No, Fender. Stop it.

[mongo2]

I wonder if Warmoth will make licensed plinths?

 

[mrperkolator]

Sorry, but having been in record wholesale/retail for almost 30 years(in the US), in the 90’s it was reduced to strictly a novelty item, if carried at all at retail. There were no parallel releases of major titles in all formats, in fact cassettes were being phased out at that time as well. As early as 1990, major label title availability on a variety of desired titles, old and new, started drying up.
As that happened, complaints about the situation were very few and far between. Everybody went out and bought a CD player; it became a premium feature for cars.
I worked a lot in new/used situations during that time period, and we would pay next to nothing when vinyl would come in, it was a low priority/rummage sale item. Certain items, like limited edition or promo only items would fetch good money, but that was for the oddball collector/fanatic market.
The ‘revival’ was another round of record company shenanigans. Having finally realized that the pooch was screwed with Napster and all the other downloading, they seized on an underground trend happening in the early 2000’s where DIY punk bands of the time were releasing singles on vinyl as a big “FU” to the majors(a time honored punk tradition)and also just to be weird. As sales of CDs started to slip due to downloading, they jumped on vinyl again as a way to sell your music collection to you all over again, with the typical knee jerk “let’s make something uncool cool again” trendiness factored in, just like how you couldn’t give away Jazzmasters and Jaguars after 1964 untill Costello and Television made them
inversely hip around 1977.
I find this current obsession over vinyl regressive, just nostalgic fetishism, just like the great vintage/tube amp vs Class D or no amp debate here. Vinyl had so many limitations when it was all there was, and when digital came along, I shed not a tear, as did plenty of other people. With “the kids” so focused on downloads, one song at a time, that in itself has destroyed the concept of the album as a complete work of art, maybe even the capacity to enjoy a lengthy collection of music. Album sales are an exercise in trendiness, like wearing a Tshirt of a band you know nothing about and have never heard, just because somebody else said it was cool.

Perhaps it's the lack of coffee, but I kept accidentally swapping the word "trendiness" in this post with "tendies." (chicken tenders for those who don't have elementary age kids.... or aren't one yourself! ) This word swap made this post more enjoyable.


... back to my coffee.

 

[frankie5string]

I wonder if Warmoth will make licensed plinths?

Maybe... The cartridge is basically a rebranded AT VM series. Shouldn't be hard to copy it, throw a real AT cartridge in and call it a day for about $2000 less...;-)

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I wonder if Warmoth will make licensed plinths?

Pickup i.e. cartridge swapping is already a thing but will boutique companies start making overwound vintage clones for higher output while retaining the warmth of the original?

 

[RichterScale]

Since we're on the subject, I have this for sale.
$2499.99.
This week only.

 

[JakobT]

Maybe... The cartridge is basically a rebranded AT VM series. Shouldn't be hard to copy it, throw a real AT cartridge in and call it a day for about $2000 less...;-)

The cartridge fitted to the turntable is a MoFi MasterTracker, which is a completely different animal than the AT-VM series. The best money-saving tactic would be to ditch the Fender plinth, which adds about $1000 to the sticker price, and get an Ultradeck instead. Actually, the best money-saver would be not to buy this at all.

 

[ClusterFlux]

As a reminder, vinyl sales cratered in the 90s.

They're still a fraction of 70s sales figures, and 5% of current sales. Streaming (subscriptions, ad-supported streaming etc) dominates at 80% of revenues.

It is the utter collapse of CD sales, more than an increase in LP sales, that has resulted in vinyl outselling CD.

In the following chart: Blue is vinyl (albums, singles etc); orange is CDs; purple is purchased downloads (including ringtones); and green is streaming and subscriptions. The source has an interactive chart.

U.S. Sales Database - RIAA

 

[JakobT]

Pickup i.e. cartridge swapping is already a thing but will boutique companies start making overwound vintage clones for higher output while retaining the warmth of the original?

There are many boutique phono cartridge companies around, but I think that guitar- and bass pickups are of the very few types of electronics where vintage is regarded as superior to modern.

 

[NeonVomit]

Hey, looks pretty cool, why not?

Oh, 3.5k pricetag. Yeah, that's a no from me dawg.

 

[Fun With Dirt]

Having been around for when records, 8-tracks, cassette tapes, CD's, and now digital files... I do have some nostalgia for old media types. ...but would I want them again? Oh hell no. Every time I move I don't miss having physical media for music, books, or movies.

 

[WillyW]

This album is sought after in vinyl circles. People see how many they can collect as they are so common. It's a game vinyl nerds play. I used to find one almost everytime I went to goodwill. I think I have 25+ copies. lol.

I wouldnt put any of them in VG condition. they are always beat up.

Slim Whitman and Richard Harris are fun ones too…

 

[mrjim123]

It’s a limited edition (1000 units), based on Mo-Fi’s Ultradeck turntable (basically an Ultradeck with a Fender plinth), and comes with MoFi’s own UltraTracker moving magnet cartridge, which tracks at 1.8-2.2 grams. Digital stylus force gauges are available at any Hi-Fi store.

Digital stylus force gauges? Meh. We used to tape pennies to the stylus head to prevent skipping.

 

[Hasty]

A Vinyl revival??? Next the HIFi snobs will start a tube amp revival…. We’ll go figure. Maybe us old farts had it right the first time…LOL!!!

The high end audiophile guys never quit using tube amplifiers... except their amps cost around $10k or more. Check out McIntosh Labs sometime. You should also check out the big electrostatic floor speakers. Sort of like a reverse ribbon mic that's five foot tall and cost about the same as those McIntosh amps. When set up correctly they sound really good, even to my budget conscious ears.

 

[edencab]

$3500 US = $4475 CDN +/- ...x 1.13 for tax = $5060 CDN..... (IMHO)

 

[mongo2]

$3500 US = $4475 CDN +/- ...x 1.13 for tax = $5060 CDN..... (IMHO)

Yipes!

 

[Paul New]

Vinyl revival? I still gots my old ones

mostly Herb Alpert and the TJ brass

No Neil Diamond?

 

[wraub]

My Technics 1200 Mk2 looks and sounds better all the time.

 

[gtmalone]

A Vinyl revival??? Next the HIFi snobs will start a tube amp revival…. We’ll go figure. Maybe us old farts had it right the first time…LOL!!!

Someone say tubes?

I also listen to DVD-Bluray audio on the home theatre. A Yes album sounds great on that format! Most of the CD collection is now on the computer.

 

[Ffreddy]

Sorry, but having been in record wholesale/retail for almost 30 years(in the US), in the 90’s it was reduced to strictly a novelty item, if carried at all at retail. There were no parallel releases of major titles in all formats, in fact cassettes were being phased out at that time as well. As early as 1990, major label title availability on a variety of desired titles, old and new, started drying up.
As that happened, complaints about the situation were very few and far between. Everybody went out and bought a CD player; it became a premium feature for cars.
I worked a lot in new/used situations during that time period, and we would pay next to nothing when vinyl would come in, it was a low priority/rummage sale item. Certain items, like limited edition or promo only items would fetch good money, but that was for the oddball collector/fanatic market.
The ‘revival’ was another round of record company shenanigans. Having finally realized that the pooch was screwed with Napster and all the other downloading, they seized on an underground trend happening in the early 2000’s where DIY punk bands of the time were releasing singles on vinyl as a big “FU” to the majors(a time honored punk tradition)and also just to be weird. As sales of CDs started to slip due to downloading, they jumped on vinyl again as a way to sell your music collection to you all over again, with the typical knee jerk “let’s make something uncool cool again” trendiness factored in, just like how you couldn’t give away Jazzmasters and Jaguars after 1964 untill Costello and Television made them
inversely hip around 1977.
I find this current obsession over vinyl regressive, just nostalgic fetishism, just like the great vintage/tube amp vs Class D or no amp debate here. Vinyl had so many limitations when it was all there was, and when digital came along, I shed not a tear, as did plenty of other people. With “the kids” so focused on downloads, one song at a time, that in itself has destroyed the concept of the album as a complete work of art, maybe even the capacity to enjoy a lengthy collection of music. Album sales are an exercise in trendiness, like wearing a Tshirt of a band you know nothing about and have never heard, just because somebody else said it was cool.

You are really off the money on a few points-
First off, as a 'punk kid' in the 90s who inherited my parents record and tape collection, just kept buying records instead.
It wasn't an "FU" to the record companies, it wasn't an audiophile thing, it was pure economics.
I could go to the store with 20$ and get either one maybe two used CDs.
That 20$ could buy up to 10 LPs and multiple 7"s
Punk labels kept putting our records for the same reason we recorded to tape and made vinyl masters- our music sounds best that way.
It wasn't that hard to learn the process when already being pushed to DIY everything else, from tube amp and guitar repair, to fixing our van to booking tours and making T-shirts.
We hand screened single covers.
Punk is deeper than you realize.

Second point I take issue with the 'napster killed the album' thing
Lots of 'kids' in the early 00s up until today still listen to whole albums, and they listen to records that youve never heard of from when you were a teenager.

Its cool that you embraced the digital audio and didn't look back.

But some people really miss that audio info below 20hz that a CD can't produce

Its there on a vinyl master and sometimes it really matters (upright bass/cello and deep brass but also subharmonic distortion from tube amp power section overdrive)

Some people like audio above 16k as well
Internet audio compression removes that for you too
No problem if you can't hear it though!
Some people can though!

 

[brianrost]

Vinyl was phased out? I must have missed that...

Yes, it was phased out for quite a few years except for small reissue labels aimed at audiophiles. It's been slowly coming back, amazingly enough with even more expensive LPs and turntables than before. Funny to hear mention of Regas here, never thought they would go mass market.

Still have two old Technics tables and plenty of old vinyl to spin. I think I've bought two LPs in the last 25 years and then only because there was no CD version available.