The Power of Vinyl

[Manotea]

Having recently rejoined the now retro world of vinyl I'm amazed how much I've missed it. My rig is hardly state of the art and my record collection stopped somewhere in the 80s but what the heck. Its just so much more fun to slide a disk from its sleeve and gently set it up on the deck and enjoy music through real speakers that don't rattle when you turn the bass up. It so much more involving then flicking through an mps catalogue, making the act of listening to music an event which demands your attention. I guess its the difference between watching a film on TV and going to the cinema.  Vinyltastic!

[LEE]

Having recently rejoined the now retro world of vinyl I'm amazed how much I've missed it. My rig is hardly state of the art and my record collection stopped somewhere in the 80s but what the heck. Its just so much more fun to slide a disk from its sleeve and gently set it up on the deck and enjoy music through real speakers that don't rattle when you turn the bass up. It so much more involving then flicking through an mps catalogue, making the act of listening to music an event which demands your attention. I guess its the difference between watching a film on TV and going to the cinema.  Vinyltastic!

Wow, Vinyl sounds great.  Tell me, where can I download some?

[Fi]

Vinyl and valves is a wonderful sound combination.  There's loads of bargain vinyl out there, a lot of it pssibly unplayed and available for just a quid or two.  There's a super second hand record shop in Guildford where my husband has spent many an hour rooting through and come up with some gems. 

[Si]

LPs are good because you actually feel like you've bought something for your money.  They are big and often have nice big pictures.

LPs are also bad, because you keep having to get up to turn the record over just as you've settled down.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Buy two and one of those spindles that holds multiple records. Put one copy on with side one up, and the second copy on with side two up and hey presto!

I should send that into Viz.

[clarion]

I know someone who built an automated changer that flipped a record over when you got to the end of the side.

It wasn't awfully good at finding the hole

[harrumph]

I think it depends what kind of music you listen to. If it has wide dynamic range (and if the recording isn't compressed to make it sound louder), CD is a much better bet - the "snap, crackle, pop" of vinyl used to drive me to distraction.

I transcribed my rarer LPs which hadn't made it to CD some time ago, removing most of their imperfections in the process. The results often sound better than the commercial CD reissues (which tended to appear shortly after I had spent hours doing it) - I don't know why, because the guys with the master tapes really ought to be able to do a better job than me...

I must try a valve amplifier soon... I would love to try building a single-ended triode job and a pair of single-driver (and therefore crossoverless) speakers to go with it. Just a matter of acquiring the necessary skills...

[border-rider]

I transcribed my rarer LPs which hadn't made it to CD some time ago, removing most of their imperfections in the process. The results often sound better than the commercial CD reissues (which tended to appear shortly after I had spent hours doing it) - I don't know why, because the guys with the master tapes really ought to be able to do a better job than me...

I've transferred a few old records to CD, and when I play them back they retain the "lovely, warm vinyl" sound.  Even though it's now a CD. 

I suspect it's a combination of the original vinyl recording mix that was used and the colouration of the playback and phono amp.  Phono amps have just shedloads of frequency compensation in them and my suspicion is that the phono amp adds as much to the character of the sound as the original sound mix

[harrumph]

I've transferred a few old records to CD, and when I play them back they retain the "lovely, warm vinyl" sound.  Even though it's now a CD.

Thus neatly demonstrating that there is nothing inherently wrong with CD sound!

And I agree with you about the likely reason. Although some of my transfers seem to achieve much better clarity and instrumental timbre than the commercial re-releases, too. I suspect the accountants standing over the remix engineer are to blame, myself 

Odd that several brands of speakers (B&W a prime culprit) are voiced to be so searingly bright in the age of digital sound...

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

It wasn't awfully good at finding the hole

I used to know a man like that.

[nicknack]

It wasn't awfully good at finding the hole

I used to know a man like that.

More proof of the new Barnes Law.   

[Fi]

I must try a valve amplifier soon... I would love to try building a single-ended triode job and a pair of single-driver (and therefore crossoverless) speakers to go with it. Just a matter of acquiring the necessary skills...

Our amps (one each for left and right) came from a 1950 something circuit my husband found in an old Pratical Wireless.  They are quite bulky, not like something you'd buy off the shelf (and of course, nothing like as expensive either).

[Sergeant Pluck]

My rig is hardly state of the art and my record collection stopped somewhere in the 80s but what the heck

You're me, you are!

Almost as good is getting hold of a lovely mint Nakamichi tape deck for a pittance and playing your compilation tapes  

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Compilation tapes you made yourself by recording the Sunday night hit parade show?

[Jaded]

Greetings, Pop Pickers!

[Sergeant Pluck]

Compilation tapes you made yourself by recording the Sunday night hit parade show?

There's a few that seem to be composed of chopped up John Peel shows.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Somewhere I think I have some made up of chopped up Annie Nightingale shows, and I know I used to have her end of the 80s New Year's Eve show, but I don't have it any more.

[Fab Foodie]

My rig is hardly state of the art and my record collection stopped somewhere in the 80s but what the heck

You're me, you are!

Almost as good is getting hold of a lovely mint Nakamichi tape deck for a pittance and playing your compilation tapes  

I have an old one of them kept for just that reason!

My Thorens TD160 with SME 3009 J-shaped arm has just emerged from the loft for the playing of my beloved vinyl collection (hidden from the fingers of small children).
The output of which will be fed through an Audiolab 8000A and onto a very '80's pair of Rogers Studio 1a's...
OK, it's probably time for some upgrades    Those IPL transmission-line kits look nice...  < goes off to find sandals and grow beard>

[Jaded]

chopped up Annie Nightingale and chopped up John Peel.

What a ripper show!

[pcolbeck]

I have an old one of them kept for just that reason!

My Thorens TD160 with SME 3009 J-shaped arm has just emerged from the loft for the playing of my beloved vinyl collection (hidden from the fingers of small children).
The output of which will be fed through an Audiolab 8000A and onto a very '80's pair of Rogers Studio 1a's...
OK, it's probably time for some upgrades    Those IPL transmission-line kits look nice...  < goes off to find sandals and grow beard>
[/quote]

I too have a Thorens Td160 in my office with an SME arm. Mines hooked up to an A&R Cambridge A60 amp of similar vintage and a pair of QUAD speakers. Lovely sound.

[Fab Foodie]

I have an old one of them kept for just that reason!

My Thorens TD160 with SME 3009 J-shaped arm has just emerged from the loft for the playing of my beloved vinyl collection (hidden from the fingers of small children).
The output of which will be fed through an Audiolab 8000A and onto a very '80's pair of Rogers Studio 1a's...
OK, it's probably time for some upgrades    Those IPL transmission-line kits look nice...  < goes off to find sandals and grow beard>

I too have a Thorens Td160 in my office with an SME arm. Mines hooked up to an A&R Cambridge A60 amp of similar vintage and a pair of QUAD speakers. Lovely sound.
[/quote]
Can I come and work in your office?  Ahh, the A60, a classic.

[nmcgann]

I've transferred a few old records to CD, and when I play them back they retain the "lovely, warm vinyl" sound.  Even though it's now a CD.

Thus neatly demonstrating that there is nothing inherently wrong with CD sound!

And I agree with you about the likely reason. Although some of my transfers seem to achieve much better clarity and instrumental timbre than the commercial re-releases, too. I suspect the accountants standing over the remix engineer are to blame, myself 

Odd that several brands of speakers (B&W a prime culprit) are voiced to be so searingly bright in the age of digital sound...

The big problem with modern CD recording and mastering is that this: Loudness war - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has happened. Most modern mainstream music sounds awful when reproduced through a decent hi-fi and it's nothing to do with the CD medium.

Neil

[harrumph]

The big problem with modern CD recording and mastering is that this: Loudness war - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has happened. Most modern mainstream music sounds awful when reproduced through a decent hi-fi and it's nothing to do with the CD medium.

Neil

Excessive compression in order to maximise loudness (for radio play?) is certainly a problem with recordings of popular music, but most of my listening is to classical music, which doesn't suffer much from it. Rather, it's the frequency balance that often goes awry:

"The critical response to remasters can be mixed. Sometimes an extended frequency response is welcomed, since this can improve the sense of clarity and ambience of the recording. Other times, this improved sense of ambience may be counterbalanced by an unnatural and excessive sharpness to the recording." (from your link)

I still don't really understand why it is that instrumental timbre often suffers during remastering. I can only assume that the engineers are not allowed time to compare the remaster with the original issue, because if they did the shortcomings of the remaster would often be all too apparent.

[Jasper the surreal cyclist]

I am using an Akai deck at the moment, but I have a Thorens and a Sansui. I use a Cambridge A5 amp and Gale speakers. I still buy vinyl, bands such as the Decemberists still use it as a medium.

When I first met Carole I was running the Thorens through my 125w valve bass amp and two bins. She thought it a little over the top....