Music Centres

[CrystalBall]

Re: Music Centres

The writing was on the wall for music centres in 1983 when CD players became available. They seemed to disappear around 1986ish although you could still buy the cabinet systems. In the late 1980s there seemed a trend for cabinets that looked like chests of drawers. Hi-Fi separates appear to be quite common in the 1980s judging from how many pieces I have picked up over the years.

Yes, CD was the death knell for both music centres and eventually cabinet systems as well. When I had a summer job as a student in a TV/hi-fi shop ('86 and '87) black midi-systems with a CD player or record deck, twin cassette deck and graphic equalizer were the 'in thing'. Separates were definitely far more popular than they are today but even then I estimate all-in-one systems outsold them by 3:1. The market changed again in the early 1990s with mini-systems without record decks beginning to take over from midis. It was the Yamaha YST-C11 and JVC MX-1 (1990) that changed expectations about what a compact system could offer in terms of performance, features and design, although they were quite expensive.

[Richard1978]

Re: Music Centres

We were slightly conned though weren't we ... with CDs ..
I saw Tomorrow's World science program raving about them .. perfect sound (not) , indestructible ( not)... last forever ( not ) ...

Didn't mention that a mere fingerprint sound render them useless until you realise and clean them ..


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Maybe they were oversold but certainly compared to vinyl they offered quite a few advantages.

[Zincubus]

Re: Music Centres

Maybe they were oversold but certainly compared to vinyl they offered quite a few advantages.

Such as ??

Convenient for track selection , less room ......then I'm struggling .


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[Mulletino]

Re: Music Centres

Yeah they were sold to us with "crystal clear sound", unfortunately said sound was much flatter than the lovely rich sound of vinyl.

[CrystalBall]

Re: Music Centres

CD won mainly on convenience but the clinical sound was inferior to vinyl and you lost the ability to record which of course cassette had. No doubt it served the business interests of Philips and Sony who jointly developed the format more than the consumer (same old story). I was quite disappointed the first time I heard it and never really warmed to the format . . . still using mainly vinyl and cassette to this day.

[Arran]

Re: Music Centres

Maybe they were oversold but certainly compared to vinyl they offered quite a few advantages.

Smaller physical size of the CD players.

Smaller physical size of the media - more music from a barrel of oil.

Track selection.

Can be played in cars.

Computer compatible.

Audiophiles still argue over the quality of CD sound vs vinyl sound but CDs don't wear out with repeated use like vinyl records do.

Something to bear in mind is that back in the mid 1980s CDs were for wealthy audiophiles in western nations but by 2000 they had become ubiquitous in developing countries where in the mid 1980s vinyl was for wealthy audiophiles and was rarely used by the common folk. That is a sure indication of the commercial success of CDs. They had not just replaced vinyl but had carved out a new market that vinyl failed to penetrate.

[Zincubus]

Re: Music Centres

Smaller physical size of the CD players.

Smaller physical size of the media - more music from a barrel of oil.

Track selection.

Can be played in cars.

Computer compatible.

Audiophiles still argue over the quality of CD sound vs vinyl sound but CDs don't wear out with repeated use like vinyl records do.

Something to bear in mind is that back in the mid 1980s CDs were for wealthy audiophiles in western nations but by 2000 they had become ubiquitous in developing countries where in the mid 1980s vinyl was for wealthy audiophiles and was rarely used by the common folk. That is a sure indication of the commercial success of CDs. They had not just replaced vinyl but had carved out a new market that vinyl failed to penetrate.

Yeah , good points there .. guess there's room for them all ....

Just wish I wasn't scared into selling my vinyl collection for peanuts though


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[Richard1978]

Re: Music Centres

Smaller physical size of the CD players.

Smaller physical size of the media - more music from a barrel of oil.

Track selection.

Can be played in cars.

Computer compatible.

Audiophiles still argue over the quality of CD sound vs vinyl sound but CDs don't wear out with repeated use like vinyl records do.

Something to bear in mind is that back in the mid 1980s CDs were for wealthy audiophiles in western nations but by 2000 they had become ubiquitous in developing countries where in the mid 1980s vinyl was for wealthy audiophiles and was rarely used by the common folk. That is a sure indication of the commercial success of CDs. They had not just replaced vinyl but had carved out a new market that vinyl failed to penetrate.

I can add:

Near idiot proof operation, my Dad used to lay down the law when me & my brother were playing records not to damage anything, but with a CD you just had to pop it in the player & press play.

Far better quality control, I've often heard that people had to take records back to the shop to get an unscratched copy. Out of the 400 or so CDs I've bought new only 1-2 have ever been faulty.

My Dad bought a lot of 1950s-60s music after he bought a CD player & reckoned many songs were a lot clearer than even newly pressed vinyl was.

I've heard some early 1980s music was recorded on early professional digital tape & had to specially mixed to sound right on vinyl due to the depth of sound quality, but CDs could cope just fine.

[Arran]

Re: Music Centres

Was there some subculture in the early to mid 1990s called Save the Vinyl where certain music was only available as a vinyl record and its members did things you didn't normally do with records like scratch them or slow them down with their fingers?

[Mulletino]

Re: Music Centres

Was there some subculture in the early to mid 1990s called Save the Vinyl where certain music was only available as a vinyl record and its members did things you didn't normally do with records like scratch them or slow them down with their fingers?

A fair portion of my vinyl that I bought from the 80s to present day has been used in this way, scratching/queuing etc. None of that "palms on the edges" rubbish for me.

[Richard1978]

Re: Music Centres

A fair portion of my vinyl that I bought from the 80s to present day has been used in this way, scratching/queuing etc. None of that "palms on the edges" rubbish for me.

This is way I managed to buy most of my record collection for a few pence per item as it was often worn & with very limited collectors interest for a lot of vinyl in the period 1996-2004, when I bought it.

[Mulletino]

Re: Music Centres

I found a picture of the Radiogramme my parents had!
(ignore myself and my bro in our Halloween costumes - and my unfeasibly large noggin!)