About 180 DAT tapes, 1700 LPs and 3000 CDs - that's why I will never jump any SACD or whatever bandwagon. By the time I can get anything I want esp. in classical music on any of the new formats I will be gone long agp.
And yes, IMHO high end is about music and nothing else. |
350 CDs--30 of which are XRCDs. Now that I have found THEE place to buy CDs, I'll be sitting with 500 (easily) by next summer. peace, warren |
approaching 50 i've learned something...most audiophiles don't own a substantial collection of music, and most music collectors don't care about the so-called audio hi end. there are some(like myself)who unfortunately serve two masters..three if you count my wife. my collection of lp's is exactly 811 and i stopped counting cd's after i hit 2500(i'm guessing i've added about another 500). lets not even talk about movies i'm never gonna watch(on dvd) or books i'm never gonna read,and those crazy little lp replicas that i'm never even gonna open... |
Nrchy-I think there is some overlap-I've been a big music fan for 25 years and been buying music since then however I only really got seriously interested in hi-fi the last five years.
My CD collection must be close to 1200/1300 so it is worth more than my system-although my system cost is catching up.
I have about 400/500 albums on vinyl too.
There are no right or wrongs, if you have a $50k system and 50 CD's-who can say that is wrong if it brings that person enjoyment.
Likewise if the balance is tipped in favour of the equipment over the music then again that is a hobby or an interest in itself be it the aesthetics,technical aspects,repairing,modifying, whatever.
I'm sure many here collect equipment as well as music.
I think althought they go hand in hand they will be different relationships between the equipment and music for each person.
My passion is for the music,I search it out,buy about 5 monthly music magazines and read countless books on the subject and constantly try to challenge what I like and expand my horizons into different genres.
Many other find their pleasures elsewhere.....so no it isn't all about the music anymore than it is all about the equipment.
Each to their own and it's not a competition. |
This subject had been brought up before.. So, since then (1-2yrs ago?) my system hasn't changed dramatically in cost. To be expected, the music collection has since increased:
About 3.000 LPs, a little over 1500 cd's (they measured ~1500 a few months ago). Cheers |
CD's: 3 bookcases x 12 shelfs x 3 feet
Albums: 4 bookcases x 1 shelf x 3 feet
Seven inchers: 4 bookcases x 1 shelf x 3 feet
I have to go through and offer many for sale. |
Thanks for this thread Nrchy. The posts might help me sort through the questions I've been pondering for years. For myself, I'd be better off measuring my vinyl by the ton. It's a bunch. My system is not made of the stuff most audiophiles own. It's an all Linn Aktiv system and does what I like better than anything else I've ever heard. Lesser quality recordings sound great and that's what most of my favorite music is. Only this week I've drop kicked digital by selling my year old player. After a decade of collecting CD's the total is 47.
jrd's statement about music collectors is what has always confused me. I know a number of folks with huge collections that never listen to anything and it seems those I know with the mega-buck systems don't have much software. Maybe it's a matter of money since it takes a lot of cash to have both. Some, but not all, of the high end owners would never consider playing a lesser recording so I conclude that for them (no insult intended) it's about the music when the sun, moon and stars line up......rarely.
I once made mention in these forums of owning a couple of truely rare pressings and was criticized for such. I didn't intend to come across as a collector/snob since I feel strongly that my collection is quite simply a sampling of our musical heritage and I listen to what I own. It's not in my collection for the sake of collecting.
I also play selections based on musical merit and that rarely has anything to do with sound quality. My audiophile pressings are seldom played because, IMHO, Mobile Fidelity, Nautalus, etc. selected music based on the merits of the signal rather than the music. They certainly show off what a system can do and I enjoy it a lot when the music has merit.
I've gained a lot of respect for 50's jazz recordings in mono but live for stereo 60's jazz pressings. The vinyl is of great quality and the recording sessions were done very well. Country music, of which I'm no huge fan, has been recorded very well and is a joy to the ears.
Last night I listened to Quicksilver Messenger Service "What about me" and was blown away by the content. I followed that with Traffic's "Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys". Talk about poor recordings! Maybe it's nostalgia or something. Having lived through this era and seeing these bands live and remembering their contributions and the impact on my future tastes makes the music timeless.
I know a couple of AudiogoN regulars that have very revealing systems and listen to a lot of the same music I enjoy. Those are the people I admire the most. |
I have about 1100 CD's and 2500 LP's. Based on market value they have to be worth far more than my system. When it comes to being "about the music" the more appropriate question might be, when you listen to any one of those CD's/LP's how often do you listen to the entire CD or LP? I think a pure music lover will listen to the whole CD/LP whereas the pure audiophile will more often listen to the "best" cuts. Of course we are all guilty of listening to single cuts for demonstration, comparison, or just pleasure so we fall in between. But if you find yourself only able to listen to one or two cuts before you move on to something else then you're not really a music lover. I've found this with a couple of dealers, they're too anxious to move on to the next cut and I can't enjoy the music. Not coincidentally their systems have the obligatory audiophile attributes but don't make music. |
I'm down to about 500 carfully culled LP's and up to about 4000 not so carefully culled CD's. I listen to classical, jazz and vocal. Purchases are made based on the value of the performance (to me) and great sound is only an added benefit - I rarely listen for sound effects of any nature unless I'm listening to new equipment, which I rarely do any longer. I think we are seeing the death of two channel sound, especially software and I'd rather spend my money on the software while is still available. |
Warrenh: So, what is THEE place to buy CDs????
I get many of my new classical releases from arkivmusic.com, but others used, etc.
Collection: 900 CDs (half or more are classical, remainder mostly Dylan, including bootlegs, jazz, blues).
Used to have 1000 or so LPs, but stupidly rid myself of a lot when CDs came out (&^&#($*#....sound of banging my head on my desk) and am now buying them all over again. Back up to a 100 or so, but a long way to go! |
Price of my music collection greatly exceeds the price of my system.
It's not because some expencive pressings are present. I can say that I only have 1 MFSL copy of Led Zeppelin2 and mostly value records by its music. |
Somewhere around 600 cds, 100 LPs in a box-- I buy every CD I can find that I want (a function of being a DINK and having poor impulse control)-- BUT-- I just don't find that much that I want to buy.
How the heck do you folks with 3000+ CDs/LPs find that many you want to listen to? I always thought I had pretty varied musical tastes-- I just find that even in genres I love, I find a lot of CDs I don't like for whatever reason.
Do you buy a lot that look good, listen to them once and shelve them or do you really like and listen to them all? Just curious. |
Nrchy; another way of approaching this question-- especially if money is an issue-- is to ask: Would you rather listen to 200 CDs/LPs on a $20,000. system or 2000 Cds/LPs on a $1000. system? Personally, I only have about 1200-1300 CDs (about $18,000.+ at $15. ea.) and a $40K system, but at about 3-4 hours listening per day it would take a long time to listen to each of them once!!!
However, that's not the way I listen to music. Typically I become focused on a particular artist/group, or a type of music and mostly listen to that music for days or weeks at a time, and then move on when I've finally had my fill of my current listening obsession.
Two other points: 1. The Cd-R has fundamentally changed the way I listen to music, ie I've probably made over a 100 CD-Rs, and have come up w/ some interesting combinations of music that are unique to me, and I listen to them a LOT. 2. Also, I'm constantly on the lookout for good new music, but I don't keep music I don't like so to accumulate 1200 CDs, I've probably gone through 2000+. If I don't like it, it gets traded in, sold, given away etc. Just some personal thoughts. Cheers. Craig |
Pmkalby,
Yours is a good question. I've been an avid vinyl collector since about 1965. For nearly a couple of decades I listened to music that was one to two years old at the time and ignored much of the older stuff in my library. Then the mid 70's through the 80's hit. Between the demise of vinyl in stores and the lackluster music offerings I rediscovered a lot of my older stuff. That developed a habit which I still have. This is also the period where I picked up the audiophile offerings....the need to buy vinyl was there but IMHO the selection wasn't. Along the way I discovered jazz and began looking for older stuff and continue to do that to this day. Another habit I have is storing my albums face forward so I can easily flip through them. If you want to forget about a great recording store them edge out. Live long enough and you'll have more music than I have unless you decide to have kids. I hope this answers your question. |
Pmkalby, Most of my collection comes by way of my curiousity about classical music I have never heard - and some of it represents multiple, varied, performances of compositions which really hold my interest. Of the recordings I would listen to most often I have about 1500 classical, 500 jazz and 100 vocals. The rest constitute a library of sorts for occasion reference. If it has no reference value(to me)it goes to a charity. |
Pmkalby,
My vinyls and CD-s are shelved onto "groups" and I don't listen just to one record I listen to the whole "group" of them and the session might go for 6 hours. Not neccessarily I will do a critical listening but later at night I turn-off amps and continue listening through headphones(now that's a real listening!). A group in my definition consists of alike in style records or CDs that very possible to listen one after another. For example: I have a "group" with Japan band and its members that occupies approximately 20 LP-records, 8 singles +3CDs. All that group is "consumable" one after another with great joy in three...four listening sessions.
Curious for more?
Rainy or any nasty weekend can go for 2 or even three listening sessions for a day. When kids sleep, I'm reading newspaper and listening in headphones and than back to amp/speakers since it's not recommended to listen more than an hour in headphones(well I listen sometimes for 2).
In my sence of listening to have a couple of thousands vinyls and CDs is quite OK. |
About 12' of LPs and probably around 750-800 CDs.
Oh, add another 3' of Beatles LPs. (A lot of mono) |
Pmkalby, I play most of my music by moods. Sometimes a blues listening session, sometimes jazz, rock, etc. I will usually listen for 3-5 hours at a clip.
Eventually, almost everything does get played.
Right now, I'm listening to Katy Lied on vinyl after seeing the Steely Dan New Release thread. I'll probably listen to them all evening.
Man, this is some great music. |
Pmkalby, I play most of my music by moods. Sometimes a blues listening session, sometimes jazz, rock, etc. I will usually listen for 3-5 hours at a clip.
Eventually, almost everything does get played.
Right now, I'm listening to Katy Lied on vinyl after seeing the Steely Dan New Release thread. I'll probably listen to them all evening.
Man, this is some great music. |
Currently, about 5000 LPs, 400 45s, 50 reel to reel (mixed 10.5" & 7"), about 330 CDs, 60 csss. & 40-60 78 rpm disks. I generally listen to a whole disk/LP, and like others above, tend to go in streaks where I follow a specific group, sound, or artist for a period of time. I would say that my spending is about 50/50 between equipment/tweeks and music medium with most funds going to LP. |
Hrm. I think I'm as prone to "streaks" as the rest of you-- a streak being when you find, for example, a dead blues harmonica player you'd previously never heard of, buy all of his albums, then read the liner notes and buy the albums of his major influences, etc.
Maybe my problem is I tend to listen to discs before I buy, which usually means through crappy PC speakers or music store headphones, and in that brief exposure I don't get a true sense of the music and I'm passing good stuff by.
Ha, I just defined "problem" as having only 600 CDs instead of 4000. Only on Audiogon... |
About 400 cd's and 50 lp's. CDR's have changed me too as I've digitized all of my cassette tape bootlegs, greatly increasing my cd total. |
Buscis2, if you're listening to Katy Lied, you likely realize that this is the worst recorded of all the Dan/Fagen LP's. If any LP every CRIED OUT for remixing, it is Katy Lied. But then, the details surrounding this recording are legendary. Pity, too, because nearly every track is just dynamite, IMHO. If you MUST listen to these songs on CD, the KL songs on the CITIZEN compilation are much better than the orignal discs, strange as that may seem.
Me, 2800+ LP's, about 300 CD's. It is ALL about the music for me. I keep adding to my LP's at the rate of about a dozen per week, sometimes more. I got into jazz about two years ago and there went a few quick large. Right now, I am buying some newer music, but also carefully purchasing upgrades to many of my favorite from the 60's and 70's. Original pressings are mostly what I have, but some were kept away from the swill of the party crowds of yore better than others.................. |
Unfortunately, you absolutely right 4yanx. It seems when they were on the ABC label (Can't Buy A Thrill, Pretzel Logic, Countdown To Ecstasy, Katy Lied and Royal Scam), the sound was not as great as the later recordings with MCA.
Fortunately, once their "musical magic" starts, the sonics tend to take a back seat. |
My wife thinks I'm over the edge with my cd purchases. Though, I ONLY have about 350, I've gone pretty heavy in the last year. (last purchase being 20 XRCDs) I'm going to show her all these threads. I'm over the edge? She's not a member of the 'gon. OK, to let her read about your LP/cd mania? peace, warren |
Warren....I don't care if she reads this stuff. It will either make you look good by comparison, or reinforce her notion that ALL men are over the edge (just that some of us have fallen farther than others!). |
