Let’s get serious here. There are some good mains (and internal) fuses around eg Synergistic Research Blue at only £130 per pop. Roll up!
I will eat humble pie and say I was wrong.
I went record hunting today in both proper record shops and charity shops I know carry good stocks.
Everyone has put the prices up even for the mundane stuff,it’s suddenly become very trendy.
So yes unless you have an old collection like me it’s now an expensive game.
Anyone have the Beatles mono record set,if so I would be interested in what you think?
I spent this morning getting dusty fingers sorting thru my vinyl collection. I’m lucky in that I have around five hundred albums amassed over thirty years of collecting. I’ve stupidly sold quite a few over the years, BBC transcription discs, original Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath first pressings etc.
It’s so true that it’s now become trendy to buy vinyl, prices in record shops are frankly ludicrous, £20-£30 for a single album...! It’s another example of record companies getting us to buy the same product over and over again.
There is something about the weight, size and feel of heavy double album though, so much more of an experience than the boring old jewel case.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
For me the reason I prefer records to CDs is ear fatigue. If I have a good listening session (rare these day unfortunately), at reasonable volume, I'll always go for records over CDs if I have the option. There's something about CDs that grate after a while, even well produced or remastered albums. This afternoon I had a bit of a Steely Dan session and vinyl sounds a lot better to my ears, even though the CDs are good.
I bought tube amp (Fatman 452) to try and counter this observation and to a certain extent it works. Trouble is my records sound even better still!
I remember many years ago auditioning some near top end Niam separates in a hi-fi store in Bristol. I couldn't take more than half an hour as it was just too aggressive and grating a sound, it actually gave me a headache. Hopefully their equipment has improved since then.
Cheers,
Gary
Interesting comments, Gary. I suffer 'ear fatigue' if I listen to music at moderately high volume, nothing silly that would make the house shake but enough to sound a bit loud. Whether it's less of an issue with vinyl is an interesting question that I`ll try to answer when I get chance.
Having searched extensively through my dusty vinyl I`m disappointed to find that my Steely Dan albums are no longer there, along with several other gems. Must've lost them when I had my domestic realignments back in the mid-90s, I know the ex-wife kept some of the vinyl collection but I honestly thought I`d got the Steely Dan stuff. I`ve got everything on CD but that's not the point, I bought 'Can`t Buy a Thrill' when I was 17 and it would've been nice to put play the same copy again.
Ironically, I bought a few vinyl albums from work colleagues back in the late 80s, some of the guys replaced all their vinyl with the new-fangled CDs at significant cost and flogged their vinyl to get a few quid back. I picked up most of the Dire Straits and Pink Floyd stuff cheaply and they're still in excellent condition, I played them a few times but followed the CD path myself in the early 90s. Also ended up with some decent vinyl when I shacked up with my Mrs in late '96, her ex had good musical taste but when they split he took all the CDs and left the vinyl.
Unfortunately some of wife's country music records have crawled out of the woodwork...........music to slash your wrists to in my opinion! Had to listen to Tammy Wynette yesterday! I`ll get my own back, I'll put some Zeppelin on and turn the volume up!
Paul
Just got an original copy of Screamadelica by Primal Scream on Creation Records.
Loaded still sounds fantastic!
Here a perfect example of how it's ripoff Britain 🇬🇧...check the preorder price in Canada against the U.K..It's released in May
http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/ne...0lp-vinyl-box/
Anyone listened to the whopping range of live vinyl radio broadcasts issued by labels like air cuts, vox rox over the past couple of years? I've bought some joni mitchell, tom waits, randy Newman, sly and the family stone, boz skaggs and zz top. The sound quality varies from 6/10 - 9/10.
Apparently there's some copyright loophole because these are old/ American broadcasts etc. So they can be issued in Europe without problems.
They're available on both CD and vinyl and I've bought a mixture of both. A very impressive range of artists but not surprising seen as most are in the '67 to '80 year range when music was a tad more inventive.
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
I am fortunate that I never stopped buying vinyl, starting in the mid 80's
I have around 3000 records and probably 200 cd's
I started (after graduating from a music centre) to the , at the time, ubiquitous Dual turntable, a 506 from memory that I believe was basically a slightly different version of the Dual 505
I remember going to a hi-fi shop to demo some CD players in the late 80's, listened to a few, but came away with an AR EB101 turntable instead, as I never got on with any of the CD players
Then it was a Michell Syncro, and in 1992 a GyroDec, black and gold export one. I still have this running today, but with a couple of power supply upgrades, springs, and arm upgrades to the current SME iv tonearm
I also moved to valve amps in the early 90's,and have never went back to transistors
I only ever played the few CD's I had through Playstations or DVD players, but decided to get a dedicated one a couple of years ago, and ironically ended up buying a battleship player from the 80's a Pioneer PD 91, that I preferred to most of the modern ones
You can spend scary amounts of money, but I can't imagine, other than cartridges, ever changing the main components now
As for the vinyl, it is funny seeing records in supermarkets now, given 10 years or so ago you could only really but vinyl from specialist stores, but they are expensive now compared to the £3.99 for a chart LP in John Menzies when I first started buying!! Although as someone else said earlier in the thread, in relative terms probably not,
Cheers
Kevin
Still got my 12s from that era. (Higher/Loaded/Come Together/Movin) on normal and promo releases. Probably the favourite part of my collection. Bought the LP with my first ever pay packet the day it was released. This is why I like vinyl, it's part of my life and history.
I`ve been busy over the past couple of weeks so haven`t had chance to do much more listening. I`m still amazed how good the vinyl sounds, I`ve listened to a few things and made back to back comparisons with the same recording on CD and in most cases the vinyl is winning, which still surprises me. My Arcam CD player is no slouch, the FMJ CD 36 was a £1000 player 10 years ago and I was v. impressed when I bought mine in 2009.
This now creates a dilemma: do I go out and buy most of may favourite stuff on vinyl again? I lost a fair number when I split from the ex in the 90s, that never bothered me till now!
I fear I`m becoming a fully-fledged vinylist, my wallet is cringing! It'll be fun going around record shops again and seeking out second-hand 'bargains'.
Paul
Hello Paul,
I would advise something like this, http://www.vinylgourmet.com/en/music...g-machine.html if you're going to buy a lot of 2nd hand vinyl
Amazing the difference it can make to some records, plus keeps all the crud away from your new expensive stylus!!
Cheers
Kevin
10 years in the box in the loft - since we moved in in fact
Anyhow - I’ve just connected it up & it sounds fantastic... (again)
Perfect for a Good Friday
z
Indeed.
I bought it in the late 1990’s used.
I guess it’d be early 1980’s based on dark cover and fluted plinth ?
Can anyone date it more accurately? - I can’t find any images similar to mine.
It has the dark cover, rocker switch & the Sondek plaque rather than printing on the armboard.
...Still sounds lovely though.
z
EDIT#1 - serial number 17XXX dates it to mid-late 1970’s (link) - wow !!!
EDIT#2 - so cool it was brought back : Sondek LP12 Fluted Plinth available until March 30th 2018
Last edited by zelig; 30th March 2018 at 20:09.
I was looking at turntables today within my budget
Which would you choose [internet opinions are varied to say the least]
Regal planar 2
Project debut carbon [which is on offer at richer sounds]
Though price comes into it my final decision would be on sound quality
Another question,as my Marantz 6006 amp has a phono stage will adding another phono box make any difference [to be honest I don’t really understand it]?
Both good, but form me the RP2 does it.
Just listening to Jefferson Airplane Bless It's Pointed Little Head in glorious mono original vinyl....brilliant lp!
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
I bought a phono stage when I got my first record player as the amp didn't have a built-in one. When I upgraded amps and it had one I tried it but the sound was a bit thin and weedy compared to the phono stage so I stick to using that. You could always try without and add one later as let's face it upgrades which actually make a difference are fun.
any Linn experts out there? i have a Linn axis, linn 85 power amp, linn ninka speakers, but am using a denon amp with a phono stage bridged as a preamp only, and good as it sounds i can't help wondering if picking up a second hand linn pre amp with a phono stage might make a decent difference. i have no clue whats good and what to avoid though.
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
Jon, how about picking buying a separate phono stage instead? I bought a Musical Fidelity, can`t remember the reference but it was around £200, I got discount because I bought speakers at the same time. I was persuaded to spend the extra money, I was looking at the cheaper £50-£60 ones. I`m v. pleased with my set-up, my turntable never sounded this good in the past when linked to an Arcam 8R amp with built in phono stage. OK, the amp I'm now using is better but the turntable sounds way better than I imagined it would.
I bought mine from Wileys in Castleford, local to me, and they usually knock a few ££ off most items. Old-style hi-fi shop, been there 50 years!
Wifey's Bridge night tonight.......loud music + beers night for me, I`ll be digging some vinyl out!
Paul
Always been a record buyer, though just started seriously buying again after finishing works on the house.
Roksan Radius 5 - reworked and updated by Roksan (rewired arm, upgraded motor, belt and interconnects)
Nima arm
Denon DL110 (an interim until I get another Sumiko BPS, broke the last one)
JDI pre-amp and monoblocks (I have 6 in total so can run fully active, active crossover not shown)
Ultimate Monitor 2 speakers - unique build transmission line speakers, so much bass which is why the Sumiko is a good match for them.
I need to replace the foam surrounds on the bass cones, so I'm actually listening to some Q Acoustic 3050 at the moment (not shown, they're on the other side of the room) so it's still a work in progress.
Nice,my setup wouldn’t pay for your dust cover.
Thanks. You'd be surprised though.. Bought the speakers off the builder of them for £800 (albeit about 18 years ago), likewise the amps - can't remember how much they were, but again £800 rings a bell (£100 for each monoblock and £200 for the pre-amp)
Turntable is about £2k all in (with cartridge) so not as expensive as some shown on here.
If you look about and scour the ads you can pick up some bargains. I actually gave away a Thorens TD160B with a SME 3009 arm on it to a friends son who wanted to get into records - he still has it.
I kept changing my mind but in the end I have just ordered this.
I think the cartridge is a little better than the Planer 2,it seemed expensive/bothersome to upgrade straight away.
Also I liked the switch and it says the platter is better the basic carbons available for £300 but this looks good to me.
I noticed in reviews people putting some sort of central weight on the disc are they worthwhile?
Last year I made the best upgrade so far to my vinyl set up ..... a Loricraft Record Cleaner. After some triAl and error I am now able to tell the difference between a dirty LP and a damaged one, which means I can buy from the bargain bins in the record fairs. Putting brand new vinyl through a cleaning cycle does wonders also in terms of lowering surface noise, static and the odd comtamination.
... there are the likes of Okki Nokki and Moth in that price range, look at also a second hand VPI. You can spend a fortune on them, but what you are buying then is more robust pump and drive motor to cope with higher volumes , not to forget the more you spend the quieter they get :) Most important is your technique in applying the cleaning fluid , I prefer a manual brush, and also the quality of the cleaning solution. Some vinyl needs two full clean cycles to get there. The only regret I have is not buying one sooner.
As of last Sunday I joined vinyl club. I got 25 years old Akai system - turntable, amplifier and loudspeakers. All was gently used and as soon as I will properly clean them, they will look like new.
Yesterday my record collection triplicated, so I am proud owner of 3 records
This I got on Saturday.
And these 2 yesterday.
The project motor sounded like a bag of nails I had to send it back,maybe it was the courier journey [it was ex demo].
Further googling led me to a high end hi-fi shop,they said drive over for a listen so I did.
they didnt push me just gave good advice and a demo.
I followed the recommendation and purchased a Rega Planar 2 in white.
The manager set it up and checked everything so when I went home I just had to plug it in.
The only thing that surprised me was the weedy looking interconnects,but it sounded terrific.
Nothing beats going to a shop for proper service,plus I got it for a bit less than internet prices and a cup of tea.
I also got to play with some very expensive equipment.
I am very happy with the Rega it sounds great along with my new amp and cables.
^^^^At the price point, and then upto say £5,500, Rega are indeed hard to beat imo.
Interesting, HD vinyl...
http://www.nme.com/news/hd-vinyl-is-...289508-2289508
What am I missing here with vinyl ?
I’ve tried it lately and for me I much prefer the sound of CD’s
For me personally I honestly can’t see what all the fuss is about
Vinyl replay can be complicated to get it sounding its best. You need a phono stage. There are good ones and average ones and bad ones. There are good cartridges and average ones and bad ones. They wear out and sound horrible when they are worn. There are all sorts of adjustments that you can make - tracking weight, arm height, bias compensation etc etc. Arm geometry has to be right (or at least pretty close). Then there is the vinyl itself. If it's dirty and clags up the stylus, it sounds bad. Worn and damaged records sound bad.
So, there are lots of things that can make your vinyl replay sound less than optimal.
Compare that to a CD. You bung it in the tray and it plays. No adjustments to make.