Is anyone on here into Vinyl?

[219]

I have some vinyl, a pimped up Pro-ject carbon, musical fidelity integrated amp, blusoumd streamer, audiolab CD player b&w speakers, most of which I blagged nearly new or ex demo so saved a bomb. It’s fun to play a cd the the vinyl version back to back to see which sounds better. Cd’s from say 10 years back sound soooooi much better than the rubbish made today and deffo clearer than they vinyl but without the “warmth”, they’re a bit clinical sometimes. I mainly stream stuff at hifi res from Tidal as my little boy takes far too much interest in the TT and has scratched my Dire Straits live album which severely cheesed me off lol.
I do love those 70/80’s amps with the vu meters, they’re so cool. I’d quite happily collect a load of them if I had some spare unwanted cash, along with some kind of fancy expensive TT like a gyro deck or similar as they are fascinating to watch and listen to at the same time.
I should have got an LP12 5 years ago when they were about £500, now ££££££ secondhand and as for new, sod that. They sound flipping amazing through the right kit though I must say.
I lust after a Luxman amp though, really badly.


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When I worked in the business back in the 70’s , an LP12 retailed at £86 ( yes , eighty six pounds ) without arm . At the same time the PL12D was around £30 and my Transcriptor Hydraulic Reference ( without arm) was around £120 . The bargain back then was the Acoustic Research turntable which was a similar suspended chassis to the LP12 and around £20 , then there were the Connoseur BD1 and BD2 which were even cheaper!

 

[Bellow]

Anyone remember those 7" Flexi discs that some music magazines put on the cover?

I know I have couple of those "waaffeur thin" things in the singles boxes in the attic

Yep. A rare Joy Division flexi (Komakino?) and one from the NME with Husker Du covering Ticket to Ride and a brilliant Sly and Robbie track. I might have the JD one but the NME one is long gone - unfortunately.

 

[219]

I still have my Linn LP12 and well over 1,000 albums, but I very rarely play them these days. I much prefer the sheer convenience of playing from a laptop using software like JRiver Media Centre, or streaming from Tidal. I have reasonable quality DAC / amplifier / speakers and it all sounds fine to me. It may not be the last word in Hi-Fi, but for me it is 'Satis-Fi'.

There is a difference listening to older albums though, as I think much more care was taken when they were mastered. Modern stuff follows the trend of 'start loud/stay loud/end loud'. It is interesting to import modern recordings into something like 'Audacity' and look at the waveform - almost without exception, the volume is at maximum level pretty well throughout the recording.

What is also quite telling is to get a new 180g pressing of a classic album - in many cases the actual vinyl is of so much better quality than some of the flimsy pressings that you could actually see through if you held them up to the light that there is a huge sonic difference.

 

[Larkone]

 

[D-18]

What is also quite telling is to get a new 180g pressing of a classic album - in many cases the actual vinyl is of so much better quality than some of the flimsy pressings that you could actually see through if you held them up to the light that there is a huge sonic difference.

Yes, back in the day, my Hi Fi 'test' albums were all Sheffield Lab direct cut recordings - all on decent quality vinyl. In their day, they really were stunningly good compared to the average LP. Even now they stand up very well in comparison to modern recordings.

They weren't cheap though - I seem to recall a direct cut LP was about £20.00 when a 'normal' LP could be bought for £3.00(ish)

 

[D-18]

I still have an old valve amp somewhere that I built years ago - 4x GE6550 ( KT88 ) beam pentodes running class AB1 ultralinear , outputting 50w/ch , lovely mellow sound , and looked wonderful in a darkened room , but my QUAD transistor kit is simpler to live with .

With 4 x KT88's, did you need any other heating in the room?

 

[219]

Yes, back in the day, my Hi Fi 'test' albums were all Sheffield Lab direct cut recordings - all on decent quality vinyl. In their day, they really were stunningly good compared to the average LP. Even now they stand up very well in comparison to modern recordings.

They weren't cheap though - I seem to recall a direct cut LP was about £20.00 when a 'normal' LP could be bought for £3.00(ish)

Yep , I still have two Lincoln Mayorga and distinguished colleagues albums , one of LM playing solo piano in a very ‘flowery’ style , Dave Gruisin - Discovered Again , Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker , and , my favourite- Harry James ‘The King James Version’ . As you say , all great , for their time . I also have a Denon , half speed mastered pressing of Dark Side of The Moon , surpassed only by a modern 180g pressing of the same , and many of the old Studio 2 demo records , including the old hifi exhibition standard record John Keating Space Experience . I also have numerous hifi test records such as the HiFi News HFN69 and HFN75 , the Shure Audio Obstacle Course , JBL Sessions , can’t remember what else ...

But most of my records exist for the music , not as hifi test records.

 

[219]

With 4 x KT88's, did you need any other heating in the room?

No , not really

 

[D-18]

Yep , I still have two Lincoln Mayorga and distinguished colleagues albums , one of LM playing solo piano in a very ‘flowery’ style , Dave Gruisin - Discovered Again , Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker , and , my favourite- Harry James ‘The King James Version’ . As you say , all great , for their time . I also have a Denon , half speed mastered pressing of Dark Side of The Moon , surpassed only by a modern 180g pressing of the same , and many of the old Studio 2 demo records , including the old hifi exhibition standard record John Keating Space Experience . I also have numerous hifi test records such as the HiFi News HFN69 and HFN75 , the Shure Audio Obstacle Course , JBL Sessions , can’t remember what else ...

But most of my records exist for the music , not as hifi test records.

I have the same LM recordings - you're right about his 'flowery' style, but I'll concede that he's still a slightly better pianist then me .

Completely agree with you about listening to the music versus listening to the Hi Fi. I actually heard the LM direct cut recordings for the first time at a Hi Fi show (in the Linn room I think) and was totally absorbed by the music - went shopping for them straight afterwards!

 

[219]

From one of the sleeve notes - “Bill Schnee : the greatest engineer since Casey Jones”

 

[219]

I have the same LM recordings - you're right about his 'flowery' style, but I'll concede that he's still a slightly better pianist then me .

Completely agree with you about listening to the music versus listening to the Hi Fi. I actually heard the LM direct cut recordings for the first time at a Hi Fi show (in the Linn room I think) and was totally absorbed by the music - went shopping for them straight afterwards!

I suspect you’re a better pianist than me since I struggle to plink through things from sheet music and congratulate myself if it even sounds remotely like what it should!

 

[D-18]

I suspect you’re a better pianist than me since I struggle to plink through things from sheet music and congratulate myself if it even sounds remotely like what it should!

I very much doubt it - if I were recorded, it wouldn't be to a Direct Cut, I sound more like I'm half-cut......

 

[chesterpiglet]

It seems as though there is quite a lot of interest regarding Vinyl LP's! In France they have what are called Depot de Ventes where they basically sell household crap in the main. I always look in the electrical section as they normally have a few speakers & turntables etc. I picked this up this morning. A 1979 Pioneer PL-L1000. It powers up but I haven't tested it yet as there is no stylus! Has anybody come across it before?

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Mr Phillip Schofield may be into Vinyl.

 

[219]

Mr Phillip Schofield may be into Vinyl.

Just not for playing music !

 

[Benzmanc]

I've been considering a turntable to plug into my Uniti Atom but just haven't got round to it yet