vinyl wow

I bought a Planar 2 last week. I tried the 1 but thought the 2 sufficiently better to justify the extra £125. I then added the performance pack, which makes a nice difference. The Bias 2 is a lot better and the thicker mat is a much higher quality album. It's been great spinning a few LPs. Rather than adding the performance pack to the 1 I'd suggest you'd be better getting the dealer to swap it for a 2. The light glass platter is much nicer than the 1's plastic affair. 

Dire Straits, Public Service Broadcasting (the race for space)

I have cats, so I will only enjoy this pleasure at hifi shows...

I have cats too - all I did was put the LP12 in a secure enclosure, but I understand it can be a challenge.

ricsimas posted:

I have cats too - all I did was put the LP12 in a secure enclosure, but I understand it can be a challenge.

...an expensive element can be an interesting playing element for cats and even cleaning ladies seem to every now and then make a mistake....

My cat used to jump on top of my LP12, curl up and go to sleep. If a record was playing, it never missed a beat. (Obviously, this was with the lid closed!) 

Welcome to the vinyl world. I've been buying records since the mid 70's. Never really stopped although I did get involved with CDs a little. Streaming not for me I'm afraid.

Recommendations. Well best new record I've heard this year is How The West Was Won by Peter Perett. However just buy second hand vinyl from wherever you can source it. You may need to invest in a record cleaner if you go that route but it will be worth it if you really intend to get into vinyl.

Once kitty ascends to that great catbox in the sky, take off the lid and store it in the LP-12 box. A cheap and simple upgrade.

Sadly, both kitty and the LP12 are long gone now!

Ooohhh…..so tempting. I used to have a Rega Planar 3 and later a LP12 but never played them with the quality of amplification I have now. It would be very interesting to hear a mid spec Rega in my current system. Stupidly, I sold all my vinyl when CD became all the rage.

B**ger!

Fleetwood Mac remasters, latest Leonard Cohen lp's, including Songs from the Road,  enjoy them alway on vinyl..

Welcome back to vinyl Graham.

A 'must have' album in my opinion is Amarok by Mike Oldfield. Another of my must have albums is Songs of Distant Earth also by Mike Oldfield.

Give them a try. You could well become an Oldfield fan. His music sounds great on vinyl.

Tony.

Dragging a piece of sharpened carbon through a rotating plastic rut eh? Why does it still have the ability to make music come alive in the home like nothing else?

I played a standard 45 rpm 7" single from 1980 to a visiting friend recently. This; boys and girls is the way that popular music used to be recorded and produced. A laughably good sound. Stonking organic realism, transparency and dynamic slam.

Welcome to the best kept secret in music replay in the home Graham. How long before you have to investigate a Rega 6, 8, 10, and other black-platter spinners of renown?

The die is seemingly cast and you're in trouble. Good luck.

John.

After I got my first Naim kit in LA a friend gave me an old P3 and I had 5 albums.  Fast learning curve and fun buying used.  Someone on the Forum told an ecstatic me that "Watch out, this isn't an extension of good music, vinyl is a whole hobby by it'self."  He was right, it has been expensive, thrilling and really worthwhile.  I returned  the favor and gave my friend my P5  when I moved up to the Palmer TT. 

The one advantage to being old(er) is now I have favorites and don't have many clunkers like when you're younger.

Pick up the new War on Drugs double LP- you will be in the shop demoing an RP6 within 24 hrs.

Great album!

ATB,

Mark

nigelb posted:

Ooohhh…..so tempting. I used to have a Rega Planar 3 and later a LP12 but never played them with the quality of amplification I have now. It would be very interesting to hear a mid spec Rega in my current system. Stupidly, I sold all my vinyl when CD became all the rage.

B**ger!

My Rega 2 sounds amazingly good through the Naim. Considering how good the SL2s are, and how they reveal every tweak, the £79 Bias cartridge is doing pretty well. A couple of the used records I've bought have horrible surface noise though, so I need to find a cheap way of cleaning them. 

[@mention:1566878603908193]

Get into steaming. The ease of finding new (and old) music.

Then go out and buy what you love on vinyl!

I'm steaming, I meant streaming

In case you weren't aware, there is an editing window of about 15 minutes. 

I wasn't aware, thank you

I recently changed from a Michell Orbe to a Garrard 301, and I feel like I've had more vinyl wow (as in jaw-dropping moments of sonic voom, rather than low frequency speed variations) in three months with the 301 than in ten years of Orbe use. 

My long-simmering dissatisfaction with modern vinyl pressings has led to me buying used vinyl again. Unfortunately the charity shop and market stall rich pickings are a thing of the distant past, but I've been picking up clean UK originals or early reissues from  EIL for prices that are competitive with modern reissues, and so far I'm impressed. 

I stopped buying vinyl in 1992 but have a decent collection from teens and university days plus cast offs from my FiL who got rid of his collection (and had some great stuff). I was given a couple of new releases as presents (agree that modern pressing can be way better than the stuff from the 80s - The Staves "If I was" sounds lovely). I have kept my planar 3 which I bought second hand in 1988 as my first step into hifi. It had been in storage while we did rebuilding work but I dug it out and got it serviced and tweaked it a bit. It's now on a rega wall shelf screwed to a block wall, new cartridge (forget - a mid-ranking rega one), phono stage, and I've gone for aftermarket tweaks replacing sub-platter, platter, arm stub, counterweight. I've had a rewire kit for the arm sitting round for ages - trying to summon the nerve to do it.

Most of my listening is streaming from NAS to SU plus Tidal. But every now and again I have a session listening to vinyl. Last night was one. I tend to have the same experience which is initially "wow, this sounds so much better than it has a right to", as I listen more I become more aware of its shortcomings vs streaming (bass less taut and low, highs a bit less spacious) so I just switch off from that and listen to it joyfully bouncing along playing music I haven't listened to for a while. There are still a few things that I prefer on vinyl - Jimmy Page after several attempts has kicked the digital versions of Led Zep into good shape but still vinyl seems to  make it all hang together better.

I am completely willing to believe that vinyl can still be better than streaming (by the standards of my ears) but at very considerable cost. My judgment was to get my Planar 3 sounding as good as I can and leave vinyl there as a lovely nostalgic window to the music I enjoyed when I was young (and some classic stuff of my FiL from '55 to '75).

Suits me but I totally understand why people have no interest or are completely focused on it.

Jeff Beck Performing this week at Ronnies is just brilliant on vinyl but make sure you get the re-issued 3 disc version.

Regards,

Lindsay

Vinyl wow is most likely caused by a faulty motor or power supply, or slipping drive belt...

(Sorry, I couldn't resist )

OP, you "must have" all 3 of Agnes Obel's albums.

Enjoy your record player for now, build up the music!

Regards,

Mark