Conference hips::uk_audioo

    
    Well, no-one said you have to buy the LINN CD player...

    I agree, but if I'm going to ``have'' to buy CD's I'm not going to be
    happy if they sound (considerably) worse than my LP-12. Looking at the
    market at the moment it looks like I'll have to spend between 2 and 3K
    on a player to get something which is noticable better than a Rega-3.
    
    Name	Price	As good as
    
    Micromega	500	Rega-2
     Optik
    
    Micromega	1500	Linn Basik
     Duo
    
    Naim CDs	3000	?
    
    Linn CD	2600	?
    
    	And then I've got the problem that a large'ish percentage of CD's
    sound cr*p independent of the quality of the player.

   The last few times I've wanted records not in the charts I had to phone 
   several shops and travel halfway across London to get them. Looks as 
   though it's time to think about a CD player.
   
   Re -1 Do they cost that much, are you serious ?
   
   I own a Rega 3 with standard arm and Linn K9, which CD players are 
   capable of similar sound quality and how much do they cost ?
   
   Not to mention replacing my records with CDs  :-(
   
   Mike Webster.

    Mike,
    	Unfortunatly my reply in .2 was not a joke. Penny for penny
    (especially when compaired to a very good value Rega-3) CD players just
    'aint very good (I would another expression but not in Notes)
    
    	Up 'till recently I hadent heard a CD player as good as a Rega-3
    AT-ANY-PRICE. Things are a little better now but your still talking at
    least �500 pounds for one of the Micromega things :-(
    
    	The Rotel something or other is quite good� at �300 but a Rega-2
    with no oil in the bearing� will flatten it by a comfortable margin.
    
    	Sorry - yes really sorry,
    
    		Rik
    
    �Do not try this at home.
    �Very good for a CD player.

	The shop I bought my new system from appeared to be selling more 
	turntables over christmas than anything else.  They stock the Linn 
	range and both bottom and mid-price turntables appeared to be selling
	very well.

	While choosing the CD player (Rotel RCD 965), I compared it with
	the mid range Linn turntable.  The Linn appeared to have a better
	grip on the timing on some types of music, but both seemed capable
	of picking up similar levels of information from the recordings.
	Adding the Audiolab 8000DAC to the Rotel improved the timing, but
	put the price of the combination at entry level LP12 amounts.

	I'm CD only or will be in a couple of days as he hifi shop are 
	taking my remaining LP's from me along with my turntable.  They 
	have a large stock of LP's, but appear to turn over the stock 
	quite quickly.  Maybe in the future, hifi shops will be the only
	places left that sell LP's.

	I have to admit that I was tempted by the Linn setup, but I'm 
	too far down the CD library building route to change direction 
	now.  For me now an expensive CD/DAC would actually be a less
	costly solution.

	Iain.

    So W.H. Smiths aren't selling LPs any more? My local Smiths hasn't sold
    LPs for over a year now, and neither have Boots. They never did stock
    anything that turned me on, and the selection in the formats they do
    have is as miserable and unimaginative as it ever was. The more things
    change, etc. I personally don't give a s@%t.
    
    Rik, don't look for a CD player that sounds like *any* record player;
    it's a soul-destroying, pointless journey. There are several that are
    just as pleasing (NOT the same as "just as good") as a Rega at around
    �500; spend the balance between that and a Linn CD (it ain't as good as
    an LP12 anyway, but better than any CD player I've heard) on the albums
    you can't buy on LP but can't live without, and on the LPs you can get
    while they're still hot. And enjoy as much music as you can.
    
    Dave 

Can't understand people trading in all their old albums and purchasing the same
titles on CD. 

I have managed to replace a number of my old favourite albums with newly issued
albums for <$5 a pop. I'm happy...

The Our Price in Basingstoke is really destocking Vinyl. I think they are
trying to accellerate the trend. I guess that Vinyl still accounts for
a reasonable proportion, but it just doesn't fit their shelves so well.

The interesting thing is that trying to find Warren Zevon 'Sentimental
Hygiene' and Michelle Shocked 'Short Sharp Shocked' was impossible not
only on Vinyl, but also on CD.

Are they generally reducing the range for all formats?

Mark.

    Re. .8
    
    Yes, they certainly are. Unless is :
    
    	A. Best Of ...
    	B. Compilation ...
    	C. Aimed at 14 year olds
    
    You don't stand a chance. It's getting difficult to get albums that
    were only release a few years ago even (on any format)
    
    	Roger Waters	: Radio Kaos
    	Marian Faithful	: A Childs Adventure / Heavy Weather
    
    	Rik

    I've had some trouble getting classical CD's that I bought when
    released last year.  Most of the ones I've had problems with have
    been deleted from the labels catalogue.
    
    As for replacing existing albums with CD's.  When all out CD's were
    stolen, we went through the list and decided we would buy about 80% 
    of the titles we had.  We then went through the remaining Vinyl and
    tapes we had and added the ones we wanted to the CD list.  Out of 
    about 100 albums and 120 tapes, we came up with about 20 titles that
    we would buy again.  As a personal thing, I can't stand a lot of the
    music that I liked when I used to buy records.  Must be my age or 
    something :=)
    
    Iain.

    If you want a good choice of music and formats, you really have to
    support the independent retailer. There is an enormous amount of music
    still available on vinyl - yes, the volume is low compared to other
    formats, but seems to be levelling off and is still worth several
    million units/year in the UK alone. This will continue, and represent
    good business for the buyer, manufacturer and retailer, so long as
    those of us who collect music are prepared to resist the manipulation
    of the major chains.
    
    It may mean waiting while what you want is ordered, or using mail order
    more often, or maybe travelling from time to time, or maybe even
    learning enough about your favourite music forms so that you don't need
    to be inspired by browsing alone. These activities have always been
    part of the fun of collecting music for me, but it is becoming a 
    necessity for anyone who wants any kind of choice.
    
    Of course, if buyers can't be bothered to do any of those things, they
    will get the music outlets and choice of music they deserve. And pay
    through the nose for it. Provided they also don't mind queuing behind
    those waiting to pay for T-shirts and condoms.
    
    Dave