Sucked Into the Vinyl Vortex

I can feel myself getting sucked into the Old Tech Vortex, and Michael Trei is partly to blame. I ignored his first review of Andover Audio’s Spinbase (October/november 2020 issue) because, well, turntables are Old Tech and mine has been in storage for decades. As a certified Old Guy who lived through the turntable’s heyday, I can attest that vinyl is surely the inferior way, used by us only because there was nothing else. My fabulous Denon DP-59L turntable was shelved not long after purchase because, well, compact discs! Now we’re talking! Dynamic range! No pops or cracks! Skipping directly to the track I want to hear! All the songs on one side of the disc! Records are cool these days, sure— but only because they’re Old Tech (read: quaint), not because they’re actually good.

Then I read Michael’s review of the Spin System (November/december 2021 issue) and, I’ll be darned if that white version doesn’t look like something that might fit in with my wife’s idea of interior design. Maybe she’ll play her Christmas records on this instead of on that cute retro-suitcase record player she asked for a couple of years ago, with its Needle of Death at the end of the tonearm. The sound would be far superior, no doubt. What’s that? The Spin System has Bluetooth to play music from her iphone? Bonus. Hmm. Turntables, cartridges, setting it all up, starting and stopping the record, flipping sides… interacting with the technology? It’s been so long…sounds kind of fun. Okay, ya got me. Sold.

It all arrived yesterday. I’m fully sucked into the Old Tech Vortex. Darn you, Michael Trei and Andover Audio.

Now, where did I store all those albums?

Richard Mancini / Washougal, WA