What Happens When You Start Listening To Vinyl Again

[DIY Junky]

You Go back to Grandpas safety Razor and brush for a shave . You start going to Roller derby Bouts. And you go back to 2.1 stereo for music. Is what Happens . Anyone Disagree ?

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

All good except for 2.1. No one had subwoofers in the days of vinyl.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[DIY Junky]

All good except for 2.1. No one had subwoofers in the days of vinyl.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

The sub might be on its way out the door . First I will listen with it off and see if I miss it. The MtM Speakers are rated to 40Hz .. Cant quite give up my DVD audio yet.

 

[Bucknekked]

You Go back to Grandpas safety Razor and brush for a shave . You start going to Roller derby Bouts. And you go back to 2.1 stereo for music. Is what Happens . Anyone Disagree ?

Well, almost a perfect list of what happens to you.
I went back to the brush, home made lather, and the safety razor. Given that I also like to go to extremes, I also learned to shave with a straight razor and bought all my sons straights and challenged them to get 'er done.
Once you make your own shaving lather, the heck with the crap in the can. Believe it or not, there are several active forums just about shaving. Yep, its a thing. If you look, you will see more forum categories for shaving than there are here on Audioholics.
https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/

2.1 for stereo is definitely my style of old school stereo. Back in the day, there were no subs, Big JBL's and big Klipsch for sure, but not subs. I've tried it both ways and I just love the effect of the sub. Stereo for sure, but throw me a sub anytime. No purists here.

Roller derby? If I could find one to watch, we'd give it a whirl. I think they may be extinct.

Oh, and I did all this before I put a turntable back in the music room and spun a few records. But, I get your drift.

 

[bikemig]

No way I'm buying a record player again . . .

Then I'll have to start buying vinyl again like my nephew does, lol.

I'm happy with my 2.0 stereo system (outlaw stereo receiver, PSB Image T6 towers) , CD player, (Marantz),and networking preamp (yamaha).

Now the bicycles I like to ride are definitely old school. This is my Olmo Gran Sport. Not bad looking for a 58 year old racing bike, . I rebuilt it 2 years ago and all the bearing surfaces were smooth (you have to like old school craftmanship). The only change I made to the bike was that I replaced the tubulars with clinchers. I love the way tubulars ride, gluing them on after a flat no so much. The bike is made from falk tubing (a chrome moly tubing set). The derailleurs are campy gran sport (top of the line in the 1950s) and the bike has what was considered back then as top level gearing. Oh yeah, that's a steel cottered crankset (a Magistroni) with aluminum chain rings. The chainrings provide half step gearing (49/46 rings)(which is about all that an old school push rod front derailleur can handle), and 13-26 5 speed in the back. All I can say is thank god that there isn't much in the way of hills in Des Moines.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I would get sick, go into shock.
I guess in a torture chamber I might survive it.

 

[davidscott]

Pretty funny. I actually sold off my vinyl collection in the late 90s with a pretty decent Thorens TT and phono cart. Anyway after 15 years or so I started seeing some nice used LPs at half price books which were rare on cds. So I bought a nice used Rega P3 TT and some LPs and guess what - I'm hooked again. Not as clean as my CD collection (over 400) but very listenable. No safety razor no roller derby pretty good 2 channel sound. And stereo recordings sound just fine to me with 2 speakers.

 

[DIY Junky]

Well, almost a perfect list of what happens to you.
I went back to the brush, home made lather, and the safety razor. Given that I also like to go to extremes, I also learned to shave with a straight razor and bought all my sons straights and challenged them to get 'er done.
Once you make your own shaving lather, the heck with the crap in the can. Believe it or not, there are several active forums just about shaving. Yep, its a thing. If you look, you will see more forum categories for shaving than there are here on Audioholics.
https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/

2.1 for stereo is definitely my style of old school stereo. Back in the day, there were no subs, Big JBL's and big Klipsch for sure, but not subs. I've tried it both ways and I just love the effect of the sub. Stereo for sure, but throw me a sub anytime. No purists here.

Roller derby? If I could find one to watch, we'd give it a whirl. I think they may be extinct.

Oh, and I did all this before I put a turntable back in the music room and spun a few records. But, I get your drift.

I Just took the sub out after listening to 3 albums with it un plugged and plugged in . The MTMs kick ass no need for a sub its down stairs now. My daughter plays roller derby and its on way back. they have Pro Teams "search red bull roller derby "

 

[lovinthehd]

Hard to say since I've used the same tt for the last 34 years and haven't really stopped listening to it, I play it far less occasionally and I just don't buy it any more. The nostalgia works great for me on occasion, tho. I'm not giving up my subs until such a day that I have speakers that don't need them but most vinyl I have can't use them much anyways.

 

[DIY Junky]

Hard to say since I've used the same tt for the last 34 years and haven't really stopped listening to it, I play it far less occasionally and I just don't buy it any more. The nostalgia works great for me on occasion, tho. I'm not giving up my subs until such a day that I have speakers that don't need them but most vinyl I have can't use them much anyways.

I use my listening room for music only now . And the Dennon can handle the 4 ohm load of my new 7" MtM builds. I only have 4 speakers hooked to it now . And in pure mode Its only the 2 fronts powered. The rears are 8 ohms . It is weird how I fist got rid of center channel because its not needed when you have your front speakers placed correctly when music only. And after listening with sub on and off it is not needed with my new MtM speakers and that was my goal with this build. I use music as an escape from the bullshit of this world . And the less I have in the listening area the better for me. Working on getting rid of tv next. And build a small diffuser for front wall

 

[Alex2507]

You take a 10 dollar bill into a Salvation Army and spend a couple of hours combing through their used records.
You go home and listen to 9 albums.
You barter with the owner of a used record store.
Somebody gives you a better record player than the linear tracker you got for 20 bucks.
You sell the linear tracker to a pawn shop for 60.
Then you back to the used record store.
You explain to your wife that you can quit anytime you want.
It's not the first lie you've told her.
She doesn't believe you.
You don't care.

 

[bikemig]

I bought a stereo system when I was in high school. I had to work all summer to earn enough money to pay for it. I remember I paid $300 for it and it was the cheapest "hi fi" system that the audio place near my house had. The system had a kenwood stereo receiver and avid speakers. I have no idea what the turntable was. The system sounded good. I sold it and my bicycle to help finance a long road trip when I left the house and managed to shrink my belongings down to one backpack, .

When I got my first job, I decided to migrate to CDs and never looked back. Heck I still buy CDs and rip them to lossless even though I know it's a bit crazy since the high bit rate files that stream online sound good to me.

 

[highfigh]

All good except for 2.1. No one had subwoofers in the days of vinyl.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Some did- M&K and a few others were available in the '80s.

 

[TLS Guy]

I'm one of those who never stopped playing vinyl. Vinyl is part of my music library. I do think vinyl gets a bad rap here from some. I will say to get the best out of vinyl you have to be somewhat OCD. However in a good system a listener should not know if its vinyl or CD. I have plenty of discs that do not make a pop or crackle.

Unless you really want to look for music that never made it to CD, then I'm not sure I would get into it now. It is a lot more trouble, but I might. I do sometimes buy a rare album, but more often than not it disappoints as the disc was not looked after.

But certainly vinyl is capable of very high fidelity indeed. Better than digital no. If it does sound different, then some audiophool is enamored with some exotic high priced turntable and cartridge that actually is aberrant. I note there are plenty of those around these days.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I'm one of those who never stopped playing vinyl. Vinyl is part of my music library. I do think vinyl gets a bad rap here from some. I will say to get the best out of vinyl you have to be somewhat OCD. However in a good system a listener should not know if its vinyl or CD. I have plenty of discs that do not make a pop or crackle.

I agree, but for anyone less than about 65 years, chances are that they could not easily afford a really good LP playback system until after CDs were introduced. By the mid-1980s digital recordings were available on CDs that made LPs obsolete, unless you already had a large LP library and a very capable playback system. Although I had many LPs at the time, I didn't have a great playback system, and CDs struck me as profoundly superior on the average. While LPs can indeed sound outstanding, at least from 40Hz on up, let's face it, in the 1970s and 1980s they seldom did. Especially domestic releases.

 

[Bucknekked]

I agree, but for anyone less than about 65 years, chances are that they could not easily afford a really good LP playback system until after CDs were introduced. By the mid-1980s digital recordings were available on CDs that made LPs obsolete, unless you already had a large LP library and a very capable playback system. Although I had many LPs at the time, I didn't have a great playback system, and CDs struck me as profoundly superior on the average. While LPs can indeed sound outstanding, at least from 40Hz on up, let's face it, in the 1970s and 1980s they seldom did. Especially domestic releases.

Irvrobinson
Every once in a while someone pens a post that could come right out of my own head. Your post about having lots of LP's back in the day but not being able to afford a really good playback system came right out of my own history. You hit the nail on the head for me. I went to CD's out of necessity. A capable playback system was within reach.

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. But the audio system and library in the other room is way better than the good old days.

 

[Mikado463]

like TLS I never left the 'black pizza' fold. Having started out as a young lad listening through my parents Stromberg Carlson console stereo and continuing to my present analog playback (VPI Aries III, Benz Micro, Fosgate phono pre) I still enjoy my vinyl. While I embraced CD's early on, save for a few early labels (GRP, DMP, Sheffield labs and some Telarc's) most were not as good as their analog counterparts of the time. Fast forward to today, where mastered correctly both formats can produce superb results.

As for Irv's comment on LP's from the 70's and 80's, I've got plenty that sound excellent. Example, Steely Dan's 'Aja', my LP easily blows away the CD.

 

[TLS Guy]

I agree, but for anyone less than about 65 years, chances are that they could not easily afford a really good LP playback system until after CDs were introduced. By the mid-1980s digital recordings were available on CDs that made LPs obsolete, unless you already had a large LP library and a very capable playback system. Although I had many LPs at the time, I didn't have a great playback system, and CDs struck me as profoundly superior on the average. While LPs can indeed sound outstanding, at least from 40Hz on up, let's face it, in the 1970s and 1980s they seldom did. Especially domestic releases.

Sadly what you say has been true. I have been lucky, and really always had pretty decent playback equipment. In the mono era, I built my own mc cartridges, and tacked at 3 GM before anyone else. My nylon cord stylus suspension was shared with and adopted by Decca, for the ffss. Those not mc, but moving iron variable reluctance, but they did not and do not use a cantilever.

Early Decca ffss 78 rpm mono head.

Certainly the LP is capable well below 40 Hz, but some cutting lathes has low frequency rumble, so a high pass filter at 30 Hz can make sense.

I used mainly European pressings, in the early days, us pressing were markedly inferior in many ways. I think also in that "Golden age of British Audio" play back systems over there were superior to the US.

The real issue though with the LP and part of this was microphones of the time, was HF distortion.

Peter Walker's Quad preamps always had the great secret weapon of filters with 10K, 7k and 5K turnover frequencies with a continuously variable slope. This was just brilliant. Harold J Leake copied it with his Varislope, but it was not as useful as the Quad.

This is so effective, that I believe if you have a large legacy collection of LPs, a Quad preamp is part of the basics.

That is the reason for this.

 

[Irvrobinson]

As for Irv's comment on LP's from the 70's and 80's, I've got plenty that sound excellent. Example, Steely Dan's 'Aja', my LP easily blows away the CD.

And that may very well be, due to lousy CD mastering, or John Dyson's theory with compelling evidence that some CDs made from Dolby A processed masters were not post-processed correctly.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Certainly the LP is capable well below 40 Hz, but some cutting lathes has low frequency rumble, so a high pass filter at 30 Hz can make sense.

I used mainly European pressings, in the early days, US pressing were markedly inferior in many ways. I think also in that "Golden age of British Audio" play back systems over there were superior to the US.

LPs are indeed capable of sub-40Hz bass, but it takes a very good and very well-adjusted turntable/arm/cartridge system to properly render that bass.

As for European pressings often being superior, agreed. I was a bit young and impoverished for the golden age of British audio.