I feel your pain. Now pack up all that analog garbage and ship it to me. I'll let you know how it sounds later so you'll be glad that you took my advice.
Seriously, I assume that your talking preamps here. I agree that most pre's these days do not include a phono stage but there are some very good, reasonably priced phono stages that will plug into your Rotel's aux input.
Since you don't seem interested in enjoying vinyl now, big mistake IMHO, haven't you answered your own question? I sounds like you feel there is some circumstance or issue that will change in the future that would cause you to play your Thorens more. You'll have to fill us in some more. |
Well, if you are not using the TT, then obviously either you don't think the sound quality improvement is significant, or you feel the convenience of digital is more important.
In any case, if you don't use it, then you are not getting use from your investment.
If you don't think that you are going to go back to using the TT, then sell it. |
unless you really need the cash keep it all. |
I wonder if your reluctance to make this decision reflects an attachment to your 400 records, to your rig or both?
If it's mostly your records you feel attached to, why not sell the rig but keep the records? That way when you come to your senses all will not be lost. Replacing a TT is easy enough. Replacing old vinyl favorites may not be.
If space is that tight, send the vinyl to Dan_ed for safekeeping. I'm pretty sure he'd take good care of it for you! |
For about 30 years I hung onto about 450 LPs that I bought back in the late 60s and 70s. They just sat in storage in a couple of wooden crates. I nearly pulled them out a couple of times to sell at garage sales over the decades.
Then about 3 or 4 years ago, I decided to get a decent VPI turntable and an old Audio Research SP8 pre just to listen to some of the old out of print tunes. After cleaning the LPs with a Nitty Gritty machine and RR deep clean and vinyl wash, I was absolutely floored by how good these 30 year old chunks of vinyl really sound.
The moral of the story.....hang on to what you've got. It's irreplaceable, and you just may decide to get back into it at some point.
My 2 cents worth. |
you have a real nice analog front end, so im curious as to why you don't find yourself using it more. In any case, my recommendation would be to take a deep breath and not do anything too quickly. And if you still decide to sell off stuff, make sure you lock up those lp's. You can always buy a new tt etc, but replacing lp's can be a bitch.
good luck |
Very nice post, CN. I'd wager this story has been repeated quite a number of times in the past several years, with thousands more "in potential" out there! |
CN is spot on! And you would probably be disappointed to discover how little money used LP's and TT's bring on the used market. Keep'm - you'll rest better at night. :-) |
It's hard to pull the plug. Goes to show how much emotion is involved with our audio systems, as opposed to practical usefulness. |
Another reason is we will all have hard drive music systems pretty soon. I just recorded maybe 30 songs to mine , from my turntable. Now I don't need to go out and buy the cd's to play the old stuff I like. |
If the amount of money you'd get from the turntable is significant to you then selling it might be the right thing to do.
If it is a relatively small sum (as I'd imagine it will be) then I'd hang on to it and your records, because, as others have said you never know when you might want to listen to them. It's not losing value, or costing you money to hold onto it. |
The answer depends on the quality of your current LP's and whether your musical interests moving forward are best served by LP or CD collecting. Much music today is either only available on cd or available on poor quality LP if you can find it at all. Are the 450 LP's you have important to you musically or have you moved on to something else? You will spend considerable money on obtaining good LP's today (forget the stories of 50 cent audio nirvanas at Salvation Army). You can "sample" the potential of LP from a basic system and mediocre recordings but the true superiority of vinyl over cd can only be heard if you are willing to pay the price.
Are your records from the pre-digital age (prior to 1984) and are they well recorded? Are you willing to seek out and pay for high quality recordings from whatever period of music you are interested in? Have you evaluated the potential cost of building such a collection? Are the records you are interested in reasonably available in the used record market?
It's all about the software (records). From a hardware perspective analog has never been better than it is today, but that is irrelevant if you can't obtain the music you want to hear.
Building a quality LP collection today takes considerable effort and expense. That being said, it will reward the dedicated collector with magnificent sound not available on any other medium. |
if you dont need the cash,i would keep it.. you dont have to use your tt every day to enjoy it..once in a while is kinda fun. |
I have gone in and out of vinyl playing over the years. Sometimes I want convenience and others I want quality. So, I am glad I kept my analog rig. Plus, I have a bunch of LP's I never replaced with CD.... |
No .... it may be that you are not giving yourself some free time to seat and enjoy (happened to me).
Fernando |
The Rotel 1070 pre is stupid good for 500 list, and includes a phono input. It's not the last word in resolution in stock form, but once modified it will let you ignore 2k preamps with glee. |
You may also like to know that many top audio equipment designers from companies such as Audio Note, Ayre, Linn, Musical Fidelity, and many other japanese electronic giants only listen to LP all the time in their home. The digital formats whether they are CD, SACD, DVD-audio are only made for commercial reasons. For sound quality, vinly is king, period. |
You're already kicking yourself in the head... |
Coffee Nudge's post was great. It is the same response that i've heard from many others AFTER they've had their records cleaned and phono systems properly dialed in. After listening to their "reasonably priced" digital gear for a long time and forgetting about their records, cueing up a record on a decent vinyl rig is like a breath of fresh air and quite the ear opening experience. As others have stated, sell the table if you must and sell off the discs that you don't really care for, but hang onto the discs that you really enjoy. That many LP's doesn't take up that much space and they may be worth way more than that small amount of space should you decide to give vinyl another chance sometime soon. Sean
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Thanx for the responses, guys. I decided to keep the gear, and ditch some (well..... I guess about about 300) records. I will move the remaining records to another closet, out of sight but within reach.
When I looked at the records some of them brought back fond memories, which alone are worth more than the music they contain. The same goes for the turnable, I had quite good fun playing around with it.
I also discovered that my musical preferences have changed throughout the years, from mainly hardrock/heavy metal on vinyl to all kinds of other music on cd. I don't know if I'll be buying vinyl again, but I do know I want to keep some records. And maybe, after I figured out my amp problems, I might start working on the TT again. Oh well, it'll keep me of the streets.... |
Satch - There is great music out there in vinyl format, both used (which is very fun to hunt by the way - and new releases (quite costly but equally worthy).
You won't regret it, enjoy...
Fernando |
Stach, that was exaxctly the reason I stayed in vinyl - the nostagia. There's something about the whole deal and my youth. But then I discovered how incredible it could sound when set up properly, and it was mind-blowing. There aren't a lot of records I really love, but those that I do, I only listen to on ttable. |
Ok, start laughing and pointing at me, I deserve it.
After I decided to keep the analogue gear, I decided to listen to it. So I put on a record, and started listening. And although it didn't sound bad, I just couldn't care. Especially the image was.... well, it wasn't actually. So I cleaned the needle gently, cleaned the record again, but alas, nothing. Then I checked the connections, on the side of the TT, the input on the pre-pre, the output of the pre-pre, and the input on my integrated. Everything was fine. Untill I looked closer. The wire to ground my TT, which should have been connected to the pre-pre, was loose. So I connected it, started listening, and....... Jummy!! I wonder how long the wire was loose, and if that has something to do with my faded interest. Anyway..... gotta stop writing now, there are some 100+ records waiting to be heard. |
Satch: That's great news and i hope you enjoy the benefits of doing some simple yet necessary "investigative work" : )
As a side note, our musical tastes do change somewhat with age, but great music is great music. While some rock / pop is very simple in nature, that doesn't mean that you still can't enjoy it when you are "older & wiser" ( or is that "older & wider" ??? : )
My experience is that we build our systems in a certain "hi-fi" fashion and that fashion tends to reduce the versatility of what sounds good on it. You might find that some discs that you really enjoyed in the past simply don't sound as good to you as you used to remember. Not only has your hearing and musical tastes changed, so has your system. This is why striving for a neutral system that retains proper dynamics with good extension on both ends of the audible spectrum is important. This type of system can do justice to whatever type of music that you want to listen to equally well. A system with a lack of "prat" will never sound good on rock / pop music because that music is based strictly on "pace, rhythm and tempo". Obviously, your system still has "prat" as you're back to enjoying your "long hair" recordings of yesteryear : ) Sean
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This is why striving for a neutral system that retains proper dynamics with good extension on both ends of the audible spectrum is important. Bottom line. |
I wouldn't dare to disagree with you guys, but sound quality ain't everyting. I will never like boybands, how lifelike they may sound, but the first time I heard Jimi Hendrix playing Angel I was blown away. An that was on some gear I don't even dare name (yes, dr. Amar. B. was involved.....). So for me the bottomline is that emotional impact is more important than sound quality. Don't get me wrong: a good sounding system (e.g. neutral) may get you closer to the music, but you'll also know why *N'Sync sucks on a highly revealing system. That said: I did some 5 records yesterday, it's raining and it's weekend, I already bought all the food I need yesterday, so guess what I'm going to do? |
Satch: I think that you're equating "neutrality" with "sterility". I like "musical accuracy", which means you get to hear the details without losing the emotion or impact. As far as recordings go, naturally, i would prefer "good recordings" over "bad recordings". If it came down to it though, i would always choose a good performance over a good recording. Most "audiophile grade recordings" fall under the category of Holt's law i.e. a performance or piece of music that is recorded extremely well but something that you would never really care to listen to ever again i.e. "demonstration discs". Sean
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I think we're agreeing here. Funny thing is I just got new loudspeakers, who have some snags (a bit brittle with my amp), but are also very revealing, allowing me to hear all kind of detail I've never heard before. And that makes me listen to music I've have listened to in a long while, just because it makes me wonder how it will sound. And that, in turn, makes me re-discover some great music (or I remember why I haven't listened to it in a long time :)). Anyway, at the moment I'm totally back playing around with music and my system. If I could just find the money for some potent mono tube-amps, like the ones I listened to when I traded speakers.... |
Which Morel tweeter are you using, where's it crossed at, what slope, etc ???
As far as the speakers go, i can't really tell if the drivers are surface mounted or flush mounted? Are they countersunk or sitting on top of the baffle? Sean
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Good questions. The seller is on holiday now, so I can't contact him. The speakers are sunk into the baffle, and the crossover is biwirable, where the first set of terminals is driving low and mid, and the second set is driving only the tweeter. Strange..... The Morel is s rather big dome, I'd say 28 mm, and things aren't helped by my silver VD Hul loudspeakercable (which I will replace) and the rather hard acoustics of my listening room, which I'm not willing to change (hey! I gotta live there.....), although it sure helps if I close the curtains. Another solution might be to add a resistor, something like 1 ohm, 5 watts in te positive cable to the tweeter. But I'm fooling around with them, and it's fun. And, even in this set up (where the NAD is also notorious for its top-end), the strenghts outnumber the flaws, so I could live with it. |
Satch,
If you liked Jimi's version of "Angel" you have to get the Stanley Jordan album where he covers it. I never thought anyone could cover a Jimi tune better than Jimi did it originally, but this you gotta hear. |
stanley jordans version better than jimis!!!! i dont think so,,just my humble opinion ,,i have both albums,jimi blows stanley away,,i guess you can tell im a big hendrix fan |
sorry for going off the thread,, |
