Lindsay Zoladz is an award-winning music journalist. However not the entire stereo gear in her Brooklyn condo is pricey or fancy. Loads of her most popular gear is downright low cost.
“I want a low barrier to entry and slicing corners the place I can,” she mentioned.
As testomony to her lo-fi leanings, Zoladz (who joined The New York Instances as a pop music critic in 2022) loves looking for LPs in individual. Shopping for on-line, she fears, “would open this Pandora’s field, and I’d by no means have the ability to cease.”
In her e-newsletter, The Amplifier, she takes New York Instances subscribers alongside on her in-person vinyl hunts in a recurring section referred to as My Report Haul. (She additionally curates digital playlists.)
We requested Zoladz to inform us all concerning the audio gear and equipment she turns to when looking for, caring for, and listening to her LPs.
Carry it comfortably and colorfully
Princeton Report Trade Reusable LP Bag
“I really like the unpredictability of strolling right into a document retailer,” Zoladz wrote in her inaugural My Report Haul column. “You by no means know what you’ll discover.”
However predictably, she’ll discover sufficient LPs that schlepping them residence will be cumbersome.
For that, she depends on a $1 recycled-plastic tote from considered one of her favourite haunts (and the topic of the primary My Report Haul column), Princeton Report Trade.
“This bag is the perfect factor I’ve discovered; it’s actually sturdy and surprisingly roomy,” she mentioned.
She additionally likes that it’s a dealt with pouch quite than a bag with a shoulder strap, which she’s realized can show “precarious” when carrying skinny, breakable sheaths of vinyl.
“I went to Academy Information in Brooklyn for my subsequent Report Haul column, and I in all probability purchased 10 or 12 LPs and was carrying them round in a Princeton Report Trade bag to varied places afterwards, and I used to be superb,” she mentioned. “It’s fairly straightforward to lug round. It’s fairly enjoyable visually, too.”
Spritz and spin it clear
The gems buried in a document retailer’s low cost bins (just like the Muppet Film soundtrack she lately scored) are sometimes, in Zoladz’s expertise, probably the most dust-laden. This $25 package, which she picked up at Amoeba Music in Los Angeles (its portability was key, since she purchased it on a visit), features a microfiber pad and vinyl cleaning fluid that convey her uncared for data again to life.
“You simply spray the document, spin it in your turntable, and gather the mud and normal grime with the pad because it goes round,” she defined. “It does the trick.”
Retailer it snugly
“I’m one of many many, many individuals who endorses the IKEA Kallax for vinyl storage,” Zoladz mentioned of the Swedish furnishings maker’s ubiquitous cubby-style items. “Actually, except you’re getting one thing custom-built, the Kallax is the way in which to go.”
About 300 of her data are organized alphabetically in a black-brown four-square Kallax Shelf Unit. Every cubicle is 13.25-inches squared, making them an ideal match for LPs, which measure a normal 12 inches throughout, plus one other inch or so for the quilt.
Show it elegantly
To complement her Kallax shelf storage, which lately reached full capability, Zoladz bought this angled, tabletop rack that may maintain as much as 50 data.
“I’ll use it as my ‘now enjoying’ or ‘lately performed’ cart, however generally it simply holds the issues I don’t need to put away but, both as a result of I’m lazy and I don’t need to alphabetize them, or it’s one thing I do know I’m going to return and relisten to quickly. And it’s a option to steal a bit of extra space earlier than getting one other Kallax,” she mentioned.
Play it
Denon DP-300F
Shopping for Choices
*On the time of publishing, the value was $349.
In September 2011, after combing via person critiques to suss out a high quality turntable inside her price range, Zoladz bought a Denon DP-300F for $350. She’s nonetheless utilizing it 12 years later, though she’s planning to quickly change the participant’s stylus for the second time. (Brent Butterworth, senior workers author and resident turntable professional, says that styluses normally should be changed after 500 to 1,000 hours of listening.)
“For the standard I’m in search of, I haven’t wanted something extra superior. I believe it’s among the finest sub-$500 fashions that you may get,” she mentioned. “The truth that they’re nonetheless making this mannequin in spite of everything these years, whereas I haven’t needed to change mine but, speaks very extremely.”
(The DP-300F shares a number of user-friendly options with the Denon DP-400, a former prime decide from our turntable information that we now suggest as one other good possibility resulting from a redesigned mud cowl that have to be absolutely eliminated to spin data.)
Hear it fantastically
Secondhand audio system (model unknown)
The pair of tower-style stereo audio system in Zoladz’s condo have been discovered by her father, a retired electrical engineer, at a thrift retailer in Pennsylvania for $5 every.
The model title featured on the facet of the audio system, Dynalab, appears suspicious; Zoladz’s dad thinks it was concerned in some type of rip-off. However after he refurbished them, they’ve lasted her a couple of decade to date.
“I might guess they’re from the ’80s or ’90s,” Zoladz mentioned. “They sound nice, and I just like the aesthetics of how they bookend my lounge. They appear like the monoliths from 2001.”
Zoladz’s father needed it recognized that he plans to finally change her presumably pilfered, no-name audio system with a set of thrifted Time Window audio system (a model beloved by many audiophiles within the ’80s) that he’s going to repair up any day now.
Combine all of it
Sony STR-DH190
Shopping for Choices
*On the time of publishing, the value was $200.
About two years in the past, when she wanted to switch a “very old-school receiver,” one other on-line deep-dive led Zoladz to the Sony STR-DH190, our prime decide, which she makes use of for each music-listening and TV-watching.
“I’ve a digital projector as a substitute of a TV, so I wanted one thing that will additionally hook as much as that,” she defined. “There’s three completely different inputs after which there’s a phono enter, which is the place I plug within the turntable. It’s additionally the primary receiver I’ve had that’s had a Bluetooth possibility, so it has every little thing I would like with only one flip of the dial. I adore it.”
Dimension it proper
Zoladz’s vinyl assortment additionally incorporates a number of dozen 45 data, which have a bigger spindle gap than LPs and sometimes require some type of adapter to spin correctly on a turntable. Zoladz picked up a handful of those cheap plastic doohickeys in Nashville at Jack White’s idiosyncratic indie music store, Third Man Information. “[Adapters are] a cool memento to gather once you journey. And so they’re low cost and enjoyable,” she added.
Set the temper for it
“I actually like an earthy or woodsy candle for stress-free at nighttime, however I’ll go along with a extra floral one throughout the day,” she mentioned. “In case you’re going to take a seat down and benefit from the heat sounds of vinyl, have some heat candle scent.”
Curate the aesthetic
In a world the place Bauhaus-looking turntables are ubiquitous, Zoladz admitted that her setup “doesn’t look significantly cool or attention-grabbing.” She additionally believes that “you don’t want to purchase the retro-looking, aesthetic turntable. You’ll be able to construct an aesthetic round it as a substitute by surrounding it with enjoyable and ornamental stuff.”
For her, which means her prized New York Mets bobbleheads.
After SNY introduced final 12 months {that a} trio of broadcaster bobbleheads—Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, and Gary Cohen—can be handed out at Citi Discipline over the course of the 2022 season, “my buddy Nathan and I made a number of journeys to see video games in individual,” Zoladz mentioned. “That was actually the primary objective of the summer season, to get these three bobbleheads, and it was achieved.” (As we speak, uncommon bobblehead trios fetch tons of of {dollars} on eBay.)
Present Mets standouts additionally obtain delight of place alongside her audio gear. “They really get rotated out in the event that they get traded,” she mentioned. “So proper now, we have now Pete Alonso and Max Scherzer, however Noah Syndegaard”—who departed for the Angels in 2021—“needed to go within the different room.”
This text was edited by Alexander Aciman and Catherine Kast.
