Can anyone explain the vinyl renaissance?

[MattHooper]

​

Vinyl records are now so hot they move UK inflation​

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/business/vinyl-records-uk-inflation-basket/index.html

“Our inflation basket of goods offers a fascinating snapshot of consumer spending through the years,” ONS deputy director for prices Matt Corder said in a statement. “Often the basket reflects the adoption of new technology, but the return of vinyl records shows how cultural revivals can affect our spending,” he added.

BPI CEO Jo Twist said Monday that it was “entirely natural” for vinyl to be seen as a “popular indicator” of how people are spending their money.
“This much-loved format has seen demand grow consistently for nearly two decades, including among younger and more diverse consumers who stream daily but also love to own their favorite music on physical formats,” she added in a statement.

Vinyl records return to UK inflation basket for first time since 1992

Strong sales of Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) help format make an impact, as air fryers also join list

www.theguardian.com

Not since Simply Red’s album Stars topped the albums chart in 1992 have vinyl records been included in the basket of goods used to calculate annual inflation, but a rise in sales over recent years has brought them back as a marker of UK shop prices.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the “resurgence of popularity” in vinyl records meant they should be included among the 744 items used to calculate inflation each month, in its latest annual shake-up of the basket.

Another generation corrupted ! !

 

[pkane]

Vinyl records are now so hot they move UK inflation​

Isn't Taylor Swift moves UK inflation a more appropriate title?

 

[Axo1989]

A good time to add this CD player concept: enjoy a doll's house version of vinyl's ritualistic/tactile charms without the need to slip off your digital purity ring (the tan line gives the game away in any case, if you want to be a player).

That's too many metaphors and puns I know. What do I think of it? Hoping the cloth doesn't mean it's a self-contained Bluetooth speaker. The tonearm moves from outside to inside, LP-style, which may offend the technically literate, but it's fun. Hopefully moving the tone-arm into place initiates playback. Harmless fun? Or a world gone mad? Hard to say.

 

[MattHooper]

Isn't Taylor Swift moves UK inflation a more appropriate title?

She couldn't have done so with respect to vinyl if vinyl weren't in a renaissance with large numbers of people ready to buy vinyl.

 

[MattHooper]

A good time to add this CD player concept: enjoy a doll's house version of vinyl's ritualistic/tactile charms without the need to slip off your digital purity ring (the tan line gives the game away in any case, if you want to be a player).

View attachment 356435

That's too many metaphors and puns I know. What do I think of it? Hoping the cloth doesn't mean it's a self-contained Bluetooth speaker. The tonearm moves from outside to inside, LP-style, which may offend the technically literate, but it's fun. Hopefully moving the tone-arm into place initiates playback. Harmless fun? Or a world gone mad? Hard to say.

That's funny.

Back when some CD players, like Naim, used top loading and/or a record-holder-like puck on top, I never could decide whether it added some of the tactile charm of playing records or if it was just an annoying and unnecessary distraction.

 

[Doodski]

Back when some CD players, like Naim, used top loading and/or a record-holder-like puck on top, I never could decide whether it added some of the tactile charm of playing records or if it was just an annoying and unnecessary distraction.

The weighty puck used on a top loader CD player causes increased current drive to the CLV/constant linear velocity (Disc Motor) and causes the CD player servo circuitry to work extra hard too. The speed of the servo circuitry in the current drive to the CLV motor is also reduced.

 

[Mean & Green]

My Sony CD Player which I’ve had for 25 years has a puck as part of it’s ’Fixed Pick Up Mechanism’ in which the disc moves over the stationary laser, rather than the other way around. It won’t work without the puck.

 

[Doodski]

My Sony CD Player which I’ve had for 25 years has a puck as part of it’s ’Fixed Pick Up Mechanism’ in which the disc moves over the stationary laser, rather than the other way around. It won’t work without the puck.

View attachment 356446

That sounds very cool. I serviced Sony gear as a factory service warranty depot for a bunch of years and never saw this snazzy model. It must be a newer device.

 

[Mean & Green]

That sounds very cool. I serviced Sony gear as a factory service warranty depot for a bunch of years and never saw this snazzy model. It must be a newer device.

Sony made a few differing models like this both in the QS and ES ranges in the late 90s. Mine is from 1999. It’s been an utterly reliable machine.

 

[Doodski]

Sony made a few differing models like this both in the QS and ES ranges in the late 90s. Mine is from 1999. It’s been an utterly reliable machine.

Ahhh... That explains it. I was just starting my journey into the electromechanical section of the oil and gas industry manufacturing of heavy duty huge equipment stuff. As per Sony being reliable and stuff. I love the gear and loved working with Sony.

 

[AdrianusG]

My Sony CD Player which I’ve had for 25 years has a puck as part of it’s ’Fixed Pick Up Mechanism’ in which the disc moves over the stationary laser, rather than the other way around. It won’t work without the puck.

View attachment 356446

My Sony works this way as well , and also 25+ years without fail
I have the ES model, CDP-XA50ES, built like a tank, when Sony really wanted to, they sure could make nice stuff.

 

[Mean & Green]

My Sony works this way as well , and also 25+ years without fail
I have the ES model, CDP-XA50ES, built like a tank, when Sony really wanted to, they sure could make nice stuff.

They certainly could. I’d go as far as saying Sony CD players from this period are among the best players ever made.

 

[Doodski]

They certainly could. I’d go as far as saying Sony CD players from this period are among the best players ever made.

I provided Sony of Canada warranty service for a bunch of years in the 90s and early early 2000s. I was trained by Sony engineers in specific device types and then was certified for Sony factory service on all models at all price ranges so I could manage anything that crossed my path at the time. I provided warranty service for a bunch of brands that are all nice gear but Sony just was better and is a better company than pretty much all of them. Panasonic Technics was good too, Denon was great and was basically in many models all Sony ICs and lasers, transistors and stuff. What did I use @ my repair workbench for a CD player and at my home audio system at home... High end Sonys of course!

 

[egellings]

Before CD hit the market, DBX developed an encoding process that compressed the signal onto vinyl records and then with the use of a DBX Vinyl Record Decoder in playback, uncompressed the signal, thus reducing noise and expanding range. I stumbled into it a couple years ago by accident and have since bought the decoder and a few more DBX encoded disks. One must use the decoder with DBX encoded vinyl records, of which only about 200 titles were ever made between 1979-1982 or so. I can A/B/C rapidly between digital and DBX vinyl versions of for instance Cal Tjader’s La Onda Va Bien, and the latter sounds so exceptional, I sometimes lose count and am fooled (no pops, no needle drop, dead silent).

I bought that DBX decoder decades ago and it came with a demo vinyl record. It was remarkably quiet. That was the only record I ever had for it, and it and the record was later sold after I get sick of playing the same record over & over again.

 

[deweydm]

Taylor is everywhere. (Ahh, the sailing Taylor.)

Newish local record store with a modest new LP inventory sorted alphabetically, divided by letter. Except for Taylor Swift. She gets her own section separate from all the other new LPs.

And then at one of the few record stores I go to that also still sells new CDs too. Pre teen kid in the store with her dad asks the owner if he has any Taylor Swift CDs. Plenty of Taylor Swift LPs, but sadly no Taylor Swift CDs left in stock.

 

[Doodski]

I bought that DBX decoder decades ago and it came with a demo vinyl record. It was remarkably quiet. That was the only record I ever had for it, and it and the record was later sold after I get sick of playing the same record over & over again.

I kept seeing nice looking DBX gear all through my time in audio gear retail sales and audio repair service. I would be in the basement or warehouse etc and there would be multiples of them sometimes and I would take them up to the sales floors and check them out and they worked fine and nobody wanted them so back into being a dust collector. I never figured out the hesitation about them. I will sell a customer but I don't argue with them and if the people don't want something that's the way it is.

 

[pderousse]

I bought that DBX decoder decades ago and it came with a demo vinyl record. It was remarkably quiet. That was the only record I ever had for it, and it and the record was later sold after I get sick of playing the same record over & over again.

In theory they have 90db of range, and I tend to believe it. It is a real shame that it did not catch on more during the few months DBX encoded records were made (Jack White, are you listening?...). I keep it around now, mostly to show disbelievers.

 

[pderousse]

I kept seeing nice looking DBX gear all through my time in audio gear retail sales and audio repair service. I would be in the basement or warehouse etc and there would be multiples of them sometimes and I would take them up to the sales floors and check them out and they worked fine and nobody wanted them so back into being a dust collector. I never figured out the hesitation about them. I will sell a customer but I don't argue with them and if the people don't want something that's the way it is.

My decoder cost $40 on eBay a few years ago. I wonder what the cost was back then compared to a record. Telling someone they need an extra piece of kit just to play a record seems like a hard sale. By the time CD arrived in 1982, just as DBX was waning, you also had to buy new kit, but the medium was new, small and irresistibly shiny, whereas DBX vinyl looked just like a boring old record.

 

[Doodski]

My decoder cost $40 on eBay a few years ago. I wonder what the cost was back then compared to a record. Telling someone they need an extra piece of kit just to play a record seems like a hard sale. By the time CD arrived in 1982, just as DBX was waning, you also had to by new kit, but the medium was new, small and irresistably shiny, whereas DBX vinyl looked just like a boring old record.

Hmmz. I found the fit and finish of the DBX components to be equal be better than any Japanese electronic component at the time which is a very big compliment. The DBX stuff was silky smooth black anodized alloy and was pretty sweet that way. The front panels where well thought out and where all quality switch gear and such. I guess it's day was just barely before my time and that's why it was in the basements collecting dust.

 

[Robin L]