Posted 2013-02-07 11:05 PM (#465032) Subject: a complete circle for me
Joined: January 2006 Posts: 1483
Location: Michigan
when i was growing up music was played on a victrola turntable that you played 78 vinyl records , then came the 45's and then came the long play albums , then the reel to reel tape machines then the 4 track tape deck then the 8 track tape deck then the cassette tape then the cd disc then the mini cd disc and now we are going back to vinyl records again ? w.t.f. every change said the sound was better than if so how are we back to vinyl records . people are now telling me that vinyl has that certain great sound that cannot be reproduced by tape or cd.?
i am confused ???
here is a great vinyl record that brings back some great old time make out music , enjoy.GWB
Posted 2013-02-08 5:45 AM (#465047 - in reply to #465032) Subject: RE: a complete circle for me
Joined: September 2011 Posts: 402
Location: New Hartford CT
GWB - I like this trend. My last format switch was to CD's...never got around to getting all my favorites onto the latest and greatest format. Still to me the CD's never replaced that great warm sound from my albums. I hung onto all of them and use them regularly at my practice space.
A big old direct drive BIC turntable and high end cartridge....giant Marantz power amp and some huge Pioneer HPM 100 speakers....then play a half speed mastered LP (remember those?). Sound just doesn't get any better than that except in the control room with massively expensive gear.
Just listened to some Kansas yesterday afternoon...it's great to expose young ears that have only heard compressed digital music to this old huge and warm analog aound. They can't believe this 30+ year old gear beats out their ipod with 10,000 songs on it.
Digital certainly has many advantages and some tell me all that warmth I rave about is simply scratches or analog artifacts/noise. No way - sometimes it feels like I'm right in the studio with the band when I listen to my old records. Never had that happen with a digital format.
If he succeeds, you'll be able to put your CD's in storage along with your 78's, 45's, LP's, Reel-to-Reels, 8-tracks, cassettes, wax tubes, etc.…
…and then buy it all over again.
Actually, his players/software will apparently also play other digital formats (MP3's, etc.) so you wouldn't necessarily have to toss your entire digital music collection, just the ones that you'd prefer to be able to actually hear clearly.
Posted 2013-02-09 1:44 AM (#465097 - in reply to #465032) Subject: RE: a complete circle for me
Joined: December 2001 Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest
One thing albums have that digital media does not have as much is the ability to compress the signal into oblivion. It's not that DVD, BlueRay, or MP3's are not "capable" of actually sounding better or at least as good as vinyl but they just aren't produced as good as they could be. You can certainly get more frequency response from digital, but it's inevitably eq'd and compressed out before it reached the final media.
There's a reason... it's not a great reason, but it's a reason nonetheless. Record players are inevitably home units, being played through speakers. Not always, but that's the norm. Home speakers can handle a LOT of frequency response, or at least they used to. So records were mastered to play on traditional systems. A CD or iTunes etc. all digital needs to sound just as good on a pair of earbuds, as they do in cars and in home systems and in clubs. Until the industry can justify DEVICE SPECIFIC media, this age-old argument Vinyl vs Digital will go on and on.
Then of course there's the warmth factor. The noise of the needle is one of the oldest tricks in the book to bring a mix together. On Vinyl it wasn't necessary, but once CD's hit the market, producers and mastering realized that adding that inaudible hiss brought a warmth and fullness to that recording they just compressed the daylights out of. That is compressed after they removed everything below 30 hz and above 22kHz.
This guy on YouTube actually does a pretty good job of the science. Because of the point he's trying to make, he's missed a couple of important details in his explanation. One is that while it's true we can't really hear the notes above 22Khz, if the notes exist, we hear the lower harmonics and distortions of those notes that happen below 22Khz. If the original material isn't delivered, we're not going to hear the harmonix and that's another really big reason albums tend to "sound" better than CD's. They can reproduce the signal that while we can't hear directly, we hear the harmonics of. He also doesn't talk about the low end roll off which exists as well.
Posted 2013-02-09 6:31 AM (#465099 - in reply to #465097) Subject: Re: a complete circle for me
Joined: January 2009 Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw
On the other hand, my daughter can go to college this fall with an iPod and some earbuds vs when I went to school with 3 or 4 boxes of albums, 2 giant speakers, a receiver, turntable. Half the car was loaded with just stereo equipment and albums.....
Posted 2013-02-09 6:49 AM (#465101 - in reply to #465032) Subject: RE: a complete circle for me
Joined: November 2011 Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX
I still have a hugely powerful JVC amp in a metal case, a receiver in a metal case, and a name brand turntable. I keep cruising yard sales hoping to replace speakers I blew long ago because when I'm alone I like listening to lp's at concert volume. The matching cassette deck long ago stopped working. I hope I'll be able to find a replacement needle someday because I took care of my albums like I do guitars, and I've got a valuable collection to me. I have an iPod Touch, but being cut off from the world while listening to music doesn't appeal to me. Technology has cut us all off too much already. How many times have you been in a room with people who are all staring at their smartphones? I like my music delivery like I do my cars, old and well built to go the long haul. I actually remember years ago hearing a kid talking about seeing someone who was playing "these giant black cd's".
Posted 2013-02-09 8:10 AM (#465103 - in reply to #465032) Subject: Re: a complete circle for me
Joined: April 2003 Posts: 608
Location: Caribou, ME
1981 Technics 65 watt receiver, Pioneer direct drive table, 5 cd changer, dual cassette deck, Akai reel to reel, graphic EQ, and a 1947 Silvertone 78rpm turntable 'just because'. The basement is huge and I have a pair of Sansui 15s and a pair of Technics 2x12s, one in each corner mounted up high.
Once I got it all set up the first thing I played was Jimi doing "All Along the Watchtower".
a complete circle for me
