For those who like listening to turntables on their main systems, why should I consider putting money into this? Can you help me understand why you like listening to records better than HQ streaming?
Thanks in advance for sharing your opinions.
My system is 2.2
I have records dating from as early as 1927 (the year my father was born).
And many ethnic records of Gullah (spoken on the Islands where I grew up during my USA times) and of Austrian (Salzburg region, mostly the dialect songs from the country-side there [where I spent a lot of my child hood & into my mid 20's also]).
For these I have 2 turntables, one set up for the earlier so called "shellac" records (a DUAL 1229 with an old SHURE MONO cartridge for the old 78 RPM stuff. I can change this out with an additional SHURE V15 TYPE IV set up for the newer mono "vinyl" LP's.
For the even newer "microgroove stereo LP's I have a Technics SL-M3 (1984-1988 computer controlled servo linear tracking turntable [if you have never seen one of these in action, I highly recommend looking them up on YouTube]). This "linear tracking" eliminates inner grove distortion as a problem. But because it is a T4P (a P-Mount with very specific specifications), it adds a complication, in that these P-Mounts are not common. I am using a SHURE ULTRA 300 cartridge at the moment (and have several lesser SHURE T4P Mounts and one Technics cartridge (the original one that came on the turntable, can't remember the model right now).
It happens that JICO makes styli that, while not exactly the same sounding as the original SHURE styli, fit and are close enough (some very, very close) that they can be equalized to sound match the original SHURES (or even better: room EQ to flat & adjust to your liking , like adding spices to a recipe, so to speak).
I still by new LP's from time to time (and I have many CD, DVD, Blu Ray & 4K disks for my oPPo 205 UDP to play. I also have some digital downloads.
As to the future of my collection (and collecting): I plan to digitize everything I have on record and disk, starting about a year from now (when I expect to retire). And to have it all stored digitally. But, I will continue to purchase LP's, CD's, DVD's, Blu Ray's & 4K as long as they are available.
Streaming from a source material that I don't own, is highly unlikely (unless I am browsing to find something I want to own).
Now, should you spend the money to get a turntable & curate LP's? Strictly from a financial perspective? No Strictly from a sound perspective? No
If it's because you happen to like LP's & the type of care involved (occasional deep cleaning with a record cleaning machine of some sort [preferably before the first play of the record], the cleaning with a record brush & the other side) before each play, the obtaining and use of proper anti-static, anti-dust sleeves and a liteny of other things that those of us who grew up with these machines that require a bit of maintenance from time to time, then the enjoyment of how amazing that dragging a rock threw a groove can make music that, at it's best, can sometimes be hard to decide that it really is not as good as digital (especially in a home environment that has a bit of ambient background noise), then it might be for you.
But if you are not prone to tinkering, being meticulous and fastidious, then it's not likely to be for you.
Unless you are just following some of the herd that took off on a retro tangent.
If I had not acquired the gear that I have as I went along, would I now start getting into LP's?
I love what I have, I really do, but I must say that the most likely answer would be NO! Unless I was a "trust fund baby".
And I didn't even cover the what is now very esoteric quad stuff I have. There are too many rabbit holes to go down to even start to get involved with it.
I would say, if you don't already have the LP's (that you have kept in excellent shape) & better than average gear to play them on (much of the gear can be used for digital, if it's good enough), pay attention to Sal1950 and go that way.
