Feeling groovy

Long before “cool,” there was “groovy.” Although both words describe a person as being hip, in vogue, likeable, marvelous or even great, the latter gained deeper meaning in Simon and Garfunkel’s 1970s hit, The 59th Street Bridge Song. Since then, the word groovy has become a state of emotion, the feeling of immeasurable happiness — of being lighthearted, carefree and energetic.

The grooves on those rounded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or simply plastic disks, on which our favorite music has been recorded or stored since the 1800s, gave birth to the word. When you’re “in the groove” it means that you’re supposed to know the latest (dance, songs, and gossip). When somebody says you’re groovy, you’re supposed to be awesomely attractive.

The compact disc, which is celebrating its 25th year this month, was supposed to have dealt the death blow to vinyl in the ‘80s. To this day, however, and thanks to the analog renaissance, vinyl still occupies a special pedestal in most audiophiles’ audio racks worldwide. Old and new artists continue to have their music recorded on vinyl, hoping to get the nod of snooty audiophiles. Even today, audiophiles continue to enjoy the artistry of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney and Harry James, among others, from remarkably quiet vinyl re-issues.

The CD offers convenience. All you need is a button to play it. It’s also supposed to sound superior to vinyl with no surface noise and greater dynamic range.  In contrast, vinyl poses a lot of problems: fuzzy or bad sounds from a worn-out stylus, inferior record quality, turntable resonances, record scratches, or even a combination of all this. But why do these select, often misunderstood hobbyists, otherwise known as “analog audiophiles,” continue to patronize vinyl? The fun part starts with how they can overcome these problems; the priceless satisfaction comes later when they have conquered them, and the end result is, of course, nirvana when musical instruments and human voices transcend physical limitations and lead you to unexplainable highs. In this state, nothing beats vinyl in sound reproduction.

In the Philippines, there are few who probably know more about analog sound than Dr. Lito Gozum.  A renowned orthopedic surgeon, Doc Lito does not only use his delicate hands to expertly treat a variety of musculoskeletal injuries and conditions, he also skillfully and patiently solders, assembles and puts together pieces of electronic puzzles in his quest for perfect sound reproduction.

The good thing about vinyl is that the equipment used to play it, the turntable, can be tweaked to achieve the desired results. There’s too little that can be done to alter a CD player’s sonic signature. In fact, you can disassemble a turntable part by part and come up happier each time a new tweak is successfully made. I can’t blame CD lovers because tweaking sound equipment is not really for the faint-hearted.

The main objective of tweaking a turntable is to make it acoustically dead. After all, the turntable is a mechanical pickup system. Its cartridge or needle, which picks up vibrations in the groove to convert them into sounds, can also decode other vibrations present on the record itself, the platter, the tone arm, or the plinth (deck plate) on which it is mounted. The objective is for the needle to pick up only the recorded vibrations on the disk. Sound waves can get in the way of each other. They can either distort sound or cancel each other out. Fine sound details can also get washed out.

Inspired by other audiophiles who have done earlier modifications to ward off unwanted frequencies caused by resonances in the cart and tone arm, Doc Lito has been toying with the idea of placing a resonance damper between the tone arm and the cartridge. But those modifications, like tinkering with the cart itself, could be risky, and the good doctor thought that the damper had to be a material that he could sandwich between cart and tone arm. “It had to be detachable, too, so that if you did not like the outcome, no harm is done to your gears,” Lito explains.

He finally found the answer in an expensive rubber compound used to dampen earthquakes. He cut the material into a small strip, about nine millimeters, the exact size of the gap between the cart and the mount screws and, voila, a perfect damper is born! The idea of putting a special rubber compound between the cart and the tone arm is definitely original and, to my recollection, hasn’t been tried anywhere else. Doc Lito is not a businessman and is just happy to share his find. He believes that other audiophiles can try different tweaks on their own.

The small tweak that Doc Lito graciously shared with me is amazing. My LPs, which I had thought were badly recorded, have suddenly come alive. I hear individual notes better, the bass notes are tighter and clean, and the mid-range and high notes sound more discrete. When you’ve finally cut off your sound system from superfluous frequencies, you begin to hear that each music selection in your vinyl has a front act, a climax, a finale and an encore. And yes, digital sound reproduction of the same musical album fails dismally by comparison. 

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For comments or questions, please e-mail me at audioglow@yahoo.com or at vphl@hotmail.com.