For all you Vinyl lovers!

Well, this is a local recordshop in my neighborhood owned by fellow deejays, they got Klipschorns and they sell only vinyl and cassette tapes. Most of the buyers are very young! It's Russia, St.Petersburg. 

Great analogy Tony!

You know, it’s fun to play music all day with the CD player or music server but then comes dusk and it’s time to put on the vinyl- ahh, so smooth and relaxing. CDs or servers are like a hot shower- a convenient and quick way to relax but putting on vinyl is like getting into a hot tub. And besides, I cannot stay in a hot tub longer than 20 minutes...

- Tony, thank you
- As for OMA, if he really wants to change the culture around sound, the audio designer needs to shift his focus to affordability. David Hafler, where are you? You are needed now more than ever. 

mijostyn

... go ahead and buy his turntable cleeds. Knock yourself out ...

I'm not in the market for a new turntable so I don't know why you'd say that.

You called the OMA turntable "absolutely nothing special" so me asking you what pickup arm and phono cartridge you heard with it seems like a natural question. 

It is impossible to audition every piece and combination of equipment. So, you have to lean on experience and design evaluation.

So you want to "lean on experience," but admit that you had none before calling this turntable "absolutely nothing special?" You sound very confused, @mijostyn.

My new Schick”12 inch tonearm was cheaper from OMA than from the manufacturer. At that time € to $ exchange rate was high. From OMA I bought the arm immediately, from the manufactuter it was pre-order and 2-3 month waiting time (crazy). So my experience with OMA is posivite (it was great price and fast delivery). 

@cleeds, go ahead and buy his turntable cleeds. Knock yourself out. It is impossible to audition every piece and combination of equipment. So, you have to lean on experience and design evaluation. The only thing I can say positively about him is that he likes Schroder arms. He also overcharges for them. I wound up getting my CB from a Dohmann dealer in Michigan. If, in the future I can afford a Dohmann Helix I have a useful relationship. OMA carries nothing else that I care for. 

Nice video. It's good to see something like that on prime time television for the general public to watch and hear.

Actually, I can't recall any non-audiophile friend who will argue against the statement that vinyl is better than digital. And all of them would love to buy vinyl, the only problem is that vinyl cost money (but their digital streaming is free or cost nearly nothing). And everyone would love to have a wall of LPs in their room and a nice sound system, but they can't afford it! Talking about people under 30.  

I agree with keegiam - for audiophiles, that may very well be true, but I'd say that most vinyl collectors are not audiophiles and are not hearing that vinyl anywhere near its best, so if they're doing it for the sound, it's possibly because it sounds better than earbuds on an iPhone. Nothing wrong with collecting them as artifacts, either - they're nice to hold in the hand and to read info on the back and/or inside sleeve. Looking forward to my phono stage and preamp showing up in 2 weeks!

@larsman

For me, the best thing about vinyl isn't "the artifact."  It's the natural, relaxed, realistic sound.  As I tell my non-audiophile friends, one must spend significantly more on an analog front end in order to surpass digital reproduction, but once you're there, vinyl is the best in terms of musicality.

I'm with you on this, Coltran1.  My dad was an audiophile from the late '40's on, and I grew up with a state of the art (mono) system in the living room that probably sounded as good as the youtube system. 

I've used the pandemic downtime to revisit my entire 1200+ LP collection, many of which I used to share with my father.  Nothing better, and vinyl remains my first love.

I’ve said that often. If you weren’t around in the heyday of 8 tracks being chewed up in your car deck you’ve got a ways to go in this hobby. 
Vinyl still rules. I’ve had a love affair with vinyl for 50 years. I used to enjoy flipping the records for dad on his garrard turntable. 
Nowadays people are in a hurry with no place to go. Slow down. Clean a record. It will make you feel better!

Cool.  Thanks.  

I think the best thing about vinyl, and the reason so many non-audiophiles love it, is the artifact itself. Nothing wrong with that - I'm currently upgrading my vinyl system right now. But I care a lot more about the music than about whether it's analog or digital. Same with metrics and measurements. 

OK for the cost no object "in" crowd in NYC who will get his stuff because they are keeping up with the Joneses. I'm sure it sounds great.

He couldn't even give ballpark pricing (other than hundreds of thousands of dollars) and his website is very opaque. If you want his speakers you have to buy is amps.....nothing else in the world will work???

He has great PR people getting his interview on a CBS Saturday morning show with a reporter acting like he never heard a stereo in his life.

He wants to be a manufacturer, reseller, installer, consultant....take as much $$ as you'll give him. 

And now I have some new records that come as a 2 disc set- 10 minutes per side. I’m just nodding off when I hear, "ker Plunk" and I have to get up and turn the record over. Sheesh! But it was absolutely the best 10 minutes of the day.

Don't forget to turn it up fast before keeps putting miles on your precious styli

Yeah Tony you nailed it, I still love vinyl,
But have to admit the process is bothersome, oh look my Jethro Warchild needs turning to side 2, BRB

Enjoyable post Tony.  Nail on the head.

My hunch as to why I find vinyl so natural and smooth is that, fortunately, many years ago, someone invented the technology to turn sound into a physical groove on a "record" (they didn't even use vinyl until years later).  There was no loss of information.

Enter digital sampling.  It will always be a sample, no matter how far that technology advances.  There are many enjoyable digital recordings, but when I want the real thing, I pull out the vinyl.

Again, this is just my hunch.

So what makes vinyl so special?  Why do we love it so.  Nostalgia?  Not really.  Some of us older folks have a 40+ year investment in music.  Our choices of formats was much more limited back in the day.  I once heard that a couple of engineers sitting in a diner sketched out the idea of 331/3 Stereo LP on the back of a napkin.  It may be true or maybe not.  No question this format had its technical challenges and even to this day it takes a lot of tinkering and fiddling to get the best sound out of those spiral grooves.  Think of it as that one person at work who lacks empathy.  This person is rude or says the wrong thing at the wrong time and is not even aware that they just trampled over someone's feelings.  So why do we grow to love that person?  Is it over compensating to fill the void.  It seems like people want to take this person on as a challenge and show that they can change them or that they can fix it.  Vinyl is like that.  It is a challenge.  Engineers come up with new preamp designs, tonearms, turntables and phono cartridges to address the engineering challenges of vinyl.  We love to win.
So go ahead- put that record on.  Carefully remove that giant disc from its static free protective sleeve holding it only by the edges.  Place it in that record cleaning machine and give it the old wash, rinse, and dry cycle.  Next, blast that disc with electrons from your Zerostat.  Place it on the turntable platter carefully lining up the almost centered hole in the record to the platter spindle.  Clamp that record down good and tight.  Turn on your turntable and check the speed.  Gently clean the stylus with a brush stroke or blue tac.  Cue the tonearm and drop the stylus onto the record surface.  Turn off mute or turn up the volume and quickly make a dash for your favorite listening chair before the music starts.  Now relax and enjoy those tunes as you watch the tonearm bob up and down in the orange glow of the vacuum tubes- you have 20 minutes of bliss before the cycle starts again.

Watch Steve Guttenberg at OMA 

Let people do what they want, you don't have to buy it, they are doing it with passion. 

mijostyn

His turntable is absolutely nothing special.

That's interesting. What pickup arms have you heard with the turntable? What was the phono cartridge?

Not impressed, His horns violate some important rules in woodworking and will eventually fall apart from internal stress. His turntable is absolutely nothing special. He is more about marketing to wealthy hipster New Yorkers than anything else. 

Yep, I’m new around here, but I like what I see. Thanks for the confirming words. I really do sometimes wish I could enlist more people to share with at home.  People are just won’t slow down. If they only knew: vinyl is medicine for what ails ‘ya. 

@mrpgray

Only your 2nd post, cool - I agree 100%.  Intense listening to high-end music reproduction is not a hobby many share.  I've had very few friends that are really into it.  For me it's a thrilling experience I usually enjoy alone.  That's fine.  When uninterested friends visit, my system volume gets low and it becomes background music.  That's life these days.

Nice watch!

Thanks for posting this yogiboy. I bet his speakers sound amazing!

JD

In the final scene in the workshop, the record is warped.

make sure your CDs are not warped, it's much more problematic than warped records

So true i will never give up vinyl.

Thanks for the post yogiboy, it helps to affirm my obsession.  AB

In the final scene in the workshop, the record is warped.
Just saying.
I love vinyl.

I think the important point of the piece for me was what the designer was saying about the state of recorded music today, his product notwithstanding.  I agree with him, as I think most vinyl enthusiasts, that its become the norm to use music as an atmospheric filler, for background.  Whenever we have non audiophile guests over (yeah, it's been awhile), its dollars to donuts  it's nothing for them to yap, yap, yap when I put on a record, or stare at their phones while the music  plays.   They no longer can sit still and pay attention to anything longer than a few seconds.  Its casting pearls before swine.  

On his website, he really endorses the Analysis Plus cables.  Have anyone tried those cables?  Are they any good?

"the uploader has not made this available in your country" . Don’t understand the purpose of this s----.

Latitk, you’d better not ask Jonathan about digital format, watch his video and don’t expect he will support your “music lover” theory regardless of format, leave it for Digital Section on this forum. You are in Analog Section, don’t forget it.

OMA definitely not a typical high-end manufacturer, quite opposite to the mainstream high-end.

I can think of another possible reason lalitk. Look in the mirror.

“BTW Jonathan posted on audiogon many years ago, just like many people who never post again. Think why. “

I can think of one possible reason.....when vinyl aficionados stop being music lovers and become obsessed with pushing vinyl supremacy over other competing audio formats. I don’t know about anyone else but that’s a turn off for me.

I was fascinated by his producs many years ago, mainly OMA Graphite plinth for various turntables, especially for Technics SP10 mk2.

When I asked on audiogon no one can comment, no one never tried his stuff, later I asked again when OMA released cast iron plinth for Technics SP-10R. No one can say a word (considering most of audiogonners are Americans btw).

Many years ago I bought my Schick “12 inch tonearm and my first SPU cartridge from Jonathan (OMA). Tried to catch his demo Miyajima carts a few times, finally bought the Kansui few years ago (but not from him).

What I really like about OMA products is design, even if the price is insane the design is great, because often people ask too much for ungliest looking gear ever , for OMA this is not the case.

Later I posted SoundSmith cartridge made for OMA (that was good looking one).

ART-1000, Miyajima is what we can see now on Schroeder tonearms at OMA. Technics turntables as always!


BTW Jonathan posted on audiogon many years ago, just like many people who never post again. Think why.

It is always a treat to witness someone with that much passion for something and especially when you your self share the same passion for it as well. Thanks for the video. Enjoy the music

@yogiboy,

I’ve been admiring Jonathan Weiss’s work for a while. May be someday I get to own a pair of his loudspeakers. Also sharing his website, check out the product menu...this guy is a true connoisseur of music. Does anyone know the brand name of that gorgeous listening chair, would love get that in my man cave :-)

https://oswaldsmillaudio.com

Yawn...the guy does have a cool company though.
For the "if you have to ask, don't bother" crowd.

I'm all for aesthetic with audio gear-especially speakers. Some of those virtual systems are....

These won't get past the boss
https://oswaldsmillaudio.com/ironic

Nice segment, thanks for the share yogi.

great video, until the idiot says the horns can put cracks in buildings.

the spaciousness of that big stone barn is a treat also.