Abbey Road Vinyl / User Guide
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High fidelity sound reproduction quality surged in the1970s, as turntables incorporated belt or dampened direct drives,
precision tone arms, some made of exotic materials such as titanium, beryllium, or carbon fiber, and magnetic cartridges with
frequency responses beyond the range of human hearing.
High quality production and equipment provided deep-pocketed audiophiles with amazing sounds. At the same time, a
modest, perfectly decent “stereo system” that sounded good was not terribly expensive.
The Decline of Vinyl
The 1970s were the glory days of vinyl. Since sales of records and playback equipment were robust, healthy budgets were
available for music production. It’s no surprise that some of the masterpieces of music recording are from this era. But over
the next decade, the dominance of vinyl as a distribution media faced two great hurdles. The first was the audiocassette
recorder/player. The dominate player in the field was the Sony Walkman. This small, portable device provided a playing time
that far exceeded LPs. It was durable and could play back as well as record audio. This ability to record music posed a threat
to the music business, to the point that legal action was taken against tape manufacturers. The fact that the media was
durable and transportable and sounded good cut deeply in to vinyl sales. By the mid-1980s audiocassette sales had
surpassed vinyl.
In the early 1990s the compact disc was released on a large scale. This was an even bigger challenge to vinyl records. For
years, people recognized the unique sound quality of vinyl, but there was always complaint about surface noise and clicks.
Plus, vinyl records are fragile and utterly impossible to enjoy on the go. Early CDs were sold as being quiet, but not for their
sound quality, which couldn’t match LPs. But quickly, A/D/A converters improved, reducing the “zipper noise” that
characterized early players. Recording and production technology improved, and developments in noise reduction enabled the
resurrection of archived albums ranging from Caruso to Led Zeppelin. Audiophile listeners hung on to their LPs for a long time
(perhaps forever), but the market had made its choice. By the early 1990s, many were declaring the death of vinyl. This was
essentially true, given the many market forces standing in its way.
Summary of Contents for Abbey Road Vinyl
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