Vinyl, should I take the plunge?

Albert -- that was a great story -- really enjoyed that. Congratulations on a job well done and thanks for sharing your experience.

Albert,

With all the noise that passes for conversation these days, of which I probably contribute more than my share, your post stands out as a model of how a forum can best be used. Thank you.

JJ, this was a very interesting topic. It’s nearly 10 month from your original posting. Did you ever take a dive into analogue after all? How was the experience? I am in the same boat with the coming second baby. Would you mind sharing your road to vinyl? Or regrets?

Albert, I concur with your teaching. Kids are more capable if they were taught right and respected.

I wouldn't seriously consider vinyl unless you are process oriented, and enjoy the process as I do. Folks that just want to hear the music with the least amount of effort or thought are not going to derive the best of what vinyl has to offer.
First you need to properly clean LP's even the majority of new ones to remove whatever dust and mold release residuum they carry, and thereafter use a carbon fiber brush before each side to remove whatever dust and abrasives have accumulated, and the stylus needs regular cleaning as well.
If you fail to accomplish the cleaning end of things you are just going to be continuously attriting your collection as you play them and are going to be treated to an ever increasing racket.
You'll also need to learn to mount a cartridge properly which is quite easy, but you'll need to rather precisely
set the overhang and alignment, which can be a little tedious the first couple of times but is easily accomplished with a $20 turntable basics mirror or Geodisc.
As far as the kid's go the answer is a wall rack for your table, which is beneficial to most tables anyway as isolation. A wall rack is a cheap and simple DIY or about $125.
The benefits of analog are tremendous for the music lover who is committed to doing it properly, if you either buy or assemble a simple DIY RCM (which I prefer) and learn to
clean LP's properly (anything but difficult, particularly if you use one of the superb commercial solutions available RRL (Record Research Labs) Audio Intelligent or disc Doctor. You'll find that you can source Thrift store, garage sale and resale shop LP's for a pittance and restore them to a quiet backround and all of the dynamics and detail they started out with as long as you pass on the ones with obvious groove damage (greyish looking grooves) scratches etc. cleaning cannot repair actual damage, however truly filthy LP's are easily brought back to life with a wet clean/vacuuming and replacing the old sleeves a poly lined or rice paper sleeve. In the last year I've put together an incredible collection for a small fraction of the cost of CD's SACD's DVD-A's and with the exceptions of some of the better SACD's etc. you'll throw rocks at the CD versions of a given recording once you've heard the LP version, particularly a great many of the new "Remastered versions which are not only compressed
and lifeless but increasingly saddled with codgy copy protection schemes many of which not only preclude play on your computer but are clearly audible.

Mutex,

I did take the plunge. I got a technics SL-DD33 table for free from a friend. Hadn't been used for 10 years I'd guess. Plugged it into an old denon receiver and put up some used LP's and liked what I heard. Had some jazz with good strings and percussion and it rocked. Better then cd's even on this crap analog system. I upgraded my phone preamp to graham slee mk gold unit and the quality of my vinyl rig went up orders of magnitude.

My little guy is two years old now and just kill my #37 transport. He can reach it and did well for the last year just hitting play. He got more comforitable and harder to watch and I think must have pushed hard on the drawer and got it screwed up some how (sigh).

He can't reach the turntable cause it's up on the top of the eq rack.

I need cables and badly need a record cleaner. Eventually, I'll upgrade the table but kids put a major crimp on the old hifi budget for now. People complain about saving for college. Well I've got news for you... Damn day care is more expensive. I'll be happy when I can get to paying for college and have some spending money from what I'll be saving from day care :) (yes I know by the time he's in college inflation will have made my argument mute...)

Back to chasing my 2 year old. More as time allows...

JJ