Mixing the old and new

N

nyindallas

Well-Known Member
Hope this does not generate too much tar and feathers.

I recently offfered my teenage son a turntable and cassette deck. I sentimentally enjoy my dads old records and my tapes from the 70's. My son gave me a funny look and said he has no immediate use for it. He has no tapes or records and he has no plans on buying records or making tapes. He rips CD's onto his computer, sometimes lossless, he connects his computer to the vintage receiver I gave him. Sometimes he connects his ipod to the receiver. He pointed out that I have 5000 songs ripped onto a computer (mostly lossless). I have to admit I play records and tapes for mostly sentimental reasons. We did a little test. We played an identical piece of music on a record, then a cassette, a CD, and then streamed it using airport express. The LP sounded nice, just some pops, the tape sounded nice, just a bit of hiss that disappeared with the dolby button, the CD and stream sounded flawless. Many kids and consumers today think when it comes to hifi its all about size and compactness. To me it's all about sound quality. However for storage and music access my LP's and tapes will join the shelf with other items I keep for sentimental reasons. Choosing the music to hear during dinner, after dinner and then in the bedroom from a computer beaming streams to an airport express conected to a vintage receiver may sound crazy to some, but I like it.
 
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Very simaler situation here.

I use a Slim Devices squeezebox for all my audio. I have it run through my denon dcd-3k's D/A converter which is much better then the stock squeezebox D/A..

I also have a high end vinyl rig that walks all over ^. I am going to buy a $$$ D/A converter this winter so maybe that will change.

I love my squeezebox for ease of use! I love my TT for the sound. I prefer to spin vinyl and still buy new vinyl.

I am building a Hagermann ripper so I can start ripping my records to WMA lossless for my dad. It should sound close enough to my rig for him. I am going to use my phono stage etc.. and the hagermann for the importing via USB.

I love the music server though, I listen to more digital then I used to because its so easy!

Evan
 
that's pretty much what I'm preparing to do too. I have about 30 gigs of at least 192 kbps mp3s that I want to access throughout the house. They'll go on a PC running Ubuntu and Slimserver. A Roku Soundbridge will handle the transfer from digital to analog (although I'm interested in doing what many others here suggest and use an Entech Number Cruncher for the DAC). I also have a few favorite internet stations that I hope to enjoy throughout the house without the buffer hiccups I usually experience on my wireless laptop.

At the same time I've been buying vinyl at a greater rate than, well, at least since vinyl peaked in the eighties and I started buying CDs. A pristine reissue of Neil Young's Tonight's the Night brought me to tears the other night, it sounded so good. I see no reason to not enjoy the best of both worlds.
 
'Whatever does it for you' is pretty much my motto when it comes to audio as a general rule. I too have a little more than 5000 songs on my computer, mostly lossless. It's a very convenient way of listening to music, provides a backup in case anything happens to the original disc, and can sound very good if done properly. Computer speakers suck, too.

But I also buy used vinyl. It's cheap and offers exposure to music that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive to purchase. Sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) it even sounds better than digital.

I have very little interest in tape. It's a very convenient way to record radio broadcasts, but so much of what passes over the airwaves these days is so terrible that it hardly matters. CBC canceled their Brave New Waves program (as if it wasn't hard enough to pull it in from Toronto or wherever anyway). Although much of what they played sounded like a group of cats fighting atop a fretboard, I found a few extremely good groups through that radio show - enough to make it quite worthwhile. But I was rarely up late enough to listen to much of the show, hence recording...
 
well it's all about learning

For years I was very happy using my Nakamichi for 2 channel stereo and a Marantz 5200 for 5.1 and last year I added a Marantz 7500 to another room. Then I restored my dads old Stromberg Carlson Tube amp and I liked what I heard. Then I picked up an inexpensive Technics and Sanyo receiver and all of a sudden there were old receivers all over the place. I had my first real exposure to a seperates this week with the HK2100 power amp and I was amazed by the accuracy and dynamics. So I will lighten my receiver inventory and play around with some seperates. One thing for sure is I like using an iMAC with wireless transmitters to serve as a music bank. The airports I use also have a way to bypass the built in dac with fiber. Maybe one day I will insert a better dac in front of the vintage receivers/amps but for now there is no lack of quaility music in this house.
 
Fedallah said:
I have very little interest in tape. It's a very convenient way to record radio broadcasts, but so much of what passes over the airwaves these days is so terrible that it hardly matters.
Click to expand...

Very true, sad but true. But radio can still surprise you. I heard the best thing I've heard on radio for a long, long time the other day- on an NPR affiliate, provided by Deuteche Welle, a concert called "Percussion Planet." It was riveting, amazing, and in startlingly good audio quality. I've been desperately seeking a companion CD or bootleg ever since- I caught about twenty minutes of it on cassette.
 
I still do listen to NPR. The news and talk programs are quite good, and every now and again I hear something good in the little musical interludes. Beats CNN.
 
It's all good. Our boy (37 and counting) has all his tunes on laptops and Ipods. For him it's all about portability. A 2Gb Ipod carries a lot of stuff in one pocket? On the other hand, he dropped his laptop and it was all gone (his lossless "masters"). His whole collection. He gets to start over? I get to go back to my sources (LPs, Tape adn CDs and get whatever I want).

I'll join the digital revolution as soon as I assemble my dedicated music PC. It's about 1/2 way there. I have a wired house network, so moving it around is not an issue. We'll see where this goes? But my wife just brought home another Winton M LP from the thrift for $.50. Can't hardly steel the stuff for that price?
 
Fedallah, if you liked Brave New Waves, you probably would've liked Radio 3 as well. Mostly indie stuff, lots of it good, and a bit more accessible than BNW was. Though it all headed to satellite radio a while back (freakin' stupid move!), you can still pick up the podcasts at:

http://radio3.cbc.ca/

Lots of music stored there (use the search function, or just playlist mode), and totally worth a listen if/when you get tired of the "same old stuff"... :thmbsp:
 
actually no great risk with digitized music

as with anything on a computer backing up is key. For five dollars a month I have an up to date 400GB backup on carbonite. If my home disappeared from the earth my music and photos would survive. My records, tapes and CD's would not.

As I like to tell friends 'there are those that backup, and those that will learn to backup the hard way.'
 
Fedallah said:
'Whatever does it for you' is pretty much my motto when it comes to audio as a general rule. I too have a little more than 5000 songs on my computer, mostly lossless. It's a very convenient way of listening to music, provides a backup in case anything happens to the original disc, and can sound very good if done properly. Computer speakers suck, too.

But I also buy used vinyl. It's cheap and offers exposure to music that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive to purchase. Sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) it even sounds better than digital.

I have very little interest in tape. It's a very convenient way to record radio broadcasts, but so much of what passes over the airwaves these days is so terrible that it hardly matters. CBC canceled their Brave New Waves program (as if it wasn't hard enough to pull it in from Toronto or wherever anyway). Although much of what they played sounded like a group of cats fighting atop a fretboard, I found a few extremely good groups through that radio show - enough to make it quite worthwhile. But I was rarely up late enough to listen to much of the show, hence recording...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I miss Brave New Waves sometimes, too. is a bit of a stretch The show that replaced it has some good moments as well, though the programming has a different direction. Getting Radio2 in Ann Arbor sometimes, I know. I work there from time to time and the signal gets iffy in the car just before I get there some days.

I record quite a bit of radio, but mostly onto my computer through a USB DAC. Sounds very good, indeed. My 81 yr old father lives in Toronto and he likes the jazz programming on WRCJ which he listens to online. I record a few hours here and there for him as what I get off air here is of vastly better sound quality, burn to CD and he's happy for his commute to work for a few days (yes, he refuses to retire).
 
ponderbear said:
Very true, sad but true. But radio can still surprise you. I heard the best thing I've heard on radio for a long, long time the other day- on an NPR affiliate, provided by Deuteche Welle, a concert called "Percussion Planet." It was riveting, amazing, and in startlingly good audio quality. I've been desperately seeking a companion CD or bootleg ever since- I caught about twenty minutes of it on cassette.
Click to expand...

I think you may mean "Percussion Planante" by Klaus Schultze. It's on his Mediterranean Pads CD.
 
Thanks titanstats. I'll give Radio Three a good look.

A 2Gb Ipod carries a lot of stuff in one pocket? On the other hand, he dropped his laptop and it was all gone (his lossless "masters").
Click to expand...
This is a huge danger - one that has motivated me to back up my stuff.

Losing your hard drive is the twenty-first century equivalent of having one's village burned.
 
Fedallah said:
Thanks titanstats. I'll give Radio Three a good look.


This is a huge danger - one that has motivated me to back up my stuff.

Losing your hard drive is the twenty-first century equivalent of having one's village burned.
Click to expand...

Yep. Thanks for the reminder.

Tim
 
AlleyKat said:
I think you may mean "Percussion Planante" by Klaus Schultze. It's on his Mediterranean Pads CD.
Click to expand...
Nope, this one, syndicated by WFMT. It was bloody brilliant.

Program #; DWF 06-24
Release date: March 8, 2007

PLEASE NOTE: This program is subject to change

Beethoven Festival in Bonn, 8th Concert

One broadcast before March 7, 2008

SOLOISTS: Martin Grubinger, percussion; Yara Tal, piano; Andreas Groethuysen, piano; Art Percussion Ensemble; and other percussionists, wind and string players

Percussion Planet: Excerpts from the Long Night of the Percussionists
from America, Latin America and the Caribbean:

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
Fanfare for the Common Man

Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001)
Psappha

Steve Reich (1936-)
Six Marimbas

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
A Tribute to….

from Europe:

Richard Strauss (1864-1948)
Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare

Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Symphony No. 15, arranged by Viktor Derevianko (excerpt)

from Australia, Asia and Africa:

Colin Spiers (1957-)
Fanfare for Brass Quintet and Percussion

Keibo Abe (1937-)
Prism Rhapsody

Performed on September 23, 2006 at the T-Mobile Forum, Bonn
Recorded by Deutsche Welle (DW)
 
Laptop Hard Drive Ressurection--often possible

Pardon, but most modern laptop hard drives are not the most vulnerable component. Impact damage is more likely to hurt just about anything else.

If it were a desktop, the first thing to do would be yank out the HDD and connect it up to another computer as its secondary drive (usually 'D' drive) and see if you can read off of it. Or as its primary ('C'). Safe mode can help...might not detect the same video settings... or just reboot from a known bootable CD-Rom.

Contrary to popular misconception a laptop Hard Disk Drive works in a similar manner to a desktop--just with a different connection. Smaller ribbon connector (IDE) or SATA connection, etc.

So... a little care opening up a similar laptop, remove its HDD, connect in your old HD as its primary drive, reboot ....

Then backup your data through the NIC card connection, DVD burner, etc.

Good luck.

Unless it's easier to say Nyaa Nyaa you shoulda backed up...
 
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