StephenPG wrote: > Interesting you chose Mahler 2. > > So you're saying having to split the symphony onto four sides of two > lp's, including splitting the final movement into two parts (something > I'm sure Mahler himself would have disapproved of) is a technological > triumph? > > Should I mention wear over time? > > Tracing error? > > End of side mistracking? > > Sure, it needs two CD's so can't be listened to without changing discs, > but with a streamer this is no longer a problem. > > Classical on vinyl was awful and it was no surprise that it vanished in > 1990.
Hi Stephen! I happily accept all the above criticisms of LP's, the point that I was trying to make is that we came a long way from Thomas Edison creating a wax cylinder with a (thankfully unlistenable to) rendition of "Mary Had A Little Lamb" around 1886 (that's from memory, so do correct me if I've got the date wrong!) though 78rpm shellac discs played by a literal needle into a horn loaded arm, to the final evolution of the stereo 33 1/3rpm LP with transcription mechanics consisting of magnetic pickups, first MM & then MC, counterweighted arms with precision bearings, with precise tracking weight & bias compensation adjustments & optimised lateral tracking error geometry & record decks providing *-some-* respite from the rumble & wow & flutter inherent in the medium, capable of supplying a stereo signal to utilise (if not take full advantage of powerful solid-state amplification capable of driving low efficiency multi-way loudspeakers (or Quad Electrostatics if you had the room & a very persuasive manner with your domestic goddess). I suspect that the real weak links in most people's systems in the 60's & 70's were actually the loudspeakers. It was an extraordinary engineering achievement comparable to the continuous incremental development of the internal combustion engine which like the analogue disc has some inherent design limitations. Roll on hydrogen fuel cells! When I do get around to hooking my old record deck up again, assuming that the bearings in the arm have survived the long intermission, it will only be to play legacy LP's that I've also kept. I don't expect it to measure up to my NAS/LMS/Transporter/DAC combo at all & I certainly have no intention of acquiring any modern "audiophile" vinyl offerings at their inflated prices. Mahler was indeed very particular about his output, AFAIK conducted his works himself whenever possible & left more instructions about exactly how he wanted the music played than practically any other composer. He also revisited his compositions several times to satisfy his creative vision. I don't think that he would have been impressed by the quality of recorded music on LP, but I should imagine that he would have been astonished that it was possible to do it at all. You know the old gag about the singing dog: it's not that the singing is good, it's that it happens at all that's remarkable. The great advantage of storing your music on lossless files of CD quality is that you can chain all the movements of a long work like Bach's St. Matthew Passion together & not even bother with the changing of CD's. Interestingly, I came across a source that claimed that Sony chose 44.1kHz as the CD sampling frequency in response to Herbert von Karajan's insistence that a CD should accommodate a performance of Beethoven's 9th, although other sources claim that the ready availability of existing 44.1kHz clocks was the real reason. One would have thought that 48kHz (as used for PCM sound on DVD-V's) would have been a more obvious choice, but it wouldn't have allowed the 9th to fit on a 700Mb CD. I also discovered by chance that the original intention was only to use 14bit encoding, although this was changed during development to 16bit before any CD's or CD players were commercially produced. Of course the great advantage vinyl had over CD was that you had to buy it, or suffer the even worse sound of a cassette tape copy. I'm sure they hadn't anticipated the development of CD-R & CD-RW's, but failing to put any copy protection onto CD's was definitely a blunder with hindsight. Bands seem to rely on sell-out tours rather than recordings sales to fund their lifestyles these days... Dave :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Golden Earring's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=66646 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=106519 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
