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From: wjm@whuxk.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Why.237$.LP.players
Message-ID: <247@whuxk.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 5-Aug-83 08:45:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: whuxk.247
Posted: Fri Aug  5 08:45:44 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 6-Aug-83 07:43:27 EDT
Lines: 58

----- News saved at Fri Aug  5 08:33:08 1983
In answer to jeff at tesla's comment as to why anyone would buy expensive
(which from his article I infer to mean > $200 ) analog record playing equipment
now with the "Digital Millenium" just around the corner ... there are several
reasons:
1.   Many record collectors have large collections of LP's, which they have
invested substantial sums of money in, and wish to preserve in A-1 conditions.
2.   Many of these LP's contain performances which are musically superior to
those presently available on CD's and who knows whether the powers that be
at the record companies will re-release these performances in the CD format
Admittedly, they may suffer from the usual problems of surface noise, etc.
but the quality of the music may make it worthwhile.
3.   As the past two weeks worth of entries to this net have discussed, the
present "first generation" of CD players are not without their problems and
some of us would rather wait for the manufacturers to get the bugs out of them
4.   The best analog records sound just as good if not better than CD's -
Especially if you add dbx encoding to get rid of the surface noise.  A digitally
mastered or direct-to-disk LP has a dynamic range of about 90 dB (which is
comparable to that achieved by CD's).
5.   For the next several years, due to pressing plant limitations, the
repetroire available on CD's will be limited to the most popular warhorses of
the classical repetroire (the 1812, Beethoven's Ninth, etc).  However less
popular forms of music like chamber music, early (pre-1700) music, and jazz
won't be on CD's at first.  Also what about hard-core country music - which,
believe me, has its fans?   If one likes a less popular form of music, which
is not yet available on CD's  and one wants to obtain the best quality sound
the ONLY alternative is a high - end analog playing system.  
I use the term system deliberately - since to get the best performace from
analog disks (which at their best are comparable to CD's) one must match the
turntable, arm, and cartridge.  Also, if one is using a MM cartridge one mus
match the capacitive load of the preamp/receiver input and the connecting cables
to that preferred by the cartridge.  While MC cartridges aren't as picky about
their loading (which is why I prefer them), one should choose a good head amp
or transformer to maximize their performance.

Actually, I suspect that once CD's become the recorded music medium, the only
analog players left will be the high end ones - since the people buying them
will be serious record collectors and/or audiophiles who always buy the best
equipment they can afford.  It happened with cylinders and 78's and will
happen with LP's eventually (my guess is in the 1988-1990 time frame).  There
will be a market for things like Linn's, Sota's, Mission's, and Micro Seiki's
although I thing the mass (under $500) market will dry up.

Don't mis-quote me, I think the CD is great (although I'm going to wait for
a year or so (at least) to get a CD player for reasons #3 and #5 above) but
I don't think the LP is dead yet.

As for spending $14+ for audiophile LP's, I for one would rather pay $14-20
to a company like Telarc and get a high quality product (LP or CD) rather
than pay $7.99 or $9.99 to several of the large record companies and get
their garbage - even if they slap a "audiophile recording - digitally mastered"
sticker on it and add $2.00 to the price. As I've said before - I'm willing to
pay for quality BUT not for the usual noisy garbage.
                                               Bill Mitchell
                                               (whuxk!wjm)

Disclaimer - the opinions expressed in this flame are my personal ones, and
are not necessarily those of my employer, Bell Laboratories.