Why vinyl took the nose dive in the late 1980s - early 1990?

[Marco]

What's the "ffs", for? Your previous post, Paul, didn't come across as a joke, as there were no smilies to indicate such, or any other evidence of irony I could see. Read it again and see how you think it comes across:

the majority of the public are not sad cases....oops sorry serious vinyl and tt owners and have never heard of an rcm. Remember those old photos of young people sitting on the floor with a Dansette and records strewn over the nylon carpet. Is it any wonder folk embraced cd.

In my book, there's a marked difference between being 'odd', and a 'sad case'. If you consider yourself as a 'sad case', simply because you enjoy music and like it to sound good, then reserve that label for yourself. 'Odd' though, is quite cool.

As for this:

Most enthusiasts don't advertise the fact in company because most people don't understand hifi and quality sound. Most people who hear my set up only comment on how clear it sounds.

Again, speak for yourself. I have many good friends who are into hi-fi (and music), in the same way as me, and we socialise together on a regular basis, and that includes my wife. It doesn't have to be a solitary thing.

Furthermore, strangers visiting, who aren't into hi-fi, are always amazed/impressed with my 'mad set up', so I'm quite happy to advertise it, as I'm proud of it!

Marco.

[Audio Al]

When people come to my home its more a " WTF " moment

[struth]

When people come to my home its more a " WTF " moment

Can imagine Al like going back in time to the Comet hifi section.

[petrat]

When people come to my home its more a " WTF " moment

For sure, your stock level beats most of the retailers that I know. I would probably bankrupt myself if you ever do decide to open for business

[Marco]

When people come to my home its more a " WTF " moment

Now *THAT* I get!! If you stuck some prices tags on, you'd probably get a few sales

Marco.

[alphaGT]

Here I go once again, coming in at the end. Not sure how this happens?
But to address the original question, here in the States, when vinyl gave way to CD, there was no dropping of vinyl sales, in fact vinyl was selling at an all time high! 1979 and 1980 saw some of the highest numbers ever in vinyl sales, and cassettes were outselling them too! And I went to the record store one week, and there was a small rack of CD's near the register. A dozen at most to choose from. A week later I came back and all the albums were gone! The store was slam full of CD's! I asked the salesman who I knew fairly well from my weekly visits, "What happened to all the records?", to which he said, " they came in a truck and threw them all in the back like trash.". I heard stories that they burned whole warehouses full of vinyl! Brand new vinyl, they didn't even bother to try and sell it off before selling the CD's. And at that time, almost no one I knew even knew what a CD was! But records had sold for $7.50 for over 10 years, and suddenly CD's were $16! And everyone rushed out and bought a new CD player, and wow there was some junk out there. I bought a Sansui, thinking that was a name of quality, and it didn't last 3 months, and could never be fixed. They gave up and gave me a choice of a new one, so I got a Sony. And that was a fairly nice one, but junk by any reasonable standards. People threw out their vinyl collections, friends gave me their collections! Which made me happy. Everyone bought into Perfect Sound Forever hook line and sinker. And then were horrified when the tiniest scratch caused the fantastic skipping! They called me, "what has gone wrong with my player?" And I pointed out a tiny spot they could barely see on the disc that was causing it. Many people gave away all their vinyl albums and bought their collections all over again on CD! And I wound up with a lot of extra records, some were in terrible shape, but many were quite good. So here in the states there was no declining period of failing vinyl sales, they were selling at an all time high when CD's were unceremoniously shoved down our throats. CD's were cheaper to make, and they charged twice as much, so there was no mystery as to why they were in a hurry to convert everyone.

I had a CD player before anyone else I knew had one. And at first I was wowed by the clear sound and lack of surface noise, and ease of use. But right away, they sold a bunch of CD's that came from vinyl master tapes, and they failed to re-equalize them. The treble was so high female vocals would pierce your ears and bass was non existent. Record companies not paying attention and getting in a hurry to convert. I knew right away this wasn't right. And in fact, it was several years before I heard a CD that actually sounded good. So I never gave up my record player, in fact bought a high end table, well it was to me, a Denon with the fancy tone arm, and a $200 cartridge! Back then, they didn't get much more expensive than that. And I played my vinyl all along, I collected CD's too, but did not replace the albums I already owned on vinyl. And I sold a lot of CD's too, the ones that sounded horrible. After a while, once the Internet was invented, and eBay came into being, I started buying used vinyl. So I've got about 200 CDs today. Maybe less. And it was about 1990 before I ever owned a decent CD player, that was when I realized that there may be something to this digital thing? A Sony 608ES, a fine player that lasted me 29 years. So, while some "Soundists", may still appreciate vinyl, for the masses it was a good move. Most of the albums that were given to me were scratched beyond use. I have yet to figure out why, but the majority of people do not possess the ability to be careful.

I finally had to replace that Denon, so I got a Project Debut, and decked it out with extras. It was a very nice table. But when I moved up to the Scout, I gave the Project to my son in law, and he fell in love with Vinyl! Ran out and bought nearly 100 records! My daughter and he had outgrown rap and pop music, at 26 she discovered an all Beatles station, and he was all about Classic Rock, so they are fully vested Vinyl nuts now! He went and bought a $1500 table to upgrade, so there is a section of young people under 30 who have discovered vinyl for the first time. They like the sound, but they also like the full sized jackets, the physical handling and playing of the record, it's all very retro for them. Of course my daughter has seen me playing records throughout her whole childhood.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Pierre De Grenoble]

+1 on both, although you need to invest in a spellchecker!

Marco.

other fora have them built in...

[Pierre De Grenoble]

Vinyl must always be kept alive to show other generations what true audiophile sound quality is. It is the benchmark for ALL music reproduction.

I'm a vinyl lover with a 1000+ Cd's but there are other sources that qualify as audiophile (Reel to Reel for one) and bench marks are constantly moving.

My own experience is that Joe "chicken Ding" and his "snapchat" offspring do not give a monkies about audiophile sound quality / reproduction or even forming a collection of music at all.

[Pierre De Grenoble]

Hi-Fi is about as 'niche' as photography I'd say. Technical pursuits have their own language and the uninformed are largely in the dark.

+1

[Pierre De Grenoble]

Not really or I'd be on facebook babbling to my self, instead of babbling here to myself mosty Just stating why even cd is outdated to most folk.they just use their phones. A good chunk of young folk buying records are doing so to connect with the bands they like, but probably dont have a record player

My 15 year old grand daughter is the proud owner ( and I do mean proud ) of a new sealed record by some now out of date boy band from Merthyr. needless to say there is no TT in her house and it will never get played. My daughter who is mid 30's has a very wide musical taste ( some rubbed off me) and she hasn't even a CD player. it's iPhone and a cheap dock.

Re the thread start this is the reason record sales died, and in case anyone hasn't noticed CD's are also heading for history.