Bell bottoms.
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dbentley666 — 5 hours ago(April 02, 2026 07:37 PM)
Yes, I've sometimes regretted it. But they were so ****ing heavy! Each time we moved house my wife would beg me to dump them. Plus all the damn lowering of the needles, changing the needles, etc.
I even inherited things called 78s from my grandfather. Even heavier, and one concerto or symphony would go on about 16 of them. -
bitchsurn — 5 hours ago(April 02, 2026 07:52 PM)
Believe it or not, vinyl sales have now surpassed CD sales.
Part of it is the yuppy thing, but the audiophiles claim that the sound of a LP in good condition on a good playback system is superior to anything that digital can do.
However, with that typed, the definition of 'good sound' is a bit subjective, and, when they talk about good playback, they are talking about tonearms and cartridges costing thousands of dollars. And that's not even talking about the actual turntable. However, I've seen a wide range of vinyl playback equipment listed for a wide range of prices, and back before 9/11 I remember reading an opinion in Stereophile magazine that an affordable vinyl playback system could kick ass on a high-cost digital system. Cold and compressed has always been the rap on CDs.
But digital playback has also improved over the years.
But I am in the same boat as you. I loaned my LP collection to my sister (and tragic events happened and I never got it back) in '82, and when I got back into music in '89 I had sworn vinyl off and I sold out completely and totally to CDs. I often wonder what the magic quality is that they now tell me that I am missing, but I don't have the room (and no longer the money) so I am not going to spend too much of my time worrying about it. -
dbentley666 — 5 hours ago(April 02, 2026 07:56 PM)
I periodically go off CDs, usually when I read an article about how "warm" vinyl sounds. Then I pull out my old record player and play some of the 20 odd LPs I now have (bought cheap off the pavement). It definitely sounds very much warmer (whatever that means), but I can't be arsed to get back to the whole tiring process. My CD player is a Bose, so the sound is pretty good, and I have a huge collection of CDs, so I'm going to stick with it. The nice thing is, my LPs are on the whole a differnt set of recordings from my CDs, so I get to hear newish music each time I switch.
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bitchsurn — 4 hours ago(April 02, 2026 08:06 PM)
I think that approach probably works for the 'average listener.'
When I did do vinyl, it was on a very affordable rack system, and although I have been tempted, I never went down the 'serious' vinyl rabbit hole.
As far as what a lot of the yuppies (I don't even know what yuppies are technically called now) are playing back their vinyl on (WalMart stuff) it's all about image. If you notice on recent movies, when someone dials up some tunes, he or she is always putting a LP on. It's an image thing and I guess it looks good. But as far as sound quality? Vinyl or digital, good SQ is still going to cost a few bucks.
And dollar for dollar, hassle for hassle, I think that digital is going to be easier and cheaper to get pretty good sound out of. -
bitchsurn — 4 hours ago(April 02, 2026 08:46 PM)
That's it–'retro'! That's why a lot of people, I think mostly younger people, are going back to vinyl. The obsessed with sound audiophiles brought vinyl back into being accepted as being potentially a superior playback source, but it is the 'retro' look that has a lot of people buying turntables and vinyl.
I've read enough for long enough that I believe that vinyl probably imparts a quality to the playback that digital doesn't, but that is not going to be achieved without spending some money. The stuff that Walmart is selling to appeal to the 'retro' crowd, is NOT going to fill that bill. -
dbentley666 — 3 hours ago(April 02, 2026 09:15 PM)
You're right. If I had about 5000 to chuck around I might go in for a proper record player. But then I'd have to start buying LPs. It would set me back quite a huge amount, and my wife would probably kill me. She's already upset by my book bills….
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bitchsurn — 3 hours ago(April 02, 2026 09:25 PM)
From threads I have followed on audio forums and from equipment listings I see when Music Direct sends me their email flyers on a regular basis, vinyl seems to be a very evolved and expensive rabbit hole.
(Actually, an awful lot of high-end audio meets that criteria.)
Personally, I live with the belief that digital has also gotten pretty good as time has elapsed. There is a wide range there as well (I think Esoteric lists their top end CD player up around 12 or 13k) but there is a lot in between the cheapest and the most expensive. I suppose that's true for everything in the audio world. -
bitchsurn — 5 hours ago(April 02, 2026 07:57 PM)
. . . I've actually seen record cleaners listed that were going for hundreds of dollars, and I am sure that there are thousand dollar plus cleaners available.
But this is not 'average listener' stuff. This is for the obsessed with sound (aka crazed) audiophile. -
MissMargoChanning — 3 hours ago(April 02, 2026 09:22 PM)
I think you're right about shopping malls and some of them are already derelict. Check them out on YouTube.
Yes. So many of those shopping malls are abandoned here in the states. It's sad.
You asked a pretty question; I've given you the ugly answer.
Fasten Your Seatbelts….
It's Going To Be A Bumpy Night! -
MissMargoChanning — 3 hours ago(April 02, 2026 09:38 PM)
You and I are living in the Americas.
You live in Canada.
I live in the States. I always have…
You asked a pretty question; I've given you the ugly answer.
Fasten Your Seatbelts….
It's Going To Be A Bumpy Night!