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LP's

Posted by el_37 (A) on February 23, 2007 at 08:46:56

In Reply to: An enlightened view of Vintage posted by DavidLD on February 23, 2007 at 04:37:15:

I still find it very strange that you really think that LP's are an inferior medium to CD's. LP's are a way more tedious medium than CD's (by a longshot!!!) but I still feel that given all the work involved that it is still the superior format sonically.

If you are using a low or mid level vintage turntable/arm/cart combo, and playing some bad condition records I could see your point...but even my first foray in to serious vinyl playback a few years ago (a Thorens TD-160 with a stock arm and 1975 Shure V15 III) still blew away about 90% of the CD's in my collection (I own about 500), and LP's form the core of my music library due to that fact (about 2,500).

I no longer use the Thorens, and am using a VPI HW19 series table with a Sumiko Blackbird cart. I am planning on upgrading soon to a current VPI table...and VPI tables are really a brand that shows you how modern advancements in technology and manufacturing can be applied to LP playback.

There are quite a few people into hi end vintage idler drive tables...such as the Garrard 301/401, Thorens TD-124, and the various broadcast tables (Fairchild, EMT, Gates, etc.) and while I have heard extremely involving sound from these setups (the the point were I was ready to plunk down serious cash to put one together) they still (IMO) get beat by anything in the $1000-$2000 bracket new. Considering that you will easily pay $1500 just for a vintage hi end idler deck (just the deck no arm, no plinth)...spending $2000 on an entire new turntable/arm combo does not look very bad...and there are plenty of great condenters in that bracket.

In my personal main system, I use a mix of vintage tube amplification from the 1950's and 1960's, but they are paired up with a pair of Triangle Celius ES speakers. I really do not think that tube power amp technology has really advanced much since the 1960's (some people do), but I do feel that driver technology has come a LONG way from the mid century mark. I still use several pairs of vintage Bozak speakers, and I love they way they sound, but they pale in comparison to almost any new speaker in the $1000+ (retail) bracket.

A $1000 is not a lot these days to spend on a pair of speakers. My Bozak B-302A's were bought for about $500-$600 in 1967 (at least according to the original owner I purchased them from- and he got them on sale from Macy's!!!) and you could find new cars in the $1500-$2000 bracket in that year.

I am interested to find out what LP playback system you are using as a benchmark in your comparisons. I have heard many CD playback systems (some that are just insane- $8000 transports and the like) that sound quite good...but they just can't compare to a modestly good LP playback system...and the fact that their owners always use the term "it is very analog like"...always makes me wonder what their actual goal is.

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