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Audiophile spending

We all say it’s about the music, but when a recent post came up and asked how much do you spend on equipment vs music I did an actual check and found that I spend about 2/3 equipment and 1/3 music. There were some interesting comments in that thread, one said that he would not increase his music spending rate, because he could not find time to listen to more material than he was already buying, but that his equipment rate of spending continued to increase. It’s also interesting that the rate of spending might not correlate to the value of the equipment vs the value of the music since we audiophiles tend to sell off our used equipment as we upgrade, but probably don’t sell off our music (at least I don’t, of course some do—there is used music for sale on Agon) So the questions to this post are:
1. What is the ratio of your spending rate on equipment vs music
2. What is the ratio of the value of your system (retail) vs your music (retail or fair market for collectibles)
3. Is your spending on music limited by the time you have available to listen to music or by budget
There's no need to post dollar amounts (you can if you want--but it's really a matter of what gets spent in relative terms)
abstract7
john_l
782 posts
 
Hey Garfish: I think JA can make that statement because reviewers get equipment so cheap/free. I wish reviewers would keep an online record of things they get for free or the at steep discounts. I think that would add to their existing credibility. I do note that Mike Fremer is honest enough to refer to a reviewers 'accomodation' price once in a while. I like the chickenwire purchase - made me laugh out loud. My old killer kitty commandeered one of my old vandersteen 2C's as a lookout post too. I just put a nice towel on top of the speaker for her and a climbable bookcase next to it. Worked out fine for everyone.
I find that I have quite a bit more invested in equipment than in software. I just added it up, and I am at a ten to one ratio of equipment cost to media. I buy 75% of my cd's used, and 100% of my albums used. The software is nearly free compared to the cost of equipment.
cornfedboy
1,645 posts
 
i think question 2 (what's the retail value ratio of your software collection vs. your equipment?) is far more important than question 1 ( at what ratio do you spend -monthly, yearly, etc.- for software vs. hardware). the former measures a lifetime's experience, while the latter mere "current trends." like garfish, i tend to buy in binges. in the last 30 days, i've bought about 50 cd's and have been given 30 or 40 more by my older son (he's a consultant to fm radio stations). that's way more than an average month's purchase of software, which usually runs 5-10 pieces. the only hardware purchased in the last 30 days was on my nascent video sytem, a loewe aconda 16:9 crt. my audio only system is worth quite a bit at retail, but so is my music collection, which includes around 1,500 "collectable," and 3,500 other lp's and somewhere between 1,500-2,000 cd's. based on "replacement cost" values, i'd guess my audio hardware's worth about 125% of the value of my software. this represents >30 years' experience in this hobby. -kelly
pls1
432 posts
 
Our spending on music is limited by our time. My wife and I have been at this for a little over thirty years and the cummulative software at this point is in the 10,000 range. We buy about 10 or 15 cd's per week. We also go to three plus live classical symphony, opera or ballet performances a month. Even not including those where we traveled to another city specifically to hear the performance, our total music expenditures are greater than our rather expensive audio systems. I don't really get any charge out of the gear itself eventhough I have Physic and EE degrees. We are nuts about music and try for as close to the live concert hall sound as possible. We will pay for equipment that gets us closer to that experience.
kublakhan
717 posts
 
70 pursent equiptment 42 pursent music
garfish
1,840 posts
 
Kublakhan.........audiophile math! I love it! Cheers. Craig
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