The love/mostly hate here for Crosley

Great that your records are decent. Sound quality depends on what playback gear you have and your expectations. I run into people all the time at the Goodwill store, who say they're into vinyl, and that they like the clicks and pops. (right off I know not an audiophile) I always ask what kind of record player they have, and invariably is it's a BSR relic from the 70's, an old console or a Crosley. The enjoyment of vinyl varies from person to person. Not all people are cut out to be hifi enthusiasts. Not all people have had more than canned corn, so they have no idea what corn on the cob tastes like... no audiophile experience to rate their own experience. Nor would anyone care to except per chance to experience vinyl at a higher level. (correct choice of words because the audiophile experience is higher, by my own experience.. I have been in both worlds) Some people respond to it, others never will.

I had an old friend now moved on from this life, who was an avid collector of vinyl, who liked the clicks and pops. He cleaned his records with Windex and a cloth. As much as I tried to point out otherwise, and demo'd my system, he remained steadfast to his own preference, and remained my good friend. (his ears were bad too, not to seem cruel, but it was fact)

The better the system, the better the fidelity, however the worse the damage will be tracked and be very audible. Playback on a mass produced record player will not track the damage it is causing. The wiped out high frequencies in the groove are not reproduced by them. When the time arrives a record sounds a little distorted as played on the mass produced common record player, the record has been toast for a while. Wear will be advanced at that point.

 

Yup.

When I was playing records in the 60s 70s and even 80s I think I knew two audiophiles. Most of us in the record biz had decent components but never ever were high end audiophiles, nor did we care to be. And we never discussed or cared about mastering or pressings. It was just about playing great records (music wise ) and go to shows

 

Ha...that is exactly what I had as a kid. And actually they weren't that bad. Much better than the cheesy Crossley's!

 

I wasn't old when I started this hobby. This should be a hobby for YOUNG ears! What better way is there to experience music? It's not the old men who are at fault. Could it be that many young people just don't know what they're missing? (and compressed contemporary music does not sound better on a great system)

My ears are still good, and I hear the difference. That's what it's all about. So, naturally the audiophile hobby romances the gear as much as the music (sometimes obsessively which one could arguably fault) I'll admit I love hi fi gear as much as I love high performance cars, or an aged Gibson guitar.

I used to take a transistor radio to the beach, and in the 80's a cheap boom box. But who would take a 300B single ended system to the beach. The point is that life can be fun. The audiophile such as myself, isn't the stuffed shirt techie sitting motionless in a room listening to a sound effects record. Life is fun. The hi fi audio experience is fun. It's an experience. I highly recommend it!

 

How many here exposed their kids to vinyl, or is all they know from you is digital? When my parents gave me a player, they taught me how to use it. As I have my kids. Are these Crosley owners learning on their own?

 

I learned a lot on my own as a kid, the school of hard knocks! I discovered on my father's RCA hi fi set that dragging the "needle" across a record scratched it. I suppose the same will happen on a Crosley! haha!

 

And you also have this forum for help, a lot of knowledge here.

 

Actually, the Crosley Collegiate is the perfect starter record player for a kid, and teach them how to use it, and how to handle a record!

 

Imagine if the suitcase record players of the 50's and 60's broke down as quickly as the Crosley's......oh my.......the music industry would NEVER have taken off. lol
A friend of mine keeps buying these Crosley's (for playing old beat up vinyl he's curious about), and it amazes me how quickly they break down.
It seems every year he has a new one, cause they're inexpensive. Yikes. If there ever was proof of a disposable society...look no further.

 

Have you seen the "don't buy a Crosley guy" on you tube who warns us not to buy a Crosley? I think he's from Georgia!

 

No it isn't. The vinyl "resurgence" is like the Pabst Blue Ribbon "resurgence". This is just another hipster trend, one that will die once the hipsters pass into the dustbin of history.

Which, given the rise of normcore, seems to have already begun...

 

What?

 

Normcore. Looks to be replacing the hipster esthetic with the twentysomethings. I suspect Crosley turntables, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Mumford & Sons are all on the way out.

 

But internet snark will always be with us....

A generic Crosley certainly fills a purpose for those who want to dip their toe into vinyl, but the display shown in the first post is trying to capture a trend, and you're always behind in that game.

I would agree that most who buy a Crosley will probably get frustrated and move on. I don't think it's the products that are the problem so much as the inability to get face-to-face education in the world of vinyl (and better-than-entry-level audio too, for that matter). I use as an example a guy I just sold a used Rega to through Audiogon. Nice guy, smart, and clearly wants to walk the vinyl path for the sound. He was buying his second 'table because he wasn't totally happy with his first, a Music Hall with an Ortofon cartridge. But he has no experience with the format, no audio community nearby, and no audio store to go to for education. Without a support system he's grasping at hardware in an attempt to solve his problems, but he doesn't even know how to balance a tonearm and set VTF. I'm trying to help him, but setting up a turntable is not something you can do over the phone. I hope he persists and gets the education he clearly needs, but a lot of Crosley buyers probably won't.

John K.

 

I hear you, but you can get that education on YouTube. Speaking for myself, it was trial and error setting the tracking force on my Pro-Ject Debut III, because the manual is so poorly written. But I found plenty of instructional vids on YouTube, and then it was smooth sailing.

And when I upgraded my cartridge, at first I didn't realize I needed a heavier counterweight. So that was a minor bump, but it's not too hard to figure these things out with a little experience.

 

Six pages of posts in a Crosley thread by people who don't own/haven't heard Crosleys.

 

People have seen their build quality, and apparently (not speaking for myself here) people know that they track at 8 grams using a ceramic needle.

 

Reading back through this thread in earnest this morning...I am shaking my head a little.

Look, I get it...Crosley is not great...it's a cheap brand that makes overpriced cheaply made turntables. However from some of the postings here I get a slight feeling of snobbery coming from some people that is frankly off putting. If people are playing their records on cheap players, how is it hurting YOUR enjoyment of the hobby? If they are unknowingly "destroying" vinyl on their players...well, how does that affect you? It's not like YOUR vinyl is touching those players.

Crosley is not my first choice for playing records (I do own a Crosley Cruiser that was given as a gift that sits on my shelf as a pretty nick nack that I only use occasionally for beat up 45's)...but if someone is happy with the tinny sound and the pops and cracks...well...more power to them. In fact I think for most people who aren't as anal as some of us, they expect the pops and cracks and imperfection...and would call most here crazy for spending above $500 on any sort of sound system, particularly the tens of thousands some people drop on Turntables and cartridges! (which I personally think is daft...however...if it brings someone joy...who am I to judge?)

Case in point...my late father had a HUGE collection of Johnny Cash and George Jones LP's and 45's...all of which was trashed by all the cheap record players he used through his life. When his health failed to a point he had to be put in a Nursing Home, he obviously couldn't set up a turntable in his room,so i went and bought a couple of his Johnny Cash titles on CD...brought them in...played one for him...and he was disappointed...he wanted HIS records, with all the scratches, pops, etc. So I ended up using my ION to burn a few of his LP's on to CD...he played them constantly for the next year or so until his passing. For him it wasn't JUST the music...it was the nostalgia of it all. The crackly distorted sounds of Johnny singing "I WALK THE LINE"...and George's "WHITE LIGHTNING" took him back to a simpler happier time. He couldn't have given a rats @$$ if the tone arm tracked at 3 grams or 6, or if the platter was made of plastic or metal, or if it had antiskate or not, or whether it was pressed at this plant or that, or if it was a first pressing or a third etc. Of course, music was seen as more disposable then, and new Records didn't cost $30-$50 a pop...but a part of me wonders though if we have lost something vital when we seem to care more about listening to the system than listening to the music.

I'm not saying that Crosley shouldn't make better players. As some have suggested...just upgrading the stylus would help some, and the Collegate with its diamond Stylus and its magnetic Cartridge is the step in the right direction. However we as a community should get away from the mindset of "Get out of my Hobby you Crosley using Hipster!!!! We don't want you here until you spend at least $500 on a Turntable and $300 on a cartridge!!!". We should as a community welcome these new comers with open arms, not scare them away with elitist diatribes . If they are REALLY serious about vinyl, they will seek out the answers on their own and realize their Crosley isn't the best option, and they will naturally upgrade to suit their needs and tastes, which are all subjective anyway. If Crosley is enough for them...well...then that's it. They will happily trash their records, and will still be likely playing those trashed records until their twilight years enjoying every minute of it. Or, they will go back to their IPOD or CD's.

 

My daughter is 8 and sees me playing records all the time. See also sees me cleaning/washing my records and taking good care of it. She knows it's a fragile medium, I explained some stuff about the needle and so, so she knows about that. She also sees me playing my CD's of course . I gave her a small set for her room and she has a small pile of (children) CD's. I don't like children growing up with that digital-all-is-for-free-and-downloadable attitude. Last CD she bought with some birthday money. I don't see her playing vinyl anytime soon but she does enjoy music and knows you should pay for the enjoyment it gives and that's the important thing for me personally.

Maybe later in her student dorm she will remember her old pa used to spin some records and get a turntable for hipster's sake .

 

These cheap players are basically no better or worse than what many of us had as kids. My first 'real' stereo that my parents bought for my 7th-birthday was a craptastic Soundesign plastic console loaded with a bottom feeding BSR turntable. It was crap, but I loved it.

I recently worked on a feature for Record Store Day that profiled a few local vinyl fans. Guess what...they all had Crosleys. I choose not to judge these kids. They're smart, love music and are simply having fun. WTF is wrong with that? Nothing, I say.
http://trib.com/weekender/music/viva-vinyl/collection_7d524476-c705-11e3-be7b-0019bb2963f4.html

dan c

 

The Vinyl Collective forum is aimed at young people - their thread on turntables is a good one to recommend.
The title of it says it all: http://boards.vinylcollective.com/topic/88504-dont-buy-a-crosley-ever-beginner’s-guide-to-hi–fi/

 

It just means our anally pristine records will be worth more in the future after everyone else's has been destroyed by the Crosley. Profit!

 

There have been hipsters since the 40's, daddy-o. And besides, it's a myth that the vinyl resurgence is solely hipster driven--though I do thank them for their part.

 

Speak for yourself. I've seen Crosleys up close, listened to one at a store, and had something very similar 40+ years ago in my first all-in-one system. The ones I saw had a typical ceramic cartridge at a high tracking weight (though it looks as if their highest end 'table may use an MM; their website isn't very helpful). I still have some LPs played on that system and they actually sound OK. Of course I was probably more careful than normal at the time with my LPs, using a Discwasher brush.

John K.

 

You quote is perfect: "how is it hurting YOUR enjoyment of the hobby?"

I started this thread because I'm in a related marketing industry and appreciated how these products were packaged, displayed and, in turn, marketed. But your quote is something that I've believed in and lived by all my life. I can't explain it all here due to the rules of the site (correctly established), but I have always been amazed when people feel threatened by the choices (personally or otherwise) of others. So someone enjoys a crappy record player or paints their hair blue......

I do have one friend in her early 30s who has one of the larger Crosleys. Don't know the model, but I have heard her play it with mostly older records and it sounds like those old 60s table-top record players. Not the smaller portables but one with the larger front speaker and the top opens up against that back wall. It's a fun sound and what you would expect. She's has it about three years now. She's buying tons of records, almost all used at garage sales and flea markets and loves it. Now she is getting an older Yamaha 1970s receiver from a relative and will soon get a new turntable. But the Crosley introduction for her seems to be successful.