Anyone here into collecting vinyl?

[JM Aggie08]

Leave the "records are inconvenient, dead medium, damn hipster, blahblah" comments at the door

I started collecting around 5-6 years ago when I first purchased a garbage Crosley all in one turntable. Since then (and since marrying my wife who shares interest), I've grown our collection to 160 albums.

Around half of the collection comes from both of our parents. The wife's parents had excellent taste in 60's-70's classic rock, so we now have some fantastic original pressings. I inherited some quality classic country (Loretta, Waylon, Mearle era), and we've been adding more 90's grunge/hip hop as well as more modern releases.

We've gone through a few different turntables, and recently got a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon DC w/ an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge. That's being piped through a U-Turn pre-amp and into Micca PB42X powered bookshelf speakers. The speakers are OK -- I'm looking to upgrade those once we move into a bigger house in the next few years.

What's your collection/setup look like?

 

[NutBucket]

I started collecting in HS when, oddly enough, I started finding LPs at a monthly computer swap meet. Of course I couldn't test them but for a $1 each I couldn't lose. I have bought some used stuff from record stores (Amoeba, etc.) and also new stuff whether they be reissues or new albums. I probably have 100 LPs.

Everything is put away but my setup is a cheap (purchased at some point at the same swap meet) Onkyo turntable, circa mid 80's with a Audio Technica cart. That feeds into a Sansui 9090 receiver (belonged to my wife's dad/grandpa, not sure which) hooked up to Boston Acoustics HD10 speakers. For a real budget setup I'm very happy with it.

 

[shortylickens]

 

[SMOGZINN]

I've started collecting 8-track tapes. I figure in a few years they will be worth a fortune!

 

[herm0016]

I have a B&O 1900 with a nice diamond cartridge. about 50 albums, classic rock, a few pop and some sweet jazz that was found in its original plastic. Fats Domino, Al Hurt, George Lewis and others.

 

[Oyeve]

Been buying records since the 60s. Still use my denon dp45f turntable from the early 80s. I pretty much have all the music I will ever need already. Last vinyl I bought was the soundtrack from where the wild things are from Karen O.

 

[Linflas]

Since around 1963.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Needs updating, but here's my current collection:

https://www.discogs.com/user/aequitas_veritas/collection

 

[Thebobo]

Not anymore to much shit to carry around if you move. It's like my family's National geographic's magazine collection back to the day they started was like 10 heavy ass boxes, I stopped that shit as soon as I was in charge of them!

 

[Platypus]

I've got far too many. I have one of those sought after IKEA cube book shelves from forever ago and it's like half full at this point

 

[Carson Dyle]

I took all my LPs - probably about 200 at the time, to a used record store. The owner asked what I wanted for them. I said I'll take a few CDs in trade. I found about six nice CDs and he asked "Really? Is that all you want?" Yeah, thanks. That was in the mid-90s and I don't think I've even handled an LP since then. I left the turntable at Goodwill a year or so later.

 

[deadlyapp]

I've probably got about 30 records or so now. Most of it is obscure jazz I got from my Uncle but I've picked up some classic rock and some new albums over the last few years. Using a cheap turntable through a good Yamaha receiver powering some Klipsch reference speakers. Haven't felt the need to upgrade in quite a while.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Any recommendations for a nice looking vinyl holder? I started buying them whenever I see something I like on sale.

 

[rchunter]

All my music is on a nas. Maybe if I had a dedicated 2ch listening room in a huge home with space for a large record collection I might consider it.
I have a Lumin T1 streamer that is very analog sounding so that's as good as i'm going to have for right now..

 

[JM Aggie08]

Any recommendations for a nice looking vinyl holder? I started buying them whenever I see something I like on sale.

Depends on your aesthetic. My wife and I have a very clean/somewhat traditional rustic feel to our house, and settled with a turquoise IKEA Kallax 4x4 shelving unit. It was very cost-effective as well.

If you want to spend some $$, Etsy and some other sites have some different options.

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/bored-of-ikea-12-alternative-ways-to-store-your-records/

 

[nakedfrog]

I suppose I am, I basically buy on the criteria of it being an album that I really love and has held up to repeated listenings, or pre-orders for newer artists that I really like. I haven't counted recently, but I doubt I have more than 75 or so. Most recent acquisition was Bob Marley - Legend (Amazon had it on sale for $7).
Currently just listening on a Stanton turntable that was on sale a few years ago, after I move I may get a Pro-Ject.

 

[JM Aggie08]

I suppose I am, I basically buy on the criteria of it being an album that I really love and has held up to repeated listenings, or pre-orders for newer artists that I really like. I haven't counted recently, but I doubt I have more than 75 or so. Most recent acquisition was Bob Marley - Legend (Amazon had it on sale for $7).
Currently just listening on a Stanton turntable that was on sale a few years ago, after I move I may get a Pro-Ject.

I highly recommend the DC if you're going to go the Pro-Ject route. Very solid build and produces a great sound. However, it was a toss-up between it and a U-Turn turntable (I like the aesthetic of belt-driven TTs).

 

[nakedfrog]

I highly recommend the DC if you're going to go the Pro-Ject route. Very solid build and produces a great sound. However, it was a toss-up between it and a U-Turn turntable (I like the aesthetic of belt-driven TTs).

That's kind of where I am, still at a toss-up between those two. Honestly might end up getting both eventually, for different rooms.

 

[JulesMaximus]

My sister has a collection of vinyl spanning decades of music from the 1960s through the 1990s. Probably 15,000 records in total, classic rock mostly but my Dad had a little of everything it seems. She is trying to sell the set complete if anyone is interested. She has been carting these stupid things around for the past 7 years. None of us want them, they take up too much space quite frankly.

 

[JM Aggie08]

My sister has a collection of vinyl spanning decades of music from the 1960s through the 1990s. Probably 15,000 records in total, classic rock mostly but my Dad had a little of everything it seems. She is trying to sell the set complete if anyone is interested. She has been carting these stupid things around for the past 7 years. None of us want them, they take up too much space quite frankly.

Hmm...I'd be interested to see what she has, honestly.

 

[Fritzo]

Here's the thing about albums vs. any other sort of medium:

1) They only hold 30 or less minutes of music per side, and it's not easy to skip songs. This kind of "forced" you to listen to songs that you normally wouldn't have listened to after hearing the first 10 seconds. After doing this several times, you become comfortable with these songs and begin to like them. This is why there are so many albums full of hits from the 50's - 70's.

2) The 12" record cover is the perfect size for artwork. Album art has created some of the most iconic images in history, and due to ever-shrinking mediums and streaming, this source of art is being lost. Why bother having an artist create something that's going to show up as a 2x2 jpg on someone's phone that they're going to look at for 3 seconds before putting it back in their pocket?

3) Lyric sheets in albums were awesome- you could read along with with the songs, and the liners sometimes had additional art or messages. An album was the original form of multi-media.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Hmm...I'd be interested to see what she has, honestly.

Literally everything, Beatles, Hendrix, Elvis, colored vinyl, rare album covers, you name it, my Dad probably had it. She's in Florida, the records take up nearly an entire room in her house. My Dad was a musician and spent his entire life teaching music, collecting music and playing music.

The collection will not be broken up though. She is selling it complete. $40k and it's yours.

 

[Carson Dyle]

The collection will not be broken up though. She is selling it complete. $40k and it's yours.

She'll be luck to get 1/4th that for a random collection of ungraded LPs.

 

[JulesMaximus]

She'll be luck to get 1/4th that for a random collection of ungraded LPs.

She has talked to a number of people about the value of the collection. It is easily worth that amount. The trouble is finding someone who'll pay it.

 

[FeuerFrei]

I ne'er got into records. I'd probably be afraid to spin them for fear of wearing them out.

I think I used a record player once, back in 1980. I remember it getting stuck and repeating.