(Let the Diamond Stylus Do the Talking)
Commentary / Memoirs
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I’ve been selling old vinyl on eBay. I figured I wasn’t buying it (vinyl) anymore. I didn’t have the stereo equipment set up anymore, ie, for years and years and years. I wasn’t going to re-invest in a better turntable, or, if I checked out my old turntable and it had issues, I wasn’t going to invest in a new needle or invest in maintenance on a system I wasn’t using any longer.
And, again, I wasn’t planning on re-investing in vinyl so…
Wanting to see if my stereo-equipment-of-old was still in working order before trying to sell it, I went and pulled my gear out of the dust and boxes and hooked things up.
Though I cannot say I ever considered myself a major AUDIOPHILE, I used to have quite the collection of records—7” 45’s and 12” 33 speed. With my folks, we’d often go out to Montgomery Wards in Wyoming, or any of the Meijer stores that sold records, or Believe In Music, and I’d add to my collection. I vaguely recall buying 45’s for a cost under a buck. I used to have an old full-size suitcase heavy with 45’s. I used to have many, many milk crates (hard plastic) packed with 12” LPs.
I have no idea where all that stuff went. Many, many moves from folk’s home, to my own apartment, to another apartment, to another apartment, etc., to my first home, to my second home, to my third home… The collection was whittled down to a few 45’s and one milk crate of 12 inchers.
Yeah, I know. That’s pretty sad.
But I always loved music. Growing up in the late sixties, grade school in the 70’s, high school in the 80’s, living out on my own in the 90’s. I could easily take all the great tunes and artists I’ve heard and grown up with and make a soundtrack of my life. Music does talk to you. It got me through high times and low times. Listening to Dazed and Confused off Led Zep’s first album…yeah, probably a high time. LOL (Awesome, awesome band. Awesome, awesome music.)
So, with only a little vinyl left in the here and now, I hooked up my old system. Realistic turntable and Kenwood receiver (volume knob ready to fall off with the slightest breath), and a pair of more current bookshelf speakers. Wired in. Plugged in. The first disc I placed on the turntable was SteppenWolf Magic Carpet Ride. I cranked the volume.
Holee shitballs! YES!! I rocked the house, yo!
The pops and crackles and hisses. Yup. Still there. But the deep groove sound being pulled up by that diamond stylus, traveling, traveling, through the system, to kick out of them speakers. All those fine, crisp, clear vocals and instruments. Damn! It was all there.
I ended up playing a few of my last albums in my collection. The Earons Hear on Earth and Nick Gilder City Nights. The tunes sounded wonderful to my ears through my old stereo system.
When the music ended and the needle lifted and retracted to its needle stand, I had made my decision about jumping right in and selling my old stereo equipment.
I’d keep it for the foreseeable future.
Enjoy life and enjoy your music. Let music and the Arts enrich your life and views on life. Rock on. Create on. Keep moving forward.
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The Worlds of Peter Welmerink 