In some peoples eyes, Vinyl is a far superior musical medium then CD’s, period! I for one am one of those who do subscribe to this point of view. Being a musician, quality should always come first. Sure, CD’s might be easier to carrying around or they might be simpler to exchange from one user to another, but are they really better sounding then vinyl?

I got the idea for this post from another almost extinct form of communication – the newspaper. It was from an article in The Toronto Star in the Entertainment section called Have you Heard?. I’ve see this topic being thrown around in the media almost weekly now. Are people honestly trying to revive this former superior sound medium, vinyl, or are they just filling out space on a page?

It gets me thinking about vinyl’s more and more every time I see the word “Vinyl”. Am I the only one who has this effect when seen in print? Upon seeing this word, I can’t help but reminisce about going to a buddy’s home when I was younger with my favorite vinyl albums under my arm. It not only brings back great memories, but it makes me yearn for THAT GREAT SOUND! Do you know what I mean?

Going to Ken’s place, and putting on some YES on his impeccable turntable was the best! The control knobs were in the middle position, yet the sound, no matter what the album was on the turntable, was always incredible! I think he always used a “concord” stylus/cartridge on his table. He also had this Phase Linear TUBE amp that COULD NOT BE BEAT! As for his speakers, I think they were basically Cerwin Vega.

Our collection of vinyl is fairly modest, in comparison to some collectors out there. It covers many genre’s of music as well as some regional indie bands and the odd one hit wonder. Most are in good condition, but they are constantly calling out my name for attention! The stereo we have is an old Akai Stereo that is solid state, I got rid of my tube stereo ages ago, no room. When I have put on an album, it has a certain resonance in my mind. It just sounds more full and warmer then my CD player!

Our CD stockpile, that I’m looking at now, is quite vast! In our JVC XL-MC222 CD carousel we have 200 alone. We should have picked up that 500 one when we had the chance. The amp is a Panasonic SA TH400, that has this synthetic Quad sound that is not all that bad, but I’ve heard better. We also have a Pioneer DV 563A DVD player that plays SACD’s.

So what is your take on this subject? Do you think vinyl is really making a comeback? Do you still have your old turn table and if so, what is it!

Keep on Jammin’