Is Crosley a problem for Vinyl revival?

[NJguy]

A few years ago before i really got back into vinyl my wife bought me a crosley so i could play the records i had held with me for a long time. Overvtime i listened a bit but always thought it sounded crappy which made me want to listen less. Soon after the crosley basically broke down...probably a good thing. Later i found my way to vintage well built tt's on my own totally unrealted to my crosley gift. As a matter of fact when i was given the crosley i didnt even know they made new quality tt's AND i had no idea that an old 30'year old tt would still work. I imagine most people think like that also (non akers of course). So i pretty much though it was crosley or nothing.

Nowadays I noticed that its crosley tt's that basically get pushed by any major retailer that sells turntables. So lots of people getting back into vinyl get a crosley.

I gave some records the other days to the kids of some close friends. The 2 kids enjoy records especially the girl. The mom bought her a crosley a while back. So after i have her some nice records, they grabbed their crosley to play them on. I didnt want to insult them so I didnt tell them "you should get a real record player with real speakers, you will enjoy it so much more".

So how do you guys see this current situation. Lots of people are getting into or wanting to get into vinyl but whats being pushed to them are crosley record players. Will (or is there) a half way decent free standing tt that will be sold side by side crosley so people have a choice or will everyone be fed this chinese buitl garbage?

 

[hi*ball]

My take on this is that people will either (A) use the Crosley for a while and get tired of its poor sound and revert back to mp3, or (B) it will be a springboard to get them interested in building a better sound system.

 

[Guest105]

It's my opinion that one would need to spend a minimum of $250 (or thereabouts) to get a new turntable capable of providing high-fidelity sound. It's been my experience that one can spend $100-150 on an older turntable in good working condition (including a decent cartridge or new stylus) that can provide equal or better performance. As a side note...most of the good entry-level tables are fully manual, whereas most of the "vintage" tables in the price range I described will be semi-auto or full auto....making the vinyl experience more convenient.

 

[cyto]

My take on this is that people will either (A) use the Crosley for a while and get tired of its poor sound and revert back to mp3, or (B) it will be a springboard to get them interested in building a better sound system.

I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head :yes:

Although Crosley turntables are of dubious quality (my sister has one) I do think they help the overall vinyl resurgence, and that is a good thing.

 

[NJguy]

I guess it does help due to being easily purchased at wal mart, but it hurts that one of the major tag lines for vinyl is that "it sounds better than mp3 or cds" butbthen you play it on a crosley and it sounds like AM radio. I guess its a double edged sword.

 

[wrbear]

Interesting....fast forward 40 years. I wonder how many of the current new sales will make the trek soundly (lol)? There may be more rare albums in the future since even the old stock is being played on these tables. Save those sealed albums!

 

[Ken Boyd]

It could be a problem if you want a major increase in the population of vinyl lovers. One has to think hard on if the world needs a johnny vinyl seed. The world was working quite well prior to this vinyl hysteria, everyone seemed quite pleased with the mediums they were using. Then some small segment of the world goes about trying to convince them they are not a part of the "in crowd" if they don't have a turntable and a few "vinyls". Is it a problem, I think the world will not be effected much either way.

 

[BOUXY]

Nothing comes CHEAP or EASY to this NEW GENERATION PERIOD for the most part! Tried all my Life to get the young interested but NO,they wouldn't listen to an older/has been that they said knows nothing about the NEW WORLD of SOUND or the METHODS of PLAYING/LISTENING, they think they invented....SO BE IT,MORE FOR US

 

[Son-of-Vere]

This makes me wish someone would come out with an all in one with some Uturn Orbit tech. Quality sound isn't necessary as 99% don't care about that anyways. Most people that I know listen to there music on a smart phone.
At least it wouldn't be a record destroyer.

My "problem" with the revival is prices have shot up, The "And Justice For All" that I paid $12 for last year is now $50 at my local store. Looks like my timing for getting back into vinyl stinks.

 

[DougMac]

I belong to a vinyl group on Facebook and members post records they are listening to. Many times they are being played on a Crosby or some cheap portable, both new and vintage, as well as 60's consoles.

I don't get it. I can't figure out a nice way to ask them the attraction of records. Maybe it's a hipster thing. Some talk about records "sound better", but I'm sure my wife's iPhone and small Bluetooth JBL tube speaker sounds much better than some of the players I've seen posted.

I don't want to come across as a turntable snob, but gee, it takes a pretty good investment starting at the cart and going all the way up the chain to get a quality of sound worth listening to.

I've also heard that some people buy LPs just for the art work, they never play the record.

There are aspects of the resurgence in records that are beneficial to me, but the market for good inexpensive records is rapidly disappearing. Oh well, I've got about 750 records I've never heard that are waiting to be washed. I guess I'm OK for the short term.

 

[wrbear]

I belong to a vinyl group on Facebook and members post records they are listening to. Many times they are being played on a Crosby or some cheap portable, both new and vintage, as well as 60's consoles.

I don't get it. I can't figure out a nice way to ask them the attraction of records. Maybe it's a hipster thing. Some talk about records "sound better", but I'm sure my wife's iPhone and small Bluetooth JBL tube speaker sounds much better than some of the players I've seen posted.

I don't want to come across as a turntable snob, but gee, it takes a pretty good investment starting at the cart and going all the way up the chain to get a quality of sound worth listening to.

I've also heard that some people buy LPs just for the art work, they never play the record.

There are aspects of the resurgence in records that are beneficial to me, but the market for good inexpensive records is rapidly disappearing. Oh well, I've got about 750 records I've never heard that are waiting to be washed. I guess I'm OK for the short term.

We might be in the same group. My thinking is that it's a time stamp so to speak. I have grand kids and when I talk "vintage" they bow their heads....snort.....but bring up a hip Crosley and they know it well!!!! "My friend has one!!!!" Then we travel the new music road and then....my head goes down...lol....

 

[illinoisteve]

I haven't heard a Crosley. I think it is interesting that some of their units look like old table radios from the 1940s. What I really DON'T like about them is that there is usually a cutout in the back of the case to accommodate playing 12" LPs. Criminy! Why didn't they just make it big enough to play an LP INSIDE the turntable case??????????????????????????????????????????????? I have heard others say that they sound crappy, and I believe those reports. However, remember that in the heyday of vinyl, most people had crappy equipment. Lots of teens had portables sold by Sears and Monkey Wards. Yes, they listened to Elvis and the Beatles, and even Tchaikowsky on crappy units like that. Maybe they knew some other family with a Magnavox console stereo, or big brother came back from college with a Garrard changer with a magnetic cartridge. The just-plain-folks of the vinyl era were not audiophiles.

 

[muovimies]

"Sounds better" is a very subjective thing... and at least to my ears, even very crappy vinyl sound has some merit over mp3 or even CD. Not in terms of fidelity, but vinyl sound is very rarely fatiquing, even when it's bad.

 

[janikphoto]

Let's not forget how many people played records on truly terrible tables a few decades ago. There have always been cheap quality tables available. Some people don't care. Some people like the sound of music coming from their phone's internal speaker. These people are connecting to music in a different way than we do. Sometimes they need to become aware by getting a demo of a high quality stereo. They just don't know there's a huge difference until they actually hear it.

 

[petes'picks]

My 18 year old niece opened hers here in my house on Christmas, she listened to it for about 40mins and was all giddy, I asked her if she would like to hear what vinyl is capable of sounding like. Took her in the basement and spun a song from AJA and Arethas greatest hits. She did not turn the Crosley back on the rest of the day.

 

[NJguy]

My 18 year old niece opened hers here in my house on Christmas, she listened to it for about 40mins and was all giddy, I asked her if she would like to hear what vinyl is capable of sounding like. Took her in the basement and spun a song from AJA and Arethas greatest hits. She did not turn the Crosley back on the rest of the day.

Wow what a downer uncle! Lol.

I hooked up my nephew with a vintage system!

 

[Willeve146]

I don't know if the "new" vinyl listener is so concerned with sound as much as they are with "touch" value of an album. I watch my boys who are 25 and 23 when they come over to the house to put an album on the TT and it is as much about looking at (and reading; how 'bout that) the album covers/liners They like watch the album on the table as they listen. Between the two of them they have thousands of songs on their phones and still use them all the time. However, when an album is on they listen. It's nice to see and I think a lot of new vinyl listeners like this stop-and-smell-roses approach to music. To this end the cheap starter may not be a bad thing at all.

 

[04blackmaxx]

It still subjects the user to the magic of music coming out of an old fashioned phonograph and for some, that's all it should take, they don't know it could sound even better. I **** canned my turntable sometime around 1990 after having a playschool record player and then a technics one connected to a pioneer amp and speakers, I played old 45s mostly and some LPs that were from my dads bar. Then the CD came out, I got a cd player for said pioneer system and from then on I hadn't touched a vinyl record until 2014 when I put together my current system. I started trying to figure out some MP3 hifi solution and realized quickly that isn't the way to do it, so I started burning 320kps CDs and it sounded fantastic, I have tens of thousands of MP3 files and hundreds of cds. Then the MMF 2.2 showed up with a copy of Magical Mystery Tour new and I was floored that it sounded as good as a CD, nothing like the scratchy **** I grew up with, and seeing it spinning and so mechanical to me is like magic. Not some box where perfection is expected and varies when it sounds shitty I get pissed. Atleast with an LP, I know theres no bullshit to deal with regarding the quality of the download. Its magical, that's all I can say.

 

[Thereimade12]

Honestly just based on observations on my friends and other newbies, the key for cheap turntables is to deliver a product that allows for little user error, and can play with minimal distortion or sibilance. Crosley I've found does the former, but not the latter. It's easier to find a direct drive pmount from the 80-90s that has automatic and that way they can't mess up alignment. 50-100 for the player, a brush and an entry level AT cartridge they'd be in good shape. Then after a few months you can show off the gems in your collection without falling on deaf ears

 

[ra7c7er]

You guys have to remember most of the people getting into vinyl and buying crosley's never really had anything better than garbage over compressed MP3s. I've heard several modern records on crosley tables that sound better than their digital counterparts.

Think about how music is consumed now. In the past 10-15 years the appreciation of music has gone down the drain. Music now is a listen for a couple weeks and on to the next flash in the pan. Most 30ish and under people wouldn't know a good recording from a bad even if it was played on a great system. Think about it why else would Beats headphones be popular. It's the same reason Crosleys are consumed and enjoyed. It's not really about listening to great music played in a "superior" format. It's about the popularity of it.

Most of the kids getting into vinyl and crosleys aren't buying old records either. They are buying new records. The only used records they go for is the typical popular late 70s and 80's rock that nearly every serious listener/collector already has. You go to nearly any "Hipster's" house and look at their collection. It's all modern music with a couple paid to much for used g condition Kiss albums and a couple cheap reissue 80s rock maybe a little punk music. Other than that it's just RSD stuff. None of those kids are "really" getting into the hobby. They aren't hitting up thrifts they aren't scouring flea markets every weekend, a few might go to local record fairs but even they they do they are just looking for the typical popular stuff and are willing to over pay for it. That's pretty much the only way they are hurting the hobby.

Honestly without those Crosley buying, new music consuming, Beats headphone wearing, hipsters the vinyl resurgence and all the associated resurgences (tubes, vintage stereo, older more serious people getting back into vinyl, great reissue obscure records, etc) NEVER would have happened.