How much LF info on LPs?


Hi.

I would like to ask how much audible Low-frequency information do you get from your speakers when spinning vinyl? I know that vinyl definitely doesn't go as low as CDs. That being the case, then wouldn't speakers with good bass extension be irrelevant and a waste of money in a vinyl-only system? I've noticed that big bass=big money, in general. What are your experiences?

I didn't find this anywhere in the archives. If it is there, please direct me.

Thanks!
nismo

Showing 3 responses by nrchy

I wonder if you are refering to the RIAA curve? It was learned a long time ago that low frequency signals require a lot more space on LPs than do higher frequencies. For that reason the curve was introduced. Any reasonable phono stage is going to replace the LF that is reduced in the pressing.
TWL is exactly right is his comments. LPs contain more bass than CDs are capable of holding due to the terrible design flaws incorporated when building the originals. That is one of the reason new formats like SACD and DVD-A are coming out. The manufacturers are trying to make machines which are capable of reproducing sound as well as a *basic* turntable. Digital has a long way to go to get there. They will probably never match the sound quality of better turntables!
The signal is there in vinyl, you just have to be able to retrieve it!
I have yet to own a CDP with bass that even begins to approach the bass produced by vinyl. I have an SACD player too and it's still not even close. I'm not sure where some of these comments about the merit of digital bass originate?!? Everything about the design is flawed. It's undersampled, under-clocked, and poorly transfered.
Onhwy61, my system is not the only one I have ever heard. Even if it were, how would that be relevent to anything? I am using the same speakers for listening to CDs and LPs. Why would my speakers (of lesser quality than yours) sound better with LPs than with CDs? I doubt the speakers can tell when I am playing an LP rather than a CD so it probably reproduces everything in its range of ability.

The specific error of your statements is that you are wrong about the mediums ability to reproduce the deepest bass. As I mentioned, I have a CD player, an SACD player and a turntable. Each of them retails for about $3500, so they should be fairly equal in quality (one would think). Neither of them are junk anyway. Neither CD nor SACD will play bass as deep as the Sota/Rega/Benz combination.

Do you think that result will change with different speakers? It's the source, not the speakers that determine the signal arriving at the drivers.

I have a hard time beleiving that your TT doesn't sound better than the Sony 333! Am I to beleive that your CD player reproduces deeper bass? I doubt it! Then again I have never heard your system.