I would trip the stand and break it in the first few weeks. Putting 55" of glass on an easy to trip over stand does not make me say "I gotta have it" :-). Is the screen white when it is off or do I now have Wall color, white, black instead of wall color, black?
What is the actual percentage of people exclusively listening to vinyl vs digital?
I well remember in the ‘80s when we were amazed and thrilled by CD.
Wow, no more pops and clicks and all the physical benefits.
Seems so many abandoned vinyl.
But now, with so much convenience, available content and high SQ seems even dedicated vinylholics have again abandoned vinyl and embraced digital. However, there is clearly a new resurgence in analog.
But I look at, for example, whitecamaro’s “List of amplifiers...” thread and no one seems interested in analog!
To me, it seems strange when auditioning “$100Kish gear, that vinyl doesn’t enter the picture or conversation.
Wow, no more pops and clicks and all the physical benefits.
Seems so many abandoned vinyl.
But now, with so much convenience, available content and high SQ seems even dedicated vinylholics have again abandoned vinyl and embraced digital. However, there is clearly a new resurgence in analog.
But I look at, for example, whitecamaro’s “List of amplifiers...” thread and no one seems interested in analog!
To me, it seems strange when auditioning “$100Kish gear, that vinyl doesn’t enter the picture or conversation.
167 responses Add your response
@chakster (glass) is pure evil for room acoustic and must be covered if possible by absorbers or diffusers.You missing the whole point. Acoustic reflection process is pure physics and implementation of it into the listening room setup, where the goal is full Spectrum music SQ (some time customised depends on genre or personal preference), is balanced process and not always dogmatic but compromised. Some flows of sound Spectrum you want to be reflected other not, that why all those room acoustic analysis services are silly. If you just try to break your sound flow with diffusers and rugged walls to as smallest particles you can, you wrong cause you will get nothing but dull woolly sound. Check it out how glass or sleek surface could be implemented- https://youtube.com/watch?v=f5tS2ikuuro&feature=share |
You missing the whole point. Acoustic reflection process is pure physics and implementation of it into the listening room setup, where the goal is full Spectrum music SQ (some time customised depends on genre or personal preference), is balanced process and not always dogmatic but compromised. Some flows of sound Spectrum you want to be reflected other not, that why all those room acoustic analysis services are silly. If you just try to break your sound flow with diffusers and rugged walls to as smallest particles you can, you wrong cause you will get nothing but dull woolly sound. Check it out how glass or sleek surface could be implemented- @surfmuz First of all please post a link to your system and your room if you can. In your video link a Russian guy sitting in a very small room with very low ceiling with huge speakers and some sick setup! Why did you post this? My room acoustic analysis made by professionals, who are you to say it’s silly? Each acoustic panel designed for work with certain range of frequencies and does not placed randomly, it’s not necessary to cover the whole room with panels everywhere to get dull sound, but there are absolutely necessary to cover first reflection points with acoustic panels, front and rear walls, ceiling also, the rest is more complicated. For me it's no brainer to compare two rooms (one with bare walls, another with acoustic treatment). This is a great channel to watch about acoustic treatment. So many different topics and everything explained very well. Before someone chime in I want to say that digital processing in room acoustic should not be used with analog source (but can be used with digital source). Acoustic panels and room itself are the only methods for proper acoustic treatment with analog source (for us who listen to VINYL mastered in analog before digital was invented). As I can see in your other thread the question you asked about analog setup is a bit strange. P.S. People who listen to digital should think twice before they post something for those who listen to a pure analog source only. Digital processing is death for analog signal. |
@chakster Looks like you done full investigation on me... :)))))))))) quit it plz cause personalisation of discussion is first sign of lack of arguments. ”strange” is term which pretty subjective isn’t it!? Yah, you right, I don’t like to be bounded and narrowed by exclusiveness of analog sect only :))))) and I have both concepts in my main system, however I can implement analog or digital truck of my main system totally independently except amplification end which is analog. I’ll tell you more, I have second system in my basement which is low wattage high efficiency full analog... oh...and I’ll tell you even more, I have third system in my tools room which is, I repent, fully digital :)))) People who listen to digital should think twice before they post something for those who listen to a pure analog source only. Digital processing is death for analog signal.That type of statements r pretty authoritarian:))) stylistically it’s not far from soviet era slogans or speeches of diplomats from totalitarian countries at UN :)))) ...seriously man, it’s won’t have any effect here. |
I also have different systems, at least 3 different pairs of speakers, 6 turntables, 4 different phono stages and over 20 different cartridges and 9 tonearms, but I do not listen to digital in any of my systems for one reason (all my favorite music originally recorded in analog before digital was invented and I don’t like the sound of digital remastering, I like original pressings). Digital in my situation with my taste in music is irrelevant and it’s only a good tool to discover music and buy it on OG vinyl. I hope you understand my point of view. Digital is perfect when the master is digital, so the choice of music is limited to something from the 80’s to a present day, but early digital is not good too. Digital on vinyl is nonsense in my opinion, in this scenario digital source is better. But analog master tape converted to digital is BS, this is why most of the re-issues are so bad compared to the original. I replaced most of my reissues purchased long time ago with original pressings and I was shocked how better those vintage records really are. Pure magic of vinyl is 100% analog (mastertape to vinyl, or direct cut), it can be new or old. I don’t want to discuss acoustic treatment because it’s off topic here, but I have dedicated thread about acoustic panels on this forum, I realized that very few people on this forum taking care about acoustic treatment. |
Never owned a CD player. Well, other than the ones that came with the cars. Bought about 20 CDs in my life to play in our cars. For the home stereo, have only ever had vinyl for playback. Well, and the boob toob. Own about 1200 albums, about half of which were bought in the mid 90's for between 25 cents and 2 or 3 dollars at The Record Exchange in Eugene, OR, where so many poor blighters nearly gave their vinyl away in trade for "perfect sound forever CDs"...poor misguided blighters, I feel sorry for every one of them. A couple examples: Pink Floyd Pink Floyd Tower Records: $1. Willie The Lion Smith Live at Blues Alley Halcyon: $2 Big Mama Thornton In Europe Arhoolie: $0.50. Learned to leave the price stickers on in order to avoid damage to the covers by trying to remove them. It's fun now to see these crazy low prices on these amazing albums! Yes, I feel very sorry for those folks. |
@xenolith 1200 vinyl albums!??... you lucky man.. since 80’s I collected only half of this plus last summer my old man gave me his life long LPs collection (about 200 albums) most of it in pretty dirty condition. When I have time I clean them album by album and spin them. Some r ok and some are really jewels. : ) I’ve got my LP of Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here also at Tower Records at NYC4th & Broadway in 1995 and the price was some where about $3.. |
Like others here I'm in my 60s and got hooked on music when I was under 10 years old. I've been putting systems together since I was 14. My last TT was a LINN LP12, so I was into it. When CDs came out I jumped on board, but it was a rough ride, but the pursuit of a quality digital sound became one of the fun parts of this hobby for me. Being a tweak I always felt bad when my vinyl would develop a new tick, the whole rig seemed like it was wearing out all the time while I listened, records, stylus. Personal problem I know. I have no doubt that a vinyl rig would sound more musical compared to my digital rig, but I'm afraid to try as I would be on a 50K trip to buy all the right gear to play my vinyl. Streaming for me is all about the music. It has nothing to do with being lazy about getting up to service my TT. I'm not all about playing old stuff, I love learning about new musicians and exploring new sounds. I devour the music sections of Absolute Sound and Stereophile and get to listen to all the new music I want. I also listen to internet radio and get new songs and artists from there all the time. I also feel good about contributing money to those artists through my streaming fees, even though its a very small amount it still supports the artists. Listening to old CDs and records, or buying used does nothing to support the artists. I have a dCS DAC/streamer and while certainly not the end of my digital equipment rainbow it meets my sound quality needs, doesn't make me feel like I'm wearing everything out as I listen, and it opens up the world of music to me. So another vote for digital 100%. |
@xenolith ok, most of you guys here will be shocked..... the term “Bone Record” belongs to bootleg lines of records born in Soviet Union late 50’s and those records was copied from original LPs which was not available at all to vinyl sheets of used X-ray images that’s why they was called Bone. Check it out- https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/29/bone-music-soviet-bootleg-records-pressed-on-xrays https://www.amusingplanet.com/2019/02/bone-records-soviet-era-bootlegged.html?m=1 |
It’s always a crap shoot buying new LPs. I have a couple of Better Records $$. Nice but a lot of money for 40 minutes. And for that money I can buy a lot of stuff.It would be nice to get into new music that I might find by checking out the Pandora app on my smart TV. Think this may be the best advantage of streaming. I also sometimes buy an inexpensive CD of a LP I am interested in to check it out. But it is a drag that so many of my very favorite CDs are crazy expensive on vinyl. Eg. Rickie Lee Jones Pop Pop and Marc Cohn debut album. Pop Pop can sell for hundreds on Discogs! |
Bone records are crap (but good souvenir), in Soviet era it was impossible to buy even mainstream records from America or Europe, except for one source - overpriced black market dealers, it was a crime back then. So people made bone records in terrible quality to re-sell them. At the same time nearly all Melodiya presses of foreign LPs in USSR are bootlegs and musicians never get paid even if they are Rolling Stones or similar big names in show business. Melodiya is one and only record label in USSR. They did the same with books, in one of his interview Erich Maria Remarque claimed he never get paid for any of his books translated to Russian, he was extremely popular here and they sold millions. They also copies Japanese photo cameras and hi-fi audio equipment, simplified them to release on local market under new Soviet trademarks. Chinese can do the same now. |
"Thanks Youngsters"??? mrpgray is was us old farts that got the youngsters into vinyl in the first place! I think mwinkc has it right. You have to go wherever the music is. I remember how bad I thought CD was until I heard the original release of Lauri Anderson's Mr Heartbreak. Darn, you could make a CD sound pretty good if you wanted to. We use to blow customers away with CDs like the original Telarc Firebird, ka BOOM! I still play that CD when I want to make a subwoofer impression. This is where digital rules, in the deep bass. My own rule of thumb is if it was recorded in analog it should be played back that way and same for digital. |
dletch2, "Is the screen white when it is off or do I now have Wall color, white, black instead of wall color, black?" If it is about Samsung Frame TV, the screen is black when off, but there is more to it. It does not have to be on the stand. It can be on the wall. It can be programmed with whatever artwork one wants. Some is already in the TV, more can be purchased, or your own artwork/photographs can be used. Screen itself gets a frame, a few colored options. TV turns itself off if there is nobody in the room for some time. My nephew bought it and is very happy with it. That led to me having his previous, perfectly functional 4K TV boxed in the basement. |
@mglik "
To me, it seems strange when auditioning “$100Kish gear, that vinyl doesn’t enter the picture or conversation." Because, from a capability standpoint, vinyl is technologically inferior to digital. Additionally,
So it's not a surprise to me that vinyl wouldn't be a consideration. What is a surprise is that anyone would spend $100K on a system when Revel Salon 2s are only $20K. As for percentages, the most recent stats I saw show vinyl at less than 5% of the market. I think vinyl will follow the trend of other nostalgia and die out when the people who grew up with it are gone. |
I suspect youth are a large part of vinyl resurgence. For those who've grown up with digital, vinyl is a novelty. The large format of vinyl, album covers and gatefolds with unique art and words of interest make music contained within more personal and important. I recall these feelings flowing through me from back in the day. Would Sgt Peppers have been so important and magical without all wonderful art and words on cover and gatefold. The large format allowed me to connect and gain insights into artist. I recall gazing upon art and words even as I listened to music, vinyl was a total immersive experience. And then you had the advantage of intrinsic value of vinyl, something to hold and touch, something of value, something to care about. Perhaps all these feelings are what is drawing in new converts to vinyl. And for many of us older audiophiles, the advent of digital and cd's became a novelty. I recall the technical allure of digital, all this convenience, small format perceived as advantage and more magical equipment to purchase and experience, I was all in! And then along comes streaming, wow, the technical allure was even more intriguing for me, so much to learn! Over time as I gained some mastery over this format, I recall the feelings of great accomplishment as so many complex problems were solved. The diy experience of this format has been a great allure for me. And now that I finally have an optimized streaming solution, I'm loving the amazingly wide variety of music available to me from simply pressing buttons on a smartphone device! I've been exposed to far more music than I would have been sticking exclusively to vinyl or cd. I'd have to say streaming has turned me into much more of a music lover than audiophile. Rather ironic a format many think is less emotionally involving and immersive has turned out to be quite the opposite for me. |
I recently went to a direct ethernet connection streaming to my Devialet Expert 400, figuring this is about as good as digital gets, at least for my money. I am delighted I can finally listen to digital as a source instead of just background music. Still, when I play an album on my old VPI HW-19 Mk IV with Eminent Technology 2 tonearm and a Monster Cable Sigma Genesis cartridge, it blows the streaming version out of the water. No contest. I admit I now listen mostly to digital because of its convenience and selection, but when I want to be enveloped by the music, I fire up the turntable. Digital is becoming a closer second, but it is still second. The good news if I don’t know what to expect/listen for, digital sounds great. It’s come a long way since the 80s. |
mambacfa, in order to compare sources like that you have to switch back and forth concentrating on one detail at a time. Over the years I have noticed that what people think sounds best has much less to do with accuracy than one would think. In some situations "accurate" actually sounds worse! This is very relevant when it comes to room treatment. As always beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A system that "sounds good" playing everything is most likely stamping it's own signature on everything it plays. There are plenty of terrible recordings out there both digital and analog. The vagaries of speaker performance far outweigh any differences between digital and analog playback. The preference of one format over the other is most likely due to other factors besides sound quality. Number one would probably be convenience. Insisting that one format always sounds better than the other. Very few issues are "always." |
Because, from a capability standpoint, vinyl is technologically inferior to digital.Interesting post... I use only digital myself... But you forgot the main reason why vinyl subsist with success for many people owners of the 2 system, digital and vinyl... The room acoustical bad controls of most users reinforce the choice of vinyl because vinyl S.Q. format resist more to a non optimal acoustical room settings...Digital to shine ASK for optimal acoustical controls more than vinyl, because of the technical aspect and measured potential performance of this format... And unbeknownst to most, almost all rooms are not optimally acoustically controlled....It is impossible to realize for ourself this fact if someone had not experience it first hand...Acoustic is the true key to audiophile experience especially for most people who dont own a million dollars system ... Anyway some one million dollars system sound bad it is easy to look for some example in youtube.... In a room acoustically well controlled if the difference subsist it takes very refined audio system to detect the difference if one exist....And this is a minute difference....Mike lavigne experience and testimony for example....For ordinary mortal with average system the key is acoustic controls not the choice between these 2 formats.... I own thousands of files.... It is impossible for me to own thousands of vinyls in a room dedicated only to the object....And most music that interest me is not on vinyl anyway.... Iranian-Indian-and other people music for example or non commercial or not well known jazz music.... If you listen pink floyd mainly no problem to keep also only few hundred of vinyl on repeat..... 😊 the choice of music is way more extensive in digital format and more accessible... |
The room acoustical bad controls of most users reinforce the choice of vinyl because vinyl S.Q. format resist more to a non optimal acoustical room settings...Digital to shine ASK for optimal acoustical controls more than vinyl, because of the technical aspect and measured potential performance of this format... Please allow me to rephrase for you Mahgister, because what you wrote is potentially import (even though this thread didn't ask what people like). The are unique properties in what we could call the signal processing of vinyl, whether that is channel cross talk, increasing distortion at frequency extremes, added noise, etc. Some of those, like crosstalk, could be conducive, in poor acoustic environments (most audiophiles rooms) to higher satisfaction. Similarly, the distortion and background noise can give a sense of space, or even realism that some may find lacking in digital. What are perceived flaws, can be an advantage, both overall, and for particular listeners. |
I listen exclusively to analog, Vinyl or R2R only. I turn 75 later this year and although I dabbled a bit in digital when it first arrived I never left my analog world. Some of this might be due to the fact I deal with 1400 computers, 2000 Chromebooks and 5 servers all day long and when I get home a nice single malt and some analog is the way I go! |
I listen to all LP & CD, SACD, DVD & Blu Ray. I have no streaming equipment and will not invest in any. To old and not enough $$$. I love vinyl, I'm building a collection of Blue Note Tone Poet Series. If I want to listen to any of the LP's, I'll buy 2 LP's or I'll buy the CD to listen to it. Just my way, crazy or not Ron |
Hey @millercarbon - you're wrong. In my home, I have only one source plugged in. Turntable. Car & garage - CD. Unplugged the Nakamichi CD player about 15 years ago when vinyl started back up again. Never tried SACDs, but I've heard they are quite good. Also heard streaming and HiRez DLS compress files and don't sound as good as SACD, but I've never heard either on my stereo. I think it is now tougher to get titles on SACD than vinyl. +1 to Fagen-Morph the Cat @mwinkc - been looking for that on vinyl for less than $200 used. Forget about new. 2 fantastic songs and I hate to say, in all of his or the Dan's catalogue 2 of the only 3 songs I would ever skip over (other was WB's tune on Everything Must Go which is also not available on vinyl) - RIP Walter. I think Donald has had licensing issues and complains about constantly getting ripped off. I'm just glad I snagged one of the last copies of Sunken Condos. Regular pressing on undyed vinyl that sounds phenomenal. Plus, it's on 2 records (just 3 sides) so it doesn't go close to the very inner part of the record. They really need to reissue/master Royal Scam and Pretzel Logic and press Tow Against Nature, Kamakiriad and Everything Must Go. They'd probably sell out in an hour. I would guess if your OP asks about all people, the number is <5% if they have an indoor stereo setup for anything other than background music being piped in. For self described audiophiles it's probably higher, maybe 15-20%. |
@dletch2 in poor acoustic environments (most audiophiles rooms) If they're spending $100K on a system I'd hope they'd have the common sense to spend $3K of that on room treatments. But judging from some of the pictures I see of high-dollar systems surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows and others with wood floors and bare walls, you may be right. |
Judging by pictures, only a small amount of systems have anything but the most basic treatments, and only a small percentage have serious acoustics. This is supposed to be the pinnacle of high end. I have always felt that is why all the tweaks. It is just different colors of the same wrong.To accentuate and confirm your position, i will say that when people speak about acoustic treatment they think about some passive absorbing, reflective and diffusive surface balance.... Even rightly done this is not enough to tap into the essential sonic quality of a system...it is necessary to complement it... There exist also a more active way, where a grid of resonators fine tuned and precisely located could increase extraordinarily the benefits of the passive treatment by a better timing between the reflected wavefronts of each speaker in the room...For sure it is not possible in a living room...These resonators are tuned in relation with the speakers behaviour in the room and modify it for the better....But contrary to electronic equalizer they work with a large bandwidth response for the fine tuning and because it is our ears who did the work and not a mic they work for all the room and not only for a very precise location in millimeter....They are part of the speakers/room and not an external tool.... I dont call that a "tweak"....It is a control working over the acoustical dimension....Same thing goes on with vibrations/resonance control, or decreasing the electrical noise floor...These control devices are not secondary addition but necessary precaution to reach optimal S.Q. All that may cost nothing and cost me nothing by the way.... The reason why people upgrade endlessly is because they ignore how to improve and install their system.... When rightly done upgrading appear like it is: a marketing mantra...Anyway good sound is not a variable " taste", it is a musical perceived phenomenon, a musical natural voice or instrumental "timbre" is an objective experience because there is musicians or acousticians consensus around it... And to contribute to the vinyl and digital format wars, i am pretty convinced that vinyl resist more to the degradation of S.Q. in bad acoustical room than digital... But digital greatest potential take advantage of very controlled room to shine... Then the 2 format are differently perceived in different environment....They are way less different than people imagine... |
By the time I was old enough as a kid to buy music, cassettes and boom boxes were the thing and cd’s were just a couple years away. So I never got into vinyl. Now, back into audio last few years, vinyl just seems like too deep a rabbit hole right now with digital so good and so much further for me to explore on that trail now. But maybe some day when I get older and have more time. Interestingly, my younger brother (low 40’s) has had a $500 Audio Technica TT for 15 years, and now has about 500 LPs. He doesn’t have a high end system (B&W 20 year old speakers line below the diamond and just a top cuurrent Yamaha AVR). I talked him into getting a Mani phono pre at least. Anyway, at Christmas I sent a Cambridge 851n streamer dac that I wasn’t using home with him to play with. Went to visit him a few weeks back and brought one of my unused power amps (Edge W) with to swap in. First we listened to his setup, and even with my more expensive 851n digital his TT sounded better through the AVR. When we ran the 851n dac direct into the Edge W, bypassing the Yam, the digital pulled ahead. For some reason the TT through the Mani thru the Yam as preamp to the Edge W didn’t really click. But anyway, to wrap this up he said for convenience he listens to 80% digital but when he is in the mood for analog the 20% of time he enjoys that most, but carving out the time to be in that mood is the issue |
There are verifiable statistics to guide us. In Jan. 2021 vinyl album sales were 27% of all record sales. It's only gone up since. We're all audiophiles on this forum so we don't care about the invented "Album-equivalent unit" term marketers use to determine the listening habits of those who listen to music on their phones or computer speakers but audiophiles have always been a very small % of the overall market. Of them however & that group adjacent, buying records in physical forms, vinyl's growth is literally exponential & is on track to eclipse CDs (in the next couple or few years somewhere). Downloads & streaming complicate things of course but there is a fundamental attraction to the physicality of records & ever larger numbers that once they've heard analog done right cannot easily suppress & deny the reality of the depth of the experience being greater. |
I have one friend who listens exclusively to LPs (he has over 10,000 in a $850,000 audio system). Another who also has that many LPs only listens to CDs for the last 10 years (ease of use for him). Another who has about 4,000 CDs only burns them to big thumbdrives and listens exclusively to his own CDs. Most of my friends have extensive collections of both LPs and CDs. None stream. We are all over 50 years old. I also listen to 78s (7,000) occasionally to go with my 7,000 CDs and now 28,500 LPs (added 5,000 in past 3 years from 3 collections-deceased estates). |
Several years ago I knew two audiophiles that both played vinyl, and they also had the same speakers and amplifiers. We'll call them #1 and #2, and #1 sold his entire record collection to go 100% digital. Several months later #1 was over # 2's house listening to vinyl, when he realized he could not get the same quality of sound with his digital system.. Needless to say being a true audiophile #1 bought another turntable, and started collecting high quality records again. For many years now #1 has purchased the highest quality reissued records from Analogue Productions, The Illusive Disc, Music Direct, and high quality used records when reissued ones are not available. In the last fifteen years #1 has purchased about 200 records every year for an expense of about $100 dollars every week, or about $5K a year. You spend that kind of money on records so you don't have to listen to clicks and pops. On the other hand if you don't know how to take care of a high quality record collection, or do not want to put the effort in, vinyl is not for you. Back in the 80's there were thousands of audiophiles searching thrift shops and garage sales for Mercury Living Presence albums, RCA Shaded Dog albums, Decca, London, Lyrita, and other sought after manufactured albums , that were recommended in The Absolute Sound. It was a lesson in futility because when you did find a few of these recommended albums they usually were full of ticks and pops. Many times these records would appear to be perfect, but were noisy because they were played on a turntable that was set up improperly, without the proper tools. In the early 90's RCA and Mercury started issuing albums of most of the sought after music that was recommended by The Absolute Sound, but this time digitally on CD's. Big corporations were out to kill vinyl in the mid to late 80's by offering to buy back CD albums from record stores if they did not sell. Up unto this point record stores had to eat vinyl if it did not sell, so they had blow out sales on their left over vinyl, and that was the end of new vinyl for about five or ten years. So in the early 90's most audiophiles gave up on vinyl and started buying highly sought after music digitally on these newly available CD's. After all why wear out your car running all over hell and back looking for records that were not there. Some extremely stubborn audiophiles did just that, and sometimes found a few good records, but they mostly wore out their cars for no reward or very little. Mind you these guys were looking for records that cost anywhere from 25 cents to a few dollars. These guys would never pay the cost of these high quality newly reissued extremely quiet vinyl records, but did not think anything about the cars that they ran into the ground looking for a bargain. OK, so I was one of the fools that searched for used records before these high quality reissued records became available. Now for the last twenty some years I've accumulated a fabulous record collection just by getting on my computer and spending. |
Well since I'm in both listening camps (records and CDs), I've accumulated another 8,500 LPs in the past 3 years by buying two estate collections and being gifted another (all from deceased collectors). I rarely seek records in stores any longer as I have 28,500 LPs/7,000 CDs/7,000 78s. As to CDs, I occasionally go to thrift stores and often buy on line, mostly jazz and pop with many bargain cost classical music boxed sets. Life is too short to go after one or two records in stores. When I shop, I go to a store with good turnover and inventory and luckily live in Los Angeles. NYC's record stores were mostly gone in 2018 when I last visited. Most L.A. stores are very reasonably priced unlike NYC which profited from tourist buyers. |
@john1
There are verifiable statistics to guide us. In Jan. 2021 vinyl album sales were 27% of all record sales. It's only gone up since. That study also says that vinyl accounts for only 3.6% of music consumption. Which reflects the problem with tracking album sales the last couple of years - a lot of us who were buying dozens of CDs per year are now streaming and don't buy any albums at all. I even bought 400 Bandcamp albums (including a 200+ Buckethead Pikes set) within a four year period up until two years ago. Now we just rent a service instead. So it's not necessarily that vinyl sales are exponentially growing compared to digital, but that streaming rental is taking away its statistical competition. |
@fleschler - #1-do you have these 28,000 categorized in a spreadsheet? Is this part of a record store you own? #2- do you have them in their own special room or climate controlled garage? #3- how many do you listen to with any regularity? #4- how many are NM or audiophile quality and how many are $1 or less junkers you never listen to that just take up space and add to your totals? I have been accumulating vinyl over the past 40 years (of course with the break from the late 80’s until the early 2000s when nothing was produced really) carefully, 97% new, all in NM condition with very few exceptions, and I have 300. There are a small % 10 or less that I almost never listen to and still I may not hear an album for months. I probably listen 15 hours a week on average. The most I’ve ever bought at once is 3-4 with the exception of The Beatles MFSL Collection, which has 14. Just curious. I can’t think of anywhere over 1000 that I would even consider, but I have no classical, hiphop or rap, unless you count the Moody Blues Days of Future Passed on MFSL. |
1. A. I have 15,000 LPs/4,500 CDs/2,000 78s categorized (not on file cards any longer) on my computer. B. I do not own a record store. I have sold 18,000 records in past. I have a rule once I hear a record, if I won't potentially listen to three times annually, out it goes. If it has low musical merit and mediocre sound, out it goes. 2. Also, the LPs, 7,000 CDs and 4,500 78s are stored in a climate controlled, storage room located adjacent to my main listening room. The remaining records include are stored mostly in stable temperature storage shelving in a storage shed and several garages. They are kept dry and clean. 3. I listened for 2 hours on Friday and 2.5 hours Saturday. I switch off between CDs and LPs on the same day or alternate days, depending on what I want to listen to. I have become lazier and listen to 78s less often. 30% of my 78 collection is ethnic music which is mostly unavailable on LP or CD. 4. A. About 75% of my LPs and 50% of my 78s are in NM condition. Nearly all my CDs are NM and play M. As to being junkers, I don't collect junkers. I do have in storage, NM condition multiple duplicate opera LP sets (1000?) which probably have a value of $1/LP. They were either gifted or purchased really cheaply. I have for example, a collection of 300 RCA Living Stereo and 100 Mercury Living Presence, 150 London/Decca, 100 Audiophile Label, 100 MGM LPs which I have not cataloged and are on shelving across from the main collection. I pull out listening LPs from both the cataloged and uncataloged (but in numerical order) sections (and put them back where they belong). I don't know when I will get to the non-listening room records, B. I listen 2 to 2.5 hours per night to music, sometimes more on weekends and now able to share music listening post pandemic. That's a lot of fun as well as reading. I have 3,500 books and periodicals in two libraries and read/scan three newspapers daily along with TheDailyWire and FoxNews (I used to be a Moynihan/Jackson "liberal" in the 60s and voted for Clinton and Gore but that changed with Obama/Biden). C. I am married with no children living at home. My wife is usually busy with her toastmaster hobby (an former international governor of the year) teaching and on zoom meetings while I indulge in my music listening and reading. D. I began collecting/listening when I was 2+ years old with 300 records by age 5 (my parents indulged me with "junkers" and cheapy records. E. I moved two years ago to a nice size home (5,600 ft) to store and enjoy life now that I'm 65. No congestion with separate rooms and libraries. |
@fleschler Good that you are keeping track of the majority of your records. My brother in law probably has 1500-2000 records and ends up buying the same record twice (not to get a better pressing, usually the same one). He also doesn't dust them with a brush when he plays them, which drives me nuts when I see him do that. I guess all vinyl enthusiasts have to be at least a little OCD. He only listens to vinyl. So you listen to at least 45,000 records a year. Average length - 40 minutes = 1,800,000 minutes = 500 hours a year, just on records, assuming you only listen to each record exactly 3 times. Assuming you have some favorites and listen to them more often, that leaves little time if any for listening to CDs and 78's. I bet there are plenty of the 15,000 records you don't get around to listening to, in addition to the other 13,000 stored elsewhere. If you never listen to them, why not get rid of them? I am sure you are reading while listening to the stereo, which is usually what I do. Glad that you are enjoying life now, I am lucky that I did about 10 years earlier than you, when I started my business after my kids finally moved off the payroll a few years ago. Didn't move into a mansion though....If anything, I would downsize a bit, but I think we are staying put despite never using 4-5 rooms. |