Turntable time
Yesterday I set up a turntable system. Record player. It's incredible.
I bought a new turntable about 5 years ago but rarely used it because it was connected to some worn out speakers at first, and then to one of those big Bose jobs next. When moving furniture from my parents house I got two big almost new Sony speakers(same size as my worn out Advents) from my New Orleans jazz loving mother and father. So with turntable and speakers, I pulled out my old(1974) Sansui amplifier, some new cable, and now I have a sound in my big lower level family room that is startlingly good compared to that muted CD sound.
Several comments on all of this:
---Bose is in my opinion a well advertised hoax. The small clock radio is good but expensive. The sound for something that size and for that purpose is just fine. The larger Bose is poor. There's no sound separation and there are not even any bass and treble controls. I was given the larger one by my team when I left my last job and it was a wonderful gift, but I don't think it's a product that lives up to its hype.
---The Sansui amp was bought along with two big Advent speakers and a Dual turntable in 1974. The combination cost about $650 at a time when as a teacher I was making $7,200 a year pre-tax. Now that was a time when I had my priorities straight.
---My records are almost all from the 60's and 70's with a few 50's and 80's. Even scratched they just sound juke boxy wonderful on big speakers. Strolling in Greenwich Village yesterday I went by Bleecker Records and they carry a selection of "new vinyl". Artists do still sanction real records to get that sound. So I bought a new vinyl, "Otis Blue", an old Otis Redding album. It's good, but I'm not so sure that it is as good as my scratched original old vinyl "The Soul Album" by Otis Redding. Perhaps it's not, or possibly the scratches on the older one are ingrained in my subconscious in a positive way.
If you have the chance, try out some vinyl.
I bought a new turntable about 5 years ago but rarely used it because it was connected to some worn out speakers at first, and then to one of those big Bose jobs next. When moving furniture from my parents house I got two big almost new Sony speakers(same size as my worn out Advents) from my New Orleans jazz loving mother and father. So with turntable and speakers, I pulled out my old(1974) Sansui amplifier, some new cable, and now I have a sound in my big lower level family room that is startlingly good compared to that muted CD sound.
Several comments on all of this:
---Bose is in my opinion a well advertised hoax. The small clock radio is good but expensive. The sound for something that size and for that purpose is just fine. The larger Bose is poor. There's no sound separation and there are not even any bass and treble controls. I was given the larger one by my team when I left my last job and it was a wonderful gift, but I don't think it's a product that lives up to its hype.
---The Sansui amp was bought along with two big Advent speakers and a Dual turntable in 1974. The combination cost about $650 at a time when as a teacher I was making $7,200 a year pre-tax. Now that was a time when I had my priorities straight.
---My records are almost all from the 60's and 70's with a few 50's and 80's. Even scratched they just sound juke boxy wonderful on big speakers. Strolling in Greenwich Village yesterday I went by Bleecker Records and they carry a selection of "new vinyl". Artists do still sanction real records to get that sound. So I bought a new vinyl, "Otis Blue", an old Otis Redding album. It's good, but I'm not so sure that it is as good as my scratched original old vinyl "The Soul Album" by Otis Redding. Perhaps it's not, or possibly the scratches on the older one are ingrained in my subconscious in a positive way.
If you have the chance, try out some vinyl.
posted by John Borden at 4:16 PM
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