Is vinyl dead ?


Has anyone else noticed the lack of vinyl gear and accessories in the latest Audio Advisor catalogue ? Have sales slipped so much that they no longer feel the need to include this category of products in their catalogues ? Makes you wonder what's going on ??? Sean
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sean
Anybody who reads that other site's "outside" forum knows that Sean isn't kidding. :-(
Albert: Multi-channel "surround" sound. No matter where i go, i can't seem to escape them : ) Sean
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Audio Advisor is always chasing the hot segments. 10 years ago they were big tube sellers. Now they have dropped them. Does that mean tube gear is dead. Not at all. But tube buyers go to specialty stores mostly on the Web. Similarly, analog has gone to the big vinyl catalogs like Music Direct and Accoustic Sounds and Red Trumpet. They have figured out that record buyers will want to buy their gear and accesories from them. Also Needle Doctor (Jerry Raskins). AA is commercially successful, and not dedicated to anything but sales. Several new record pressing plants have come alive in the past two years.
I particularly like Michael Fremer pointing out how several young people he had run into recently thought vinyl was cool, as evidence that the vinyl "resurgence" continues to gather steam. I'm pretty sure this is the same demographic we've complained about over their penchant for MP3 downloading and the death of quality sound.

BUT, MF also points out that vinyl outsold SACD and DVD-A COMBINED. That's the same SACD and DVD-A you can find at major retailers if you know just which corner to look in and don't need any help from the store employees that don't know anything about them.