I just bought myself a new turntable (that’s a ‘gramophone’ to you, Grandad). My old one (an Ariston Q Deck) had stopped working (actually it never started working again after a 10-year hiatus in storage) and although I haven’t bought any vinyl in years (not that anywhere sells it any more even if I wanted to) I do have a sizeable collection of vinyl albums (also fresh out of storage) that I didn’t want to give up on just yet.
Finding a new deck in the first place was hard enough. None of the high-street electrical / home entertainment stores stock them, so I had to turn to the ‘specialist’ shops where I was left with a choice of either a very high-end audiophile deck (replete with valves and walnut burr) or a ‘DJ’ deck (replete with forward and reverse gears, and a pitch-shifting knob). I plumped for the DJ deck (from JB Systems), as it looked hefty enough to withstand my kids bouncing up and down on it (although it nearly gave me a hernia lugging it home).
I remember when CDs first came out that the beardy-purists were up in arms complaining that CDs just didn’t sound as good as vinyl (just as their forefathers no doubt insisted that vinyl was inferior to wax cylinders). And damn me if they weren’t right! As soon as I put the first record on I could hear the difference – the top end was crystal clear, and the whole recording was fuller, brighter, and more clearly-defined. I think years of CDs and MP3s have dulled my senses. I’d written it off as old age, but really I just think my expectations had dropped. And whilst it is excellent to hear some of my old music in shimmering detail, it’s also depressing to know that I own some 800 CDs that I won’t be able to listen to with the same satisfaction ever again…
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