[Sovkiller]

I have a point of view that maybe differs from most of the posts in this threat but I like music, and I think that here everybody does, if not that makes no sense to spend that much in audio equipment, but in my case, I prefer to spend 100 in music and not in a cable of another stuff, of course I tried to get the best I could get to listen it, in a decent way, but keep in mind that the best you will go in audio rig, unfortunatelly the less amount of CDs you will find in the market today that really cause a real pleasure to be heard, at least in Rock/pop/heavy etc...in Jazz and classical music maybe they are a little more careful with the recordings, a real good headphone and amplifier will not make in any way a bad recording sound good, this is the painful truth, and most of the people that call themselves "audiophiles" don't even like music, they in fact like audio, the sound of a CD not the music recorded on it, and whatever sounds good, for they is good, otherwise for a beatles fan that makes no sense to go further that a boombox (that's a joke but they are horrible recordings, along with the early Deep Purple, and mostly of the 60s and 70s recordings), I will give you an advice, if you like music specially from the earlies 60s to the 70s, please don't go too far in equipment, or you will be sorry later when forced to get rid of most of your cds, because it should be so painful to listen them!!!!

 

[zowie]

I'm glad this topic came up.

I had about 150 records and tapes when I was 16, and the think I wanted most then, even more than a car was more records.

Today, I've got about 1200 cds today, having started buying in '87. And I've got about 2500 lps, plus a few hundred each of 78s, 45s, cylinders, and tapes, having started collecting in the mid 70s. Plus all the playback equipment.

I had to move a few months ago for the first time in many years. HOLY CRAP!!!!! I'm now committed to getting rid of at least a couple hundred recordings now.

This is especially true because I don't really get to listen to the vinyl anymore. When I was a student, I used to have the turntable spinning at least 4 hours a day, and also DJ'd college radio. Now I work a zillion hours a week and have family committments, only letting me play a couple albums a week. So what do I need them all for?

The problem is, they were mostly carefully considered purchases, and I go through them and can't pick out more than a couple I'd want to get rid of.

Like, say, from 300 great and hard to replace classic Bluenote, Impulse, and Prestige albums, though I'm likely to actually play them all only once or twice over the course of the rest of my life?

Like from 100 or so versions of the handful of major violin concertos by all the great historical violinists, Heifetz, Milstein, Menhuin, etc. Or different versions of the major symphonies by various top-draw conductors and orchestras.

Like some of the 70s and early 80s pop music that I now recognize as junk, but have great memories of dancing to at parties or the roller disco (no thread crapping now!) or playing over and over again with friends on bus trips.

The out of print way-too-earnest 60s folk albums that I learned to play guitar from?

I think I'm going to be stuck with most of them. I have the space and don't need the cash, but I keep looking at the shelves and thinking, How foolish!

 

[eric343]

FOOLISH?! OF COURSE NOT!!!

Get some shelves. Put them in your (speaker) listening room. Load them up with LPs. Now, by pulling out LPs and pushing them in, you can custom contour the walls of your listening room for optimal sound!

 

[carlo]

Quote:

Sovkiller - this is the painful truth, and most of the people that call themselves "audiophiles" don't even like music, they in fact like audio, the sound of a CD not the music recorded on it, and whatever sounds good, for they is good, otherwise for a beatles fan that makes no sense to go further that a boombox (that's a joke but they are horrible recordings, along with the early Deep Purple, and mostly of the 60s and 70s recordings), I will give you an advice, if you like music specially from the earlies 60s to the 70s, please don't go too far in equipment

audiophiles buy albums from companies who do good remasters or listen to original transfers on vinyl

if you have time, read this: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...&threadid=8839

zowie,
there's a lot of people* who'd give some of those records a good home in case you decide to sell them off.

(*=me)

 

[aeberbach]

Just think, zowie, how foolish you would feel if you looked at the shelves and saw them empty. I still regret selling 10 LPs back when I really needed the money and I didn't even have a turntable.
I lost a set of compasses once, HAFF brand, (West German - "Wir haben das system!") when someone took a bag of mine. I didn't let them go voluntarily but every time I need to draw something I curse that day. They were a gift from my father, they are not made any more, and are almost never on eBay. Everything has a history and objects can be as good as a diary, even better, because they bring back memories. I bet your LPs are like that.

 

[zowie]

Eric 343 -
I realize you're being facetious, but I did position some of the shelving units where I was having echo/resonance problems.

Aeberbach-
I do think of that, and I can't decide whether you're right or not.

Regrets? I've had a few.

But then again, too few to mention.

 

[eric343]

Actually, I was only being partly facetious. The "tweak" I talked about was mentioned in the Tweaks column of Stereophile...

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Like some of the 70s and early 80s pop music that I now recognize as junk, but have great memories of dancing to at parties or the roller disco (no thread crapping now!) or playing over and over again with friends on bus trips.

Are we talking about stuff like:
-bee gees
-three dog night
-osmonds
-tony orlando & dawn
-captain & tenille (muskrat love)
-kc & sunshine band
-carpenters
-village people
-barry manilow

 

[markl]

Wow! I have to say, I'm just shocked at how few albums/CDs the folks that have responded to this thread own! All this trouble over 100 CDs?????? You've got to be kidding me!

Way too much time spent on components, not enough on your music collection!

I currently own about 1200 CDs, but this is a constantly evolving collection. I buy, then sit on it for a while, then judge. After a while, I decide to sell those discs that just don't do it for me.

Over the course of my life (I'm 32), I estimate I've bought at least 3000 CDs. Probbaly more.

Am I a "weirdo"? Or do I have it right? My current "to buy" list of CDs/SACDs/DVD-As is about 200 titles long.

Mark

 

[MacDEF]

Same here, Mark. I have about 1300, and that's after selling/trading lots over the years. And my wish list is getting pretty long since I haven't been able to buy anything in a couple months

 

[Hirsch]

I was slow to jump to CD, and still have a lot of vinyl. I also have a rather large DVD collection, as sometimes I'd rather watch a movie than listen to music. The collection is not about size, so much as it is about choice. I know full well that there are albums, CD's and DVD's that I'll never hear again in this lifetime (in some cases, I'll never hear them at all), but so what? If I want them, they're there, which to me is a far more desireable state than the alternative.