The resurgence of vinyl

[KiwiDave]

Vinyl is an area of music I just don't want to get into. Basically because I **DO** want to get into it, and I then assume my fetish for perfectly engineered things will put me atop the slippery slope of spending money rapidly.

However... even looking at that photo gives me wobbly knees. I don't have to see it in person or hear it, it's artwork all on its own. Very

[Jobbo]

Dave, to put you off here's a photo of a Saisho midi system from the 1980s which Scott and I spotted in a coffee shop in North Berwick. That is a Technics SL1200 visible above it though.



And here's an Amstrad midi system in the same place. I thought there was no record player on that but I've just checked again and there is

[240PP]

Saisho takes me back. Was that Dixon’s own line?

[Jobbo]

It was indeed - and the same stuff with slightly different colour scheme was badged Matsui when sold through Currys.

[GG.]

Japanese mini/midi systems take me back too. We had Aiwa stuff when I was growing up - I think we ended up with about 5 of them in the house and it was my first "hi-fi" - a 3CD changer and dual tape deck

It is a slippery slope - my upgrade-itis tends very much to go in fits and starts where I don't touch it for months/years and then a flurry of changes. The good thing though it this stuff all retains its value so if you sell the old stuff you end up just covering the difference.

I am tempted to go full "Clockwork Orange" and get a Michell Transcriptor as well (but probably not a codpiece and cosh)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205427094527 ... earch=true

[mik]

Dave, to put you off here's a photo of a Saisho midi system from the 1980s ….
And here's an Amstrad midi system in the same place.

Tone control settings on each

My first “hifi” was a JVC midi system…. I stuck the speakers on adjustable wall brackets right in the corners of my room to boost the bass as much as I could….

[DeskJockey]

I started out with a slightly broken B&O amp/cassette combo and a pair of scrounged speakers.

Once I'd saved up enough I got Pioneer separates and speakers (why I bought the tape deck I'll never know. I didn't ever use it) which lasted until the amp gave out.

[dinny_g]

We never had any separates in our house growing up - just an old 70's record player in the living room and us kids had a succession of crappy boom boxes.

We had one of these for a long time - Not even a double tape deck...



This was all we had till my little brother won an Aiwa CD boombox in the early 90's

A mate had a Sharp VZ-V2 which I coveted, even though it was pretty shite...

[GG.]

We had no record player in our house growing up - just tapes and a few CDs - so I'd not heard much classic stuff until my early teens. Randomly my dad fished out some of his records and we took them round to my grandparent's house one Sunday when I was probably 9 or 10 (my grandad was a keen hi-fi buff).

He whacked on Whole Lotta Love from Led Zeppelin II on his Ferguson Fons turntable (which I since learned has some common genesis with the Linn LP12). I remember thinking "what the fuck is this!" when the wild instrumental interlude kicked in the middle of the track - "this is not 1990s pop/rock". My jaw then fell open when Jimmy's incredible guitar solo kicked in. Hooked ever since (both on LZ and LPs).

[GG.]

So after much faffing around with the defective cartridge - it went back to the distributor and then Japan and... no response was forthcoming, even after over a week had passed. Apparently the distributor doesn't even have any more so that kind of put to rest the idea of getting a replacement. Doing some further reading online, these fancier cartridges often have boron cantilevers and it sound like the diamonds falling off could be 'a thing' with them

The online seller I purchased it from then suggested I look at something else - this is in itself tricky as there wasn't all that much that interested me about that price level - I had a Hana cartridge already (which is the one I'm replacing) so moving up to its bigger brother didn't tempt me as I found the sound very nice but a bit polite. Apparently Benz Micro (which is based in Switzerland) have basically stopped making their "cheaper" cartridges at £1,000 or under and just churn out one or two high end ones a month. I asked what high end was and apparently that was just the one costing £3,195 Lyra the same - basically all cottage industries that have very unreliable supply.

So in the end it really fell down to Dynavector - they have a very loyal following and a great rep for Rock / Pop music (though I'm surer people use them for classical as well). That also wasn't simple as I either had to go for one £200 less or £400 more... man maths kicked in as you can expect so I've ended up with an XX2 Mk II...

Being a bit of an aesthetic tart, their designs really don't do anything for me and are nothing like as attractive as the finish on the Phasemation (and the "DV" on some models just reminds me of the logo for Dangermouse! ) but at the end of the day its really about how they sound. In very endearing Japanese fashion (being a meld of old and new), the box came with a little paper letter with a picture of a cartridge being made (I presume mine?) and a QR code to their website. I'm a complete sucker for stuff like this.





Anyway the cartridge is now on and sounds marvellous even out of the box (though apparently it takes 20-50 hours to "run in" and sound its best so more is to come). Often in the hi-fi magazines there are obscure references to things becoming "congested" when all the instruments go hell for leather together or you are listening to a big orchestra, etc. I now finally know what they mean - this thing really does give incredible separation and clarity.

The pictures I attempted to take on my phone were so crap given its tiny size that I dusted off the big Canon. Even then it was a challenge. As I said - its not really a looker. Anyway - now I need to get a step up transformer for this thing given it really is a low output moving coil (0.28mV) and is stretching the MC input on the Devialet.

[unzippy]

Magnetic tape is a shit format so I don't see it making a real come back as a listening experience.

Vinyl is a shit format but it's back

[Jobbo]

Euphonic distortion, Zips

[mik]

Anyway the cartridge is now on and sounds marvellous even out of the box (though apparently it takes 20-50 hours to "run in" and sound its best so more is to come).

(Presuming you've run it long enough now) - any difference you can detect?

I still have my NAD5120 turntable and Aiwa ADF500 tape deck in storage. The turntable in particular was a budget item even when new, but I see people punting them on eBay for £100+ so maybe I should get both sold?

[Ascender]

I totally missed those pictures @Jobbo - Saisho! Had forgotten all about them, but that colour scheme and setup just takes me right back in time.

[GG.]

Anyway the cartridge is now on and sounds marvellous even out of the box (though apparently it takes 20-50 hours to "run in" and sound its best so more is to come).

(Presuming you've run it long enough now) - any difference you can detect?

I still have my NAD5120 turntable and Aiwa ADF500 tape deck in storage. The turntable in particular was a budget item even when new, but I see people punting them on eBay for £100+ so maybe I should get both sold?

Nothing dramatic that I've noticed - some sources online say it takes 30 hours so I expect I'm not through that yet. Its difficult to tell though as the temptation is to go through your entire record collection to see what changes you hear, rather than re-listen to the same records over and over.

Yes I would definitely stick unused stuff online. I find second hand kit goes very quickly - my old Rega RB300 tonearm (20 years old at this point) sold for just under £170. A brand new and upgraded RB330 which is the nearest equivalent is not much more than twice that...

[mik]

Its difficult to tell though as the temptation is to go through your entire record collection to see what changes you hear, rather than re-listen to the same records over and over.

True. I wrote a similar comment when I got my new speakers and amp. 20 months on I occasionally still hear subtle (usually mid-range) instruments/notes/detail that I 'd never heard before, in tracks I thought I knew pretty well

I randomly bumped into "How To Save A Life" by the Fray recently - never a song I was particularly excited about when released 20years ago, but now I really can hear how fabulously it's produced. Drums are mic'd / mixed perfectly for me, with a real depth to the tone of the kick drum (without the producer having upped the level to make it in any way dominant). The reverb (I think it's just natural?) on the piano - particularly as it drops into the lower register after the first verse - is so present. I have a new found respect.

edit: also - it's a bit mainstream, but fucking hell the production on Sade Smoothe Operator is sublime. Solid bass throughout the track, but vocals and percussion are just awesome - it's one of these great "play it umpteen times and pick a different instrument each listen" - and you follow every one with absolute ease.

[Jobbo]

now I really can hear how fabulously it's produced.

That's also a curse when listening to plenty of 90s indie stuff. If it was recorded on a 4-track and mixed from a C90 cassette (as much sounds like it was) then it's really shown up by well produced stuff. And virtually everything modern is well produced (not necessarily well mixed) because so much is just done from samples in Garageband or whatever; it's all digital. Though you can hear when someone samples a 128kbps MP3