Between the Speakers Part One — The Pros and Cons of Vinyl

As a guy who has spent nearly 4/5ths of his life obsessively collecting and listening to music, I am amazed at how long it took for me to finally pay attention to my gear and how accurately it reproduced recorded music.  It happened just a few years ago when I bumped into an old BIC turntable at a local flea market.  It was packed neatly, with the manual and other documentation tightly sealed in a zip lock plastic bag.  Better still, it was offered at a bargain price of just $25.  I’m not sure why I bought it, other than the fact that it had a cool retro look, seemed to be well cared for and I vaguely remembered BIC being a premium brand when I was a kid.

When I got the BIC unwrapped and fired it up at home, I was floored.   The sonic upgrade over the cheap newer Sony turntable I had been using was not subtle.  This was a game changer.  I ran to the garage and started to pull out my old vinyl favorites.  The BIC brought a sense of space, warmth and detail to the recordings that I did not know was possible.  It was almost like hearing these records for the first time.  This sweet little turntable, unfortunately, gradually grew to hate me, perhaps due to overwork.  I knew this because it developed a strange proclivity to randomly and willfully spin in the wrong direction.  The problem worsened over time and the BIC had to be put down, but it had served it’s purpose well.  It opened my ears to the potential of recorded media.  It taught me that well-designed, well-matched components could combine to present recorded music with remarkable accuracy and confidence.

This revelation, something I should have thought of much sooner, led me to evaluate every single component in the playback of my collection of records, CDs and cassettes.  It initiated a quest for gear that went on for years, until I finally landed on a set of components that delivered the best possible performance for my ears within my budget.  I tried a variety of turntables, phono preamps and cartridges.  I experimented with CD, SACD, DVD-Audio formats and tried using standalone Digital Audio Converters (DACs).  I went through a series of vintage receivers, integrated amplifiers, power amplifiers and preamps.  There was much to learn, but the process has been fun and each time I stumble into a new “breakthrough” for my system, it renews my enjoyment of both new and familiar recordings.

With this series, I’m going to give you a few pointers that can help you get more enjoyment from your music.  Books have been written about the subject and I haven’t read any of ‘em.  So you can expect this to be a basic, non-scientific overview, written for music lovers who would like better sound, but don’t have a fortune and don’t know where to begin.  There’s a lot to cover, so Between the Speakers will be an ongoing, episodic feature on Justriffin.com.  We’ll begin with a discussion of the fastest growing music format today, the 33 1/3rd vinyl record album.

The Great Vinyl Debate

When the first audio CD players and disks were introduced in the early 80s, manufacturers did a remarkable job of selling consumers on the superiority of the format.  CDs, we were told, were more compact and offered higher fidelity, but the real kicker was that you could say goodbye to any pops, scratches and other imperfections found in vinyl pressings.  As prices for CD players came down, nearly everybody who listened to music bought one and then started to rebuild their collection with this new, “improved” format.  It was a win, win, win.  The manufacturers were happy.  The record labels were happy.  And consumers loved the new format.

In just a few years, the turntable all but disappeared from the American living room and was suddenly considered to be as outdated and unsightly as CRT tube televisions and rotary phones.    A nation of turntables were unplugged and packed away.  The albums went next as Americans unloaded crate upon crate of vinyl records.  Some were sold for next to nothing.  Others were stored or donated.  The most unwanted albums were put to the curb.  In the eighties and most of the nineties, vinyl records were almost worthless.

Then a funny thing started to happen about ten years ago.  A growing number of baby boomers and their kids started losing interest in the MP3 format.   MP3s, iTunes and illegal downloads were diminishing the perceived value of recorded music.   Music was no longer an art form on par with television and film.  Music was cheap, or even cheaper if you stole it off the internet.  Music was portable.  Music was disposable.  Music was something you played to distract yourself from the tedium of something else, like jogging.  The resurgence of vinyl records changed all that and revitalized the way people consume and experience music.  It may ultimately save the industry.

So you might be wondering just what it is that makes vinyl so cool?   It has a number of advantages, and admittedly some disadvantages when compared to other audio formats.  I will cover them below in a simple Pros and Cons format.

Pros:
 -Warmer, more spacious and detailed presentation of recorded music than most CDs and digital formats
-The vinyl format, with two sides of songs, and five or six songs per side is more easily approached and digested than today’s 70-minute compact disk.  CDs often give the listener more than they want, need or have time for.
-Vinyl encourages focused listening sessions.   You listen to a record because you want to, not to kill time on the treadmill
-The covers of many vinyl lps are nearly as entertaining as the music itself.  A generation of boomers grew up listening to records and staring at the art.  They went well together.  CDs are small and simply can’t replicate that experience.
-It’s just fun to watch them spin

Cons:
-Requires a good turntable, cartridge and receiver with phono input for peak performance.  A quality vinyl rig doesn’t have to be expensive, but in general, a good turntable will cost more than a good CD player.
-Setting up a new turntable, cartridge and stylus takes knowledge, patience and experience to achieve maximum benefit.
-Vinyl is not portable.  You can’t take it to the gym.
-New and used vinyl lps have gotten expensive, routinely costing more than compact disks and digital downloads of the same music
-Vinyl records require cleaning and care to minimize unwanted audio defects caused by dirt in the grooves and scratches

Getting peak performance from a turntable and vinyl LPs isn’t for the faint of heart.  It takes a willingness to seek out the right gear and experiment with the variables, such as placement, cartridge, overhang, tracking force and anti-skating.  But once you’ve heard one of your favorite recordings played on a solid, properly set up turntable, there’s no turning back.  Finding a suitable turntable is relatively easy these days but does take a bit of research.  Some things to consider during your search are:

–  Wonderful vintage turntables can be found on Craigslist, E-Bay, Audiogon, yard sales and flea markets.   Many audiophiles seek specific vintage models from Dual, Thorens, Marantz and Denon.  Do your homework. Finding a well maintained, high quality unit may take some time, but the hunt is part of the fun.
– Brand new turntables are available from a growing number of manufacturers.   New turntables from Pro-ject, Rega and VPI offer a high performance/dollar ratio and quality models can be had for around $500 or less.
– It’s very important to note that most turntables require a special phono input.  Although once a common feature, most consumer grade stereo and home theatre receivers no longer offer a phono (turntable) input.  Using a turntable with a receiver that does not have a phono input is possible but requires a phono preamp, which is designed to boost the input signal.  Phono preamps can be purchased for as little as $50, but a high quality, tube preamp can be one of the best upgrades you’ll ever purchase for your vinyl setup.  Phono preamps are not the best place to pinch pennies.  Jolida makes one of the beter mid range tube phono preamps with their JD9, which are available for less than $600.
-Be sure to Google before you buy.  Even the best manufacturers released some weak, budget decks.
-Audiokarma.com is a great resource for the budding audiophile.  Members can not only read the forum posts, they can also ask for advice from the site’s many audio experts.

I hope you enjoyed this first installment of Between the Speakers.  If you find the information to be helpful and entertaining, please let me know.  Feel free to drop me a line if you have any specific questions.  Happy hunting!