article: Analog audio making comeback thanks to turntable restorers

[chewie]

I didn't want to thread crap, but after reading the article I got a strong feeling that I couldn't deal with her. The line about how she doesn't just sell to anyone, and she vets potential buyers? Good on her for fixing up tables and getting people into vinyl, but good grief.

She told me that she doesn't personally fix them, she sends them out to be worked on. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but the impression she is giving in the article is that she does the work.

They should have talked to someone nice like the guy who runs Deetes Sound Room(sells high end equipment). Very cool guy and has helped me on a couple of occasions(and he liked the fact that I had an old Dual TT and gave me a sled for it.).

Aaaaaaand on a positive note:
I have yet to go to that place on J street to check it out. I was going to swing by Metro Electronics and Rare Street Records on Friday......

 

[chicks]

Aaaaaaand on a positive note:
I have yet to go to that place on J street to check it out. I was going to swing by Metro Electronics and Rare Street Records on Friday......

StereoAdvisor? Go. Well worth a visit, if just to chat with Luis.

 

[chewie]

StereoAdvisor? Go. Well worth a visit, if just to chat with Luis.

Yep! That's the place! It looks like it's right down the street from The Beat.

 

[Edriz]

The year-over-year increases are impressive, but let's not forget that the absolute numbers still describe a small niche market.

If we assume that the average new turntable carries a $200 price tag, that $10 Million sales figure for new turntables in 2013 corresponds to only 50,000 units. That's tiny compared to the annual volume of CD players or MP3 players. Similarly, the $4.6 Million figure for new vinyl records in 2012 represents 230,000 LPs at $20 a pop. Compare that to 193.4 million CDs sold in 2012 -- a 13.5% decline from the prior year -- and the LP's market niche looks tiny indeed.

Why is it that somebody always has to point out the huge difference between LP and CD sales? This is a Turntable forum and not a cd forum or mp3 forum. This thread was merly pointing out the increase in vinyl/Turntable sales nothing more.

IMO, comments like this are thread crapping. So what if Turntable/vinyl sales is a small niche? The point was, it IS increasing.

 

[Dr Tinear]

Why is it that somebody always has to point out the huge difference between LP and CD sales? This is a Turntable forum and not a cd forum or mp3 forum. This thread was merly pointing out the increase in vinyl/Turntable sales nothing more.

IMO, comments like this are thread crapping. So what if Turntable/vinyl sales is a small niche? The point was, it IS increasing.

I don't see my comment as thread crapping (a term that I detest almost as much as "vinyls," by the way). I see it as correcting an error in the thread's title. Analog audio is not recapturing the mass market that it lost to digital in the 1980s and 1990s; all that it's doing is increasing the size of its market niche from miniscule to tiny. That doesn't constitute a comeback, though I'm glad to see that vinyl's niche, though small, appears to be sustainable and healthy.

 

[SFBayArch]

I don't see my comment as thread crapping (a term that I detest almost as much as "vinyls," by the way). I see it as correcting an error in the thread's title. Analog audio is not recapturing the mass market that it lost to digital in the 1980s and 1990s; all that it's doing is increasing the size of its market niche from miniscule to tiny. That doesn't constitute a comeback, though I'm glad to see that vinyl's niche, though small, appears to be sustainable and healthy.

The article is NOT about whether vinyl playback is competing with any other medium for control or dominance of the consumer market. It's about the fact that it is a GROWING industry, and that is evidenced by a marked increase in LP sales and in the growing cottage industry of repairing and restoring vintage gear. The article even pointed out that it is a "niche market" albeit a strong one.

We all here in this forum realize that our hobby is a niche market. I think that goes without saying. What's different now, as opposed to previous years/decades, is that there is a stronger groundswell of interest coming from the general public - not merely enthusiasts. It's not hard to see the evidence, even here on AK (with forum threads like "is vintage gear getting harder to find"). We can also see it on TV, commercials, movies...turntables and vintage gear are definitely trending upward. The newspaper article was merely pointing that out from the perspective of one of those engaged in the growing hobby.