Anime soundtracks on Vinyl/CD and sound systems/equipment

[farzam1999]

Current stuff on the way:

• The Art of KPop Demon Hunters (should be arriving today)

It did, in fact, not arrive on Saturday... But it arrived on Monday. Elden Ring - Nightreign Vinyl Box Set arrived today, limited to 4999 copies.


My Studio Ghibli vinyl collection is almost complete, just missing a few more (I'm only collecting the vinyls for the seven movies I own).


Had been looking at these two for a while, and just bit the bullet to get them.

 

[Girls with Guns]

I received 6 new anime soundtrack albums on Monday - 5 from Robert's Anime Corner and the last one from an eBay seller:


Evangelion Finally - Pink and Magenta Splatter Edition Vinyl 2xLP
Death Parade Soundtrack - Limited Purple Smoke Edition Vinyl LP
Belle Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Pop Sensation Limited Pink/Blue Edition Vinyl LP
3x3 Eyes Legend of the Divine Demon Original Soundtrack - Smokey Brown Vinyl LP
Space Battleship Yamato 2202 Symphonic Suite - Black Vinyl 2xLP (Japanese Import)
Queen Millenia Movie Original Soundtrack (Kitaro) - Black Vinyl LP

I also returned the Pioneer PL-512 turntable I had bought two weeks ago to the stereo shop, it had a fairly noticeable hum that the stylus picked up while on the record. Instead, I saw something way nicer they had sitting on display, and I ended up buying it - a superb condition JVC QL-A7 turntable from 1978 with a Direct Drive, Quartz-Locked motor. I also purchased a new Ortofon MC-10 moving coil cartridge for it. Together the JVC turntable and the MC cartridge only cost 5 times the price(!) of the Pioneer Turntable I returned. It is dead quiet and looks and sounds fantastic, though, and it is super heavy - it weighs almost 13 Kilos! I topped it off with a used Parasound Zphono XRM Phono Preamplifier I snagged off eBay. This will come in handy when I get my Technics SL-7 turntable back up and running, as it can also act as a switch box between the MC and MM cartridges in the two turntables:

 

[cfx]

I used to have that exact same Queen Millennia vinyl LP, until about a year ago when I finally sold all my remaining vinyl. I had actually forgotten the music is by Kitaro.

Not your specific model, but I remember those JVC turntables with the raised ring around the platter like yours; it gives them a very distinctive look. Is the base on yours black? That looks nice; the ones I remember had a glossy red wood finish that was a bit gaudy for my tastes.

 

[Hunter_Killer]

@Girls with Guns. Nice setup. Last year, I replaced my old turntable - the one I’d bought as my first real deck. Now I use the "AT-LPW50BT Rosewood" with an "Audio-Technica AT-VM95SH" cartridge, and the setup is fantastic. It sounds truly great—in my opinion, some people have no idea what a huge difference a better cartridge makes (though I stop hearing the difference above a certain price point) - and it looks amazing, too. I’d always wanted a wooden turntable; the design is gorgeous.

 

[Girls with Guns]

I used to have that exact same Queen Millennia vinyl LP, until about a year ago when I finally sold all my remaining vinyl. I had actually forgotten the music is by Kitaro.

Not your specific model, but I remember those JVC turntables with the raised ring around the platter like yours; it gives them a very distinctive look. Is the base on yours black? That looks nice; the ones I remember had a glossy red wood finish that was a bit gaudy for my tastes.

Yes, my QL-A7 has the black base, and I love it - it matches the rest of my system nicely, unlike my Technics SL-7 turntable, which is silver. It doesn't have any auto play or return functions, but it does lift the tone arm up and stop the platter when the LP is done playing. Also, the Ortofon MC-10 is the first moving coil cartridge I have ever owned, I've never been able to afford one before, but it sounds really good - I'm shocked at how even my heavily played albums from the 1970's have very few pops and clicks when listening to them on this turntable. I dug out my classic Iron Butterfly In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album and tried it on the turntable and it still sounds fantastic! The Queen Millenia album is the fourth Kitaro LP I have in my collection - below is a pic of one of my other Kitaro albums sitting on the turntable. The MC-10 cartridge is currently mounted in an SAEC ULS-2 headshell (I see them going for $70-$165 on eBay!) that the stereo store just had "laying around" and they installed the new cartridge in it for me - they just gave me the headshell for free! But, I also received a new black Ortofon SH-4 headshell in the mail yesterday to properly mount it into if I so desire. It's amazing when I realize that this turntable is in such good shape even though it is almost 50 years old! Manufactured in 1978 - I graduated from high school in 1979...

@Girls with Guns. Nice setup. Last year, I replaced my old turntable - the one I’d bought as my first real deck. Now I use the "AT-LPW50BT Rosewood" with an "Audio-Technica AT-VM95SH" cartridge, and the setup is fantastic. It sounds truly great—in my opinion, some people have no idea what a huge difference a better cartridge makes (though I stop hearing the difference above a certain price point) - and it looks amazing, too. I’d always wanted a wooden turntable; the design is gorgeous.

Ooo, you got the Shibata stylus! Very Very Nice!


Sigh, now I suppose Aion is going to get on us again for more of our off-topic vintage audio equipment old-people-speak, lol.

So, to get back on topic - I received five more anime LP on Tuesday that I imported from All the Anime. My anime soundtrack LP collection is growing rapidly day by day!


Neon Genesis Evangelion Original Series Soundtrack - Blue & Black Marbled vinyl 2xLP
Elfen Lied Vinyl Soundtrack - AllTheAnime.com exclusive "Neon" variant Red Vinyl LP
Cowboy Bebop: Songs for the Cosmic Sofa - Pink and Dark Blue Marbled vinyl LP
Little Witch Academia Vinyl Deluxe Edition - Black vinyl 6xLP (Woah! Six LP Box set to go with my JP 9-Blu-ray LWA series I own!)
My Happy Marriage Original Soundtrack - Evan Call! - Black vinyl 3xLP (One of my favorite romance anime series!)

 

[Girls with Guns]

I bought a bunch more stuff for my vintage stereo system, and got it all assembled over the weekend - and I listened to quite a bit of anime vinyl and CD after getting it all setup, including the soundtrack LPs for Violet Evergarden and Frieren, and soundtrack CDs for Witch Hunter Robin and Lunar Legend Tsukihime...

I picked up two 3-cube shelf units for vinyl and accessory storage from Amazon, to place on either side of my oak stereo cabinet, which I had also hauled upstairs out of basement storage. The shelf units didn't have any backs on them, so I cut out some back panels with a circular saw from thin pieces of lauan I had laying around, stained them to match the dark oak shelves, and drilled and screwed them onto the rear of the shelves. I bought a couple of 15' RCA audio cables to connect my turntable preamp and my TV to the receiver, since they are both off to the left of the cabinet. I also purchased a small spring latch I mounted on the CD drawer in the stereo cabinet, because it kept wanting to roll out on it's rails whenever I moved the cabinet around to access the rear connections. It wouldn't stay closed with the weight of all the CDs in it, so the latch permanently resolved that problem!

So I can now play ALL of my anime - vinyl LPs, audio CDs, Blu-rays to the television, MP3 music files from a USB slot on the front of the Oppo Blu-ray player, and even my Television audio, all through my receiver and stereo speakers. Here is a photo of my setup now, just before moving the turntable back onto the buffet at left under the TV where it will stay, and before putting the glass doors back on the stereo cabinet:

 

[cfx]

I bought a bunch more stuff for my vintage stereo system, and got it all assembled over the weekend - and I listened to quite a bit of anime vinyl and CD after getting it all setup, including the soundtrack LPs for Violet Evergarden and Frieren, and soundtrack CDs for Witch Hunter Robin and Lunar Legend Tsukihime...

I picked up two 3-cube shelf units for vinyl and accessory storage from Amazon, to place on either side of my oak stereo cabinet, which I had also hauled upstairs out of basement storage. The shelf units didn't have any backs on them, so I cut out some back panels with a circular saw from thin pieces of lauan I had laying around, stained them to match the dark oak shelves, and drilled and screwed them onto the rear of the shelves. I bought a couple of 15' RCA audio cables to connect my turntable preamp and my TV to the receiver, since they are both off to the left of the cabinet. I also purchased a small spring latch I mounted on the CD drawer in the stereo cabinet, because it kept wanting to roll out on it's rails whenever I moved the cabinet around to access the rear connections. It wouldn't stay closed with the weight of all the CDs in it, so the latch permanently resolved that problem!

So I can now play ALL of my anime - vinyl LPs, audio CDs, Blu-rays to the television, MP3 music files from a USB slot on the front of the Oppo Blu-ray player, and even my Television audio, all through my receiver and stereo speakers. Here is a photo of my setup now, just before moving the turntable back onto the buffet at left under the TV where it will stay, and before putting the glass doors back on the stereo cabinet:

Hah, I recognize that cabinet; it's a CWD (Custom Woodworking and Design) cabinet; a company that I assume no longer exists.

I had two of those same cabinets, though I didn't have the drawer, along with a lowboy cabinet that held a CRT monitor, and a base that all the pieces fit onto so it looked more like stationary furniture, though it wasn't as convenient since it wasn't on wheels. I also had a kit that put two wooden side rails in the front of one of the cabinets, along with angled metal pieces with threaded inserts--this was made to hold stereo rack mount components, which I owned at the time. I'm not sure what happened to the base, those rack rails, or the cabinet doors, but I gave the cabinets to my brother long ago. He passed away late last year and the cabinets are among what he left behind. I have no place to put them or really use for them now so I don't know what I'm going to do with them.

I remember the backs on mine not being made out of very good material, some kind of wood that was very splintery. I "painted" them with multiple coats of wood glue to seal the surface, sanded that down a bit to get rid of any roughness, then spray pained them flat black so they didn't really show. The cabinets came in several different wood finishes but I had the same finish you have. The finishes are Watco Danish Oil, and if you get a scratch or something you can repair it yourself and the Watco products are still made though it's possible the current version might not match one from so long ago.. I bought the cabinets in....probably the 1980s.

---

How have you found the quality of the vinyl LPs with the patterned vinyl to be? Given vinyl's current niche and cost, I assume they're better now, but back in the days when vinyl was all there was, pre-CD, patterned vinyl was primarily a collector gimmick and not known for good sound quality, much more likely to have surface noise and pops and ticks. Single color vinyl, especially if it was transparent or translucent, was the exception and also often some of the best quality, since they couldn't use regrind (recycled ground up old records, derogatorily referred to as hamburger helper) in those.

 

[Girls with Guns]

I have actually been shocked by how little surface noise, pops, and clicks I'm hearing on these new vinyl LPs - including the patterned vinyl, which seems to make no difference - compared to what I was used to hearing on basic black vinyl back in my college years around 1980-83. Brand new LPs today have almost no noise at all on them playing on my JVC Turntable. But then, I also tried a couple albums I played heavily back in the olden days, and they still sound pretty clean on my current setup as well. I'm not sure if a $700 vintage turntable with a $330 Ortofon moving-coil cartridge at today's prices makes any difference, compared to a $300 Technics SL-7 linear tracking turntable with an $125 Ortofon 20 moving-magnet cartridge at back-then prices, but I do remember being irritated by the amount of pops and clicks I had to put up with when I listened to my albums during my college days - and how extremely overjoyed I was to purchase my first CD player in 1985, a Hitachi DA-5000 I also still have, and hear complete dead silence in the background! I'll be anxious to try out my SL-7 turntable when I get it back from being serviced in November, and test it side by side with my JVC turntable.

I see the Ortofon 20 stylus like I have on my SL-7 Turntable is still available to purchase, it is a nude elliptical stylus that now lists for $225 just for the stylus itself, no cartridge, so I could still replace mine when it gets worn, or upgrade it to the 30 stylus for only $370, or the 40 Stylus for just $678... ouch!

 

[cfx]

Whenever possible back then, I used to buy Japanese vinyl, even for western artists as the quality was consistently better with much quieter backgrounds, flat records that weren't warped, and so on.

When playing older records that have been played enough to have wear, on something newer or more expensive, you may find it sounds better because a more advanced stylus design may ride lower or higher in the groove and hence not be playing the previously worn area but a fresh area instead. I think a longer and narrower contact area like a Shibata or probably various other things developed since had a tendency to reduce the intensity of pops and clicks, but my memory might be off on that.

 

[danieru27]

Even with CDs I've found Japanese ones to be better, not the support itself, but packaging and overall attention to detail

 

[cfx]

Indeed that is true as well. Even with the jewel cases it seems like the plastic is more clear without imperfections.

 

[Girls with Guns]

Not to be pedantic, butt: you posted that 4.35AM UK time. And ain't you and ceefax combined in the 130yo age bracket? I'm a young whipper snapper in comparison. I'd argue we're only as as old/young as we feel tho...lol

Didn't mean to be mean, like: just ya'll likely do better in yall own thread; dedicated to the topic. Gotta be mindful of others, going off topic 'n all. Plus, us young 'uns can't add to your discussion.

Hey, I actually wouldn't be opposed at all to separate thread with a title something like "Anime Soundtracks on Vinyl or CD and What You Use to Listen to Them" or something to that effect, and move all the Anime LP and stereo system posts I made in this thread and the What did You Receive today threads, and all the direct replies from other users to that thread. Perhaps a mod can get with me on that? Something like that should appeal to the masses on here. Or, we can just leave it as is...

 

[cfx]

Or, he could just put us on the ignore list if he's bothered so much, like I did with him many months ago, instead of this continued backseat moderation. I don't complain about his posts; I just don't read them.

Vinyl is a big part of anime collecting these days, and it isn't much use without something to play it on.

Besides that, this area is Off topic > Random Chit-Chat > ...so...

 

[zrdb]

Cds and LPs are fine I guess but my favorite way to play anime osts is off a usb flash drive plugged into the usb port on the front of my receiver-no fuss, no muss. You'd be surprised how much music you can fit in a 128 gb flash drive.

 

[Aion (Retired)]

Or, he could just put us on the ignore list if he's bothered so much, like I did with him many months ago, instead of this continued backseat moderation. I don't complain about his posts; I just don't read them.

Vinyl is a big part of anime collecting these days, and it isn't much use without something to play it on.

Besides that, this area is Off topic > Random Chit-Chat > ...so...

'Tis against my way of the ninja to ignore anyone, for that would be most rude! And ignorant. As an example of this, Girly-dono was quoting a post I made awhile back (he finally no doubt realised only you/him type about vinyls). And had you not opted to ignore meeee, you'd have likely discovered that interacting directly with me is a far more effective method of ceasing contact. Adding me to a list just makes me investigate/poke.

Backseat moderating is apt: given Roy is only motivated to do their civic duties when I'm involved (often unjustly, fyi), I offered to be a moderator; for community cohesion/the greater good (only requesting permission to re-name members). I was refused. And yet, I feel compelled to keep threads on topic when NOTHING is more infuriating than people that ramble/type too much in random threads. Who would do such a thing!?...

...Now, as for 'random chit-chat'/'off topic', I must once again play my role as both fool and moderator for you, ceefax: those are categories and you are being a tad... literal. This, dead though it is, is a forum. A forum consists of threads. Each thread consist of one topic - or a theme, if you will - that is discussed at length. If you were to unravel a about buying things, turning it into a vinyl discussion only 2-3 60yos have any interest in discussing... well, surely it makes more sense have your own place to do so, lest eyes glaze over skipping over. What is poor Lucky-Deity to do if left as is? Please think of him.

So, @Rui, I second Girly's motion for a dedicated vinyl thread, moving the posts from here to there. I'm even willing for my post that was quoted to be the OP, given no sexism allegations are attached.

 

[Rui]

Hopefully I've found all of the posts which belong in here; I've popped it in Media Discussion for now but if anyone has particularly strong feelings about having this thread somewhere else, please go ahead and let me know. The audiophile talk is now very much welcome to continue!

R

 

[zrdb]

The thing is if somebody wants to talk about audio, video etc. there are far better sites to post in such as AVS Forum which I have been a member of since 2002.

 

[RadFemHedonist]

The thing is if somebody wants to talk about audio, video etc. there are far better sites to post in such as AVS Forum which I have been a member of since 2002.

You have a point, but it's not doing any harm for there to be a self contained thread on this topic here and there clearly are people here who want to discuss it with each other shrug.

 

[zrdb]

That's the way I feel about it-not shrug but more like whatever? I mean that I (much like you) have things I like to discuss but in most cases there are more appropriate places to do it. Would you discuss symphony orchestras in a forum about auto mechanics?

 

[Rui]

Please make a different thread to complain about people using threads in a way you don't personally appreciate, as further derailment of this thread will lead to post deletion. There are also other places on the Internet to discuss anime - but here we are. I like this community.

In an attempt to turn the topic into a talking point, I have a collection of enough physical CDs to be able to stock a pretty impressive shop but would never want to go discuss music on a dedicated AV forum. I like anime music but would have nothing in common with the people over there. People can have hobbies they enjoy without being super serious about them, right?

R