I’m a child of the 1980s. I was part of the generation that was responsible for the popularity of Hypercolor, parachute pants and denim on denim. We were the CD generation. Forget cassettes, they were so uncool (except for recording music from the radio to listen to later on your walkman). Digital music wasn’t even a blip on the radar.

To us, CDs were the future. However, I always preferred my parents’ Kenwood turntable, where I could listen to Joplin, Floyd, The Beatles and Cliff Richard The Stones. There was something very tactile about the experience so it was a sad day when the turntable finally stopped working and was discarded like yesterday’s news. And the vinyl was put away, presumably for good.

As it turns out, vinyl is back, with audiophiles and musicians alike getting behind the format, recording new music and building better quality turntables for a new generation of enthusiasts.

This in turn has created a new/old market for installers to capitalise on. (In fact, Pink Floyd sang it best in their classic song Money, from the 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon: “Money, it’s a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.”)

According to Nielsen SoundScan, an information and sales tracking system, vinyl sales in the US increased by 37% between 2010 and 2011. Already vinyl sales had increased 14.2% between 2009 and 2010.

And it’s a trend that is being replicated in Australia.

While we’re not talking millions of units, the increase gives installers cause to think about their future projects. A future that could in fact be from the past.

Former Australian Idol judge, barrister and 1970s carnation-carrying teen heartthrob Mark Holden, who is also a highly acclaimed music producer, is surprised that vinyl is making a comeback.

“The meeting of needle and a petroleum by-product has a distinct atmospheric effect on sound quality. Digital music and CDs are devoid of that friction-based crackle, but they are capable of mimicking it well enough for the vast majority of music lovers who regard it as desirable,” he says.

“I would have thought that the need to have a turntable and needle would be a major impediment. Apparently not.

He says the resurgence of vinyl is probably thanks to “old school mystique” and believes the format will remain a “niche for niche-heads.”

“Vinyl is like a lunchbox with the star’s name and picture on it. They’re value add-ons to digital sales – a reason to include a price for a physical thing that has to be posted and can be marked up accordingly as a souvenir of the act, in addition to its actual use on a turntable.”

Australian custom electronic stalwart Len Wallis has been a player in the local industry for almost 35 years – he opened his first store in Lane Cove, NSW in 1978. He says turntables have always been available through his store and he now stocks products from Music Hall, Rega, Pro-Ject, Contiuum, Linn and Mitchell.

“I think that vinyl will be here for a number of years yet,” he says.

“People are finally getting around to digitising their records. They have retained their vinyl collections for many years and are returning to them, for nostalgic reasons.

“But, I believe the main reason is that people are returning to the quality of vinyl. This is particularly evident among many of the younger generations who have been brought up with MP3 quality music, who are suddenly discovering the performance that can be extracted from vinyl.”

He says he is surprised that turntables have not featured highly in the custom market, although they should.

“If there is one down side to the custom industry it’s that audio performance is usually forgotten,” he says.

“There is great potential to expose the consumer to quality sound (which rarely happens) so make the suggestion that one area of your client’s house could have a high quality audio system as part of the installation. Not only is this a profitable add-on, but if you create the interest and enthusiasm you have a customer for life.”

Brian Maddern from Decibel Hi Fi – a turntable specialist retailer based in Brisbane – has also reported a growth in sales compared to five years ago.

“There are a number of reasons for this growth. The sound quality you get from records can easily surpass what you get from CDs, although you need to have a pretty good turntable to realise that,” he says.

“CD sales have been dropping because of digital downloads, but there are a lot of baby boomers with records out there that they haven’t thrown out.”

Many installers in the home automation market may have little to no experience in dealing with vinyl, so the question needs to be asked: what makes a good turntable?

“It’s not that simple. All turntables have the same basic elements; it’s more to do with engineering,” Brian says.

“Remember that turntables are a purely mechanical system, so in order to extract the signal from the groove accurately you need precision engineering and you simply don’t get that in cheap players.”

In order to achieve a quality sound output, Brian suggests paying around $1,500 for a turntable.

“The major limitation with vinyl is that one side of an LP lasts only 22 minutes or so, so it doesn’t really lend itself to distributed sound. It’s more suited to a situation where people will sit down and listen to music – something like a dedicated listening room.”

International Dynamics (IDA) product manager Michael Thornton-Smith agrees. IDA is the Australian distributor of high-end turntable manufacturer Pro-Ject.

“A good turntable is a combination of design and high quality materials, with the main goal of minimising resonance,” he says. “And there are various design philosophies to achieve this, whether it is to minimise resonance through highly engineered feet or using a sub-chassis that is suspended by springs or magnetic repulsion.”

He says IDA has seen steady growth in the sales of turntables for the last seven to eight years.

“There are other important elements in play as well, such as the material the platter is made of. Also, the tone arm is incredibly important. As is the cartridge. An important thing to keep in mind is that all these separate elements need to work in harmony, so avoid turntables that have one element that is far superior to all the others.”

This all leads to the most important question – how can you, the installer, make money from turntables?

“The margin we offer on Pro-Ject turntables is pretty healthy; it’s in line with standard electronics,” Michael says.

“They’re very reliable, and apart from needing to be setup correctly in the first instance, they require little ongoing maintenance on the part of the installer or retailer.”

But the main source of income comes from calibration.

“This might be an area that puts some installers off, because it may seem a bit daunting,” he says.

“But the initial setup is important. The arm needs to be correctly aligned and the cartridge needs to be mounted correctly and also aligned. And as you go up in cost, you’ll find that there is more and more adjustment possible.”

So what do you need to know?

Well, according to Len, that depends on the turntable.

“Most inexpensive turntables are simple to set up, but once you start recommending products like Linn or Mitchell, it can become more complex,” he says.

Here’s what you need to look out for:

• Vertical tracking angle. The tone arm and head shell should be parallel to the record when the record is being played. This will need to be changed according to the cartridge you are using. The deeper the cartridge the higher you will need to raise the tone arm.

• Zenith adjustments. It is impossible to achieve perfect zenith adjustment for any cartridge, due to the circular shape of the LP. The best solution is to adjust at the 0.3” and 0.6” positions of the record when measuring from the outside. This will give you the minimum discrepancy tracking at all other points.

• Lateral tracking adjustments. This is related to the point above. When the master disc is recorded, the cutting head will always be at right angles to the groove. Unless you are using a linear tracking tone arm (which is uncommon) the cartridge is going to be at a slight angle to the groove when you are replaying the record – except at the 0.3” and 0.6” spots, assuming you have set the tracking angle (Zenith adjustment) correctly.

• Tracking weight. Tracking weight will vary from cartridge to cartridge and should be set according to the manufacturer’s specifications. However, setting the tracking weight too light can do as much damage to the LP as setting it too heavy.

• Bias compensation/anti-skating adjustment. This is generally set to the same setting as the tracking weight. There have been many instances where the anti-skating has been set too high, on many occasions even when set according to the manufactures specifications. Always err on the side of lower than higher.

• Fine adjustment. The only additional fine adjustment is Azimuth. You should check that the cantilever is sitting perpendicular to the record. This is easily checked by lowering the cartridge onto a small mirror – the cantilever and stylus should be in perfect line with the reflection.

Overall, I guess US author and humorist Dave Barry was right when he wrote: “The four building blocks of the universe are fire, water, gravel and vinyl.”

Happy Days are here again.

Contact
Len Wallis Audio
www.lenwallisaudio.com

International Dynamics
www.internationaldynamics.com.au