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Record Crate

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TV and credit cards

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#001. For #002 I need to get some 3/8" oak. This is 1/4". It's what was readiy available at the home store. Though I put five slats across the bottom, I still will not pick it up with a full load of albums. And I think I might see how four slats on the sides look. Or possibly keep three slats but lower the height to where the albums extend from the top of the crate. I also need to go back to my original staining technique of using cloth diapers.
I was sitting on the fence about buying a turntable. This helped nudge me.


Crate 1.jpg



Crate 4.jpg
 
Looks good.

I can't say I built it but a number of years ago I inherited a retro, orange record crate that doubles as a seat. It looks nice but my record player usually loses out to my Smart TV and Spotify subscription.

Getting up every 25 minutes to flip a record gets old. As much as I used to love hunting for records the subscription model really is a better value proposition. Still wouldn't go without a record player, though.

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk
 
I grew up changing albums and flipping cassettes over, so I don’t think I would mind that much.
I know if I go ahead and buy a turntable, I’m likely to listen to a dozen or so of my old albums once or twice just to reminisce and that will be that. Dusty turntable. It’s not like I haven’t listened to much of it online already. I guess I just want to set a needle down again.

When I was young, listening to an album was an event. I laid down on the floor between the speakers and listened to the album and nothing else. Now, music is mostly passive. Only recently since putting an FM antenna in the attic have I started to devote an evening to just listening to music, our public radio classical station. It’s just music and an occasional short news update. Relaxing.

Waste of money that it is likely to be, I have to either buy a turntable or put these back in the closet. Here comes the Christmas present.
 
I know what you mean. A number of years ago I was interested in a new hobby and there was an appeal to owning a turntable / record collecting. Before streaming services got big I'd collect old Jazz records that I couldn't find online. But once I signed up for Spotify all of that and more was available online in a more convenient format. Ironically, I'm supporting the artists more now than I was before.

There is something about a turntable that forces you to really listen to an album, though. Back when I was using mine more often I'd pick out three or four records, and spend an afternoon going through them. With streaming, I don't know if it's so much that the music is passive for me, as it's so ubiquitous and available that it now borders on mundane. In the heyday of records it was hard to get an hour with good music, now it's way too easy, which means turning an album on has lost some of it's specialness.

The funny thing is, though, now that music is more available we're learning that few people ever wanted albums in the first place. Some of the most popular music on Spotify comes from playlists and mood music; most people always wanted background noise. So in a way albums were only a thing because of the physical format we were restricted to.
 
If you are close to South Carolina, and want to experience what a high-end, well-set up audio system with a turntable source sounds like, drop me a PM. I have over 12k records and will be happy to play whatever you want to listen to. Digital today is MUCH better than than what it used to be 20 years ago, but even a high-end, high-res digital source (a $15K to $30K streamer and DAC) can't come close to the soundstage, imaging, depth and timbre of a good turntable. The only advantage to using digital, in my opinion, is the totally black background that is very difficult to achieve with a mechanical source, and the convenience of easy access to millions of songs on your tablet.

Cons of going to a turntable source:
1. Components are expensive. A decent table and phono-stage that is worth listening to will set you back $4k to $5k. A good table, tonearm and cartridge will easily set you back 10 times that.
2. Records have become horrendously expensive, especially the highly desirable (and often the best sounding) originals/first pressings. There was a time in the 90's and 2000's when you could buy clean originals for $1 to $10 because the stores couldn't give them away, but those days are long gone.
3. You have to get up every 10 to 25 minutes to flip the disc.
4. You have to clean your records and check your stylus alignment every once in a while.
 
atrib said:
If you are close to South Carolina, and want to experience what a high-end, well-set up audio system with a turntable source sounds like, drop me a PM. I have over 12k records and will be happy to play whatever you want to listen to. Digital today is MUCH better than than what it used to be 20 years ago, but even a high-end, high-res digital source (a $15K to $30K streamer and DAC) can't come close to the soundstage, imaging, depth and timbre of a good turntable. The only advantage to using digital, in my opinion, is the totally black background that is very difficult to achieve with a mechanical source, and the convenience of easy access to millions of songs on your tablet.

Cons of going to a turntable source:
1. Components are expensive. A decent table and phono-stage that is worth listening to will set you back $4k to $5k. A good table, tonearm and cartridge will easily set you back 10 times that.
2. Records have become horrendously expensive, especially the highly desirable (and often the best sounding) originals/first pressings. There was a time in the 90's and 2000's when you could buy clean originals for $1 to $10 because the stores couldn't give them away, but those days are long gone.
3. You have to get up every 10 to 25 minutes to flip the disc.
4. You have to clean your records and check your stylus alignment every once in a while.
Click to expand...

It's worth mentioning that if you're playing records mainly for nostalgia sake you can get a pretty cheap table and it'll still sound pretty good. I got into records mainly for the novelty and IIRC I inherited my turntable from a relative when she passed away in 2012. I couldn't tell you a thing about it, but it's fine.

One day when I have more time / money on my hands I'd like to delve a little further into the high-end side of things, but as of now I'm content with average audio quality.
 
I had the turntable pictured (not my picture) and about 500 albums. I sold them when CDs came out. I've regretted it ever since.

s-l1600.jpg
 
I couldn't get a copy of the White/English/Fawdon JC Superstar so my ex made a CD for me. I now have all the joys of vinyl, including fuzz and jumping needle on a CD.

Them woz the days.
 
ZiprHead said:
I still kick myself for selling my record collection after CDs came out.
Click to expand...

I kick myself for not taking the thousands of 45 rpm singles from the radio station cluster I worked for when it went digital. Several hundred linear feet of them. Probably half of them were played to death and half the rest were terrible cuts in the first place. But still, hundreds of good ones free for the taking. And I turned my back. Waddamaroon!
 
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