Sometimes you just get lucky


Back in the day, as CDs were all the "perfect sound forever" rage, my young daughters were in need of their first bicycles.  Having just bought our first house, money was pretty tight.  So, I looked at my collection of a little over 400 LPs -- classic rock, progressive rock, and jazz, mostly, and all in great shape -- that weren't getting much attention just then and decided to sell them at a local record store for some bike-buying cash.  The clerk sniffed at me and declared that he would only give me $20 for the lot.  At that point, I knew that bicycles would require a Plan B (which happened) and that I should probably hold onto the collection (which also happened).  Fast forward to today, and my record collection is 3-4x the size it was back then and includes a fair share of rare items, MFOMR, One-Steps, UHQRs, box sets, etc.  But those original albums remain some of my most cherished.  And I constantly thank the "Great DJ in the Sky" that the clerk that day didn't make a reasonable offer.  I wonder if any of you have had similar experiences?

Happy Listening,

Dawgfish

dawgfish

@elliottbnewcombjr 

I didn't have any bad intent in what I said, and I understand that you were using it in the secular, pop culture sort of way, the same way that Zen is misused. I guess I just get frustrated sometimes because I see its meaning skewed so often. 

I was pretty certain that you knew the actual meaning of the word.

Glad you had a happy ending! I fully understand financing the kids wants and the needs of a new house.

We moved our 6 kids into this house 25 years ago. To say money was tight is an understatement. The livingroom/listening area was much larger, and I needed longer speaker cables. Based on numerous accounts that speaker wire doesn’t make a difference, I bought cheap wire. The system never sounded great in the new space, and I attributed it to room acoustics, and lost some interest in it. I busied myself with the new house, raising kids, life, etc and played mostly CDs on holidays..  I ended up selling my AR turntable with a Premier MMT arm and Grado Signature 8 cart (regret #1). The LPs got relegated to the crawl space, where they suffered some water damage during a torrential downpour. (regret #2) 😥

It turns out that speaker wire does matter. 🙄 Once there was cash for decent basic 12 awg OFC copper wire, the system sprang back to life, and revived my interest in the system. The TT eventually got replaced (but I still miss my AR). I’ve since cleaned up many of the LPs, but the covers are mostly trashed. Vinyl is expensive, but I still make some purchases, and get LPs for gifts...still a treat!

 

roxy54

No problem, It's a good thing to remark about things particularly meaningful.

Let's not forget John Lennon's quest for spirituality, so the fact that a tie with his self-image, which I wore with intent, caused an action which effected the restoration of my ability to enjoy his  music.

 

knotscott

You reminded me of my wet LP story.

I lucked out by my friend's divorce!

He told me there were about 50 jazz lp's in the basement of his house that the wife would not let him near. "You can have them if she will give them to you".

I go, she likes me, tells me I can have them, but there had been a water leak over where he had left them. She just left them there molding.

I had zero money, wanted to learn about Jazz, so I lugged the soggy moldy things home. Scrubbed the LP's with sponge and liquid dish detergent, put in the dishwasher rack to dry, did the best I could with the covers, and proceeded to get a free introduction to Jazz.