I'm a 71 y/o geezer and my hair cells are deteriorating. Hi fidelity was great when it came in. My father helped pay for his college education playing is small combo's in the pre-war 1940s and gigged some and played sax for fun as an adult. I tromped across a lot of his 78's as a toddler. My first stereo was entry level, affordable, Dynaco stuff bought through a catalog in 1968. 35 years ago I passed those Dynaco speakers onto my father with his first and only component system. My parents are gone and those speakers still sound pretty darn good and one of my sons will pass them onto my granddaughter in a couple of years with some other used components. I've been through some moderate components and speakers as my income picked up and bought Mark Levinson mono-block preamp and amp, Magnapan 33s and a Velodyne 15 SW, Proceed, Audioquest and Kimberwire in 1988. The stuff is probably worth $12 - $14K these days but was bought with the intent that it would be my system of a lifetime. I'm a doctor and knew then that my hearing would only deteriorate with time. By the early 1990s I was only listening to digital media, CDs and as streaming and downloads came and quality improved turned to only buying and listening to that medium. I have sons, two of whom are musicians one like my dad only part time now the other full time in New Orleans. Twenty years ago I was taken aback by their purchase of vintage turntables and a third son having picked up my old mothballed Technics TT. At the time they were primarily interested in new "Indy" album releases but they also began getting into some other stuff Jazz from the 60s and 70s and some classic rock
and more recently Jack White and the like. They do listen to their digital mixes and streaming for the most part day in day out. For me long work hours and the convenience of digital without having to get up to change records and the need for a new cartridge or better TT left me with no interest in my vinyl until a few years ago. Four to Five Years ago I was fascinated that they were able to discern quality differences between their affordable but good digital systems. Even as I listened to their systems when vacationing with them in Portland OR or New Orleans LA I could detect differences as well. Clearly the digital crushed the flaws of the analog recordings but even on those vintage turntables with modestly priced affordable upgraded cartridges there was an appreciable quality to the analog recordings. I have listened to the latest digital, expensive but getting more affordable and it is true that for my 70 y/o ears it is difficult to appreciate anymore that analog vs digital difference. I had been sitting on a pretty large Jazz collection from the 1960s through the early 1980s as well as rock including first issue Hendrix, some C&W and Classical. So three years ago I bought an entry level Pro-Ject carbon TT with a heavy acrylic platter and dived back into the vinyl having slowed down on work hours now finally retired. I still mostly buy digital media but occasionally buy that special vinyl recording. Sometimes a well preserved vintage album, sometimes an moderately priced audiophile jazz or rock remaster or occasionally a new artist's album. When I buy these vinyl albums are special. That is my background from a lifetime of listening.
This is what I want to tell you. What we are listening to are art forms. Only at the turn of the century did recorded music begin to vastly enhance accessibility. Hi-Fi was good Stereo better and equipment has only gotten better and better. Live performance is one medium but recording, some in studio and some live are other types of media and the delivery vinyl, CD digital and so on are all valid forms. Vinyl albums are their own special things. Think of original one of a kind as in a live performance. Think of a print, in some cases a limited edition woodcut, texture other kinds of prints or a high quality photo of the work. My rig is now vintage audiophile. For me it is still good but there is better stuff for only a little more than what I have in mine. So I ask. How much wall space do you have for art work? How much do you have to spend. What value do you find in a slightly damaged work from a famous artist. Are some pieces not about resale value or what others value but what catches your eye, tickles you, makes you laugh or cry? Is it about what connects you to other sentient beings living and dead? In short does it deliver? Many of you enjoy Jazz. There are no recordings of Billy Bolden perhaps the earliest of Jazz notables but in the early 1940s Bunk Johnson, who was the only living person to have actually played with Bolden in that first decade of the 20th century, was discovered old and toothless in the deep south. A bunch of those early 40s jazz musicians like Armstrong pitched in to by him a new set of false teeth and a trumpet. Johnson was recorded live and in studio. The music was/is wonderful and the recording quality good for the times. As was the case at the time bass register recording was shallow but his trumpet rings pretty true. In the late 50s the recordings were remastered in Hi-Fi. I still have my fathers vinyl 33 1/3 bought in 1959. The cover and recording are worn. I also have the album in digital and bought a new re-release 180 gram vinyl album with the original album cover and liner notes for a gift to my musician son in New Orleans. I still listen usually to the digital (although the vinyl will still play it sounds rough) while holding the old album cover with its wonderful liner notes.
I just recently joined and this is my first post. I don't blog anywhere
but have enjoyed reading these Audiogon blogs good for some laughs as
well as having found some technical stuff helpful and the perspectives
all valuable. So thanks!
I would say don't stew too much. Enjoy, love, laugh or cry and live it up while you can! Music makes life sweeter.
