carlo
Founder of 5 in heavy rotation
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2001
- Posts
- 1,270
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(warning: post to come written by an admitted vinyl junkie)
i've been in this hobby a long time, and in that time i've crossed every little limit i've set for myself: i'll never spend more than four figures on my system, i'll never spend fore than five, i won't be one of those hardcore dudes who spends a lot on cables, i won't have an audio only room, i won't tweak my components, i won't spend a **** load on power products. all of it long past, and along the way i've learned a lot and enjoyed quality music reproduction. my audiophile growth has grown with my music exposure to the point where i'm looking for more, but know on some nights my system is one of the best i've ever heard (and believe me, i've heard a lot). even with just 24 looming ahead of me i feel like a grizzled veteran of music collecting and audiophelia, i've been in the hobby for almost seven years now. its almost unfathomable to me that i've spent the majority of my disposable, and at times a significant amount of my in-disposable, income on something that would be normally considered so trivial (where as music is very, very important to me).
but when i first got into it i knew what i wanted. to hear what was in the music i loved. i imagined listening to beck's odelay and hearing minute detail and the little quirks in the beats my system couldn't reproduce. playing tricky's maxinquaye and wondering what i wasn't hearing. joni mitchell sing "a case of you" and "california" while wondering how close she could come to my listening room. marvelling that the more resolving bob dylan's voice got, the more i liked it. and i hoped that one day i would be able to acquire a quality collection of vinyl recordings (both analogue masters and great music that was never reproduced for cd) and an analogue system that would bring out the essence of those lps. i would go into independent music stores and see the guy with the arm load of records by bands i'd never heard of while mostly ignoring the cd section and think, "thats who i want to be."
after completing my analogue system i feel like i've gotten there. each time i see it i melt, and some nights i'll grab some rare bootleg soundboard performance or music club only lp by elvis costello or lou reed or greg oblivian or whoever and think, "damn." i just look back to being 17 and shopping for music and... i don't know how to describe how it feels. just that up to this point i haven't felt that in regards to music collection or stereo set up (although i have felt it a lot in other things of my life).
so, that's it. i figured that there's a part of this only you guys would understand, and i wanted to share that. i hope some of you share yours. i'm going to run downstairs and hug my turntable now.
i've been in this hobby a long time, and in that time i've crossed every little limit i've set for myself: i'll never spend more than four figures on my system, i'll never spend fore than five, i won't be one of those hardcore dudes who spends a lot on cables, i won't have an audio only room, i won't tweak my components, i won't spend a **** load on power products. all of it long past, and along the way i've learned a lot and enjoyed quality music reproduction. my audiophile growth has grown with my music exposure to the point where i'm looking for more, but know on some nights my system is one of the best i've ever heard (and believe me, i've heard a lot). even with just 24 looming ahead of me i feel like a grizzled veteran of music collecting and audiophelia, i've been in the hobby for almost seven years now. its almost unfathomable to me that i've spent the majority of my disposable, and at times a significant amount of my in-disposable, income on something that would be normally considered so trivial (where as music is very, very important to me).
but when i first got into it i knew what i wanted. to hear what was in the music i loved. i imagined listening to beck's odelay and hearing minute detail and the little quirks in the beats my system couldn't reproduce. playing tricky's maxinquaye and wondering what i wasn't hearing. joni mitchell sing "a case of you" and "california" while wondering how close she could come to my listening room. marvelling that the more resolving bob dylan's voice got, the more i liked it. and i hoped that one day i would be able to acquire a quality collection of vinyl recordings (both analogue masters and great music that was never reproduced for cd) and an analogue system that would bring out the essence of those lps. i would go into independent music stores and see the guy with the arm load of records by bands i'd never heard of while mostly ignoring the cd section and think, "thats who i want to be."
after completing my analogue system i feel like i've gotten there. each time i see it i melt, and some nights i'll grab some rare bootleg soundboard performance or music club only lp by elvis costello or lou reed or greg oblivian or whoever and think, "damn." i just look back to being 17 and shopping for music and... i don't know how to describe how it feels. just that up to this point i haven't felt that in regards to music collection or stereo set up (although i have felt it a lot in other things of my life).
so, that's it. i figured that there's a part of this only you guys would understand, and i wanted to share that. i hope some of you share yours. i'm going to run downstairs and hug my turntable now.
