Records!! LP's!!

CCity - When I was in college at a meet-and-greet of department TA's they had an icebreaker round where people compared experiences growing up, and one question that got asked was: What was the first music album you remember buying? A rather large number of the people there said it was 'Brothers in Arms'. I was a bit surprised as we had people there from all over the world. I believe it was one of the first DDD recordings, so in a way the CD was the format it was meant to be heard on and the LP is more 'processed'.

It was the DDD characteristic of the CD that, in large part, was the reason for choosing this one to test speakers. There were only a few out there (Ry Cooder had one, as I recall), and I was totally into the triple-D process. I recall passing on otherwise great records that were ADD or AAD, as I assumed they were inherently "inferior." Ah, the mistakes of youth...

My new turntable finally came in.  I picked it up, picked up some dinner and fresh coffee beans and brought it home.  Ate with the family and then went right to work setting it up.  So easy.  I love analog.  Rega Planar 1.  The guy at the audio store who put it together for me took some time to explain lots of little things so it made set up a breeze. And then I spent the rest of the evening listening to a few albums.  Let's see if I can remember all of them.  

Frank Zappa - Tinseltown Rebellion
George Duke - Dream On
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
Chick Corea - Friends
Chick Corea - The Mad Hatter
Bill Buford - One of a Kind

I have to say I'm thrilled with the purchase.  It sounds great.  It really cuts out the little pops and snaps unlike my Technics that seemed to go out of its way to find every single piece of dirt that was on the record.  I'm looking forward to hours of listening pleasure.  Now I have to teach my wife how to use it properly or she'll break it like she does with all my audio gear.  She once insisted on hooking up a powered subwoofer before I got home many years ago.  Needless to say she hooked it up wrong and when she turned it on my top of the line Harman Kardon receiver popped and snapped and produced smoke out it's back end.  Yeah.  I kid you not.  I think she knows better now since she hasn't tried to touch any of our audio or video equipment since.

Thanks for the update. I was really curious to know if the Rega Planar worked out for you. It sounds like it was a great purchase. I wonder if the Sony cartridge was not aligned properly.

I'm really glad to hear that you like it. I used to have a lot of Chick Corea tapes when I was younger, but I haven't listened to him for a while. I'll have to keep an eye out for his stuff.

Yeah. I like the turntable. I am looking forward to spending more time with it. I really want to hook up the iPod to the same stereo, put on the same album on both and switch between them to see if I can tell the difference between the two and which I prefer. I also have a ton of cassette tapes but no decent working tape deck. Not sure I want to invest in that technology and may just take them all in to someone who can covert them to mp3. As for Chick Corea, I saw a couple shows with him and Steve Gadd at The Blue Note in NYC. I was amazed at how great they could sound with Chick at 76 (when I saw him) and Gadd at 72. I'm hoping that he'll do one more tour with Return to Forever so my son can see them live before it's too late. Lenny White is still playing as is Stanley Clarke. We'll see.

MntnMan62 - If/when you get a chance to do your side-by-side comparison of the two formats, let us know your results. I have not been able to do a satisfactory comparison between my LP's and ripped music.

My new turntable finally came in.  I picked it up, picked up some dinner and fresh coffee beans and brought it home.  Ate with the family and then went right to work setting it up.  So easy.  I love analog.  Rega Planar 1.  The guy at the audio store who put it together for me took some time to explain lots of little things so it made set up a breeze. And then I spent the rest of the evening listening to a few albums.  Let's see if I can remember all of them.  

Frank Zappa - Tinseltown Rebellion
George Duke - Dream On
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
Chick Corea - Friends
Chick Corea - The Mad Hatter
Bill Buford - One of a Kind

I have to say I'm thrilled with the purchase.  It sounds great.  It really cuts out the little pops and snaps unlike my Technics that seemed to go out of its way to find every single piece of dirt that was on the record.  I'm looking forward to hours of listening pleasure.  Now I have to teach my wife how to use it properly or she'll break it like she does with all my audio gear.  She once insisted on hooking up a powered subwoofer before I got home many years ago.  Needless to say she hooked it up wrong and when she turned it on my top of the line Harman Kardon receiver popped and snapped and produced smoke out it's back end.  Yeah.  I kid you not.  I think she knows better now since she hasn't tried to touch any of our audio or video equipment since.

Thanks for the update. I was really curious to know if the Rega Planar worked out for you. It sounds like it was a great purchase. I wonder if the Sony cartridge was not aligned properly.

I'm really glad to hear that you like it. I used to have a lot of Chick Corea tapes when I was younger, but I haven't listened to him for a while. I'll have to keep an eye out for his stuff.

Yeah.  I like the turntable.  I am looking forward to spending more time with it.  I really want to hook up the iPod to the same stereo, put on the same album on both and switch between them to see if I can tell the difference between the two and which I prefer.  I also have a ton of cassette tapes but no decent working tape deck.  Not sure I want to invest in that technology and may just take them all in to someone who can covert them to mp3.   As for Chick Corea, I saw a couple shows with him and Steve Gadd at The Blue Note in NYC.  I was amazed at how great they could sound with Chick at 76 (when I saw him) and Gadd at 72.  I'm hoping that he'll do one more tour with Return to Forever so my son can see them live before it's too late.  Lenny White is still playing as is Stanley Clarke.  We'll see.

I bought my Rega way back( either a planer 2 or 3) with a grace tonearm I am pretty sure you will love it. Also my hearing has faded, but a good cartridge and stylus will boost it.

Up for this evening:



I've liked CCR since a friend introduced me to them when I was a teenager.