Does anyone else out there play vinyl records?
11I have my old records from the 70’s and some are in pretty good condition. Picking through the Goodwill store has brought a few, but not many albums as I’m picky about condition. I have a record cleaner to clean up used ones. Yard sales only sell baby clothes.
Lately, Amazon has actually had some good records for sale. I got a new remastered mono Beatles album a while ago, but it was $25 or so…
I just got a new Stones clear vinyl record at Amazon for $12.50.
Does anyone else play vinyl? Where do you find them?
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Yes I play vinyl (have several hundred)… Need a new turntable though as my 1980’s dual has bit the dust in the sense that something went thunk in the counter weight and now it is a struggle to get the tone arm to work. If I ever find a randomly dropped brink’s truck bag of used bills and can afford one, what is a decent replacement?
Oh to answer your question - I found some of craigslist - free. I also see people (in wanted) looking for them. Somewhere or other in town here there is a shop that sells them. Surprising considering the things this town does not sell.
What do you use as the record cleaner?
@Kidsandliz If you like/are attached to your old table, I think the tonearms are replaceable on most of those Duals. It would probably be fairly simple to find what’s compatible with the existing hole pattern online.
@Kidsandliz To clean them, I use the Spin-Clean.
Just a simple brush actually works just about as well. There’s a few brands available.
Seems like there’s quite a few turntables out there. My old Garrard bit the bullet a decade ago. The one pictured is mine. I added a Shure M97xe, though the AT cartridge that came with the turntable was very usable.
I’ll check Craigslist again some time. Seems like there were more people looking for them than selling them.
@Kidsandliz I’ll put my 2c in as well… I generally use a carbon fiber brush because I don’t have the space for a wet/vac clean system — I’ll take them to a shop if I have any filthy enough to warrant a real deep clean.
@brhfl Yes! I always use the carbon brush before playing any record.
The Cleaning systems are just for very dirty/yard sale finds.
Thanks @brhfl @daveinwarsh @ for the info!
Absolutely! I’m fortunate enough to live in a town with three good record stores, though I get plenty online as well. Granted, I have several thousand (legal) albums in my iTunes library — the convenience of digital is great, and I’ve never really enjoyed having lengthier classical pieces broken up on vinyl. But something about the tactility of records just makes for a really pleasant experience.
@brhfl I also have a ton of digital music, but just to relax in the evening with a beer I like to put an album on. Maybe it’s because I’m more mechanically-minded and actually understand the principals here… lol…
@daveinwarsh Exactly! I know it’s completely backward but tech like that amazes me far more than the incomprehensibly complex digital world…
I also listen to vinyl. Onkyo turntable and Boston acoustic speakers from the early 80s and a vintage sansui amp from 1973. Vinyl is mostly what I bought 30, 40 years ago. I buy on EBay every so often. The interesting thing is my 27 yr old son has started listening to vinyl.
@michkayaker Which Sansui are you using? We would love to see a pic of it all lit up… Vintage Sansui’s are the best
@hoosier @michkayaker Sansui was a big player in the Quad phenomenon, right?
@michkayaker That’s cool!
My 70’s setup was a Marantz 2270 receiver, a pair of AR3a speakers & a Garrard turntable. I saved up for a while for that!
@daveinwarsh Hot setup.
@brhfl Yeah, it was. sigh… Wish I had that still!
Yes I love vinyl and it’s making a comeback which in turn makes me very happy. I lost a very large collection in a fire many years ago. I had a one of a kind album made by 13th Floor Elevator. Sure wish I could find it again. I also lost my 8 track player to at the same time. I received another exactly like it. My friend at work felt sorry for me and gave me his. I am trying to get my collection going again, there’s nothing like sitting back in my recliner and listening to a good classical piece to relax by. Of course I’ve also like my good old time Rock and Roll. They just don’t make music the way they used to in the 60’s and 70’s anymore. I just love music of all kinds well almost all kinds.
Got a few at the vintage music store years back while in college. Picked up a box set of Disney records from woot, along with a USB turntable.
Yes have hundreds of vinyl, from newer Flaming Lips, Dawes to older Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Main turntable is a Thorens, with Hafler preamp/amp, ADS speakers… also have TT by Dual, Technics,Kenwood. Been refurbing woofer speaker surrounds on Advents, Infinity, Boston Acoustics, as hobby and giving them to my kids…who are also into records.Used and new record store opened near me so once a week i’m in…
@gfreek Nice. Love those Thorens tables.
I just got my first record player a year or so ago. But it already stopped working.
@luvche21 What happened to it? Was it a used one? Don’t give up…
@daveinwarsh ya it was used, from an estate sale. Probably from the 80s?
All of the sudden one day it started sounding horrible. Really fuzzy, lots of feedback, etc. Maybe I need a new needle? But it was good one day, and the next it sounded horrible, so my gut says it’s not the needle, but maybe something in the electronics somewhere?
I have one of those disc washer things similar to this one that someone posted above:
So, I’ve taken good care of cleaning the records before use (especially since 99% of my LPs are used.
Any ideas? I would LOVE to get it sounding good again! For what it’s worth, the speakers still sound excellent.
@luvche21 I would guess stylus problem based on ‘sounding fuzzy’. They’re electrically very simple devices - you have the motor, of course, but as for the audio path, it’s a direct connection from the stylus to the plugs. Bad connections might introduce hum, but likely not the sort of distortion you describe. Presumably you plug it into an integrated amp with a phono section? It’s possible something in those electronics is failing, if you didn’t try another amp. But, stylii are pretty fragile, it’s very possible something traumatic happened to it without your knowing. Do you have a brush for the stylus?
@luvche21 It could be a few things & I’m sure others here have a few ideas.
First: What brand/model is it?
Some turntables like to be grounded, others don’t.
If the cartridge is good, the stylus isn’t too expensive to replace. The stylus (needle) will wear out, get bent, etc…
Check connections to the receiver and to the cartridge. Does it have a phono input or are you using a preamp?
You can clean the needle (very carefully), Google how…
Belt drive turntable? Belts stretch and need replaced after decades of use.
Anyone else have ideas to check???
@luvche21 Feedback is unlikely. If you’re hearing a loud hum it’s because the ground between the turntable and receiver is broken.
Whether or not vinyl really sounds better, I enjoy it more. A few hundred LPS collected over the years - jazz, rock, classical and my secret vice: classic bubblegum. Go ahead and judge me I don’t care. Tom Petty, Warren Zevon, the Monkees, the Partridge Family, Vivaldi and Coltrane all living happily on the same shelves. I sold consumer electronics in college and became a New England sound snob, so mostly Advent electronics (re-capped) and EPI speakers but always German turntables. Dual 506 with the Ortofon “concord” cartridge is my favorite. Simple but effective. OK, now the secret. Some will be horrified. But it works for me. Original Discwasher and eyeglass cleaner for before play cleaning. One of the spinners mentioned above for thrift store and eBay finds. Yeah, I have a nice digital setup as well along with having thousands of digital tracks but nothing replaces the warmth and fullness of vinyl.
@Frcal
That’s what I miss. The warmth.
Even vinyl on a nothing system somehow seems to have more “life” in it.
I had about 2000 records once. Then had a fire in storage during a move. Lost them all.
@f00l Yikes! That had to suck. I lost three vintage stereo setups and a boatload of computer equipment to a storage unit roof cave in during a blizzard. I’ve always been thankful that my wife talked me out of putting books or records in that unit. Been collecting both since I was about six years old. I have a ton with no monetary value but that carry enormous meaning to me.
@Frcal Interesting — I love Ortofon carts, but the Concorde is in their DJ line, right? Guess I never gave those much thought…
@brhfl You are right. The modern Concorde is their DJ line. The OM5E is the cart I like. It (or a predecessor) was designed for the Dual 500 series circa 1979 -1980. Lightweight straight aluminium tonearms with a cartridge that looked like a concorde airplane. Can’t remember if that was Ortofon’s official marketing or just what we all called them on the sales floor. In any event, the name now refers to the pro series. Despite it’s age, still a great value TT and cartridge combo. They show up on ebay pretty regularly. Standard Dual platters, mechanics and strobe speed tuning, but a cheaper case build. Also came with an adapter so you could mount a standard cartridge. There was a Shure that worked well as I remember.
@Frcal I have recommended OM5Es to others in the past looking for affordable carts. I use a Quintet, and have used 2Ms (and some of the Concorde-shaped DJ carts when I DJed). They seem to make really solid products everywhere on the spectrum.
I still buy them too.
I have a small vinyl collection. I generally avoid reissue vinyl, especially when it’s a colored or picture disc reissue, though I make an exception for reissues from Futurismo. They do solid work on remastering, and some of the stuff they reissue is almost impossible to find in original release.
My turntable is nothing special: An AudioTechnica LP-60. It’s hooked up to a tiny tube amp and my Sony MDR-7506 cans. It gets the job done when I feel like listening to a record.
@sanspoint actually that AT Turntable is a pretty good modern spinner. I’ve bought them for three kids as they have decided Dad isn’t completely insane and started to be interested in vinyl. AT always made a nice easy on the wallet cartridge and the turntaables are a good match to that tradition
@sanspoint I’ve gotten a few reissues lately, the albums I’m looking for is so hard to find in playable condition. Of course the more obscure ones will never be reisssued. I got my first reissue color album (the Stones 'Through the Past…) on Amazon, I was impressed with the high quality and accurate album cover. Some of the albums are also now coming out in original mono. Some of those were getting impossible to find.
I’ve checked out Futurismo before, it’s not my music… It’s just nice that finding something to spin is maybe getting easier.
@daveinwarsh Yeah, I mean, if there’s no reasonable way to get a release I really want on vinyl without selling a kidney, I’ll get the reissue—though I’ll err towards plain, black vinyl reissues over fancy colored stuff. Not that I don’t have a couple colored vinyl albums in my collection, and even a picture disc. But those weren’t reissues, except the Futurismo stuff.
Futurismo definitely isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. They specialize in post-punk and new wave stuff. I’m a huge DEVO fan, so any time they put out a new DEVO disc, I’m gonna throw down. Which means I gotta start scraping my pennies together for this summer’s 3-LP re-release of the Recombo DNA collection…
i spin them once in a while, but generally to transfer to mp3. i have a cleaning system that includes a gun that shoots some magic dust over the record, dag nab it, i can’t think of the name of it - it can also be used to shock your ‘finger’
EDIT-discwasher - that’s it! oh, and eyeglass cleaner works?
@Yoda_Daenerys Discwasher is a velvet semi-wet brush system that generates a lot of static. Which was why the deluxe Discwasher was created, which came with the antistatic gun. The gun itself is called the Zerostat. I know both of these products still exist, but I’m not sure if that handy bundle still exists. Zerostats are helpful regardless of the brush used.
@brhfl yea, agreed
/giphy agreedious
/youtube agreedious
hrmphhh, what been done with the slash commands?
@shawn @bueller?
@Yoda_Daenerys a few years ago I noticed that many of the home brew wet solutions on the Internet carried the same ingredient list as the big bottles of eyeglass cleaner I already had. Tried it on an album with a Discwasher brush and never looked back.
@Yoda_Daenerys doesn’t work when you make up words
@shawn lol cats
/image lolcats
/youtube egregious
/giphy who knew?
@brhfl I still have a couple of the Static Master brushes (I purchased in the late 70’s, I think). They have polonium in them to reduce static, and actually worked. They expired decades ago, so I doubt of they will make me glow in the dark…
I never stopped playing or buying records. They used to be cheaper than CD’s…not anymore. Have over 3000 now… Lots of estate sale finds, some thrift store. 1/2 priced books had deals before vinyl made a comeback. I hate paying over $10 for a record. Josey Records in Dallas, Kansas and soon Tulsa has an incredible selection and fair prices.
I stay away from reissues and buy new from labels like Daptone and Colemine.
My main turntable is a 70’s Realistic with a Grado Prestige Red cart. Also have a 60’s Telefunken with a Grado and a pair of 1200’s with Ortofon OM’s from my DJing days.
It’s not possible to have too much music
No, I don’t. I even bought a turntable here from Meh, but the cartridge didn’t look too ‘audiophile grade’ I still have my old equipment, rebuilt Dynaco Amp and Pre-amp, modified Grado ‘longhorn’ turntable cartridge, and a pair of VMPS super tower R’s . I even bought new drivers to rebuild them a few years ago. But I was in a lot of pain then and could not rebuild them–I didn’t give up, just moved them back to the garage until someone comes along to help me. I still got my thousand or so albums, mostly British imports. (We used to travel the 3 hours to Jim’s Records in Pittsburgh when we were teens and spend our hard-earned monies on that hard to find stuff!)
I was just thinking today, that Record Store Day is coming up soon and I wouldn’t mind getting a collectible Bowie album.
Nice seeing other like-minded individuals here!
http://imgur.com/a/aUmv2
I see that Audio by van Alstine is still making those modified Grados.
(Man, this is turning into a short-story…excuse me a second, "HEY YOU KIDS! GET OFF THE LAWN!
Now, where was I?
@wew Jim’s Records in Pittsburgh! I think that is where I got a cut-out of Up the Hill Backwards/Crystal Japan with a bonus sheet of Scary Monsters stamps!
What a great shop.
@fjp999 oh my gosh! Those stamps sound incredible! Do you still have them? I’ve lost so much of that ‘collectible’ stuff. I have two or three Velvet Underground and Nico albums, in mint condition, but missing the peel off bananas!
Those stamps sound incredible. Yeah I took a chance mentioning Jim’s. thinking maybe, maybe someone else from meh had been there. That was back when National Record Marts (founded in Pittsburgh) seemed to be everywhere. If you were on the other side of that counter in Jim’s you were a snobbish Deity! Yeah, Jim’s was great.National Record Mart didn’t handle Throbbing Gristle, but Jim’s did.
@wew I was a Pitt student as well as Asst. Manager of the Kings Court Theater. I would skip across the street to Jim’s Records during a quiet matinee… not really a collector but would pick up something that caught my eye/loved!
Wherever I settled I eventually brought a select few albums (not only for listening to but as pieces of art) which is why I still have this Bowie.
@fjp999 Thanks for posting those. Very nice! Yep, Jim’s had some funky stuff. I got the PIL Box from him. I might even have bumped into you once or twice!
http://imgur.com/a/cNaKH
I have all my albums, but like the poster below, I lost all my 45’s ,mostly imports, when a crooked moving company employee scarfed them up. I thought I’d be able to buy them back on ebay some day. But those 45’s are the records commanding the most money. I miss those Cramps singles.
video below unrelated, but always makes me laugh.
@wew Beautiful PIL Box! Bowie, PIL, Cramps… probably did run into each other with Pgh being so small. Sad about those Cramps singles!
Yes.
Unfortunately I lost all my vinyl (about 8 linear feet of shelf space worth) about 20 years ago when my barn flooded while they were in boxes on the floor during a major remodel/rebuild of the house. The cardboard and liners ended up gluing to the disks and ruined them. Boy was I ever pissed at the time. Sure do miss some of them too. But, c’est la vie! Merde!!
Far too late but I wonder if this might have worked?
@Frcal I actually tried that on a filthy old 78rpm and on an album I didn’t want.
I still have my old Montgomery Wards phonograph/radio/8-track/cassette music system out in my workshop. They seemed to play OK on that.
It worked, but what a pain in the ass. I never would play those on a good turntable, though…
A turntable for your purrables:
https://www.amazon.com/SUCK-UK-Cat-Scratching-Deck/dp/B006YR6EK8
@f00l
I played vinyl up until a month ago when I was listening to my copy of the Yes! L.A. compilation. when the arm lifted the needle stayed… a new cartridge for my B&O is $400.
There’s a guy on eBay who says he’ll repair them for $150 so i may go that route.