i was gonna go to the thrift store today and buy a record player, (sound quality and all that) but i wanted to make sure that new records (as in new releases from my favorite artists) could play on an old record player. Is there anything specific that i should know? Whenever you order vinyl from a Label's website, it just says LP. hopefully somebody here can enlighten me.

vynil is vynil man. But good needles and arms are needed to really make them sound good... and a good pre amp for your record player because if your Receiver does NOT have a Phono input on it you will need one.

how much would all that cost me?

hit Radio Shack's web site man... they should carry all that stuff. If you went to say a Tweeter (or something along those lines) they will have more upscale gear.

But if you are buying used I would get a new needle. ALSO, if your receiver DOES NOT HAVE A PHONO INPUT you will have to get that Pre Amp part...I think Radio Shack sold those for aroune $30 but not sure...its been like 5yrs since anyone has really asked me anything in regards to Record Players.

PirateTreasureNC Wrote:hit Radio Shack's web site man... they should carry all that stuff. If you went to say a Tweeter (or something along those lines) they will have more upscale gear.

But if you are buying used I would get a new needle. ALSO, if your receiver DOES NOT HAVE A PHONO INPUT you will have to get that Pre Amp part...I think Radio Shack sold those for aroune $30 but not sure...its been like 5yrs since anyone has really asked me anything in regards to Record Players.

cool, thanks

PirateTreasureNC Wrote:ALSO, if your receiver DOES NOT HAVE A PHONO INPUT you will have to get that Pre Amp part...

Not necessarily! I bought a record player a few months ago, and when I hooked it to my Phono jack, it sounded distorted. I checked it, and the player had a pre-amp built in, so I had to hook it up to a different port on my receiver. It's now "Tape 2" and my phono jack is empty...

Mine has a USB connector to hook it up to a computer, so that may be why it had a pre-amp built in to it. I was not expecting that, so I just wanted to give you a heads-up in case you run into the same situation.

Dont waste your money. Unless you are over 50 and grew up listening to the Beatles on records you are going to think the record sounds like crap and will go back to listening to CDs, just trust me.

There are some people (possibly some under 50) who swear that analog sounds better than digital but I would say that 85% of them are nostalgic windbags.

Unless you buy absolutely top of the line equipment (you cant afford it) you arent going to notice a difference in sound quality either way.

Terpy Wrote:Dont waste your money. Unless you are over 50 and grew up listening to the Beatles on records you are going to think the record sounds like crap and will go back to listening to CDs, just trust me.

There are some people (possibly some under 50) who swear that analog sounds better than digital but I would say that 85% of them are nostalgic windbags.

Unless you buy absolutely top of the line equipment (you cant afford it) you arent going to notice a difference in sound quality either way.

even if i'm listening to new records? i was thinking that instead of buying Nas' new music on CD, i'd buy it on vinyl. Do the new vinyl records not sound a lot better than digital, or is it just old ones?

The way vinyl records are made hasnt changed in probably 40 years. There isnt going to be any difference in sound quality in a record produced today or 35 years ago. The only difference would be the condition of the record, and a record made today is no less likely to get scratched than the one from eons ago. At the purest level it is possible that you can get better sound quality from a record on pristine equipment but 95% of the people listening arent going to be able to discern the difference. Realistically the only reason vinyl records are still produced is for DJs.

Terpy Wrote:The way vinyl records are made hasnt changed in probably 40 years. There isnt going to be any difference in sound quality in a record produced today or 35 years ago. The only difference would be the condition of the record, and a record made today is no less likely to get scratched than the one from eons ago. At the purest level it is possible that you can get better sound quality from a record on pristine equipment but 95% of the people listening arent going to be able to discern the difference. Realistically the only reason vinyl records are still produced is for DJs.

hmm, well thanks, you just saved me a good deal of money. i'm glad i asked these questions before going out and spending the money.

When someone says they like the sound of vinyl better than a CD is only personal preference. They enjoy the scratchiness and such.

The "Warmth" that many apply to older albums comes from the RECORDING process, not playback. The analog tube-powered preamps used during recording provide a slower cut-off at higher sound levels, while digital preamps will just chop off the signal and completely distort the sound once it get's to a certain loudness. Also, recording onto magnetic tape adds its own warmth to the sound, while digital doesn't do this naturally. Now people have found ways to make digital behave like analog, but it doesn't quite sound the same. But bottom line, it's only personal preference.

SouthGAEagle Wrote:

PirateTreasureNC Wrote:ALSO, if your receiver DOES NOT HAVE A PHONO INPUT you will have to get that Pre Amp part...

Not necessarily! I bought a record player a few months ago, and when I hooked it to my Phono jack, it sounded distorted. I checked it, and the player had a pre-amp built in, so I had to hook it up to a different port on my receiver. It's now "Tape 2" and my phono jack is empty...

Mine has a USB connector to hook it up to a computer, so that may be why it had a pre-amp built in to it. I was not expecting that, so I just wanted to give you a heads-up in case you run into the same situation.

Yeah, we carry those USB Turntables now... and you could be right that on THOSE specific ones it has a preamp built in. Not sure why if it had it built in and you used your PHONO input why you would get distortion though. IF anything would make the signal stronger so to speak.... but since I don't have a record player at the moment I can't verify that.

Raider_ATO Wrote:When someone says they like the sound of vinyl better than a CD is only personal preference. They enjoy the scratchiness and such.

The "Warmth" that many apply to older albums comes from the RECORDING process, not playback. The analog tube-powered preamps used during recording provide a slower cut-off at higher sound levels, while digital preamps will just chop off the signal and completely distort the sound once it get's to a certain loudness. Also, recording onto magnetic tape adds its own warmth to the sound, while digital doesn't do this naturally. Now people have found ways to make digital behave like analog, but it doesn't quite sound the same. But bottom line, it's only personal preference.

To a certian degree this is true. HIGH end audio gear can bring out the differences in a lot of music sources. Like tapes playing in Dolby B or C (or if you reall had a nice tape Deck Dolby S ) Noise Reduction can possibly sound as good as a cd if you have a good receiver and good speakers. Also a lot of earlier cds weren't recorded as good as newer ones. A lot of this comes down to the mastering of the original recording, what the music is on, and what equipment it is on. I mean some $3000 towers with a nice B&K amp will sound better (and pick up lots of audio subtelties (sp?)) that a home theatre in a box system just won't reproduce.

flyingswoosh Wrote:

Terpy Wrote:Dont waste your money. Unless you are over 50 and grew up listening to the Beatles on records you are going to think the record sounds like crap and will go back to listening to CDs, just trust me.

There are some people (possibly some under 50) who swear that analog sounds better than digital but I would say that 85% of them are nostalgic windbags.

Unless you buy absolutely top of the line equipment (you cant afford it) you arent going to notice a difference in sound quality either way.

even if i'm listening to new records? i was thinking that instead of buying Nas' new music on CD, i'd buy it on vinyl. Do the new vinyl records not sound a lot better than digital, or is it just old ones?

I didn't realize this is where you were heading in your first post. I agree with Terpy in this and his following post. Every time you play a record (hell, every time you take it out of the sleeve and try to dust it), it's likely to get SOME sort of scratch or degradation - even if you can't really see it. Over a relatively short number of plays even the most well cared for records will suffer a noticeable hit in sound quality. There are a host of other solid technical reasons why vinyl sound quality isn't as good as CD. And as a guy who made the transition from vinyl to CDs with a pretty good sized collection of records, I'm very comfortable saying I'd have no desire to go back unless someone could show me that there have been marked improvements to both recording and playback technology.