I put a piece of vinyl on a turntable today for the first
time in what must have been decades. My 13-year-old daughter bought a few
ancient Beatles forty-fives from a Covent Garden peddler on our family trip to
London last summer and had lobbied hard ever since for a record player. So I
hauled my old Technics turntable out of the back of the closet and hooked it up
to an old stereo in the basement. My excitement building, I poked around in
another musty closet to fish out a few old Al Stewart records, then lumbered
back down the basement stairs to cue up "Nostradamus."
At first there was an audiophile moment: the bass was indeed strong, the highs crisp and bell-like. Vinyl really did sound better! Then came the crackles and pops, and I remembered why CDs were such a revelation when they came along. Oh, well. When my daughter got home from school we had a teachable moment when I showed her how to gently lower the needle into the groove.
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At first there was an audiophile moment: the bass was indeed strong, the highs crisp and bell-like. Vinyl really did sound better! Then came the crackles and pops, and I remembered why CDs were such a revelation when they came along. Oh, well. When my daughter got home from school we had a teachable moment when I showed her how to gently lower the needle into the groove.
Read more...