Questions for a Vinyl Reunion

Just curious as I await delivery of a new cartridge for my turntable that has been in mothballs for 20 years (thanks in no small part to the vinyl love on this site!).
I started out in vinyl and have a decent collection going back to 60's, 70's and 80's.
When the first CD players were introduced I gradually moved away from vinyl and have not purchased an album (vinyl) in at least 30 years! (I have amassed a large CD collection and have very limited use of digital files).
I am not expecting miracles and anticipate I'll buy a few new vinyl titles, probably special editions, pressings, box sets etc.
Beyond that I assume limited use except for playing my old collection, and see the bulk of future purchases of releases being CD.
For those who have experienced a vinyl reunion, how did it develop?
Did you play mainly your old collection and few new purchases of vinyl?
Did you go whole hog back to vinyl and never touched a CD or download again?
Somewhere in the middle?
Just curious, thanks.

Tony,
Chicago "land"

 

Welcome back Tony.

 

I hope it is everything you expect and more. I recently jumped back into analog and now I don't want to listen to anything unless its on a shiny black disk. Good luck!

I tossed out my vinyl after going CD. So I buy thrift store vinyl for my downstairs system. My new "good" system only gets new or the occasional old but pristine TSV finds.

 

You say you're not expecting miracles...humm. Do you still have a working table? If so, I say get that in good working order, because after diving back in, the upgrade bug is gonna' hit ya'. wait and see how big of a connect you make with it before spending $$$. I started back slow at the start, then upgraded my table. Well, now, it's CD's in the auto only. Vinyl is just so organic, real. It's just so pleasing, sure there are issues, bad pressings, cleaning, storage, etc.. But while they are spinning.............sonic nirvana!

 

My table is OK, I recall when I was using it that it did sound very very good, I was using and Audio Technica AT122Lp which had a shibata stylus. It works fine, I baby all my hi fi equipment and it probably has less than 1000 hours on it. I'm not planning on buying a new table, just a new cartridge.
But when CDs became widely available I remember being happy about the lack of noise and the fact that you did not have to flip the CD to play the other side. I remember early on the vehement debate about CDs sound worse than vinyl because they were digital. Quite honestly I felt that the lack of noise and the dynamic range of CDs made up for any perceived digital sound, plus my old late 70's Pioneer receiver gave CDs a very warm presence.
Reading here on this site about everyone's love for vinyl and all that it brings to the "table" has prompted me to reunite with all my old albums, which is a very cool thing.
I just don't necessarily see myself buying much new vinyl though. I am just curious how others did who reunited or jumped on the vinyl train- full commitment to vinyl or back to CDs or digital source.

 

For me, it was gradual, but in retrospect that may have been due to availability in my area. I am a firm believer now in the "older is better", or look for the earliest pressing you can find mentality. That is after some brief explorations into the "audiophile" and other reissue markets. Bottom line, go at a comfortable speed, and proceed only if you see a benefit. Less vinyl you buy, the more is available to me!

 

I had my reunion a little over a year ago. Although I never completely stopped listening to vinyl it was infrequent. My first and most important decision was moving my Music Hall MMF-7 turntable into my home office where I spend the most time on a daily basis . Since my kids monopolized the den where it had been, that had left me little time to play records, plus I was always concerned about them damaging it (they're young).

To play the table in my office I also resurrected an old mid-80s Yamaha receiver that had been stored away and hooked up a set of Bose satellite plus bass unit speakers that my wife used before we married. The receiver and speakers were clearly less than ideal components, but it got me going. I quickly realized I'd been crazy to have ignored my large vinyl collection for do many years, I had an immense sense of happiness diving back in.

After about a month, after discovering this and other forums I decided to purchase a vintage Pioneer SX-850 receiver. I found one on Ebay in great shape for around $250. Next came the speakers. Since I was on a budget I took the advice in the wirecutter.com and bought the Pioneer SP BS22-LR model ($100 on sale) and have been very pleased. I later added a pair of used CSW Model Six speakers in the den ($88 on Ebay) and for the time being until I buy a proper subwoofer, use the Bose bass module to add more bass which Model Six needs. No doubt there will be upgrades down the line, but I'm very please with the system I have and enjoy it daily.

And my listening and purchasing habits after I was all set up? While I did go back and start playing lots of old favorites, I really got going on quality reissues and buying used vinyl. Diving into Discogs was addictive, I've had only good experiences with Sellers there, and also use Ebay. For a while I started tracking down and buying the vinyl editions of favorites released during the phaseout in the late 80s to early 90s. Most we're very affordable for top quality records. I'm also fortunate to live near a great local indie record store, Freakbeat as well as Amoeba, and Second Spin, so record shopping is easy, plus I've bought from all the major online vendors. What took a little while to get used to was to stop buying new releases on CD, which had become the norm over the years. Of course I still buy the occasional used and new release CD if there's no vinyl available.

So a year after my dive back in I'm a very happy and much more knowlegable listener, and I'm not getting out of the pool!

Enjoy your records, and happy hunting!

 

I agree with Willie. The vintage pressings rule!

 

One more shout out for vintage pressings, I'd forgot to include that in my previous post.

 

I got back into vinyl last year.
I had a collection of about 150 albums, and like you, expecting to just play those occasionally.

Hmmm, hasn't quite panned out that way!!

I play them for sure, but have bought many, many more, generally used on ebay etc, and often early pressings. I now own 8 copies of "Blue" by Joni Mitchell, for example. Also bought some new albums.
Since discovering this forum and especially the "Listening to on Vinyl" thread, things have snowballed. There is so much knowledge, enthusiasm and fun there that I have moved into whole new territory based on recommendations. I think my bank manager would like a stern word with those guys.

You are in for a great ride, I think, above all enjoy the music

 

My parents had a few albums when I was a kid but they were always of the opinion buying music was a waste of money and there were always better things to spend it on. Anyway they gave me their old turntable a couple of years agobut it had issues. I was building up a small vinyl library of They Might Be Giants album being a completist so decided yo get a new turn table last year. Big mistake for my hip pocket as I've got a fairly large collection now considering I've had my turntable around 10 months or so. However I hardly ever listen to cds. Just splurged on my first upgrade which I sm waiting to be shipped too...a dedicated pre-amp.
P.S. Beware of Slick -He is an enabler

 

I grew up with vinyl in the 80s, but as the medium faded in mainstream culture, so did my interest. From that point it was just CDs and then digital formats as well. Vinyl peaked my interest again a few years before I actually got a turntable again because I have a lot of friends who are DJs and spin a lot of garage, soul, r&b, etc. However, because I know the way I get once I start "collecting" things, I put off buying a turntable for awhile because I couldn't spend that much money on records (boy, do I know myself well). Then, an ex-girlfriend got me an Ion for Xmas about 7 years ago. That was all I needed to get going again! At first I was only buying 7"s because I figured I'd get into the DJ thing as well. But after realizing that I'd have to spend tons of cash to get the records that would separate me from the rest of the pack here in NYC, I began to drift into the world of LPs. I find them infinitely more gratifying from a listening and collecting standpoint.

This site is an excellent resource on pressings and gear. After joining here, I realized that I needed to ditch my Ion ASAP to not only have a better listening experience, but to preserve my records as well! I actually stopped playing vinyl all together for months before I got the cash together to buy a decent turntable. Once that happened the flood gates opened, and it's been difficult to contain the waters since!

Beware the Classified section on this site! You'll find a lot of great stuff for sale from a lot of great people, but it's definitely addictive if you're that type of personality. Other than that, enjoy the ride you'll be on from your new cartridge, your old records, and anything else that you may purchase from here on out.

 

Welcome back. I'm 61 and grew up with records and went back to the vinyl world about five years ago and love it. I still listen to CDs, SACDs, and cassettes too but love records. I found that this time around a RCM ( I went with an Okki Nokki ) is a welcome addition.

 

After selling my lp collection at a garage sale in 1990, I too was lost and drifting around in the digital/surround sound audio abyss until last year when I brought my SL 1600 out of storage and started buying vinyl again. Even acquired a vintage V15 Type III cart and stylus to replace the original.....no idea where it went?? Suffice to say....I'm having a blast all over again buying new and used vinyl and all of the equipment to play them and take much better care of them.

 

Yup....3 more vintage TT's added and two complete vintage systems to play with....are we having fun yet?

 

Wow, great stories! Sounds like new pressings ain't so great. How do they expect vinyl to keep gaining market share?
Seems like many have expanded their vinyl frontier! Used record stores, sounds great- I have access to lots of them.

I wonder if your positive experiences of returning to vinyl after years of digital has enabled a kind of grand appreciation for the sound quality of vinyl- because of all those years of digital exposure- that the good and bad qualities of digital were so ingrained and familiar, it made it very easy to hear what vinyl really brought to the table.

 

I have a similar story as the OP. And agree with majority here. Clean those old LP's up and be prepared to be amazed! Then hit the used record store, garage sales and eBay!

 

Cartridge arrived in mail! Just waiting for the tracking force scale! Yeah baby!

 

I dumped my Lps early. I only went back after thinking over an offer of a large Classical collection. I was only slightly interested, but went ahead. (Though now I wish I had not. I ended up dumping 95% of those Classcial albums when I moved.
Nevertheless i get back into vinyls. The mid 1990s was a great time to be buying vinyls.. And I amassed a huge quantity. I also at about the same time realized what i was missing in Jazz.. So I started collecting Jazz too.
When I had a sudden forced move i threw out 6,000 (of 12,000) LPs. At least 5K of those were Classical.
Now I have ony what fits on the shelving.. And have been actually cutting back, weeding out stuff I will never listen to again.
So I have about 4,200 or so albums on vinyl.
Three TT.. A Rega P5, a Kuzma Stabi S, and a Dual Golden One.
I mostly listen to CD for ease of use.. But still enjoy the vinyls.

 

that is one boatload of albums. you could wearout a turntable and 3 styli just playing the albums you weeded out one time each.
i just finished detailing my table. put an album on just to see if it still functioned - not connected to amp yet. worked like a champ. quartz lamp still works. man, i forgot how big records are- they're huge. the covers are big enough to be art paintings.

 

They make frames just for LP's - I use those to display the covers, it's nice to have wall art that is easily changed.

 

I installed the new cartridge last night and played a few old albums (Steve Khan, Steely Dan, Larry Coryell acoustic and some John Scofield). It was fun! Like reuniting with old friends!
Sonically, though I took the good with the bad, realizing these are old records that I have had for decades and that the cartridge probably needs some break-in time.
I enjoyed the smoothness of the sound but did hear some grain on vocals like the record was worn.
Bummer but I'm still full speed ahead.
The other bummer is that new vinyl is effing expensive- generally 30 bucks a pop from what I was able to find- and that it's treated like a specialty. Not sure if there's anything I can do about this. I don't charm to the idea of buying used vinyl yet.
Back down stairs for some more music.

 

Good update, Let that new cart./suspension loosen up and keep posting!

 

I never abandoned vinyl and maintained a healthy record collection and a turntable throughout the CD era. The problem was, I had a crappy turntable that was poorly set-up, so CDs sounded better. (As we all know, it's easier to get decent performance from an idiot-proof digital front-end than from a turntable.)

Once I got serious about it and my system as a whole improved, it became apparent that vinyl provided more of an enjoyable experience overall and better met my desires than CDs and other digital formats. (That is not to say that I dislike CDs or have rejected digital audio.)

 

Same kinda experiences