2. analog
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It costs me $100 a week to listen to vinyl

I know the math is obvious, but with the price of high-end moving coil cartridges averaging $5000.00 and with me averaging 20 hours a week of vinyl listening, I was disturbed to calculate that I am paying $100.00 per week for the privilege of listening to my own records?
I realise that doesn't include the depreciation on my equipment or electricity costs etc so please don't remind me of this?
How smug those who can bare digital must feel about this?
And how much worse for those committed to valve replacements in their pre and power amps?
How can we expect younger audiophiles with mortgages to pay, families to raise and education to provide for to afford the price of entry into an analogue system with such a potential maintenance impost?
I realise there are cheaper cartridges out there and the MMs are a bargain compared to the MCs, but once 'hooked' on vinyl, the desire to 'upgrade' is encouraged by the reviewers and the audio magazines continually announcing a newly anointed 'Kingpin' cartridge which is inevitably a moving coil with a price approaching the GDP of Namibia.
There seems to be no critical challenges to the assumed supremacy of MCs over MMs except for the lone crusade of Raul on this Forum?
Well I have taken the 'Raul challenge' and switched to a 15 year old MM cartridge which cost me $300. The 'running costs' of this are obviously a 'snip' compared to my $5000 MC but the best thing is the revelation that this moving magnet cartridge (and probably many more), are not only as good as some of the vaunted MCs in the market place, but better than most and sometimes by a considerable margin.
As Raul continues to implore us.........."try it, you may be surprised?"
128x128halcro
axelwahl
788 posts
 
Hi,
>>> As Raul continues to implore us.........."try it, you may be surprised?" <<<

There is a rub, where can you find this stuff and be sure it is still in good nick?!
The current offerings seem ALL without exception targeted at the LO- and Mid-Fi. I have listened to some of these, no thanks.

I do realise that during the early MC period (~ early 80s) some top MMs were made. And I guess could compete with the even then VERY PRICEY MC offerings (you needed at step-up trannie too, no 60dB phono-stages then). I sure opted out then as the cost was just too high.

So, I still have a creeping suspicion, it's still: you get what you pay for.
Listening to some more affordable HI- and LO-MCs tells me just that. Never mind those 'run of the mill' main-stream current MM offerings, wanna be a DJ?

If I'm right (and who can say?) it's back to digging up some TOP MMs of days gone by, and I guess Raul is way ahead of us.
So let's hear of some MMs you can actually BUY, and not just find after a lot of scratching on the internet.

Raul gave me a short list on his MM thread, and as from my part of the world ---- niente!

Greetings,
Axel
edle
235 posts
 
$400 for a month of entertainment is a bargain. Since you are home all the time, your wife or GF will love it too.
mlsstl
1,438 posts
 
Er perhaps you should read my post again? Isn't that what I'm saying?
Er, perhaps I was agreeing with where you finally arrived in your post? ;-)
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Quit listening to the reviewers. I think anyone who truly has an ear for acoustic music realizes that a < $2K vinyl setup with a <$500 (or even <$200) cart beats any digital there is, and can be entirely musically satisfied.

Get a 103 or 103R (with a suitable arm!) if you don't want a high "hourly rate" with your vinyl.

(My other hobby, or rather at this point perhaps I should say my other former hobby, was flying, where $100/hr for the experience is reasonable. For listening to music - hardly!)
chayro
2,998 posts
 
If we have any boat owners here - divide the total cost per year of ownership by the hours actually spent on the water. What do you come up with? Quite a bit.
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