Vinyl – The comeback kid
There has been an incredible resurgence in vinyl records over the last few years with sales reaching 11.9 million LPs in 2015* from only around 300,000 in 1993. For an "obsolete technology" that's pretty impressive even though it is only about 5% of CD sales.
In this age of digital music, where streaming services put a vast catalog of music at our fingertips, music often becomes just another source of entertainment that we don't really think about. We enjoy it, but it's just there. The act of looking through a vinyl collection, selecting an LP and looking over the large, legible artwork and liner notes connects us more viscerally to the artist. There are also opinions that a good vinyl record has a noticeable “warmth” to the sound compared to its digital CD version or streaming counterparts.
For Rotel enthusiasts, who have not yet discovered the wonders of vinyl, we strongly encourage you to do so. A good place to start would be by visiting an audio specialist who stocks and demonstrates turntables. If you decide to make the plunge and need to find a source for vinyl, you may be lucky and have a specialty store near you in a large metropolitan area. But if not, a quick Internet search will provide you with many purchasing options including Best Buy (online), Amazon, Discogs, and Vinyl Loop, among others.
If you are a current Rotel hi fi system owner, we make it easy for you to listen to vinyl as all of our preamplifiers and integrated amplifiers already have a MM (Moving Magnet) phono input. Just plug in a turntable with a MM phono cartridge and you are ready to listen to new LP releases as well as classic chart toppers from the past.
Enjoy!
* Statistics provided by statista.com http://www.statista.com/statistics/188822/lp-album-sales-in-the-united-s...
Posted by RotelHifi