Welcome to the Sound Exchange reference guide about vinyl records. On these pages we will explore any and all topics that are relevant to the enjoyment of vinyl records and specifically to the main goal of understanding and enhancing your own Classic Vinyl Listening Experience.
Topics will include the history of vinyl records, record care, record collecting, the equipment necessary for a proper listening experience, as well as what it requires of the listener to fully enjoy the Classic Vinyl Listening Experience.
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As I will define it, the Classic Vinyl Listening Experience began with the emergence of the 10” and 12”, 33 1/3 rpm, Long Play, Micro-Groove, Vinyl Record in 1948, and its smaller sibling, the 7” 45 rpm record, at about that same time. I choose to start here because this is the technology that provided the…
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Let’s define what is meant by the term the modern vinyl record. It has a relatively long playing time and does so while reproducing sound in what is called high fidelity. High fidelity, or Hi-Fi for short, simply means that the device is capable of reproducing sound accurately throughout the full hearing range of the human ear,…
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Stereo equipment is one more significant variable that can greatly affect the Classic Vinyl Listening Experience. In addition to the quality issues surrounding turntables and preamps, amplifiers, receivers, and speakers also greatly affect overall quality of sound reproduction. It is worth reminding you that these variables affect all forms of music playback, including CDs and…
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This brings us to the record player, or should I say “turntable.” There is a difference between the two. “For the record,” a record player is generally thought of as a turntable with a built-in amplifier and speaker(s). Portable units are typically record players. A turntable is simply just that: a turning table to…
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The modern long play, micro-groove record brought to the market had a tremendous impact on artistic creativity. Artists were now free to create music that could last 20 minutes or longer, rather than just fill out a three-minute single. And although classical music was never limited by time, virtually all “popular” music had to fit…
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So let’s put all of this information in the form of a timeline:
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Perhaps you have heard of the debate about which is better, vinyl records or CDs. This question can be reduced to studying their differences. When playing vinyl records you are typically listening to an analog representation of a musical performance. When playing a CD you are typically listening to a digital representation of a musical performance.
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This discussion begins with the creation of sound itself. Everything in nature that creates a sound creates an analog sound, which also happens to be the only kind of sound that we can hear. And don’t forget the importance of air because without air we have no sound. It is the air pressure pulses in…
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Have you ever seen this displayed on a CD or a vinyl record? “This is a pure digital recording” Well let’s stop right there. First you must realize that a digital recording can be converted to analog for playback on vinyl, and that an analog recording can be converted to digital so it can be…
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An analog recording doesn’t attempt to describe the sound as it simply records its input continuously, so it doesn’t have the sample size and sampling rate issues that digital has. But what it does introduce into the process is noise from the recording tape media itself.
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Let’s talk about CDs. First you must remember that the specification for CDs was developed way back in 1979. At that time the cost of electronics was quite high compared to what it is today, particularly as it relates to their speed. The CD specification just barely covers the audio spectrum that the human…
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The vinyl record is my preferred media for active listening to recordings made in the 1950s and into the 1980s. As discussed earlier, analog recordings played back on vinyl records add a certain amount of their own “noise” to the listening experience. Some of this noise is not desirable such as the tics and pops…
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The turntable has several basic components including the plinth (base), the revolving platter, the tone arm, the cartridge and stylus, and the mechanical and electronic components to make it all work.
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The phono cartridge contributes to unwanted noise as well. It is a sound transducer and can be thought of as a specialized type of microphone in that it picks up the vibrations from the stylus as it tracks the record groove and responds to its encoded vibrations. Unfortunately it can also transmit the…
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So how do you know how good a turntable really is regardless of cost? First, heavy is good! Next, turn the turntable on and have the platter spin. Then lift the stylus up from the record surface using the lifter and then slowly turn your amplifier up. The better the turntable the less noise you…
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When the discussion turns to the phono preamp (short for pre-amplifier) we are really getting down into minute details of the record groove in order to understand its role and its importance. It is essential that you understand the role of the phono preamp as it will affect the decisions that you will make about…
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Many amplifiers and receivers (a receiver is an AM/FM tuner and amplifier built in the same piece of equipment) have phono preamps built into them. Like all components of a stereo system there are significant variations in quality in the preamps, which has significant effects on the quality of the playback of your records. Preamps…
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Any discussion about music and sound reproduction will eventually make reference to how it is presented to the listener. Of course, it all began with monophonic, but over the years technology has provided more and more choices starting with stereophonic, followed by a host of multi-phonic formats like quadraphonic, Dolby 5.1 and 6.1. Monophonic (mono)…
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Regarding stereo recordings, when stereo first came out it was a brand new world and exactly how to represent a recording in a stereo format was very subjective. Artists and engineers had varying opinions as to how much stereo effect (directional effect) was appropriate. Consequently, many early stereo recordings sound very gimmick-y and unrealistic with…
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VS. Beginning with the comparison of Mono and Stereo recordings, it was typical that both mono and stereo records were made from the late 1950s until around 1970 when they ceased production of mono records. While the records were created from the same performance that is not to say that they sound exactly the same.
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Finally let me touch upon quadraphonic recordings as they appeared on vinyl records. There was no industry standard when it came to defining exactly what quadraphonic was, so many different types of quadraphonic techniques and their resulting consumer products appeared on the market.
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It doesn’t take very long searching the web to find dozens of articles about record cleaning using a variety of different methods and materials for cleaning vinyl records. Questions abound regarding the chemical cleaning agent, the type of brush, cloth, or machine to use for the best results.
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Record cleaning, like most any other type of cleaning, is a matter of degree. You have your daily cleaning and the more rigorous and thorough “Spring cleaning”.
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Always handle your records by the label and the outer edge and never ever touch the record grooves except when performing a deep cleaning. The best handling method is to only use the palms of your hands and your fingertips.
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Dirt and static electricity may cause good records to sound “scratchy”. A proper cleaning will remove dirt and static electricity from the vinyl. You may be very surprised to hear how good your records sound once cleaned. What you thought was noise caused by scratches may disappear. An old or worn stylus will cause your…
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Wet cleaning of vinyl records is the best way if not the only way to really get them clean and to get them free of static electricity. A mild household window cleaner does a nice job because it has all of the necessary chemical components to get your records clean. Let’s call that product “Windex”…
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Use plenty of solution and really get the record wet while being very, very careful to keep the solution off of the record label, as it will cause the paper label to “rise” or stain the label, etc, and it will never look like new again. Apply the Cleaning Solution to a Cloth or Record…
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An old trick of “last resort” is to actually play a record while wet. For reasons not fully understood (by me), doing this “quiets” the record substantially (removes the noise caused by scratches) seemingly without reducing fidelity. I recommend using only water without any chemical, as the chemical may cause harm to your stylus and…
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Always store your records in a cool, dry, dark environment in an upright position (never flat) that is high off the ground, and that provides some airflow around them.
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