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From: iain@rtf.bt.co.uk (Iain Baird)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: LP Quality
Message-ID: <9418@uwm.edu>
Date: 8 Feb 91 13:57:17 GMT
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In article <9370@uwm.edu> kucharsk@Solbourne.COM (William Kucharski) writes:
>
>Can anyone who may have purchased a new release on LP lately comment on which
>route the record companies are taking on this?

I bought the latest Laurie Anderson LP some time back.  It is a thin,
nearly translucent, piece of cheapo vinyl with rough edges.  Despite
careful handling, it is developing tics and pops at an alarming rate.

Contrast this with say "Future Days" by Can - I bought the original
1970 (ish) pressing second hand.  It looked terrible - dirty and scuffed.
I brushed the worst of the crap off, and it sounds great.  Remarkably
little noise.  It weighs at least twice as much as the Laurie Anderson
LP, and I suspect it is higher quality vinyl.

Another original Can album ("Soon Over Babaluma") I bought second hand
is so badly warped that I can only play the tracks near the end of each
side.  So I bought a new copy - I can play all of it, but it doesn't sound
as good as (bits of) the old copy.

In light of these and other experiences, I have no doubt that the majority
of record companies are following option 2).

The reasons for this?  They may include:

 - Oil prices have risen (not as much as record prices though).

 - Record companies and retailers prefer CDs (more profitable, cheaper
   to transport and store, manufacturing defects are concealed by the
   reproduction system), and producing shitty expensive LPs (or none at
   all for some titles) just pushes more punters towards CD.

 - Your average big record company is not the slightest bit interested
   in quality, they are there to make money.

The answer?  Forget the big record companies.  I think the future of vinyl
will be with smaller specialist companies, with a commitment to quality,
and a small but loyal customer base of LP enthusiasts.

After all, IMHO, they still sound better (given a chance)!

 
-- 
Iain Baird                                        iain@rtf.bt.co.uk
                                        ...uunet!ukc!axion!rtf!iain