Despite the fact that the popularity of turntables began in the distant 80s and then they were very quickly replaced by CD players, the phenomenon of the second wave of vinyl trend has hit the modern music industry like a storm. Even youngsters claim that listening to even modern music on the turntable is much more pleasant than on the coolest and newest players. Besides, you don’t need to spend much money on the best stereo system or a new record player. It will be enough just to fix the old one by reducing the most popular reason for its dysfunction — a faulty cartridge. So be alert looking for the best phonograph cartridge for your turntable.
Let’s investigate the reasons why vinyl has become so popular in the modern music world.
How Vinyl Players Work
Turntables were in prevalent use until the late 1980s and early 1990s. So how do they work?
What transforms the tiny bumps and valleys on the plastic into music? A pure carbon stylus navigates the tiny fluctuations in the vinyl’s groove, the stylus sits on the end of a cantilevered arm that vibrates a superlight miniature copper coil back and forth. As the coil moves between two magnets, it generates an electric current that drives a mini amplifier and both of the speakers to create that classic vinyl sound. The stylus can reproduce music exactly as it’s played in the studio. Thanks to the dedication of the craftsmen and engineers who created turntables, they produce a sound that can rival with the digital age products.
Analog Vs Digital
You can notice that the turntable is a bit like a CD player: it plays flat discs with the music. However, the way of reading music is completely different. The record player is an analog device where music is stored as bumps on a disc, and the size of the bumps directly corresponds to the musical notes they store. The CD player is a digital device where music is stored on a CD as numbers, represented by small bumps that are read by a laser.
Still, vinyl records transfer sound much better than their competitors, since they are not exposed to magnetic fields. Audiophiles still prefer listening to music on such devices. In addition, the vinyl records are chosen by retro style lovers and by those who adore retro.
Phenomenon of Vinyl Popularity in the Modern World
So why did vinyl abruptly become so popular? Most likely, there are several reasons for this. First, the perception of it as an “elite” device: if 30 years ago a simple turntable was almost in every home, now a high-quality device for playing records can cost a fortune. The other reason is a subculture of the vinyl fans. For them, vinyl is a symbol of the “retro era”. Within this subculture, everything that can be related to the “vintage past” is highly respected. Not the last role in the popularization of record players play collector’s editions of modern music in vinyl which of course make true fans buy such unique records.
