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A vinyl thread (for us old fogies who laugh in the face of common sense).


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I thought with the music thread, and notably the soundtracks thread, drifting heavily into vinyl discussion recently that it might be nice to have a dedicated topic to discuss new releases, as well as hardware (turntables, amps, speakers and so on). We've had the "is vinyl better?" discussion elsewhere, and I'm a believer in saying that it is merely different. It IS a pure indulgence for music nerds, and probably should not be seen as anything more this day in age. You're either attracted to the uniqueness of it all, or you're not. 
 
I'm still without a turntable, chiefly on account of having decided to save up more and invest in Rega's new Planar 3 over the Planar 2 I had initially been eyeing. I'm of two minds whether to save up even more and couple it with Rega's new brio amp which is due out in early 2017. I'm limited for space these days however, so since I don't have a home theatre set up I'll be listening via headphones for a good while, and the new brio amp finally adds a headphone jack. An expensive amp just for headphone use, but long term I'd be hooking speakers up to it (it's long term thinking that will likely see me go for a Planar 3 over a Planar 2, since I'm a chump and expect I'd be thinking about the 3 if I got its slightly cheaper brother).
 
 
brio-with-remote.jpg
 
planar-3-white-angle-reflection-v2-cropp
 
.... One day.... One day....
 
I've also looked at Onkyo's A-9010 amp which boasts a performance that far exceeds its price. It's especially impressive that it boasts so many great reviews from the press and users alike, AND has a dedicated internal headphone amp as well as built in phono stage. Gramaphone gave it a glowing review last year.
 
 
My vinyl collecting is relatively conservative. I see it as my special collection of the essentials, albums with special and emotional relevance to me, and I'd like to have the catalogues of my favourite artists entirely on vinyl (Beatles, Bowie, Radiohead...etc). These are albums I want to sit and listen to, and not just throw on as background noise. Thus far I've primarily only been buying some limited edition Mondo soundtrack releases so as not to miss out on the ones I want in future when I finally have the means to enjoy them.

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I bought a Thorens TD-160 about 8 or so months ago from a guy on Craigslist. Could not be happier with it. I currently have it hooked up to my home theater setup (Phase Technology 7T main speakers, driven by an Onkyo TX-NR609 in stereo-only mode, no processing). I want to get a separate tube-based setup in a different room, but we don't have a good spot for it right now. Our next home will have a place for said setup :)  

 

I've been buying new music in vinyl, and picking up older stuff when I see it. I've probably got 30 or so albums. Jazz is my favorite stuff to listen to on vinyl. It just sounds "right".

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I've got hundreds of records, in no small part due to keeping my ones from before I got a CD player. I get most things I actually buy on vinyl now, with CD for things I vaguely want but can't really justify the record's price and streaming/downloads for things I'm just curious about.

 

My turntable is the absolutely gorgeous Rega RP3 with an Ortofon M2 Red cartridge; the precursor to the deck Mr. Clown is saving up for. That goes through a Pro-ject phono stage that does the job but if I were buying now wouldn't touch with a barge pole when Rega and NAD both have better options at similar prices, and the cheap (but surprisingly passable) Sony STR-DN860 amp I picked up when my Onkyo died to reach my slightly elderly but still pulling their weight Celestion F3 floorstanders (there's an F35c centre and F20 rears for 5.1 when I'm watching things, with bass staying on those big-bottomed mains rather than a dedicated unit).

 

I'm also "looking after" about 70 or so of my Dad's records, as he's finding the manual dexterity of cueing up vinyl a bit more fiddly these days. Though I did set him up with a new hi-fi that's easier to use a year or two back, so I've not nicked -all- of his classics. Mono first pressings of Sgt. Pepper's are pretty damn sweet, I can tell you, and my ears prefer his original Trout Mask Replica to the re-release.

 

I went on a wallet-destroying binge for about a year after getting the RP3, but now my record buying has calmed down a lot - I'm having so much fun exploring my collection for things I either didn't give a proper opportunity when I first got it, or haven't played in years, I'm not buying anywhere near as much new.

 

As much as I do rib Angry about how many records he has without an ability to play them, I do think he's doing the right thing - one of the things I love about my vinyl habit is that a deck that sounds great will still be a great deck in a decade or two, it's not like picking up a particularly good DVD player or the fastest CPU you can afford.

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Glad you said that Romier. Wanted to know what's the consensus here on the forum between black, color and picture. Are picture discs that much more inferior? Are the grooves not as substantial for long term usefullness or is it overall audio quality from the beginning? Also, 180g?

 

When you and Joey talked about vinyl during our last visit, I said vinyl was a hobby I couldn't return to. Too many hobbies. But damn I remember owning those John Williams LPs in the 80s. Now I'm getting the feels.

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