Who R U?

I an 63 which makes me an old guy I guess. Live in Portland, OR though born & raised in Los Angeles. Grew up in a jazz household where the first stereo my father had was given to him by Shelly Manne and where my parents bought a baby grand piano for guests to play. Loved music for as long as I can remember,skipped most of high school graduation festivities to go to the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and started collecting vinyl at 12y/o but didn't get interested in gear until my partner decided to give me a new turntable in around 1974 and bought an AR clone. Am just retired secondary to illness after thirty years as a family doctor and am very interested in advanced care planning, bioethics and health care reform. I have been with the same woman since 1970 and married for most of those years. She loves music and is totally uninterested in gear though she loves her horses. We have two children, one an artist and one who trained at Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt on clarinet but has now started medical school. I like most kinds of music except very limited in my enjoyment of musicals, and often don't like Top 40 or middle-of-the road but remain foremost a rocker. I have spent a lot more on music than gear over the years though I do like my stereo and am up to about 14,000 pieces of vinyl and 9,000 CDs. Craig

I'm just a guy who loves to hit shit w/ a bat!!!!

I am Doug and thought I answered this years ago... I am 64 and recently retired, widowed for 2 1/2 years. I ramped up my system to hopefully carry me out, in pretty good health so heck, I probably have a few good months left...:>)

I really enjoy reading all the posts and wish you all well.
Douger

I am a music major and fanatic about sound bringing happiness. In fact, you can say music is my life...

I have a nice hifi, but I love finding good mid-fi gears that sound nice. This way, I can have music every corner of my apartment, and also share this glorious hobby with my loved ones.

My love for hifi gears started very young. In Christmas time, I went by stores where they played music, and I was in heaven - and thought that's simply dandy that one can push a button and be in heaven...

Alas, I didn't know how expensive that button can become.
So, I am trying to find good mid-fi gears, so I can share this heaven without breaking their bank account.

A musician turned audiophile...

I'm a classically trained musician (cellist) trained in Indiana University (USA). I love pop, jazz, country, and classical music. I got hooked in this gloriously exciting hobby about 18 years ago - I thought it would make me a better artist...

I didn't know what I was doing, so I spent about 10k buying junk - breaks my heart to have to admit that. Now I am a bit smarter and more informed, I would like to share my experience so others don't repeat that mistake.

I always loved gears - the earliest picture there is of me is when I was about 1, I was fiddling with the vol. control of a gigantic radio, when they were that big...

It was Christmas time in South Korea, when I was about 7 or 8, I went to a market place and they were playing X-mas music in a festive mood on big speakers - thinking back, probably they were likes of Klipsch or JBL with Marantz or Sansui amps - spinning vinyl of-course.

I was so taken back and moved by the experience - I was in sonic heaven that I had never known. It was such an important moment in my life, to have realized that one can simply push (buttons) to happiness...

If more people loved audio, perhaps there will be less drugs in the world... Some audiophiles reported on the Audiogon that a liquid and transparent system is more addicting than drugs - I can't say from first hand experience, but it's worth a shot - offering hifi to drug rehab...

Anyway, of-course being 7, I didn't have mullah to get my own audio. I had to wait a quarter century bofore I could get my happiness buttons...

Now I have systems in every corner of my apartment, I am surrounded by music just about every waking moment of my existance... I am obsessed with quality sound, leading me to a more beautiful flower garden...

Since it makes me so happy in a truly profound way, I was shocked to discover that most people are blase about hifi! ...content with all in one home theatre system, or plastic boomboxes many corporations pump out

Since few people have the golden ear, mass audio manufacturers have decided to sell to the eyes, and not to ear, to my disappointment...

Being a musician, I am on a mission to bring good music to living rooms at an affordable prices... hence my love for gears like NAD, Arcam, Rotel, Rega, Parasound, B&K, etc.

I also hope to learn about new mid-fi possibilities - both classics and new (tubes especially). Sorry it got so long, but big ME is my favorite subject, and I get lost in it when I am talking about it

Looking farward to meeting fellow audio lovers around the globe...

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Where so ever you want to go, music will take you there...