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Rather impressive vinyl collection

David Pescovitz at 9:03 am Mon, Jun 6, 2011

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While searching for storage solutions for my LPs, I came across this terrific photo of DJ Moncef Belyamani. IKEA should hire Moncef as their poster child for Expedit bookcases. Me? I just need one of the small units. Well, half of one actually. But I can always dream.

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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  • braininavat

    Anyone who has ever spent any time working at a record store has a collection like this.

  • Anonymous

    When I bought my Expedit I mistakenly grabbed the natural wood outer casing and the black shelves. I ended up with a nice custom two tone record storage unit.

  • Anonymous

    In my Area a lot of DJ’s (including me) are having the IVAR shelves for storing their vinyl. Big advantage in my opinion is, that it is easily expandable in height and with.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/3ple-optic/372086540/in/photostream

  • Philboyd Studge

    Yes, these Über-Flarks have been a boon to the vinyl fiend community. If you get one of the narrower units, it can be flipped on its side and used as a stereo component stand. Now, if IKEA would just make a rack that can hold 3000+ CDs!

  • Anonymous

    Check out Boltz furniture for their LP racks. I have 2 of the shelf racks and love them. Kind of pricy, but very sturdy and I got mine with wheels so I can roll them into the corner to save space.

    http://www.boltz.com/lp-record-storage-racks.html

  • frankieboy

    I’m very interested to hear what is a good solution for LP storage, I’m at the limit and need to do something ASAP.

  • Philboyd Studge

    Each “cube” is ~12.5 X ~12.5, which means even plastic-sleeved albums and box-sets fit inside nicely. It means you can toss your old fruit crates…until it comes time to MOVE.

  • Anonymous

    Any info on vinyl storage solutions very much appreciated…

  • Anonymous

    I bought one of those units about 10 years ago only for that very purpose only to have it stolen out of my truck on the South Side of Chicago. I imagine the thieves were disappointed when they realized it was just a bunch of particle board….plus, they missed one of the boxes of parts.

  • Anonymous

    They’re also good for Laserdisc collections.

  • Anonymous

    In the early 80′s, my best friend was a DJ on an AOR radio station. When the station switched formats, she got ALL the albums…… they filled a 24′ box truck.The whole rock era……I never knew the count, but I would estimate 15,000+.

  • technogeek

    I suppose if my book library can take over the walls, there’s no reason a record collection shouldn’t do so.

  • David Pescovitz

    i was considering putting my 1970s stereo components on top and my records in the cubes underneath… I was thinking of something more interesting, but I like how this will basically disappear because it’s so minimal.

  • richxxiii

    Yes, the narrower Expedit, the 31 X 60 inch one, when place on its side, will easily hold two turntables and a moderate to large sized DJ-type mixer. It’s steadily becoming the home DJ’s choice in furniture.

  • Anonymous

    Also, check out these custom decals for the Expedit.
    http://www.thisismykea.com/designs/amplifiers

  • HeartlessMachine

    Expedit is how I store my vinyl, too. I’ve got two 4×4 units and a 2×4 unit. I don’t have every space packed with records, though. Some spaces are vintage and antique transistors, tape decks, headphones, etc.

    Highly recommended.

  • narddogz

    That’s an impressive collection, indeed.

    I dream of having a basement full of rare blues, jazz and hillbilly 78 rpm shellac records, like Joe Bussard’s as seen in the fantastic documentary, Desperate Man Blues:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8l5sKiAw-o

  • benenglish

    Looks like a nice solution for just a few LPs. A quick, back-of-the-envelope calculation, though, indicates I’d need about $2000 worth of these to shelve most of my LP collection. For that kind of money, I think I should start looking into custom shelving.

  • Anonymous

    We have 13 of these Expedit shelves at our Vinyl Pimp Warehouse in Hackney Wick, London, they are fantastic! Check it out – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag9KpluCLbc&feature=player_embedded

    http://www.vinylpimp.co.uk

  • Anonymous

    I think every DJ I know bought one of these at one point. We have several in my house — I usually leave out one or two of the vertical shelf dividers to make a couple of wider shelves that are nice for components or other bric-a-brac.

  • Trevour

    I easily have that many in CDs. They were on grand display at my previous residence, but since I moved, I have kept them all stored away in boxes (alphabetically sorted, of course!). My vinyl collection is pretty pathetic, but I still have some rare gems in there too! I do have Expedit and Billy shelving as well, but Expedit is the TV/gaming hub; Billy is the wife’s insane book library.

  • Anonymous

    Nice, except there is no back side to the shelf. I’ll still use my grocery store crates that have a metal support running around the circumference of the opening (to prevent bowing). Very easy to move my vinyl when I need to.

  • Anonymous

    Cool, looks like Missoni !

  • Anonymous

    Uh, you guys posted this in like, April. http://boingboing.net/2011/04/10/sweden-exports-sweat.html
    Note, that the US factory pretty much manufactures these exclusively.

  • grimc

    Yes, impressive. But you can’t beat the sheer insanity of Gilles Peterson keeping a 4-room London flat just for his vinyl…

  • dolo54

    Hey I use that Expedit bookcase for my vinyl too. It looks good and is as cheap as you can find. Very solid and won’t bend at all under the weight of all that vinyl.

  • Anonymous

    Is that a battery=powered turntable?

    • David Pescovitz

      It’s a Vestax Handy Trax portable turntable!

      • wrybread

        That Vestax turntable is one of my favorite gizmos, I have one in my RV for buying thriftshop records on roadtrips. That said, I would never ever play any record I care about on it. The needle is so heavy that you can play a record on a dirt road without skips! That’s great for when you’re driving on a dirt road, but not so great for the record itself.

        I tape a couple of quarters to the opposite end of the tonearm, which helps.

  • ill lich

    I prefer to buy locally made natural wood shelves designed just for LPs, but I recognize that not everyone has access to them.

    I see Fela’s “Roforofo Fight” on the Vestax portable.

  • simon_elbows

    I’ve used a large (5×5) expedit unit for my vinyl for over a decade, and it’s still going strong. Bowing shelves are a problem for regular shelves (billy? forget about it. not tough enough), so the regular vertical supports on the expedit really make a difference. The large unit holds 2000-3000 platters, but must weigh around 500kg when fully stocked, so think about your floor supports, people.
    Moving it, even across the room, is a major pain in the backside.

  • Anonymous

    Here are some great options..
    http://jdorganizer.blogspot.com/2011/04/for-vinyl-records-fans-6-more-options.html

  • Anonymous

    I prefer Billy’s for my 11.000+ books. I just need more walls to stack them