Interesting post on Agon on issues at vinyl pressing plants in next 4-5 yrs...

[cmalak]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

That's where I come in...

Ivan...keep throwing away some of that disposable income and support these poor vinyl guys When is your turntable going to be set-up and operational?

[1KW]

New LP's are not likely to be made in large enough quantities to wear out too many machines. More likely than not the LP will remain a niche market, expect prices to go up not down. The record industry naturally can make the most profit selling digital copies on the internet since they have savings on the physical CD, packaging, labels, shipping etc.

[Tonepub]

Cutting heads don't wear out, they just fry unexpectedly if you hit to high of a peak level for just a bit too long, or if your master tape has a bunch of information above 60khz or a number of other anomalies.

Seriously, if there would be someone who would step up to the plate and just specialize in rebuilding/remanufacturing cutting heads, that would be 75% of the problem solved. I'm going to Ortofon in Feb or March and will definitely be talking to them about this.

I would think this would not be anywhere near as difficult as trying to build new lathes, etc. etc. from scratch, as a cutting head is very similar to a moving coil cartridge, just industrial strength.

I can't imagine that there is a ton of money to be made here, but it certainly would be a noble cause....

[cmalak]

That's a worthwhile conversation to have Jeff

[TommyC]

Knowing this, I understand why the first press from years ago is usually the best sounding press.