If listening to music on a digital bluetooth speaker is what you call a great experience, wait till you listen to the old analogue music system. When you enter the Diamond Electronics owned by Ganesh H Suryavanshi, there are chances that you will witness the music coming from an old record system. The sound quality is so clear that you hear every beat of the percussion instrument. The experience will transport you to a completely different world, a world of pure music.
Evolution of music system
Over the generations, music consumption has changed. Suryavanshi explains his experience of listening to records for years and why it is better than digital music. He says, “When the system started, first came mono, then came stereo. Then, in stereo analogue technology was started. In an analogue system, everything is manual. The quality of the analogue is excellent. When you listen to it, the feeling you get from the sound quality is on another level, and you can listen to it for a long time.”
When he meets his old customers who come to him to repair their music system, they often tell him how they miss the old systems. He says, “The new generation may find the digital music system good enough, but that’s because they have not experienced the old analogue system.”
The analogue system has a much distinct sound quality. Ghulam Hussain of Haji Ibrahim Records is the second generation selling and repairing old music systems, records, cassettes, and CDs at Chor Bazaar. He shares, “The sound coming from the old music systems, like Gramophones, touches the soul. Whoever made these records and put music in them has done the job with great care and passion. That’s why the outcome is so different from the digital system. Whether it is Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Laxmikant and Pyarelal and Kishore Kumar, the music comes to life when listening to records.”
His brother, Mohammed Salim Miya Sheikh, who also runs a music system shop with a similar name, Haji Ebrahim Records, is adjacent to his. Sheikh has an experience of 55 years of selling, repairing and servicing analogue record players. He explains, “Due to a rise in demand, the manufacturers have started manufacturing new gramophones. In the old system, the amplifiers were different, and that’s why the sound quality is also different. However, the cost of maintenance is also very high in the old gramophones.”
Costs and expenses
The old gramophones are usually priced more. Sheikh says, “The price range for gramophones starts from Rs 3,000 and goes up to Rs 50,000 and more. Nowadays, all songs are available online, but the quality of sound you get when you hear a record is much better. The old gramophone and music systems are found rarely, but the new system is manufactured in bulk. That’s why the old system is much expensive than the new one.”
Records are usually expensive, but second-hand ones can be bought at lower prices. They are easily available at places like Chor Bazaar. Naresh Fernandes, a journalist and author of Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age, recalls his memories of growing up in Mumbai listening to records. He says, “When I was growing up, you could go to a flea market at Chor Bazaar and buy second-hand records cheaper than a new record. So I bought a lot of second-hand records. Many songs I have on records are not available in digital format.” Fernandes listens to the record player Gemini, and the amplifier he uses is 40 years old.
New fan following
The demand for analogue music is increasing among the new generation of music lovers. Sheelang Shah, 35, a lawyer at the Bombay High Court and a new generation music enthusiast, has owned the Denon DP-29F turntable since 2015. He talks about his experience and how his grandfather influenced his choice of listening to vinyl. He says, “It started long before I even knew whatever ‘analogue warmth’ even meant. It’s due to my grandfather, who was the original vinyl addict in the family, the kind of man who saw Elvis Presley live and then came home and sang Carpenters songs while flipping through his record stack.”
He adds, “Even today, with advanced digital systems, I find vinyl to be like film photography: digital filters try to imitate the grain, texture, and warmth that film naturally produces, and even music studios often add effects and filters to recreate that ‘classic’ tone which vinyl already gives you authentically.”
Suryavanshi tells a recent experience where one of his young clients was shocked when he heard the sound of an old Sony system, “He exclaimed - ‘OMG! this sounds much better than by 40K system!’ But that’s the truth. the sound quality is better and the new generation is now understanding that.”
For Sheelang it is also very emotional. “My collection is deeply personal. I inherited my grandfather’s vinyls. They connect me to him, to music, and to a time when listening itself was an experience and not just background noise.”
Due to good sound quality, many music enthusiasts are opting for old records and cassette systems. Although the maintenance is difficult, the music experience is unmatchable.
Here’s to all who work towards to maintaining the heritage and good sound.
