Analog Audio’s Comeback

"Comeback" implies that it went away, which it never did. Vinyl is the only music format that has shown consistent growth in the last few years. Granted, you are talking a relatively small number relative to digital, but it shows that interest has never waned.

Aside from any discussion on how it sounds, the nice thing about vinyl is that it lends itself to being a hobby. You can spend hours playing with different cartridges, cleaning your albums and fiddling with stuff. Digitial eliminated that level of tinkering from the equation.

Though digital has not, sadly, eliminated the need for experience in choosing and matching equipment and setting it up. Mind you, speaker placement and room treatment are two of the biggest things to improve a system, regardless of whether it is analogue or digital.

I actually like the requirement to properly match equipment. It requires involvement, as done room acoustics and speaker placement.

That is half the fun for an enthusiast. It does not compare to the endless tweaking involved with a turntable, but even a fully digital system requires time and effort to produce the best results.

There may come a time when you treat A/V like your car..you just want to turn the ignition on and the damn thing runs. You don't care or need to know why, it just does. I know I reached this point with computers about 4 years ago (partly thanks to Voodoo, but mostly age and other commitments). I'm approaching that point with A/V. After my last upgrade, I'm still not sure if I have the components connected correctly.

Oh, I have given up on any tweaking whatsoever when it comes to computers. I just want to pay someone else to do the work and reap the benefits. I also gave up on fixing my own bicycle. And I have never done any home repairs. Home audio and video is the only area left that I do my own tweaking. Unfortunately, I have a sufficiently good ear that I am not satisfied with "adequate" any more. We all have our areas . . .

I seem to find myself drawn to activities that need a lot of "fiddling", ...it kind of feeds my procrastination lifestyle.

Iago wrote:"Comeback" implies that it went away, which it never did.

Exactly, My Techniques SL-Q2 never left my living room...

ethelred wrote:There may come a time when you treat A/V like your car..you just want to turn the ignition on and the damn thing runs. You don't care or need to know why, it just does.

Well I can't speak for how you treat your car but I am building a 383 for my T/A...

Overall I have to agree, vinyl is far superior to anything that came after it.

Iago wrote:... And I have never done any home repairs. . . .

DIY pays for my other toys. If I didn't do that I couldn't affort the toys.

In audio, tweaking might be fun for the enthusiast side of one's personality, but it is not so much fun for the financial analyst side of one's personality. Actually, that holds true for anything I've ever been interested in . . .

ethelred wrote:

Iago wrote:... And I have never done any home repairs. . . .

DIY pays for my other toys. If I didn't do that I couldn't affort the toys.

Not having children pays for mine.

Here is my table:



and 4 used records I got today:



I also got Peter Frampton The Art of Control and The Best of the Animals however I already cleaned those 2 and put them away, hence why they are not in the photograph.

I still have over 300 LPs, but currently no turntable. I spent my money elsewhere for the time being. I also have a practical difficulty in my current setup of where I would put one.

Iago wrote:I still have over 300 LPs, but currently no turntable. I spent my money elsewhere for the time being. I also have a practical difficulty in my current setup of where I would put one.

Buy an extra stand. There are some nice options out there, if you're looking.

I also have a technics sl-b210 that needs a T4P cartridge

Do you guys recommend a particular brand of cartridge? Currently I am looking at shure and audio technica, both of which I have read good things about online.

I am looking to use this table to play some less then perfect 2nd hand vinyl so the cartridge shouldn't be anything too expensive.

Give Jerry Raskin a shout:

http://www.needledoctor.com/

Seamaster wrote:

Iago wrote:I still have over 300 LPs, but currently no turntable. I spent my money elsewhere for the time being. I also have a practical difficulty in my current setup of where I would put one.

Buy an extra stand. There are some nice options out there, if you're looking.

The stand is easy. Where to put it is much less simple.

Iago wrote:The stand is easy. Where to put it is much less simple.

I'm not being cheaky here, but couldn't you just put it to the side of your existing stack?

Not unless it went behind the speakers. Even on the side wall would be too close to the speakers. I llike the room, but it is too small for expanding some things.



It would also have some potential difficulties picking up vibrations from the subs in the speakers. I could maybe stick a stanc outside the room and run the cable in under the door, but that would be a long run for an interconnect. (Unless I got a preamp with balanced outputs.)

Now hide those wires.

That is an old picture from when I first set up the Vandersteens. (If you look closely, I had not even put the spikes in yet.) Things have changed somewhat, but I have no fear of visible cables. Especially speaker wire.

I see your limitations. An outside stack for a turntable would suck. Just think of having to leave the room every 15 to 20 minutes to flip an album.

Well, I have simply let it go for the time being. The quality of digital via the Oppo fed through the Vandys is keeping me content for the time being.