Listening to Vinyl

[GAD]

Anyone here doing it?

I recenlty got myself a used but mint Technics SL1200MK2 turntable and I'm playing it through my studio monitors. I pulled out all my old LPs and had some serious nostalgia going on, but wasn't blown away by the sound. Of course all my LPs are staticy and were not well cared for in my youth.

Today I bought Bruce Springsteen's new album on audiophile 180G vinyl and am VERY impressed. The sound quality is fabulous. There are two platters, and only 3-4 songs on each side, which is sort of inconvenient in this day of endless playlists, but man does it sound great!

Anyone else doing the vinyl thing in this digital age?

GAD

 

[rhinocaster]

We have listening parties at a couple of friends houses. They have wonderful systems and vinyl is still the alpha dog of music storage and playback.

 

[haymaker]

vinyl is the only way to listen to music. I realized this far too late (read: after selling off all my vinyl in a tag sale).

 

[Shnook]

Yes. I actually buy more records now than CD's. Just got Herbie Mann's Push Push with Duane Allman all over it today. I have a decent Rega TT. Sounds warmer and more organic than my CD Player.

My house, Friday/Saturday nights, vinyl, some beer/wine depending on the listening vibe. A good time by my standards.

 

[franksguitar]

I still have my massive collection of vinyl. I still enjoy also recording on analog tape.

 

[nnick]

I usually buy vinyl. I don't have a CD player set up in my house. Most vinyl I have been buying has come with a cd or coupon for a free MP3 download.

 

[GAD]

I usually buy vinyl. I don't have a CD player set up in my house. Most vinyl I have been buying has come with a cd or coupon for a free MP3 download.

That impressed me too. The LPs came with a code to download the DRM-free MP3s of the album. I expected them to suck, but to my surprise they were all 320k encoded and sound great. This is like the best of both worlds. Honestly when I get a CD I encode it to FLAC and MP3 anyway, then the CD sits on the shelf.

The only downside I see is going off the deep end with equipment.

I'm going with a friend to the Princeton Record Exchange tomorow. Can't wait!

GAD

 

[Dogfood1]

I've always loved the warmth of vinyl, a couple years back I bought a Rega Planar 3 - a sweet turntable for the money. Sound is fab. Some music was just meant to be listened to on vinyl - Jazz, old blues, Steely Dan, etc....

Think of it as the tube junkie's medium for music delivery. You insist on specific tubes for your amp, but you listen to music through those little speakers on your computer? Get a turntable, a nice vintage tube amp (McIntosh comes to mind) and enjoy the same tube driving bliss from other peoples music!

DF1

 

[speakerjones]

^
+1
You can get a great system together for not a lot of money. The Planars are great tables.
I started a while back collecting albums at tag sales, mom and pop music stores, etc. Then I inherited my dad's vinyl which effectively doubled my collection. It starts taking up a lot of space, but it's still my favorite way to listen to music.

 

[Platypus]

all the time

 

[Papajuice]

As much as possible, just picked up U2's new one on vinyl for better sounding than the CD you hear thing that you can not on the CD. Now if I could just get to quit skipping every time I hit a bump.

 

[Tuberoast]

I have about 800 LP's still. I like the warm sound of vinyl and like the size of album covers. Cover Art!

 

[Echo Are]

Got my dad's 1977 Dual turntable stashed away in a cupboard. Works fine, you do have to gently nudge the tonearm over when starting a record to play. Cartridge is like 20 years old. I should get a new one, but it takes time to replace it, you gotta re-connect 4 tiny wires and set the speed, adjust the weight and the anti-skate and blah blah blah. Still got about 60 LPs or so. Too lazy to haul the thing out and hook up the little phono preamp, etc, just to play records. Mp3s and CDs are more convenient. Plus IMHO vinyl sounds warm but you get all the snap, crackle and pop, even on a well cared for LP.

 

[DANOCASTER]

I spin "licorice pizza" every night as I cook. If I play vinyl, my wife never asks me to turn it down - but if I'm playing cds ( or God forbid- cable music ) she almost ALWAYS asks if I can turn it down a bit

I SURE LOVE ME SOME VINYL

invest in a Nitty Gritty cleaner and you'll be surprise at how great used Lps can sound if they werent damaged by somebody's crappy stylus

 

[telecopter]

I have about 800 LP's still. I like the warm sound of vinyl and like the size of album covers. Cover Art!

Same here!!

 

[Alligator > jam]

All the time. I'm fortunate to have a good setup in a good room, and hundreds of great albums from my years gone by.

One of the special joys in my musical journey recently is having my 10- and 12-year olds now learning the ins and outs of vinyl; the care, the handling, the operation of a decent turntable. And the sound. They prefer the vinyl to the CDs of Pink Floyd, as a starting point. They love ELP. My son set up and played side 2 of Wish You Were Here the other morning before school while I was making breakfast. Just sat in there by himself and listened to it. Awesome!

 

[MLG8675]

Anyone here doing it?

I recenlty got myself a used but mint Technics SL1200MK2 turntable and I'm playing it through my studio monitors. I pulled out all my old LPs and had some serious nostalgia going on, but wasn't blown away by the sound. Of course all my LPs are staticy and were not well cared for in my youth.

Today I bought Bruce Springsteen's new album on audiophile 180G vinyl and am VERY impressed. The sound quality is fabulous. There are two platters, and only 3-4 songs on each side, which is sort of inconvenient in this day of endless playlists, but man does it sound great!

Anyone else doing the vinyl thing in this digital age?

GAD

If you are really serious about getting back into your vinyl, I cannot recommend a record cleaning machine high enough. I recently got a used Nitty Gritty 1.0 on the cheap and it made an astounding difference in the playback of my old records. Also make sure to buy new inner sleeves to place the freshly cleaned vinyl in.

The VPI 16.5 is also popular.

 

[cottoneyedjoe]

Never stopped.

Quite frankly there was SOOOO much music that was lost in the transition to cd and digital format.

 

[darrenwatson]

I have a Pro-Ject 2Xperience with a Sumiko Blue Point Special EVOIII Moving Coil cart . . . OH MY GOD! The MUSIC that thing makes...

I used to run it through my Musical Fidelity A3.2 Amp and into a pair of ProAc Studio 125 floorstanders.... just beautiful.

At the moment it's hooked up through my studio setup into a pair of Mackie HR624s... and it STILL sounds amazing.

Vinyl rules.

 

[eddoc]

Have a little over 2,000 albums - still my preference for serious listening. As others noted previously has that extra warmth - but to me the biggest advantage is the lack of compression - too many CDs sound like they have almost no dynamic range. And as one of the over 50 crowd it's what I grew up with - so there may be a little bias but I still think vinyl just sounds better - more correct to my ears.
I transferred my gear GAS to audio GAS when I quit playing (medical school) - had a rega for years (great turntable) but now use a VPI TNT5. One of the best investments was getting a dedicated VPI record cleaner - while deep scratches can't be fixed most of the minor tics and pops can be effectively eliminated with a good cleaning. Whenever I bring home "new" used albums they always get cleaned before play - then anytime they sit for a while. I have had folks over who can't believe I'm playing vinyl because they don't hear the noise - they always think it must be a CD to be that quiet. If you are into vinyl and have much of a collection a record cleaner is a must!