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Originally Posted by jjcha /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Wayne, you started this thread. So I'll say, from a monetary amount, I'd rather have your speakers than WertherDVX's headphone collection. You and I both know your speakers are worth about the same. Forty thousand+ or there around abouts.
WertherDVX's collection is impressive, because it takes a lot of work to put something like that together. But from a pure dollar amount (and not time), it doesn't compare to your gear.
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Jason, I really do love my speakers. It seems like I've heard practically everything that I'd ever want to audition (except perhaps the Martin Logan Statements which are way too huge for my room, way too expensive, and out of production and thus unavailable in any event). So getting the MBL 101E's really was a dream come true, and a life-long dream at that. It would be silly to say that I'll never 'upgrade' at some distant point in the future because technology changes, so it's hard to say. But I can honestly say I've never heard anything that I'd prefer to have in my listening room, regardless of cost (and that comes as a big relief because there are a lot of speakers out there that cost way more).
Thankfully, because I live outside of the US and thus am not in any of the MBL dealer's territories, the US distributor was able to give me a very nice deal on the speakers as well as the 6010D preamp and pair of 9008A monoblock amps. But when putting together (for most people) a "one and only" 2 channel speaker system, your goals are very different than putting together a headphone collection. Your aim is to get it "just right" for your particular tastes and preferences as an (admitted in my case) audiophile who can be quite picky at times. There is a certain joy in getting it right because you know you're going to have to live with it for a long, long time or else lose a bunch of money (not to mention time and frustration) when going back through the sell and buy cycle all over.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I see my 2 channel system as being very different than my headphone collection. They serve 2 entirely different purposes, and much more is 'at stake' in terms of getting the 2 channel rig right, which thankfully, I've finally done. WertherDVX doesn't specify what components are used in his speaker system, and quite frankly it really doesn't matter whether it's a very modest system or an extremely over the top system, because (as I know you know) it's not a competition!
All I was pointing out in this thread is that someone out there has the headphones "bug" worse than me. WertherDVX is a self admitted dynamic headphones collector, and I've got to take my hat off to him because he sure has managed to do a great job at it. I'm actually of the other ilk (believe it or not). During these past 6-8 months or whatever it has been since I've had the MBL gear, it has become incrreasingly hard to pull myself away from my speakers to listen to
any headphones, even the almighty Orpheus! Of course, they all still sound great when I do listen to them, so it's not that suddeny I'm too spoiled and thus can't be bothered with headphones. Instead, it's more of a guilt thing to see them sitting there, sometimes for several days, without being used. Were I able to admit that I'm a "collector" this wouldn't be such a problem. Not that it bothers me enough to sell any of them, but you know what I mean.
Headphones have such great utility and although they all do the same job, each one does it slightly differently. WertherDVX seems to appreciate this as well, and although I'm sure he just "looks" at some of them, with 6,000 CDs I'd imagine that he does a fair bit of listening as well. Collections of knives, watches, stamps, coins, beer bottles and the like, seem to be just that: collections. Things like headphones and cars shouldn't just sit there IMO because driving them can be so much fun! To my way of thinking, if I'm not using them (at all, as in never or almost never) then I really should sell them and allow someone else to put them to better use. Easy to say, but hard to do. Right about the time I sell a pair, I'll be wanting to reach for them again!
All of that is a long winded way of saying that perhaps I should have worded this thread title differently. It wasn't really supposed to be about who has the most stuff. Instead, looking at his list of headphones alone and forgetting everything else, it really is a remarkable list (to say the least). He might not have as many variations in terms of systems (amp, source and cable combinations) and he's not into electrostats at all, but this is simply because his goals are different. He may well think of headphones in the same way that I do about watches. Although I only have 2 nice ones, and neither of those is very expensive, if I were to get into the watches "hobby" I'm sure it would be as a collector. In other words, were I so inclined, I could have 125 watches without ever feeling the least bit guilty about not wearing them. Not so with headphones because I think there is so much to learn and enjoy about each one.
As for 909's estimate of the collection's value, please let that one go. It's not important in any event, and really wasn't intended to be anything to be discussed and debated at length. That, and 909 seems to be kindly asking to be given a break!
FWIW, I've just looked at my collection which is about 40 headphones and IEMs. I paid around $26k for all of them, and about 2/3rd's of them were new. My strategy is to seek the top models as well as anything else that I think I'll find to be interesting and thus likely to use frequently. Thus, for example, I've got the K701 but not the K601 or K501 (although they each have a lot of merit, I don't think I'd use them much). In fact, the only other AKG's I have are the K1000's. Qualia 010 and SA5000, but no SA2000 or SA1000, and so forth. I'm sure this serves to drive up the average cost quite a bit, but I don't think of it that way. My guess is that his collection would cost twice this amount, just at a glance. Of course, I've got no clue about what some of his headphones even are!
