Record Players

[simon.r]

MrsR is changing the furniture around and we’ve moved the record player (or “vinyl player” as I heard it referred to on the radio a few days ago) into the living room.

What a pleasure to listen to some old records.

They don’t last long though, do they? 20 minutes or so for one side of a LP, 3 or 4 minutes for a single.

Perhaps the exercise involved in getting up and changing records regularly was the reason we all so skinny in the 70’s and 80’s?

 

[Paulus]

I have a good collection of singles and LP's from the 60's and 70's. Unfortunately, nothing to play them on. There is a warmer sound from vinyl that gets lost on digital, CD's or downloads. I will have to invest in a record player.
Also, there does seem to be a bit of a resurgence in record shops again. I have noticed a couple on my way to work recently.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

I have a good collection of singles and LP's from the 60's and 70's. Unfortunately, nothing to play them on. There is a warmer sound from vinyl that gets lost on digital, CD's or downloads. I will have to invest in a record player.
Also, there does seem to be a bit of a resurgence in record shops again. I have noticed a couple on my way to work recently.

Define warmer. How will the waveform seen on an oscilloscope differ from what you'll see with tape or digital?

 

[simon.r]

I have a good collection of singles and LP's from the 60's and 70's. Unfortunately, nothing to play them on. There is a warmer sound from vinyl that gets lost on digital, CD's or downloads. I will have to invest in a record player.
Also, there does seem to be a bit of a resurgence in record shops again. I have noticed a couple on my way to work recently.

Same here, (but a collection from the 70’s and 80’s). Worth spending a few quid in my opinion. I bought a Sony record player for about £100, which plugged into the existing amplifier and speakers.

 

[simon.r]

Define warmer. How will the waveform seen on an oscilloscope differ from what you'll see with tape or digital?

It’s the background crackling sound that makes the difference.

Opinion based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever. And may be down to nostalgia

 

[TreeHuggery]

MrsR is changing the furniture around and we’ve moved the record player (or “vinyl player” as I heard it referred to on the radio a few days ago) into the living room.

What a pleasure to listen to some old records.

They don’t last long though, do they? 20 minutes or so for one side of a LP, 3 or 4 minutes for a single.

Perhaps the exercise involved in getting up and changing records regularly was the reason we all so skinny in the 70’s and 80’s?

Do you remember the "arms" on the old players, which you could set to repeat if you were feeling lazy?

 

[Paulus]

I would define warmer as more mellow, with digital, although the sound quality is great, you can pick out every note from every instrument, the vinyl sound is every bit as good, but not so graphic. Hard to explain to someone who may not of heard a LP on a good deck and amplifier.

 

[simon.r]

Do you remember the "arms" on the old players, which you could set to repeat if you were feeling lazy?

No, if I’m honest. I do remember stacking half a dozen singles up, the theory being that the record player would drop them and play then one after another. But they always started to slip after 3 or 4 records!

 

[PK99]

Define warmer. How will the waveform seen on an oscilloscope differ from what you'll see with tape or digital?

http://www.thephysicsmill.com/2013/01/06/sound-vinyl-records-vs-digital-files/

https://i1.wp.com/www.thephysicsmill.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sampling_rate.png

 

[TreeHuggery]

No, if I’m honest. I do remember stacking half a dozen singles up, the theory being that the record player would drop them and play then one after another. But they always started to slip after 3 or 4 records!

yeah you had to put a halfpenny on to stop it doing that

 

[simon.r]

I would define warmer as more mellow, with digital, although the sound quality is great, you can pick out every note from every instrument, the vinyl sound is every bit as good, but not so graphic. Hard to explain to someone who may not of heard a LP on a good deck and amplifier.

I’d make an analogy to listening to a band live and a recording. The recording is always going to be ‘better’, but the live performance has something a bit different.

It’s very difficult to explain.

 

[Drago]

http://www.thephysicsmill.com/2013/01/06/sound-vinyl-records-vs-digital-files/

https://i1.wp.com/www.thephysicsmill.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sampling_rate.png

A wax cylinder of Marconi's Greatest Morse Messages would give better sound quality than an MP3.

 

[robjh]

Define warmer. How will the waveform seen on an oscilloscope differ from what you'll see with tape or digital?

http://www.thephysicsmill.com/2013/01/06/sound-vinyl-records-vs-digital-files/

A couple of years ago I was chatting on a ride to one of the many sciency types that one meets in Cambridge, who told me that his company had been analyzing the differences that some people claim to hear between digital and vinyl recordings, and that these were real and regular enough that said company had found a way of manipulating the digital recording to make it more satisfactory to these listeners. I can't remember the details, but it certainly covered some of the ground in that link. I can't even remember who told me, but then Cambridge is full of cyclists (and full of scientists) and I do get to talk to a lot of people when out on the bike.

 

[tyred]

Pah! Modern electronic nonsense.

 

[PK99]

A wax cylinder of Marconi's Greatest Morse Messages would give better sound quality than an MP3.

I used to have an Edison Amberola 7 wax cylinder player and I can confidently say you are mistaken in yor belief!