Random Vinyl Thoughts on a Tuesday Night

I couldn’t help myself and, chances are, if you are a vinyl enthusiast, you couldn’t either. But my wife and I were watching this fascinating movie, Intrigo: Death of an Author, and in several scenes, I noticed that he listened to records. In fact, he had a nice stash of records shelved in a cabinet underneath his turntable — maybe 150 to 200? The intriguing plot involving a betrayed husband who purportedly murdered his wife was filmed in many panoramic locations across Europe, featuring vistas, architecture, and interiors to die for. Of course, I duly noted these things, and more, but seeing the turntable and record collection in the home of our protagonist put a smile on my face.

Surely, you’re yet another consumer who got duped by marketing infused products (in this case, vinyl and records), a pessimist might claim. And, in some ways, they may be right. I mean, after all, how many of us haven’t been swayed by the mass proliferation of Eames Lounge Chairs portrayed in the hit show, Frasier, years ago and splashed across countless audiophile and interior design magazines? Ditto with Mid Century Modern designs, Land Rovers, Mercedes Benz, Porsches, and other highly-esteemed products that grace movies and popular media we consume in Western society.

But of course, for many of us, it’s way more than that. I’ll admit that for years, I wasn’t on the vinyl bandwagon. Instead, I was a big proponent of CDs, digital media, and great DACs (Digital to Analog Converters). But several years ago, that changed.

Ironically, I was seriously considering getting rid of my turntable and albums and going strictly digital. However, I had some conversations with an audio designer who challenged my thoughts, I began to reassess. I did sell my turntable at the time, but replaced it with a vintage Micro Seiki BL-91 turntable. I ended up having it serviced, replacing some capacitors, cleaning, and updating a few things on it. And as I began listening more, my appreciation for the warm and more saturated sounds of good, clean vinyl playing on a quality turntable grew.

Now, I know that it can be a hassle cleaning records. I actually own and periodically use an ultrasonic record cleaner. There’s also things like remembering to put the stylus guard back on the cartridge after playback to protect the needle, turning the record over after a side finishes. And, if my wife wants to listen to music, we almost always switch to digital playback, as she likes to hope from song to song by different artists — which using my somewhat limited library cannot compete with the millions available in my multiple terabyte hard drives and on streaming platforms like Qobuz. But when it comes to my personal listening, I often find myself reaching for several albums, unsheathing them one at a time, plattering, wiping, hitting play, lowering the needle, and taking in the magic.

I’m hooked. Aren’t you?