products gleaned from second hand stores. Technics (Panasonic) dropped out of the consumer-priced market a few years ago and has just made a comeback, though now only high-end.

 

The sound was great - big and warm - and we thought, okay, it's time to rediscover the experience of playing music this way. Streaming has made music even more a commodity and so much is taken for granted, I think.

 

Of course, most of my stuff is long gone. I had an AR, later Technics turntable with a Shure V15 Type III cartridge, a pair of Rectilinear speakers and a Kenwood amp (which I still have keyboards sound wonderful through it at home).

 

Anyway, I bought us a TEAC TN-300 turntable with a built in preamp so it would work with our Onkyo all-in-one thing, running through a wonderful sounding pair of B&W bookshelfs.

 

The place where I bought the turntable was a snooty audiophile shop who played me "Riders On The Storm" on limited edition vinyl through a $30,000.00 system which reinforced the concept that yeah, I was doing the right thing. It'd better be, because they don't take returns, man. The cartridge, once opened and the stylus lowered, is used, man. And you don't really want to buy something of this magnitude at Best Buy, do you man?

 

Shortly after wrapping up the box, I went out looking for a decent demo album and got the new Alabama Shakes LP. Dumb. Because the production is deliberately retro (vocals sounding like they were recorded inside the same cardboard box the drummer used as a kick) and the songs seem like the writer just learned how to play a major 7th and has an overwhelming desire to share.

 

The new Knopfler album, Tracker, is what I got next, and again it's not up to his usual standards songwise, but at least there's an idea of what the system is supposed to sound like.

 

It's gonna take a bit of getting used to, but with some patient EQ-ing I have the vinyl sounding pretty good. Love being able to unwrap an album and scour the jacket information while playing, and the deliberation it takes to actually set up, clean, play and repeat on side B is pretty much an act of love. Much as it used to be before iTunes turned the whole experience into a fling on the side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lindaru]

Thanks for this thread and for taking me on a time machine ride.

 

Technics was the component system I had last before moving here. Back in my younger days, I also loved the compact design of the Onkyo, the richness of the Kenwood receiver, Teac and Akai for their tape decks and reel to reel . . . I cannot remember now what the big speakers were we bought in 1976 but they had "76" on them (perhaps that was their name?), picture discs, color vinyl (had a friend who bought and sold it actually including a white Beatles "White Album") and turned a fair amount of profit on this hobby.

 

I also recall if you worked in or knew someone at Top 40 radio stations, you could get remix extended play promo singles that had the black print on white on the label "Not For Resale" on them and those could go for a bit of coin, too.

 

From what I have been following in science news, if turntables are making a huge come back, I suspect the diamond stylus will be going the way of the dinosaur to be replaced by graphite composites which have proven to be stronger and harder than diamonds.

 

 

[Threadslayer]

...the writer just learned how to play a major 7th and has an overwhelming desire to share...

 

Beautiful.

[jeffreyfranz]

That is so sad. My heart goes out to you and your brother. I think it unlikely, however, that he will or should get back into managing all his old stuff, unless it has therapeutic value. Help him to have an uncluttered mind and and clear vision as he works toward recovery. Good luck to all.

 

My brother worked in the record industry for years.. Starting out part-time in a record store, and ultimately as a buyer for a number of record companies, the last of which was HMV here in Canada. He has always loved music, and collected LP's and CD's for years, but unfortunately he's been disabled due to a series of strokes, and now he's in an adult assisted living facility with no room for either his albums or his stereo(s). I have his record collection, 1500 great LP's, many of which are rather unique releases/records. In some cases the records are signed and he even has pictures of himself with some of the artists who signed the records. He also has a couple of gold records framed with messages thanking him for records reaching certain sales marks. On top of this I have 3 different stereos that he had in different parts of his house and they're in the middle of my rec room floor while I try to figure out what to do with all of it! The thought of selling the stuff bothers me because I'd like to think that he will be back living in his own some day, and he'll get to enjoy his collection again, but sadly that's unlikely.