Help me get started with vinyl

Beer Baron said:

Might also enjoy Simon and Garfunkel.

oh I do. Very much. I am a rock was my anthem. I am not sure if she would. I may have to try.

In reply to tuna55 :

"Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Concert in Central Park", and "Graceland"

In reply to Beer Baron :

The Boxer

Oh so many good ones out of them.

tuna55 said:

In reply to Beer Baron :

The Boxer

...is side B track 1 on 'Bridge Over Toubled Water'.

Those were my suggestions of albums to hunt for first.

Beer Baron said:

tuna55 said:

In reply to Beer Baron :

The Boxer

...is side B track 1 on 'Bridge Over Toubled Water'.

Those were my suggestions of albums to hunt for first.

Sorry I thought we were trading anthem songs. Maybe that's why I didn't recognize all of the titles!

In reply to tuna55 :

I think 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' is their best album. "Cecilia", "El Condor Pasa", "The Boxer", "Baby Driver", "Only Living Boy in New York"...

'Concert in Central Park' is one of the best live albums ever recorded. Kinda like a 2-disc "Greatest Hits", but with the energy and track flow of being an actual concert.

'Graceland' is a Paul Simon solo work. He collaborated with a bunch of South African artists and has beautiful rhtyhms. Not as many track titles will jump out at you. The most well known is "You Can Call Me Al".

In reply to Beer Baron :

Diamonds in the soles of her shoes and Homeless are my favorites off of the album. Listen to the fretless bass (on every track?). It is superb.

We dabble a bit in vinyl with our vintage business, and recently stumbled across a really interesting find amongst a huge treasure trove of '70s and '80s vinyl out in the wild.

 

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

Bootleg concert recordings?

One of the most famous boots in history.

Cover art by the Incredible William Stout.    


(Backside)






Just some of his work-

Just a few more from the stash.

(I'm especially partial to P-Funk)

In reply to tuna55 :

Cat Stevens - 'Tea for the Tillerman' or 'Teaser and Firecat'

Y'know, if you're not afraid to cry in front of your wife.

I am going to self-limit to one purchase every month. This month, Tunawife has been looking herself.

She was pursuing some other Carole King music on Amazon (streamed in the same room to the same amp and speakers via Bluetooth) and she was amazed at how much better the vinyl sounded, despite having white noise and wear from 50 years of use.

All that to say, the vinyl has managed to get us to sit down and quietly play a game and really relax. It's been a huge help for her, and therefore for me (I don't need to relax much, but I like it when she's relaxed).

Thanks!

tuna55 said:

I am going to self-limit to one purchase every month. This month, Tunawife has been looking herself.

You have more self restrain than I. Of course, you also have kids.

She was pursuing some other Carole King music on Amazon (streamed in the same room to the same amp and speakers via Bluetooth) and she was amazed at how much better the vinyl sounded, despite having white noise and wear from 50 years of use.

Not necessarily just streaming vs. vinyl. The bitrate quality of the stream (SD, HD, UHD), how it's been mastered, and how it's getting converted from digital to analog all matter a lot.

But yeah, my experience largely mirrors your own. My brain has an easier time wrapping itself around the white noise and pops of imperfect vinyl. Where imperfect digital falls into the uncanny valley. Like how... if you ever see an old copy of Star Wars, you get all the little blobs and specs all over the screen, but your brainn tunes them out, but then you watch the newer 'Hobbit' movies and the smoothness looks wrong.

All that to say, the vinyl has managed to get us to sit down and quietly play a game and really relax. It's been a huge help for her, and therefore for me (I don't need to relax much, but I like it when she's relaxed).

Glad to hear this is good for you both. 

Beer Baron said:

tuna55 said:

I am going to self-limit to one purchase every month. This month, Tunawife has been looking herself.

You have more self restrain than I. Of course, you also have kids.

She was pursuing some other Carole King music on Amazon (streamed in the same room to the same amp and speakers via Bluetooth) and she was amazed at how much better the vinyl sounded, despite having white noise and wear from 50 years of use.

Not necessarily just streaming vs. vinyl. The bitrate quality of the stream (SD, HD, UHD), how it's been mastered, and how it's getting converted from digital to analog all matter a lot.

But yeah, my experience largely mirrors your own. My brain has an easier time wrapping itself around the white noise and pops of imperfect vinyl. Where imperfect digital falls into the uncanny valley. Like how... if you ever see an old copy of Star Wars, you get all the little blobs and specs all over the screen, but your brainn tunes them out, but then you watch the newer 'Hobbit' movies and the smoothness looks wrong.

All that to say, the vinyl has managed to get us to sit down and quietly play a game and really relax. It's been a huge help for her, and therefore for me (I don't need to relax much, but I like it when she's relaxed).

Glad to hear this is good for you both. 

Amazon is supposed to be one of the better streaming services ij terms of bitrate, but obviously we have no control of mastering. I can say that we were listening to music from the same album and same recording on Amazon as we were on vinyl, though likely it had been remastered.

At any rate, whatever it is, this is better. We agreed on the sentence: We hear the streaming music, but we feel the vinyl music.

I don't think it's possible to nail down the exact reasons for this. I have a degree in physics along with my engineering degree, and a concentration in acoustics to boot. The way your ear handles signals is pretty sophisticated. Regardless of why exactly it's doing what it does, we can agree solidly on the results!

In reply to tuna55 :

In your streaming setup, I suspect that Bluetooth is probably the weakest link for digital playback.

But I feel similarly about listening to vinyl, and I can't put my finger on it. My best hypothesis is the uncanny valley one. If I had to give specifics, I'd say digital feels brighter and sharper.

I should do an experiment comparing vinyl to lossless CD quality (or better) digital streaming and file natively on a computer.

We found a little vinyl store on our staycation trip to Hendersonville this afternoon. Well, here is my one purchase for this month....

Early birthday gifts from tunadad

I totally understand the fascination.  As an audiophile I personally prefer digital stuff, but it is neat to hear the music as it was originally released.  Like when you listen to Lightfoot on vinyl, that's how it would have been heard on the radio in 1970.

I liken it to making Grandma's meatloaf recipe.  I can do it exactly how I remember her teaching me.  It tastes pretty close but what I wouldn't give to go back in time and taste it from her kitchen.

Gift from tuna wife

​​​​​​

She's the complete opposite of Carole King, but her voice is incredibly powerful. The attitude drips from the lyrics. 

tuna55 said:

She's the complete opposite of Carole King...

No. The complete opposite of Carole King is a no-talent bro-rapper who doesn't write or even collaborate on any of his own music.

Carole and Aretha have both passed 'Natural Woman' back and forth to honor each other.

Beer Baron said:

tuna55 said:

She's the complete opposite of Carole King...

No. The complete opposite of Carole King is a no-talent bro-rapper who doesn't write or even collaborate on any of his own music.

Carole and Aretha have both passed 'Natural Woman' back and forth to honor each other.

Good point. I love that song. Carole wrote it for Aretha, but I like Carole's version better. Aretha also covers Bridge over troubled water, which is delightful.  Her cover of let it be is similarly fantastic, while managing not to just be a copy. I love the interplay of songs in that era. 

Not opposites, but surely very different. Both amazing. 

I'm in the process of switching up my office stereo setup, and figured I'd share it here instead of starting a new thread. 

For years, I had everything on this small, vertical wire shelf. 


I moved it into my office a while back, and then I started to run out of room.



As you can see, it's jammed. The receiver and turntable had to go on the top, and the CD player and speakers (not pictured) had to go on the floor and the bottom shelf. This worked for a while, but I've run out of room. What you can't see is the two additional milk crates full of records. It had to go. 

The solution: The ol' Ikea Kallax shelf everyone else uses. 




This setup has it's advantages and disadvantages. The good is that I can now access the components much easier, and I have a ton more storage. The bad part is that my ancient Mirage "bookshelf" speakers are still too large to fit on top or inside the shelves. While I like the speakers, they are 40+ years old and I'm thinking it's time to replace them with a decent set of budget speakers that fit in the cubbies. I have been looking at passive sets for $100-under, and there are a few sets that seem to fit the bill that would be an upgrade from what I have currently. 

Speaking of 40+ year old stereo things, I decided to finally unbox this old beast:



It's a Realistic LAB-200 turntable from Radio Shack that a family friend gifted me a few years back that they found during a house clean-out. It's NOS, and made in 1979. The Realistic brand was just that: a brand they slapped on components made by other famous (and infamous) companies over the years. This one was made by BSR in Great Britain. These were low-mid level components at the time, but free is free! 

So, let's unbox it:



The dust cover is MASSIVE. 



When I said NOS, I meant it! All of the packing material and documentation was in there. 



This slip mat was included, but I'll likely swap this with another I have. That disc snaps into the center. 



As expected, the belt is completely gonzo. The rubber shrank and got brittle, and was already off the drive motor when I peeked in there. I'll be ordering a replacement soon. 



A closer look at the controls and the platter. Like other BSR tables I've seen and had, the center section is isolated in the center. 



I was surprised to see that it uses a "real" cartridge/stylus, in this case, a Shure 6X. The tone arm doesn't have a giant counterweight on it, but it is weighted and has anti-skate controls. 



Size-wise, it's certainly larger than my trusty Gemini DJQ-1200. The only blemish on the whole unit is that smudge on the front of the base. 40+ years of sitting in a box might do that. 
 

Really interested to get this all dialed in. 

Cool!!
 

We have continued to accumulate records. The most recent was at a store in Hendersonville.

I see a two-record James Brown, and I have to have it. I go to pay, take out my frequent buyer coupon, and the guy says: This is a good one! Hey I have another that the owner won't let me sell. It's pretty scratchy, but it sounds OK and plays. Do you want it?

I say: Who is it?

He plops down a Temptations album. Sold for $0. The same guy also gave us a sub-par Chicago album which remains my favorite of theirs. Love this stuff.

I have many records now. I just got what is now my favorite, and bonus that is the most 70s color ever.