Vinyl, should I take the plunge?


I've assembled my dream system over the last 10 years, a nice mark levinson system with b&w n802 speakers. I've been contemplating the next step, vinyl, sacd, dvd audio. I've heard good vinyl and know how good it is, but have lingering questions...

1) What are some web sites that sell vinyl. I'd really like to see what I can buy. New releases? My old classics? I need to really see what's available and what peoples opinions are for the future. I tend to classic rock, jazz, blues, classical, and some new age music.

2) I have a 15 month old and am planning at least one more. Am I nuts for even considering vinyl (wife speaking)? I haven't had many problems so far, but my little guy just started walking a month ago. Have others successfully raised kids w/o major repairs to their vinyl or dream audio system? Or do I just need to accept that some bad things are bound to happen and start saving :( ?

I'm not convinced sacd/dvd audio are all that they are cracked up to be. Both from software that is available (limited) and the fact that so much of the software available is a crap shoot depending on how it was mixed/sampled. Comments for those w/ sacd?

Thanks in advance...

JJ
jjurich

Showing 1 response by psychicanimal

JJ, you better have some good reasons to go into vinyl--especially with your current rig. For vinyl to even start approaching digital in the noise department, the noise floor must be taken to *uncanny* low levels. This is neither easy--nor cheap--to do. Vinyl is a real pain to deal with. That's one of the reasons why I have a modded Technics 1200. I want a deck that will be user friendly and high performance at the same time.

There's got to be some real music that you want to listen to on the analog format. Although I have three times as many LPs vs CDs, it was the high prices of old salsa albums in eBay what made me plunge into digital big time. Why pay $20-$45 for used LPs that are readily available on CD? Ridiculous! I got a hold of a used belt drive transport and sent it to Dan Wright for modification. Should be back in a few weeks...