At an old age now, born in 1956, it has been an experience of listening to vinyl records for a massive part of life’s music experiences. A ‘box shaped’ Dansette vinyl player with a front mono speaker evolved to a separate turntable, radio unit, cassette playing unit and speakers which were all electrically wired together. Then came the all-in-one column stereo centre with a turntable/phono port for headphones/radio/cassette player and separate speakers all named as a ‘music centre’ experience.

Alongside these listening devices was a small leather covered transistor radio for tuning in to the songs of the day and gave opportunities to what you could buy, if enough money existed in the small piggy (Pygg) bank on the side table, as to the songs that resonated with your soul. David ‘Kid’ Jensen used to play album tracks on his daytime show. The Top 20 was then a massive experience. But hearing album tracks brought up a different view entirely. The songs went deeper. The Slider by Marc Bolan’s T.Rex was a much anticipated album after his ‘Electric Warrior’ successful album. Excitement at hearing album track songs, days before official release, brought about a goosebumps reaction. Priceless.

The new format of Compact Discs changed the ball game. You could buy a new ‘music centre’ which had the addition of an inherent CD player….but the cost! So CD players were bought separately. Usually small carrying devices with a pair of headphones. That was my experience, so the magic of music listening was beginning to fade. Vinyl became less favourable. CDs were light, less expensive to produce than vinyl, had massive favour in the radio playing experience as they were cleaner sounding. No minor scratch noise or hiss.

Vinyl is making a massive comeback. As is camera film too. Vintage truly rocks now. I have been buying newly released vinyl albums from artists like Mazzy Star, Richard Hawley, Morrissey, etc. Also scouting Charity Shops for albums. But they are difficult to find in decent condition really.

And so, in truth, I am still championing the vinyl vibe.

Tapping on the thumbnail images below enlarges them…..Cheers.

Over a decade or two, vinyl disappeared to becoming almost extinct in buying choice. Over the decades it was always my own personal intention to keep a stereo unit somewhere in the house. But, the guilty nature of CD listening was always the easy option. I fell into that trap.

But at least the CD in a plastic box experience was still tactile. You just needed glasses or a strong magnifying glass to read the sleeve lyrics due to the nature of a small sized format requirement. But those booklet inclusions were at least a piece of ownership where you could look back at them and get at the release history. What I truly like about a lot of my current CD purchases is that they come in cardboard sleeves. Hard plastics are now an ecological no go.

The CD size? Kind of acceptable, but vinyl album covers are far more exciting.

The latest blogs have been about bringing my late brother’s Pioneer PL-12D turntable back to life. A Pioneer SA 500 1970 amplifier was purchased off eBay a week or so ago. I want Pioneer speakers too. After a dental visit last week, I popped around the shops in Machynlleth. Suddenly I thought of a guy who sold antiques and bric-a-brac. No, he didn’t have Pioneers, but showed me a Jamo Cornet 30 IV (i.e. four) pair of Danish speakers. Played some music on them through a beautiful valve amplifier. The inner workings could be seen in all their valve inherent glory! The speakers were easily a good price at £35 and, as a vinyl enthusiast himself, he knew his onions. At least I could get them home and listen to some music. The true ambition of a better permanent speaker option could wait awhile.

Tapping on the thumbnail images below enlarges them……again, Cheers.

I have spoken to the bric-a-brac guy on many occasions before, but my introvert nature meant I hadn’t seen him for about four years. He is a really knowledgeable guy concerning audio listening. A music engineer actually. We caught up on how we were both doing. He was showing me upgrade stylus options, which he said changes the whole listening experience. But on mentioning my own stylus on the turntable, he was impressed.

Technical upgrades? In my head I thought, ‘Brilliant, but in reality my ears can’t cope with audiological frequencies’. Why? Because my ears are old age shot, so it’s a waste of time for myself. No audiophile top sound quality nature in my inner ears’ cochlears exists any more. So the finesse of superior equipment is totally lost in my case.

Speakers? We decided that a Pioneer option would definitely be a future dream. However, the Jamo choice is pretty solid to be honest. A very warm resonance, a clear sound from bass to high and small bookshelf size which suits The Den’s limited space.

I am buying some swivel wall mounted speaker holders so that I can lower them from top of shelf to ear level listening. But yesterday was fabulous really. Vinyl came back, properly, into my life.

As it was my brother’s turntable, a decision of first album choice to be played was required. And so the very first album on the turntable was Kongos, by John Kongos. One of his all time favourite albums. He played it over and over. And definitely an intention existed to play this very album once the system was set up. To be honest, there could have been dozens to choose from. But somehow a subliminal message from the Universe came through.

‘This one!’ He whispered.