[TheAnomaly]

music formats of all kinds, but no hardware. there is a lot of talk about gear and upgrading/tweaks and what not, especially in the audio enthusiast/audiophile community, so i thought it appropriate to ask this question.

me personally, i am becoming committed to more of a "get as much as you can [music]" approach to the issue. my current setup is rather modest, but sounds good enough based on what i can afford right now. i'm thinking that when i'm older (just a college kid

) and have a "real" job that pulls down more than $8/hour, once i get a really good speaker setup i'm just going to leave it at that, and spend all my money that might've gone to gear, on music. to me, this entire hobby is about the enjoyment had by/through music, and i don't see how you can get more enjoyment out of having a very good setup while having little (comparatively) to listen to, as compared to had you spent the majority of your budget on music in the first place. a great deal of music simply won't sound amazing anyway, so the fact that you didn't wring every drop of detail out of your system doesn't seem to mean all that much in light of having 2x or 3x as much to listen to. my thoughts, anyway.

 

[unclejr]

a lot! the gear is an investment into the music. the gear alone is cool and geeky but not that useful without something to listen to! You know that 10% cable rule? There should be one for music:gear ratio.

If you think there are a lot of goofy amp mfgs out there (and there are!), think about all the music -- labels, artists, albums, grand obscurity! I'd much rather listen to a lot (say, $500) of music on a $20 system than $20 of music on a $500 system. (assuming crudely to a first approximation that price is proportional to quality of a system.)

 

[TheAnomaly]

right, i was mostly referring to some sort of proportional or ratio answer to the question of how much money...dollar amounts or anything shouldn't be expected

i'm thinking my ideal setup would have my gear making up no more than half the value of my record collection; i'm not sure how realistic that is, though.

 

[neilvg]

With the amount I've spent, I could have easily purchased an Audi RS4, dark blue, stick, 19 inch rims. lol

Neil

 

[citywithoutmetal]

Well over a grand a year for the past 3 years.
I buy costly rarities off ebay and I search around the web to buy reissues/new cds for the absolute cheapest prices I can find. I spend about 1/20th of my income on music because I can...one of the very few perks living at home.

I've used PCDPS, my pc, and cheap mp3 players as my main rig for years. I'm finally getting something "decent" (zune/er4p) because I have enough neglected cds to catch up on to last me a few months. Once I tire of those albums i'm going to start buying new cds again.

I plan on keeping my zune setup for at least 3 years. I should be done with school in 3 years and plan to spoil myself with a nice home system. In the meantime i'm going to keep on collecting music. To me it's the best investment in our hobby.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Probably $100-$150 a month or so. I try to buy one SACD each week, and usually hit the record store twice a month.

 

[servoled]

About $200 a month, trying to cut down but it never seems to happen.

 

[JadeEast]

I used to spend a lot more but decided that I was
enjoying the shopping for records more than I
was enjoying listening to music. Digging for records
became quite adictive and I ended up with alot of
records I didn't really want. I had a big move and
got rid of a ton of them, well not a ton but over
a thousand. Now I buy a new record or two a month
tops so less than $30 bucks unless I happen across
something that I really want.

I don't think I'm spending enough right now and
I should get out and find some new music before
I become a guy that his musical tastes has his
musical boundaries locked down at age 35.

 

[Sherwood]

I try and spend as little on music as possible, but I acquire at least one new album a week, no exceptions. I use trading services like lala.com, lots of online radio, and a good deal of reading to determine what to listen to.

I think this is where the distinction between "audiophile" and 'music lover" applies. When I'm in a rut, I go get a new album. When an audiophile is in a rut, they get new equipment and listen to an old album. Very dumbed down description, but I think it shows a fundamental distinction. I wouldn't say one is 'better' than the other, but I enjoy being a music lover first and an audiophile second. I'd rather listen to so-so recordings of great music than great recordings of so-so music.

 

[fatcat28037]

I've cut down on my purchases in the last three months because I found I had a lot of music I hadn't listened to in a while so I've been "shopping" in my own CD collection. I still spend $20 to $50 a month mostly with Amazon resellers. I find I can get better prices there that Ebay or at the local new/used record shop. I buy used whenever I can because I feel I get more bang-for-your-buck.

 

[Purgatos]

Around $200-300 a month when I'm working, $0-50 when I'm not.

It's terrible, the more music I buy, the more I want. It's a vicious cycle.

 

[NightEcho]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclejr /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd much rather listen to a lot (say, $500) of music on a $20 system than $20 of music on a $500 system. (assuming crudely to a first approximation that price is proportional to quality of a system.)

X100!!!

Every time I go to get some new gear, I spend the money on music instead. I'd rather have something new to listen to than new gear.

In the last month I've spent approximately $250 on new music. That's probably a little higher than normal, but I've decided to try to buy at least two new albums per month - one an classic and one a new release - and then spend the month absorbing them.

 

[Digitalbath3737]

I buy about 20 a month. I can't see spending more money on a rig than spending it on music. Making my music sound better was why I got into this hobby. I'm a music lover not and audiophile.

 

[bwu]

I probably average $250/month on music, although there have been recent months in which I got 60+ new CDs per month.

Maybe I should spent more on my system and less on CDs so I actually have time to listen to everything I get!

 

[Totoy]

For a while, I was up around $100...a week. Before that, however, I averaged $60-80, although now that I'm not commuting down to LA everyday I can't stop by Ameoba as often as I was before, so it'll likely drop down to $40'ish.

Now compare that with the amount I've spent on my rig over this last year:

Nothing, hehe...