How did you get into vinyl?

Same as DCStep, almost down to the timing. Got into (semi-) high end in the 80's, but by 1990, burned out on tubes, cartridges, step-ups, etc., went whole-hog into CD's (figuring they'd get them right soon enough)...yet last fall something came over me and I pulled out the LP12, fixed it up, listened to it, and was amazed that all the things I was finding annoying (as I got back into tubes and etc.) almost vanished when the stylus slipped into the groove. Last week replaced my 20+ year old Koetsu Black with a new one and -Whoa!- THIS is LIVING! A Rhea is on the way...

My age in the begining was the biggest factor . I never enjoyed using any kind of tape(8 track or cassette ) other than the reel to reel I owned . When CD,s came out I like most gave into the conveniance of there use and the unavailability of vynil I was not use to. First impressions WOW thats loud , but I slowly stopped listening to music after years of upgrading players , transports and cables . Thats when I realized for "my ears" then, (mid 90,s) I never wanted to listen to music for long periods with digital like I enjoyed with vynil . I started listening to vynil and thus the music again . I know now there are players and transports out there now that can do a very good job of replicating the sound of a very good vynil set up but I just don,t have the interest in them . I remember when tubes were pushed aside by the ease of use and perceived reliability of solid state . Even McIntosh went that direction for years . Now tubes are back and alot of people are at least employing them in the pre amplification of their systems and many digital front ends are also employing tubes . Some might think I,m going astray from the thread topic but what do all these products persue ? The highest degree of performance towards neutral and natural anologue sound they can afford . Thats why I personally do not think of it as an addiction but rather being satisfied with the roots of it . I suppose if I was alot younger I may have a different veiw not growing up with vynil but then when ever one of my four children are around and I,m playing records like Pink Floyd , or Billie Holiday or BB King they actually sit down and listen to the music . Thats a statement in itself. The era got me into it , the music keeps me in it . Cheers...........

This is going to be an answer you'll see a lot: I'm 54 years old. That's even before the 8-track.

I agree with Krellman. I am 59, when I was young, vinyl was cutting edge technology. A lot of us have never been out of vinyl. Now, particularly if you like classical, it's really no contest. Here in the UK, we have all those old Decca SXL and HMV ASD's to hunt down.

Vinyl was the way to listen to the music you wanted to hear. There was no digital, our choices were the radio or LP's. Radio you were at the mercy of the DJ's as to what music was playing. With LP's you could play whatever you wanted...
I was laughing the other night recalling the days when placing a nickel on top of the headshell for better tracking. LOL.

Adjustable VTF makes things so much easier nowadays....

Cheers,
John

As a soon to be 6 year old in 1964, I requested Let It Be for my birthday. In '71 I bought the Concert for Bangadesh at the local Korvettes for something like $13 - my older brother and father thought I was nuts for having bought such an expensive 3LP set.

Cut to the late 80's living on my own in NYC. I got my first high end stereo - Quad ESL63's with the full Crosby mod. I had heard the ESL 63USA in a computer/stereo store and had never heard such realistic playback.

I was heavily into CD's at that time, especially those marked "DDD," of course not realizing the era's flawed digital masters and numerous analog to digital and back steps required at that pre digital mixer era.

I got the Quads set up with some great Spectral gear (all bought used through Audiomart - anyone remember that?) Just for fun I fired up my old $100 technics turntable I got in junior high and my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe that such a cheap and old table sounded better than my close to $750 highly rated Phillips 880 CD player.

At that point I found a used Well Tempered table from a dealer and bought a used Spectral MCR - it was out of alignment and was able to get my money back and got the then brand new Lyra Clavis. I put the table on Goldmund cones, which made it so much faster sounding, and tweeked everything with blue tak.

At that time I was living in NY's east village and passed great stores like St. Marks Sounds (and half a dozen other record shops) every day on my way home from work.

At that time in NY, everyone was getting rid of their vinyl. By the milk crate load, people would bring in promo pressings, japanese, german, MoFi, CBS half speed and some original pressings into these stores. The clerks knew me by face and what I was looking for, and would go into the back to drop off a stack of LP's in front of me that had not yet been put out for sale. This was almost all rock.

I did overbuy a bit - sometimes getting doubles of mofi and japanese titles, simply because they were there. Most LP were in the $4 - $13 range ($10-13 for 1/2 speeds and imports) I got a few excellent white label promos as well.

Then I started getting curious about jazz. I had bought a few suggested audiophile jazz lp's and really liked what I heard. I then discovered Mercer St. Books and a guy by the name of Brian Singer. He had an amazing mental catalog of great sounding/performance jazz LP's, and I proceeded to buy tons of stuff from the store at usually reasonable prices. (This guy had a separate apartment just for his huge collection of LP's) I even bought a small collection of classical.

All in all I bought approximately 3500 LP's over a few year period, and have added to that mostly Blue Note era, Pablo's and some great reissues as well as new LP releases from that time forward.

Last year I finally upgraded the table to a top quality rig (Raven One and Phantom arm) I am finally hearing what was really on those LP's after all these years, thanks to this amazing front end.

I really like the break needed to change LP's during listening. The sound is so overwhelming and so high in drama when played back at realistic volumes, that I need those few minutes to reflect on how amazing the recreation of these masterpiece records are. I also have a pretty good (though innexpensive) digital playback rig consisting of a PS Audio DLIII fed via USB.

I just find that digital, though it can be excellent sounding, doesn't move me nearly to the extent that vinyl playback does. Hence my listening these days tends to be over 90% LP.

I am now thinking of getting a state of the cart, which should expand on my vinyl enjoyment even more. Even if someday a better quality playback medium surfaces, I won't be able to amass such a great collection of music.

And now with vinyl achieving hipster status, we no longer have to defend our choice in playback formats. Add to that the fact that 10-15 years from now, the CD will be obsolete, but the LP will still stand as a vital, viable format.