Vinyl, i've tried, but no love!

[gregswaim]

Originally Posted by jetblack

???

Then you haven't experienced the 'force'.............................

.......or the Linn Sondek LP12.

[OneMalt]

Originally Posted by KMC45

I swear I tried to love vinyl, but I just don't. It's not that it sucks, it's just that I really am a SS, digital guy. <clip> I tried, but I failed.

Hey, In the final analysis, vinyl or CD, it's about the music. It's all good!

[KMC45]

I'm actually spending some more time listening to the TT, i'll see what happens.



OneMalt,

You are right.

[schaefer11]

Originally Posted by KMC45

I'm actually spending some more time listening to the TT, i'll see what happens.



OneMalt,

You are right.

Before CD, I found that half speed mastered LP's on the thicker vinyl made a big difference in the quality of LP playback. If you can get your hands on some of those, you will probably enjoy your TT even more.

For me, compared to the half speed mastered LP's, the main benefit of CD was no cleaning, no turning, no ticks and pops, programmability and increased bass detail. A quality half speed remaster could sound REAL good.

Compared to regular LP's it was no contest all the way around. The limitations on cutting the grooves in vinyl, the way LP's were compressed and equalized to suit the medium, made CD the clear winner.

The big exception were early CD's that were not remastered for the CD medium. If you took a recording mastered for LP and cut it straight to CD, it would sound pretty bad. Kept a lot of folks off the CD bandwagon to this day. If I remember correctly, the first reissue of Jethro Tull's Aqualung became famous as an example of how not to convert a recording for LP to CD.

Your enjoyment of vinyl will be directly proportional to the quality of the mastering of the LP you are playing. In the old days, LP's were far less consistent in the quality of their production than today's digital recordings. If you bought an LP that was made near the end of the life of the stamper, It would basically be crap. And there was no way to tell until you got it home. With a CD, if the recording is quality, or crap, at least they will all be that way.

[btf1980]

A fan of hard bop jazz? Try picking up the 45 rpm Blue Note Reissues (Music Matters & Analog Productions) mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray. Should change your mind real quick.

[j3brow]

Originally Posted by btf1980

A fan of hard bop jazz? Try picking up the 45 rpm Blue Note Reissues (Music Matters & Analog Productions) mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray. Should change your mind real quick.

No doubt about that. agree 100%. its all in the mastering...heck, check out anything by Hoffman or Kevin Gray...its all good. such as

Coltrane - Blue Train
James Taylor - Sweet Baby James
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Racontuers - COTL (Gray mastered - AMAZING)
Miles Davis Quintet Box Set
Nat King Cole - JOOTN, AM
Elvis Presley - Elvis is Back
Van Halen - self

........just for starters

[ehoove]

I know by comparison to many of the vinyl rigs here mine may seem very mid level, but without my table I would not have access to a lot of music I have collected over the decades, So a vinyl solution is an integral part of my main rig. Even my modded Thorens TD160/Sumiko Blue Point 2 combo used in my Vintage system provides a very satisfying result. I tend to listen more to vinyl than Digital due to my current music collection which consists of 5 times the LP's compared to CD's. I will say that the move to the Sumiko Blackbird was one of the most startling improvements I have ever made in my Vinyl playback solution. There is a difference in vinyl versus digital, but I have heard terrible and outstanding examples of both.
Regards,
Jim

[audiosoul]

Personaly I love vinyl. You have a great TT system there, if that isnt doing it for you nothing will. To me its all about enjoying the music. If SS and Digital do it for you thats all that matters............

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by audiosoul

Personaly I love vinyl. You have a great TT system there, if that isnt doing it for you nothing will. To me its all about enjoying the music. If SS and Digital do it for you thats all that matters............

The SME is with no doubt a great great TT.
But some find it " too neutral" and "boring".
It is true that sometimes, the lack of sonic signature can be perceived as "boring" for a HiFi component.
Even if the SME is a great TT, I'm not sure that you would not love LP's with an other one. You should have some demos of some other high end TT's before a definitive statement.

Cheers

Jérôme

[KMC45]

I still have it and i'm using it more. Neutral is a good word for the table, you hear what's on the record. When I listen to most other tables you hear the tables influence, to me that's not a good table.