I got a nice Denon turntable for Christmas from she-who-must-be-obeyed and it's made all the difference in the world. I look forward to playing my vinyl once again, most of it from before 1983 (pretty much Sandinista was the last current LP I bought). I only have a couple high-end reissues, such as the 40th anniversary reissue of the first Ramones album, and maybe these old ears have been destroyed by too many concerts up close, but I can't discern a sizable difference.
Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
The Ice Cream Lady Wet her drawers........To see you in the Passion Playyyy eeee - I. Anderson
"It's kind of like deciding not to date a beautiful blonde anymore because she farted." - Top Cat
I was expecting to be kinda meh, but it made my nips stiffen - Jerjo
(Zamran) "that fucking thing man . . . it sits there on my wall like a broken clock " - Helix
Social Media is the "Toilet" of the Internet - Lady Gaga
Is that a serious question? No wonder the grading thing stumped you so badly.
"Spindle marks" is a common term that anyone who has been around record collecting for more than 5 minutes knows. They are spider lines on the labels, caused by placing the record on the spindle. A record that has never been played will have no spindle marks. A record with no spindle marks will likely have had few plays, if any, and thus will not suffer from groove wear. (There's another technical record collecting term for ya.) So my comment regarding spindle marks was related to wear and audible deterioration.
"And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision."
Occasional musical musings on https://darkelffile.blogspot.com/
A bit curious as to what amplifier ya'll are using.
Once I bought my used Pioneer turntable I decided to go vintage and found a Realistic STA2000 AM/FM stereo receiver rated at 75W per channel.
I love the tuner light at night, and it even has VU meters... ahhhhh the smell of vintage electronics.
realistic-sta-2000-front-lit.jpg
Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457
Spindle marks are a real thing, They are a legitimate indication of usage and handling to serious collectors. Those taking the greatest care try to ensure they are not blindly placing the disc on the spindle. They might even guide it from the underside. Nobody, not even you, can hit the spindle perfectly every time. So, if someone is asking a high price for something they claim was "played only once" (or whatever), one might be able to point to spindle marks as an indication of greater use. So, maybe record collectors aren't "pretty easy to fool," like you suggest.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
TBH, I didn't know that myself... Never thought about looking at it, because....
... exactly,... When I put a record on the TT (yeah, I still do that once in a while >> I've even bought two used Lps last year)), I generally grab the disc by the outer edges(middle finger and palm) and help getting it right by guiding my hands with my pinkies onto the tray & rubber mat, so it (spindle) goes in the hole in one shot without much contact of the labels at all.
I thought everybody +/- serious into vinyls did that the same way... but yeah, I've seen idiot almost tossing it on the tray and then sliding the disc around until it finds the spindle and hole. I ca,n imagine you'd want to avoid buying anything
Even with "my pinkie-guiding trick", I couldn't hit it 100% of the time
But yeah, when I was talking of wear, it was the groove itself
I had a Yamaha CR-1010 receiver (looking a bit like that Realistic photo) and YPB-4 TT in Toronto.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457
It's becoming apparent that your entire record purchasing has been confined to brick and mortar stores, as you are entirely unaware of the nomenclature.
Also, you may not have rubbed the label all over the spindle, but look closely around the hole. The signs of use will be there.
I can guarantee you that when I open a package with a used record and inspect it, when I see no signs of use around the center hole, I don't immediately think "man, I bet this has had the shit played out of it. Probably gonna be noisy as hell."
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Over that last 8 years or so I've been buying a lot of used records, I always take them out of the cover and visually inspect. Almost all of the Prog I'm finding is in excellent shape, I'm generalizing but appears proggers took care of their records for the most part, I know I did back in the day, I treasured most of my records.
Jazz and hard rock for whatever reason is where I see the most beat up scratched dirty stuff, I mustva passed on 10 copies of Black Sabbaths debut before I found one in decent shape.
A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice.
I don't miss it at all... beit for CD or vinyls, FTM.... Unless I'm in a highly specialized B&M store (for ex, a Ghent SH B&M shop where I found Kandahar's third album >> trick was that the band's homebase was Ghent >> he didn't have it on my first visit, but since I'd asked for it, he made sure it was in the bins for the next years or so) .
And you're right, if I can find it on the web (bandcamp, vendor or even last resort, Amazon), I'm all for not wasting my time at general record fairs or general used record shops.
I'm so tired of it that I dion't even flip in the garage sales bins (where you get probably the best find for dirt cheap)... unless the dude/owner looks like someone who has music tastes I could get along with.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
That's a big part of the ritual.., never know what your going to find while flipping.
Last weekend I scored a sealed copy of The Good Rats Tasty album from 1974 and a sealed copy of the Boston fusion ensemble Orchestra Luna, also from 1974.
Both well recorded and in perfect shape!
Last edited by nosebone; 05-17-2018 at 11:13 AM.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
^^ this is so true, I never knew BloodRock 2 was proggy, or that Donald Byrd had a fusion period, etc, taking a $3 chance on something has opened my horizons many times. The affordability of used vinyl has also allowed me to become a semi-completist with Larry Coryell, Tangerine Dream, Family, Brand X, Anthony Phillips, Steeleye Span, yada yada blah blah etc.
Speaking to browsing yard sales, one can usually tell within 25 album flips if it's gonna be a target rich use of time.
A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice.
I've largely given up the vinyl browsing after spending many hours flipping through stacks to find very little of interest or usually overpriced if it is interesting. Except for maybe the jazz section, I find that 99% of the records are the same batch of "usual suspects" I've see time and time again. Maybe I don't have the time or the patience any more. I've had better luck online and I guess I've been relatively lucky with the grading and representation being accurate for the most part.
Going to Johnnys Records in Darien Ct this afternoon.
I haven't been there since the 80s...http://johnnysrecords.com/#
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
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