So what makes vinyl so special? Why do we love it so. Nostalgia? Not really. Some of us older folks have a 40+ year investment in music. Our choices of formats was much more limited back in the day. I once heard that a couple of engineers sitting in a diner sketched out the idea of 331/3 Stereo LP on the back of a napkin. It may be true or maybe not. No question this format had its technical challenges and even to this day it takes a lot of tinkering and fiddling to get the best sound out of those spiral grooves. Think of it as that one person at work who lacks empathy. This person is rude or says the wrong thing at the wrong time and is not even aware that they just trampled over someone's feelings. So why do we grow to love that person? Is it over compensating to fill the void. It seems like people want to take this person on as a challenge and show that they can change them or that they can fix it. Vinyl is like that. It is a challenge. Engineers come up with new preamp designs, tonearms, turntables and phono cartridges to address the engineering challenges of vinyl. We love to win.
So go ahead- put that record on. Carefully remove that giant disc from its static free protective sleeve holding it only by the edges. Place it in that record cleaning machine and give it the old wash, rinse, and dry cycle. Next, blast that disc with electrons from your Zerostat. Place it on the turntable platter carefully lining up the almost centered hole in the record to the platter spindle. Clamp that record down good and tight. Turn on your turntable and check the speed. Gently clean the stylus with a brush stroke or blue tac. Cue the tonearm and drop the stylus onto the record surface. Turn off mute or turn up the volume and quickly make a dash for your favorite listening chair before the music starts. Now relax and enjoy those tunes as you watch the tonearm bob up and down in the orange glow of the vacuum tubes- you have 20 minutes of bliss before the cycle starts again.
