The appeal of vintage equipment matches that of buying records for many but the pitfalls of older gear are frustrating to deal with. Trying to source a part for a broken auto-return mechanism or managing to successfully dissemble and clean a multi-function turntable doesn’t come easy and winding up with a graveyard of rigs that won’t go back together is the only way to learn what not to do. Compared to new equipment that’s warrantied and repairable based on the availability of both customer service from original manufacturers and local hi-fi stores, buying new makes more sense when asking yourself what turntable should I buy. Continue Reading
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What turntable is right for you?
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A record brush for every collector
Static sucks and so do dusty records but one of the most inexpensive additions to every collection is an anti-static record brush. Gently brushing each side to remove dust before and after every play helps preserve the surface from accumulating particulate that will interfere with playback that will settle into the grooves the longer it’s left uncleaned. $20 is all it costs. Continue Reading
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Collecting the Beatles with Jeff Lee
Record collectors are conservators of our own musical histories. We each create a museum for one with limited visiting hours for anyone else. Yet, most collectors are also part of local and online communities where we buy, sell, trade and share our passion for music and vinyl. Wax Times decided we wanted admission to the record rooms of collectors within our community and that’s what we got. Continue Reading
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4 sites every record collector should know
Not enough time to figure out which sites have the best information or whose opinion to trust when deciding what to buy and what to pass up? Here’s 4 more sites every record collector should know all of which are solid resources with information that’s both useful and accurate to help make decisions or find others interested in debating the minutiae that keeps the hobby interesting. Continue Reading
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Inception: My expensive, collapsing vinyl dream
Christopher Nolan’s Inception challenged movie-goers to believe in a dream; but it was more than that. It was a dream within a dream, a series of them actually, all built on top of a corporate espionage plot to infiltrate the psyche of executives in an attempt to force their hand by artificially implanting another persons idea into their subconscious. These dreams affected me as a collector, to the tune of a few hundred dollars for one of the limited edition pressings of the score for the film by Hans Zimmer. It was the single largest disappointment I’ve had as a collector to date. Continue Reading
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