Another Thing We Lost When We Lost Vinyl

Wayne Carver · Post by **Wayne Carver** » 13 May 2015 4:04 pm

Back in the seventies when I listened mostly to LP's, the end of side one was my cue to wake up and turn the album over.
I had a friend who had a turntable that allowed programming only the tracks you wanted to hear.
I hardly ever listened to an album from start to finish as it is a long time for listening to just one artist. If I had to get up and turn the record over,I would be bored and just put on something else.
I had another friend who listened to the complete album on an 8-track. He would get mad if someone played one of his tapes and it didn't play "song one" when he started it his next listening session.

Ending with a joke; when I was little I fell and hit my head on the record player but it didn't affect me, affect me, affect me!

Rich Upright · Post by **Rich Upright** » 3 Jul 2015 11:59 am

I agree; CDs just have too much music, but then again, you can always just hit "eject". You ARE getting a lot more music with CDs for your buck nowadays.

I much prefer CDs over analog vinyl, though. When I listen to CDs of vinyl that I had years ago, like for instance "Meet The Beatles", I hear things that I never heard due to the distortion inherent with vinyl. What most people are hearing with vinyl, however, is the sound they grew up with back in the day, and it brings them back to a happier,carefree time, so naturally they prefer this for older music. But certain music will just sound better on CD. Maybe not "Meet The Beatles", but classical & jazz certainly do.
My all time favorite band for the last 43 years has been Emerson, Lake, & Palmer. I wouldn't even THINK of listening to them on vinyl.

BTW Here is a pic of my stereo. Notice the turntable, reel-to-reel,cassette, & CD players. And the mighty Cerwin-Vegas. Only way to listen to Floyd or Zeppelin!

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 4 Jul 2015 3:39 pm

Rich Upright wrote:I agree; CDs just have too much music, but then again, you can always just hit "eject". You ARE getting a lot more music with CDs for your buck nowadays.

Considering that CD music averages from .50 to $1.00 a song, I think we're getting a lot less...especially when you consider that they cost about 1/10th as much to manufacture as a vinyl record w/jacket.

I much prefer CDs over analog vinyl, though. When I listen to CDs of vinyl that I had years ago, like for instance "Meet The Beatles", I hear things that I never heard due to the distortion inherent with vinyl.

You may have had crappy audio equipment, but I suspect that most of the difference you're hearing is due to the remastering and excess compression used on CD's. Of course you're hearing more! Everything is the same volume, and the wonderful dynamics are gone.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 4 Jul 2015 11:19 pm

There's a difference in the sound of say American or English pressings. I always prefered German or English pressed records because they had more brilliance, whereas the American sounded darker.
But it's only a matter of taste.
Nice reel to reel player, Rich. Which brand is it?

Ray Harrison · Post by **Ray Harrison** » 5 Jul 2015 11:00 am

I get the CD's and LP's loaded onto my external HD which contains approx. 250Gig of mp3 and write my own CD's of what I feel like listening to. Country, Steel, Jazz, Big Band whatever.
At my age I certainly can't say that my ears qualify me as an audiophile so the change in quality isn't noticeable.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 5 Jul 2015 11:13 am

My point is that a side of an LP is a lot shorter than a CD, and way shorter than the unlimited listening time you get from streaming service or MP3 player. The length of a side of an LP is just right for my listening "meal". Plus, there's no shuffling of tracks - you always hear things in the order that the artist intended.

On my system, LPs sound better than CDs. It may just be that the RIAA preamp built into my modern Pioneer turntable is much better than what cmoes out of my CD player. Surface noise doesn't bother me at all as long as I can hear the music.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 5 Jul 2015 11:25 am

Rich Upright wrote:I agree; CDs just have too much music, but then again, you can always just hit "eject". You ARE getting a lot more music with CDs for your buck nowadays.

Donny Hinson wrote:Considering that CD music averages from .50 to $1.00 a song, I think we're getting a lot less...especially when you consider that they cost about 1/10th as much to manufacture as a vinyl record w/jacket.

The price of new LPs today is considerably higher than CDs, and they often have fewer songs. To me, it's worth it for some artists, not for others. If I'm buying music to learn the songs, or to listen in the car, etc. I'll buy CDs or even MP3s. But if I'm buying for a real listening room experience, I'll buy LPs.

Also, for many old records, the CD reissues are not up to snuff sound-wise compared to lightly used vinyl. I recently got an old 45 of Roy Acuff doing Wabash Cannonball b/w Great Speckled Bird. I was blown away by the sound quality, a great match for the excellent studio performance.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 5 Jul 2015 11:26 am

bOb, what is this RIAA.
On a Buffalo Springfield record from '68 it reads: For best results observe the R.I.A.A. high frquency roll-off characteristic with a 500 cycle crossover.
I'm not technically minded enough to understand this.

b0b · Post by **b0b** » 5 Jul 2015 12:47 pm

Long ago, the recording industry set a technical audio standard for the EQ frequency response of turntables. Vinyl records are pressed to this standard RIAA<sup>*</sup> curve, and the phono jacks on stereos reverse it to get the original sound back.

Many modern stereos don't have phono jacks, so manufacturers are now building an RIAA preamp directly into the turntable. This allows you to plug the turntable into any audio input and get properly EQ'd sound, just as you do with a CD or MP3 player.

<sup>*Recording Industry Association of America</sup>

Don R Brown · Post by **Don R Brown** » 6 Jul 2015 5:32 am

I really don't miss vinyl. No matter how careful I was, I'd always wind up with a scratch here or a nick there. And when I really loved a song or a part of a song, the repeated re-positioning of the arm would soon make a noise in that spot forever. With a CD in my truck, one poke of a finger can skip that next song I don't care for, or back up 12 seconds so I can hear that steel part again (and again, and again, and.....)

Rich Upright · Post by **Rich Upright** » 17 Aug 2015 4:51 am

Joachim Kettner wrote:There's a difference in the sound of say American or English pressings. I always prefered German or English pressed records because they had more brilliance, whereas the American sounded darker.
But it's only a matter of taste.
Nice reel to reel player, Rich. Which brand is it?

It is an Akai GX4000-D. I bought it in a thrift store for $1.00! One of the belts was bad, so I went to an electronics parts warehouse & matched up a belt from a VCR, installed it, & it has worked perfectly for years. Great dynamic range, & I have a whole cabinet full of 7" Reel-to-reel tapes, which is good, 'cause they are about $30.00 apiece now!

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 17 Aug 2015 6:53 am

Rich, in the mid-sixties I had a Grundig Tonbandgerät. I recorded lots of interesting stuff. In the late sixties there was a late night program from AFN called "Underground". I wish I hadn't erased those tracks, later on, with "newer" stuff.

Chris Walke · Post by **Chris Walke** » 8 Sep 2015 9:24 am

What I miss about vinyl LPs is the intentionality (is that a word?) of the listening experience. It takes more time & care to put on a vinyl LP, and how often do you go thru the motions only to have it as purely background sound?

Seems like iPhones/iPods/mp3 players cater to a "put it on shuffle and ignore it" mentality. There's little intention. CD's a somewhat more intentional, but vinyl is somehow different.