Is Crosley a problem for Vinyl revival?

[Roivas]

" My parents didn't know a lot about the technology, they just wanted to use it to hear music. There are a HUGE number of folks from that generation like that. Those folks mostly migrated away from records"

I don't think your parents were the norm, most everyone I knew changed out their needles as they were commonly sold, even in drug stores. Changing a stylus in a record player IMO doesn't qualify as technology knowledge, all it requires is simply snap a new one in. Those folks from "that" generation also would open the backs of their TV's and pull the tubes out and take them to the drug stores where they would run the tubes in the tube testers and replace what tubes were needed. If I recall most all the mainstream drug stores had a big tube tester for us to check our tubes, and they sold the tubes which they kept in the metal case under the tube testers.

I find it quite amazing how some people here keep referring to the older generation as a group of people that didn't know much other than perhaps how to plow a garden.

I'm not saying that was everybody, not at all. But it's certainly my parents and several folks from that time that I know. I think there has always been, and always WILL be, a huge number of people that don't give a flying [clears throat] about how their stuff works as long as it DOES work. Huge number then, huge number now, and that's the kind of person that dumped their turntable and never looked back. It's the same reason Lube Stop and Quik Change are able to stay in business despite the fact that changing your oil is relatively easy to learn and cheaper to do at home (sorry, I forget that this is a conversation for AutoKarma).

Obviously, there have also been a good number of people that care deeply and invested a lot of time and thought in it. That's why we have this stuff still in good condition still, despite being anywhere from 30-80 years old. I'm very happy that there were many folks from the "good ole'days" that DID care.

But I think the people who want to know how it works and take meticulous care ARE in the minority and probably were back then. And probably will be in the future, too. Not because of generations, but because people are more alike than they are different, and most people would rather spend their time worrying about other things than turntable maintenance. I mean, even with 2014 being the biggest year in vinyl sales in decades, it's still only 3.5% of new album sales. Record-lovers are still the minority, and people who want to know more about their gear than turning it on and off are a minority of the minority. I'm ok with that. I just want folks to enjoy their music.

 

[jnoyes]

" My parents didn't know a lot about the technology, they just wanted to use it to hear music. There are a HUGE number of folks from that generation like that. Those folks mostly migrated away from records"

I don't think your parents were the norm, most everyone I knew changed out their needles as they were commonly sold, even in drug stores. Changing a stylus in a record player IMO doesn't qualify as technology knowledge, all it requires is simply snap a new one in. Those folks from "that" generation also would open the backs of their TV's and pull the tubes out and take them to the drug stores where they would run the tubes in the tube testers and replace what tubes were needed. If I recall most all the mainstream drug stores had a big tube tester for us to check our tubes, and they sold the tubes which they kept in the metal case under the tube testers.

I find it quite amazing how some people here keep referring to the older generation as a group of people that didn't know much other than perhaps how to plow a garden.

I agree, there are a lot of ageist comments here. Apparently they think it's OK to stereotype seniors. Wake up people it's not OK!

Jon

 

[jnoyes]

Just to be perfectly clear, there are seniors here that have made stereotypical comments about the younger generation. That's NOT OK either!

Jon

 

[iLUVanalog]

I maintain that "newbies"...REGARDLESS OF AGE...are far better off in the long run investing in an entry level U-Turn Orbit over wasting money on (and being very disappointed by) any Crosley product.

 

[Ken Boyd]

It probably helps when new people are wanting to get into spinning vinyl that they read post like this, it helps them to understand not to expect to much quality from the Crosley.

 

[mg196]

I agree, there are a lot of ageist comments here. Apparently they think it's OK to stereotype seniors. Wake up people it's not OK!

Jon

:tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears:

 

[jnoyes]

:tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears::tears:

Another bigoted moron!

 

[WillStardust]

I am fifty, and feel a sense of validation with the current resurgence in vinyl. The build quality of Crosley stuff is so crumby that I would never consider it. I suspect that for those who choose their products, the novelty of vinyl will not last long as the perks of vinyl are lost through that equipment, and it is more labor intensive than other media. This may be a boon to those of us that feel it's worth it to expend a little time and effort on good sound while it lasts.

 

[Roivas]

I am fifty, and feel a sense of validation with the current resurgence in vinyl. The build quality of Crosley stuff is so crumby that I would never consider it. I suspect that for those who choose their products, the novelty of vinyl will not last long as the perks of vinyl are lost through that equipment, and it is more labor intensive than other media. This may be a boon to those of us that feel it's worth it to expend a little time and effort on good sound while it lasts.

I wonder how many of them will move on to nicer gear as the novelty factor fades, though. Certainly some will and some won't.

Will it be enough to sustain vinyl as a viable market segment? I hope so, but I honestly don't know. But I hope so.

 

[WillStardust]

Sadly, my instinct says no. I have an acquaintance who received Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl for Christmas, yet had no turntable. I ran into his wife, and told her I knew where they could get a vintage unit. She told me she had already got him something at Target that "plays MP3s and everything!". Perhaps the sound will satisfy them, but the benefits of vinyl will be lost in translation. I do not believe that going forward, they will choose vinyl. Your sound is only as good as the weakest link in the system. If Crosly sound satisfies, why the effort for a turntable other than novelty?

 

[Cadillacdude]

Sadly, my instinct says no. I have an acquaintance who received Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl for Christmas, yet had no turntable. I ran into his wife, and told her I knew where they could get a vintage unit. She told me she had already got him something at Target that "plays MP3s and everything!". Perhaps the sound will satisfy them, but the benefits of vinyl will be lost in translation. I do not believe that going forward, they will choose vinyl. Your sound is only as good as the weakest link in the system. If Crosly sound satisfies, why the effort for a turntable other than novelty?

Yep. A.woman posts on Facebook in the Michael Franks fan club a pic of her playing his albums on a pink Crosley. She is missing out on the fidelity of albums produced by The Crusaders, The Yellowjackets, Jeff Lorber with a Crosley.

Yodel Gruelsohn, Organ Meatmaster

 

[toxcrusadr]

Another bigoted moron!

Dude. "No Attitude" also means maintaining your cool.

 

[rmoreau61]

Sadly, my instinct says no. I have an acquaintance who received Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl for Christmas, yet had no turntable. I ran into his wife, and told her I knew where they could get a vintage unit. She told me she had already got him something at Target that "plays MP3s and everything!". Perhaps the sound will satisfy them, but the benefits of vinyl will be lost in translation. I do not believe that going forward, they will choose vinyl. Your sound is only as good as the weakest link in the system. If Crosly sound satisfies, why the effort for a turntable other than novelty?

So, you've presented evidence of one of the other scenarios - where some people will buy a Crosley and decide LP's are overrated (or too much work, or require paying attention ). These people are like kindling. They help start the fire, but they don't sustain it - they burn out quickly.

Right within this thread we have someone from the other Crosley category - upgrading to a turntable capable of more. These people are like logs added to the kindling helping to develop a healthy, long lived flame.

If/when logs stop getting added to the fire, the flame will go out. We can help keep the fire going by buying new LP's - that's the message to the industry to continue the resurgent growth.

Just to take the comparison one step further, conversations like this help stoke the fire. We're a bunch of bellows blowing hot air! I better stop stoking and go out and buy a new album this weekend. Beatles in mono, maybe.

 

[FONSguy]

They sell more LP's to folks with a Crosley TT because they get ruined after a few plays.

 

[wondergrape]

I agree with much in this thread, but there are some points I disagree with.

First, regarding "the youth movement." I disagree that they are interested in vinyl because of the sound quality. As a 35 year-old who has been collecting records for over 20 years, I think I can bring some unique experience both as a relative "old timer" and "young person." I think most young people get into vinyl because they love music and desire a physical possession that signifies that attachment. Records have far more utility than other physical formats in this arena. They are large, you can watch them being played, and they require your care and attention. I think the quality of sound is a way to justify their entree into the medium - certainly not a means unto itself. My suspicion is that Crosleys are good in this way. I know many people who started out on these devilish machines, and have since upgraded. We all know how this works, by the way...upgrading your analog system is what creates the addiction and makes the sound bloom.

Second, it is for this reason that I don't think vinyl is a fad. I think that people genuinely desire a physical manifestation of their music. Because the medium is so incredibly fulfilling - from the search to the possession to the creation of a system - I don't think we'll see a decrease in vinyl sales. Now, the massive increases that we've seen in the past five years will plateau...but the medium's success isn't going anywhere.

Finally, this notion that "hipsters" are buying records because it is "cool" is absurd. For starters, the term "hipster" is problematic, as that moniker has been put through the wash about a hundred times in the past decade. What do you mean by "hipster"? If you mean artistic-minded folks living in gentrified urban communities...well, I suspect very few of them own Crosley's. Their's is an anti-consumerist, anti-corporate climate, and most of them I suspect own vintage equipment and buy vinyl because it is cheap and they enjoy it. If by "hipster" you mean your run of the mill high school and college students, well, perhaps they buy vinyl because it's cool, but that begs the question...do young people really find vinyl to be 'cool'? I suspect they don't. I suspect they buy vinyl because it is interesting, different, and unfamiliar. Perhaps they buy it because they think it is cool...not because THEY want to be cool.

 

[hifitommy]

"Finally, this notion that "hipsters" are buying records because it is "cool" is absurd."

actually, here in LA, i have seen the purchase oif LPs just because they are cool, some of the people don't even have a player, and likely won't. in this case, they may actually be buying up the gems WE want. btw, the stores in areas that have the susceptible buyers have jacked the prices to a level that i wouldn't pay unless the discs and their jackets were pristine and they aren't.

 

[cubiclecrush]

They sell more LP's to folks with a Crosley TT because they get ruined after a few plays.

Yeah, I wonder about Crosley's effect on the used LP market. Just when I thought the supplies of LP's that had suffered under 5g+ of stylus pressure were beginning to fade from concern.....:scratch2:

 

[wondergrape]

"Finally, this notion that "hipsters" are buying records because it is "cool" is absurd."

actually, here in LA, i have seen the purchase oif LPs just because they are cool, some of the people don't even have a player, and likely won't. in this case, they may actually be buying up the gems WE want. btw, the stores in areas that have the susceptible buyers have jacked the prices to a level that i wouldn't pay unless the discs and their jackets were pristine and they aren't.

My point exactly. Syntax matters in this case. People buying records because they (meaning the records) are cool is another thing entirely than people buying records because they (meaning the buyer) want to be cool.

I'm on board with people buying records (yes, even if they don't have a player) because they think records are cool. That's kind of the point. I'm not on board with people buying records because it somehow "makes" them, as people, cool. Fortunately, I don' think that happens very often.

 

[rmoreau61]

I'm gonna get selfish here for a minute. I don't care why people buy records as long as it helps the LP revival. Keep on buying so my LP selection in stores goes up! Who knows, if LP sales volumes go up enough, maybe Crosley will start producing a new high end turnta...:lmao: I couldn't finish saying it without laughing out loud....

 

[Roivas]

I'm gonna get selfish here for a minute. I don't care why people buy records as long as it helps the LP revival. Keep on buying so my LP selection in stores goes up!...

A high-end Crosley? What the HECK would that look like? Oh wait, they used to sell an "audiophile" turntable.
They used to sell them at Target. As I recall, it was mostly made of plastic.

But to your other point, this is certainly true. They've been reissuing stuff now that used to go for absurd prices because decent copies were so rare (for example, I like Oasis, but was never willing to spend $150 for "What's the Story (Morning Glory), and now I don't have to). So as long as people keep buying vinyl, it benefits most of us. Good new stuff is being pressed (and some not-so-great new stuff, too!). I call that a win, no matter what a lot of it's being played on.