Wow Beatles vinyls sound GREAT

[mva5580]

So yeah for a little while now I've had the following Beatles vinyl more as collectibles than actually listening: (my collection is ongoing obviously)

- Hard Day's Night
- Revolver
- Magical Mystery Tour
- Sgt Pepper (mono!)
- White Album
- Yellow Submarine
- Abbey Road
- Red & Blue albums
- Hollywood Bowl

Well today I found a good price on a Numark TT1600 turntable on Craigslist ($30, can you beat that?!), bought the phono preamp, hooked up to my surround sound system, and WOW! The sound is absolutely fantastic, I'm really at a loss for words. It "pops" so much through the system, it's absolutely great. I mean even the earlier songs like Love Me Do, Please Please Me, She Loves You, just sound awesome. So much more life in them, I guess it's kind of hard to describe.

Anyway I'm absolutely going to try and finish off the collection now that I'm listening to them, and from what I've read the Love album sounds incredible on vinyl. Anyway, just wanted to share this very, very pleasant surprise I've discovered today.

[RoofTopRookie]

The re-issues are supposed to have the whole "Vinyl" sound to them. Cant wait to hear them!

[miche.cs]

Yes, yes they do.

I don't buy them to collect them. I buy them to play them, so mosta mine are kinda beat up and played too much. But I still love 'em. I'm only really missing Magical Myster Tour and Help now I think.

[MnTwinzFan]

NOTHING SOUNDS BETTER THAN VINYL.

I get goosebumps just holding a record between my two palms. Excuse me. I need to take a shower now...

[liaminh]

Analog recordings have a much wider range of frequencies for all the instruments. You can hear a lot of details in them. CDs, MP3s and digitized versions of old vinyls often mask a lot of these subtleties, in favor of making things louder so that you can hear them easily on earbuds, tiny MP3 players, PCs, in cars, and so on.

If you really want to hear a song as closely as possible to the way it was played and recorded, analog vinyl is the way to go. It's just not as convenient as the digital format. But the difference is pretty obvious to people who care about fidelity.

[Skeleshredder]

I have Abbey Road and Revolver, but no turntable to play them on. Keep wanting to get one, but it's not a priority right now. I keep hearing things like this that make me wanna run out and get one, though.

[Reaver]

I've been trying to get myself to get them off ebay but they're too damn expensive. And since I'm one of those who wants and ORIGINAL release, I'm picky about what I buy.

Atleast I managed to get all the original PF LP's.:D

[pianoman3284]

I've recently started buying everthing on vinyl too and noticed everything sounds so much more rich than digital. I only have The Beatles' Second Album and the recent re-issue of Abbey Road. I would like to find Abbey Road on something closer to the original pressing, but even with the re-issue it sounds much better than it's CD cousin.

[schmeankman]

I have

-Meet the Beatles
-Something New
-Beatles '65
-The Early Beatles
-Beatles VI
-"Yesterday" ... and Today
-Magical Mystery Tour
-Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
-The White Album
-Abbey Road
-Hey Jude
-Let it Be
-1962-1967

...all of which are absolutly delightful. Listening to 'Something New' right now, I watched the Hard Day's Night movie today.

[Meckler]

I have

-Meet the Beatles
-Something New
-Beatles '65
-The Early Beatles
-Beatles VI
-"Yesterday" ... and Today
-Magical Mystery Tour
-Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
-The White Album
-Abbey Road
-Hey Jude
-Let it Be
-1962-1967

...all of which are absolutly delightful. Listening to 'Something New' right now, I watched the Hard Day's Night movie today.
i saw that film earlier today as well. hope the remasters are worth it.

[Rod_Stixx]

As an old guy, I have all the Beatles albums. My family called me ''Record Man" as a kid, since I was really focused on playing and listening to records all the time at age 3 or 4. So all my Beatles records are vintage late 60s/early 70s releases. My Sgt Pepper is an original US release vinyl album - wouldn't be worth much though, as it is a bit beat up from play and handling over the years. When Pepper came out on CD, it was really weird hearing some of those songs without the needle skipping over certain parts. :p

I also have the Blue Box vinyl collection that had the original UK releases on vinyl and the Beatles Rarities album included. Only played them once, so those are in mint condition.

I have around a thousand LPs, but I haven't had a working turntable for a while. One of these days I'll get a turntable again and spin a few of the old discs for old time's sake.

"In the old days, we had to get up and turn the record over after six songs!" /old man

[packerfan8675309]

You could play the Beatles through about any medium and they would still sound great.

[Jordan10la]

Damn I wish I still had a needle for mine.

Protip: The general public doesn't know not to let it spin with no record :|

[mva5580]

I found The Beatles Anthology volume 2 yesterday for 19.99. Hell of a deal.

[oRabbit]

Vinyls are best. We lucked out and got a killer Technics player awhile back off Craigslist for $50. It's all we really listen to while in the house. We listen to our collection lovingly, first pressings and all. We don't buy albums to keep them on the shelves collecting dust because they're rare....they want to be played. We're more picky about the cover/sleeve being in good shape.

We've got most all of the Beatles albums, except Yellow Submarine (haven't found a copy we like). We like the picture book that comes with Sgt. Peppers, recommend looking for an addition that has that.

[liaminh]

I have two copies of Help! with the full comic strips inside (9 pages).

Really cool stuff.

[JB392]

I agree. My vinyl that I have still is played and enjoyed. Even though I have some of my vinyl on cd\mp3 for portability, whenever possible\feasible I prefer vinyl.

[Zep--]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/digital-conversion/90a0/

Yeah, not exactly analog, but an option for playing old vinyl if you cant locate an old style turntable. needle and preamp etc etc...

Zep--

[Reaver]

The turntable I have I actually got as a X-mas gift which my mum picked up at Target. It can play 33/45/78s, it'll play CDs in the front, cassette tapes on the side, and has a plug-in in the back to play iPods. It also has an AM/FM radio. And on top of that, its got an old fassioned look with old style knobs and whatnot. Its really neat and plays my LPs just fine.

Its a Crosley, if anyone is interested.

[liaminh]

Can it transfer an LP to CD or MP3?

[Reaver]

Actually, I think it can. I can't find the manuel, so I can't say for sure 100% but I recall reading that it could. If not mine, then a different model.

Oh, and I just bought This (http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Beatles-Collection-Records-LP-White-Abbey_W0QQitemZ320402387665QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMusi c_on_Vinyl?hash=item4a997872d1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14):D

EDIT: This (http://www.crosleyradio.com/Product.aspx?pid=1798) isn't the exact same one I have but pretty damn close. But if you read the description it says you can transfer to LPs to CD.

The only difference is mine can play cassette tapes and my iPod.

[liaminh]

Thanks for the info. Reason I asked is because I think it's important to be able to convert to MP3 (for iPod or MP3 players), but no so much for CDs, which should go the way of the 8-track tape. I envision a future where car audio systems will be USB based instead of CDs.

Anyway, congratulations on a great Beatles collection you got there!

[Reaver]

I can't believe this. I just realized MMT isn't in that set I bought. Good god do I need glasses...

Oh well. There are plenty of them around.

[DrEeviil]

I'm going to have to disagree with you guys here. I owned dozens and dozens of albums on vinyl, and there is a reason vinyl is dead and digital is king. An LP will sound great the first couple of times you can play it. But every time you play it, the sound gets worse. Since most people had junky turntables, and crappy needles they got for $5 at Radio-Shack, they got pretty bad pretty fast. A CD sounds the same every single time you play it, unless you physically damage the disk. But LPs are much more fragile than CDs, and are much more likely to get damaged as well.

I lived through the LP to CD transition. Contrary to what some people say, overall it was a big net positive to music quality.

[Reaver]

Only reason I like them is because they're nostalgic. I mean, I myself don't find the sound quality to be better. But personally, I think the crackling adds and antique/authentic feel to the music.

Only problem is my WYWH album skips in the middle of "WYWH"...I might have to get a new one.

[mva5580]

I understand that LP's are more fragile than CD's, but if you're someone who takes care of your stuff, that's not an issue. I know people screwed up their LP discs/covers to all hell, but I can only comment on myself and I make sure I take care of what I've got.

The digital medium is more about convenience than it is quality. Obviously it's easy to store 10,000 songs (or whatever) on an ipod now where as when LP's were the medium, that clearly couldn't happen. All I know is when I'm at home and I want to listen to The Beatles, I'll be putting the vinyl on. At least until the remastered stereo/mono CD's are released and HOPEFULLY they even blow away the vinyl. :)

[liaminh]

I'm going to have to disagree with you guys here. I owned dozens and dozens of albums on vinyl, and there is a reason vinyl is dead and digital is king. An LP will sound great the first couple of times you can play it. But every time you play it, the sound gets worse. Since most people had junky turntables, and crappy needles they got for $5 at Radio-Shack, they got pretty bad pretty fast. A CD sounds the same every single time you play it, unless you physically damage the disk. But LPs are much more fragile than CDs, and are much more likely to get damaged as well.

I lived through the LP to CD transition. Contrary to what some people say, overall it was a big net positive to music quality.

What you're describing is a problem with the equipment, not the LPs themselves. Analog systems aren't perfect either. In order to get the best sound out of an LP, you need to have a pretty good cartridge and a decent turntable that can be adjusted for needle arm pressure and speed, etc. It can get expensive if you're a true audiophile.

The digitization process is both a blessing and a curse. It makes playing recorded music more economical and convenient for the masses by removing/suppressing a lot of the subtleties audible only in analog. But even with mediocre sound systems, I still think an LP produces a richer and warmer sound, whereas a CD might sound dry or harsh.

DVD audio technology, on the other hand, can get extremely close to its analog grandfather in audio quality without the drawbacks of vinyl LPs. I think that's where the future of digital music really lies. Not CDs.

[pooter1998]

I have
white album
hard days night
anthology 2
red beatles
blue beatles
and they all rock

[SMiLE72]

Beatles Vinyls sound just Fab and are on continuous rotation in my home!!!

[HerSilverHammer]

My father's collection was amazing, over 1000 records. House fire, lost most... But saved The Beatles stuff. Original Masters or Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album and Abbey Road, and literally every Beatles record + solo stuff.

[ArchangelZero]

I'm trying to get a turntable, then I'm gonna buy some vinyls for it.

[vcalzone]

Vinyl degrades, CDs are a thousand times more convenient. The difference in convenience is far greater than any differences in sound, which only a minority of the public is really able to pick up on, IIRC.

Secondly, replace your CDs with SACDs or DVDs and you get a similar or even greater effect. You won't get that with Beatles recordings, but...

Honestly, how much music is truly worth hearing at the best possible quality? Maybe it's just me, but half the music I listen to is full of noise anyway.

[Nooblender]

Vinyl degrades, CDs are a thousand times more convenient. The difference in convenience is far greater than any differences in sound, which only a minority of the public is really able to pick up on, IIRC.

If the 9/9/09 remasters are as good as McCartney says they are, we're about to get the best of both worlds. :)

I preordered the Mono set, it will be the first time I've heard Beatles mono mixes. I'm very excited.

[HylianBowcaster]

I've actually got Sgt. Pepper's to Let it Be, but they're unopened so I can't play them

[o1skinneej]

I have

-Meet the Beatles
-Something New
-Beatles '65
-The Early Beatles
-Beatles VI
-"Yesterday" ... and Today
-Magical Mystery Tour
-Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
-The White Album
-Abbey Road
-Hey Jude
-Let it Be
-1962-1967

...all of which are absolutly delightful. Listening to 'Something New' right now, I watched the Hard Day's Night movie today.

This is my EXACT same collection (minus "Meet The Beatles")!!
When I get home my albums better be there!!!!! :mad:

[RADIO CHRIS]

vinyl is good

[psirocker]

I have...

Meet the Beatles
Second Album
65'
NO SGT PEPPER!!!!!!
White Album
Let it Be
Abbey Road

[ReverseEngineer]

Abbey Road is one of the best uses of the 2-sided LP format ever.

[JB392]

I agree Vinyl sounds very good.

[mva5580]

Can't believe this thread is still going lol.

My 2 newest acquisitions are Beatles Anthology Volume 1 and The Beatles "1" album, and yeah. They sound fantastic. The "1" vinyl is especially awesome.

[Ramirez16]

I wish I could get more than just Abbey Road. maybe after I get the game because right now I'm saving up!

[Llamaaction]

I have all of the British studio albums.

[Reaver]

Well I got Magical Mystery Tour a few weeks ago. Sounds great. As of now I have all their studio albums along with Rarities which has "Rain" on it (this was the first time I heard it; its great). My Beatles albums came from a 1977 UK box set and are in near mint condition. The White Album has some scratches on the case but the records are great and it even came with the original poster and photos of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. All in mint condition.

I'm planning on getting all the singles releases but seeing as I just dropped around $300 for them I can't right now.