Just bought my first vinyl....

[Kevin P]

Nostalgia kicked in big time this morning when I heard a Christmas song on the radio (Percy Faith's Happy Holiday). My parents had a Reader's Digest 4 record set from 1969 that we listened to at Christmas when I was growing up, and that song was on it.

Well, that led me on a search for that box set. I was hoping there was a CD release of it at some point but I had no luck finding it. But I found a very good condition vinyl box set on eBay so I jumped on it. I may not have it by Christmas at this point, but should have it shortly afterward, so I can enjoy it next year.

Except for one small problem... I don't own a turntable! 8O

Probably what I'll do with these (besides hanging on to them for nostalgic reasons) is get them transferred to a digital medium somehow. Whether it means borrowing a turntable and digitizing them on the computer, or taking them somewhere to have them transferred, I don't know.



I know there are turntables with USB on them that will let you transfer vinyl to digital easily, the quality on these turntables is likely questionable at best. I know you have to spend some good dough to get the best vinyl experience. The other problem is in my new house and entertainment cabinet, there's just no place to put a turntable.

So, what to do, what to do...

I might just end up looking up all the tracks on Amazon or iTunes and get them that way and make my own digital set.

Thoughts??

[Alaric]

I know there are turntables with USB on them that will let you transfer vinyl to digital easily, the quality on these turntables is likely questionable at best.

The ones I'm familiar with aren't good enough to be questionable. LOL But , I believe Music Hall has one at a decent price. http://www.needledoctor.com/Music-Ha...2&category=351 But it's still $250 , maybe a phono amp , space needed , etc.. Maybe a 'Guide member can jump in with a little USPS based help. I think we have some members who have done just that with their vinyl.

[Chris D]

:banana:

[Ovation]

I've heard good things about the Audio Technica LP-120 (I'm seriously considering that model myself as it is a rare turntable with 78rpm capabilities--and I'm set to inherit crates with hundreds of 78s).

[Lex]

I just didn't even do research at $240 + tax, bought yesterday, and picked up today. Already listened to two great old albums. I managed to get 3 or 4 real classics from my Mom and Dad's Estate. Not sure who they really belonged too, and not going to worry about it. I am the only one that cares about vinyl. I know there are probably a list of disadvantages to what I got, but I got a DJ table with digital coax out, and USB out, as well as simple analog output. It has no LP retraction capability, it's fully manual. But the start and stop button are huge, and easy to use. This one too has 78 capability. It's a Stanton, actually made by Gibson.

Just a huge coincidence that Kevin and I started down the vinyl path together sort of. Actually, I put my old Pioneer in my system last weekend, and it didn't work. So I decided to strip the bitch. I took the clear cover off, and the cartridge and head out and weight. I'll keep the balance, but it probably won't be used again.

Listening to Chuck Berry's original Johnny B Goode LP? Worth it!!!

It's funny how the little things of Vinyl are coming back. I found my disc washer, but I need fluid. I remembered about leveling out the bubbles on the platen in the middle. Popping in cartridge was a breeze, leveling out tone arm went pretty well, I still need to fine adjust.

[Alaric]

VINYL! Maybe it's our age , but no matter how good our digital playback is , an album just sounds right.

[madmac]

VINYL! Maybe it's our age , but no matter how good our digital playback is , an album just sounds right.

Yep........There was something very special about putting on a record.....cleaning it, and lowering the tone arm onto it!

[Kevin P]

What's also cool is I was visiting the local mall the other day. Although it is pretty small, they have a record store in there that actually sells records. So I have a place to go to find vinyl. Looks like they sell new and used, so I might find some treasures there some day.

At this point I don't know if I'll get "into" vinyl or if I'll just digitize this Christmas set and then toss them in the closet. The catch-22 of course is, you get what you pay for, so if I buy something cheap I may not be happy with the sound quality and if I buy something expensive and then end up not "getting into it", well, you know. The other issue, as I've mentioned, is I have no place to PUT a turntable in my HT setup. I'd have to take out a tray table, and set it up temporarily, to play records in the living room.

Eventually I may put a better 2 channel setup upstairs in my office, and the TT could go there. But that's a long way off.

I was looking on needledoctor.com yesterday and thought this one looked nice: http://www.needledoctor.com/Denon-DP...2&category=348

Denon makes nice stuff and it seems to get decent reviews, and there are a range of cartridges they'll sell it with, from cheap to pricey. Anyone that has experience with these? It has a switchable preamp so I can use it on gear that doesn't have one, or I can add an external preamp in the future if I do get into it.

It'll be nice hearing some of the Christmas music I grew up with, that I haven't heard in 30 years.

[Kevin P]

They arrived today. Everything is in fine condition. The records have some visible scratches but all in all look pretty good for 46 year old vinyl.

Now I have until next Christmas to find something to play them on!

[John Holmes]

Glad it made the trip in good condition. Hope you get to enjoy it sooner than later.

[wkhanna]

i was gleefully shocked to see the extensive new LP selection at Barnes & Noble recently.
you guys might find some good stuff there.
welcome to the club!

[JohnA]

Dang, I still have a collection of about 400 or so vinyl LP's, and that I have not played any of them in the last 20-25 years, even though I still also have two good turntables. And many of those LP's were hard to find "out of print" LP's back when I originally bought them it the late 70's and early to mid 80's. Plus I have a few imported LP's from Japan of popular rock albums of that time period, for their better quality virgin vinyl that they used in Japan compared to the U.S. then, as some of the U.S. LP pressings were using recycled vinyl and also overusing their "stampers" press's before replacing them. I also have quite a few MFSL "half speed mastered" LP's, such as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. I also have few "Quadraphonic" LP's, one of my foolish thoughts on future proofing back then. So with some of the rare one's from back in those times, I'd guess that some of them are worth some pretty decent money on Ebay right now. I do know that some of the Quadraphonic LP's are worth quite a bit on Ebay.

Of the two turntables I have, one, the Sony PS-X7, being a direct drive turntable probably would fire right up and work right now. The other one being a Marble base Kenwood KD-2055 belt drive turntable, I know for sure the belt has probably turned to dust long ago, so I know I would need to hunt down getting a new belt for it before it would work again. I had quite a good collection of upper end Stanton, Pickering and Sure cartridges, with low and no usage back then, and those are most likely packed away in a box somewhere, so I would imagine I'd be more than just OK with using some of them even now, providing I can locate where I put them away.

[Alaric]

Some of the MFSL pressings were hit and miss , but that DSOM was a masterpiece and impossible to find by 1984. Fantastic album. That should be worth something and a half. I had (sadly) Jethro Tull's Aqualung , CCR's Cosmo's Factory , and Led Zep's second album from the MFSL Half Speed Master collection , and they were fantastic. My Dark Side Of The Moon was a first pressing and still had the stickers and posters intact and untouched. It would be worth the investment of a belt to listen to the Floyd album alone.