[Dixielandjazz] Analog audio making comeback - Sacramento Bee

[Robert Ringwald]

Analog audio making comeback thanks to turntable restorers
By
Edward Ortiz
eortiz at sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 -  4:50 pm
| Page 1D
Last Modified: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 - 11:10 am
'This is my technical hobby and passion."
Those words greet whoever reads Marion  Halecker's Craigslist ad under the title:
"Vintage Turntables."
Indeed, stacks of vintage turntables, receivers and speakers line the garage of Halecker's
Granite Bay home, evidence enough that this 51-year-old is passionate about analog
sound.
These days, analog sound born from vinyl-playing vintage turn- tables, receivers
and speakers is making a comeback, and finding an ear with both young and old music
lovers. The result is a growing cottage industry in the repair, reconditioning and
sale of vintage components – whose typically wood-framed and solid-metal construction
and electronics offer a feel, look and sound different from today's sleek digital
machines.
It's an industry that has less to do with money than with a love for analog's deep,
rich and vibrant sound, an experience that eludes those who indulge only in digital
music.
Halecker works as a Kaiser Permanente health care worker by dayso she's no big-time
seller, but she's dedicated to her side project.
"This is not a business. I want to help people get back into analog," Halecker said.
"I don't part with my 'babies' to just anyone."
Typically, she sells a unit every six weeks. The cost can range from $80 to $200.
And she won't sell what she calls her "reconditioned beauties," which include brands
like Technics and Pioneer, to just anyone. She vets customers closely by phone to
assess their interest. A love for analog and a respect for vintage equipment must
come through, otherwise the sale is off. Flippers and dilettantes do not pass muster.
Young adopters with a curiosity for analog sound? Those she eagerly welcomes.
"Now younger folks are getting their parents' old-school equipment and they think
it sounds really cool, the way we did," said Halecker. "They notice the sound is
really good and they're getting into vinyl."
The most striking evidence of how people are getting into vinyl, and into vintage
audio equipment by proxy, is the large jump in vinyl sales in 2012 recorded by
Nielsen Soundscan.
For the fifth year in a row, more vinyl albums were sold than any other year since
Nielsen first tracked such sales in 1991. In 2012, vinyl album sales reached $4.6
million.
Album numbers are tiny compared with what's sold in the digital realm.
Jack White's
vinyl release "Blunderbuss" took the top spot  in 2012 by selling 34,000 vinyl copies.
The top-selling digital album in 2012 – Adele's "21" – saw more than a million downloads.
While the numbers pale in comparison, the vinyl sale increases suggest a strong niche
market.
And that is bringing customers to Halecker's garage door. Many of them are revisiting
the musical charms of their youth, she said. These include the appeal of album cover
art and liner notes, and the different aesthetic of listening to a whole side of
a record rather than jumping from one single to another as is done on digital devices.
"Folks come to me wanting to reconnect with their memories, and with that sound,"
said Halecker. "They often state that it sounds better, warmer, fuller, more dynamic
– more like listening to the artist on the stage."
For Halecker, who grew up in Irving, Texas, the passion for refurbishing vintage
units is a return to her past, too.
"My dad and I used to sit together splicing reel-to-reels and listening to music
when I was younger," she said.  "I would watch him interact with his stereo, customizing
the sound, recording and editing – tweaking it just right for his taste."
But it would be decades before Halecker would re- enter that world. She began tooling
around with speakers and reel-to-reel units as a hobby only five years ago. She drew
heavily from her prior incarnation working as a cable company technician in the 1980s.
Once she felt confident working on these machines, she moved onto refurbishing turntables
– which can be tricky affairs.
"You have to do a lot of studying," she said. "There are many physics and mathematical
factors involved in addition to the mechanical and electrical properties."
She wanted to be sure she could help educate others properly about turntables, especially
the crucial factors of how to properly align cartridges and needles and how to select
the proper pickup for the tone arm.
Nowadays, her stock in trade is the sale of entry-level and medium-level turntables,
receivers and speakers. The high-end audio equipment she leaves to others.
Another who is thriving in this niche market and who repairs high-end equipment is
Luis Galvez, owner of Sacramento's Stereo Advisor – a go-to destination for such
repairs, located on  J Street.
Like Halecker, Galvez works on analog units because he loves their warm sound. After
owning three repair stores in
San Francisco
for 20 years, Galvez decided to retire to Sacramento.
But he "got bored to death at home," Galvez said, and decided to get back in the
business.
Like Halecker, Galvez took to Craigslist to advertise his wares. His first posting
saw 35 responses. Soon so many customers were calling or coming to his home with
repair orders that he stopped advertising. In 2009 he opened up his midtown shop.
Galvez believes he's seeing a big move into analog because customers are realizing
that their modern surround-sound receivers are not meeting expectations as audio
units. And he believes many new components are not worth fixing because parts are
hard to find and when they are found, the repair often matches the price of a new
component.
"Surround-sound receivers have a few problems," he said. For many, the units are
also difficult to operate, requiring close manual reading.
"But the key thing is sound quality," he said. "Surround sound has a harsh sound,
and when people hear their old records again (on analog equipment) they say there
is a huge difference. The sound in the record is more natural and you feel that the
instrument is right there in front of you."
At his shop 30 percent of the repair work he does now is turntable repair – a new
trend.
"When I had a shop in San Francisco I had very few turntable repairs," Galvez said.
"I did one every two months. Now, I receive between three to 20 turntables a day."
The most unexpected trend Galvez is seeing at his shop is a growing interest in the
repair and buying of the big console record players that were popular in the '60s
and '70s.
Those players usually combined a turntable,  receiver and speakers into once piece
of furniture.  Until recently it was almost impossible to get rid of one.
"I'm repairing three to four of those a week now," he said.
In Granite Bay, Halecker is also seeing a growing interest among women in the cabinet-size
consoles – as both music player and design choice.
"If they (women) go vintage they truly want vintage," she said. "They want the wood
and the lattice. They want that décor. They want the midcentury modern look."
Analog audio a growing niche industry ...
2010 vinyl album sales:$2.8 million
2011 vinyl album sales: $3.9 million2012 vinyl album sales$4.6 million
2011 turntable sales:$7 million
2013 projected turntable sales:$10 million
Amount of 2012 vinyl purchased at independent
music stores:
67%
Best-selling vinyl album of 2012:"Blunderbuss," Jack White, 34,000 units
sources:
Nielsen Soundscan;
Consumer Electronics Association
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-Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Amateur (ham) Radio Operator K6YBV
916/ 806-9551

"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference.” 
Harry S. Truman, 33rd President B: 5/8/1884 – d: 12/26/1972.