Who R U?

Well...I see I am the first response of 2013; wow...this is an old, but very worthwhile thread; I've enjoyed reading it, which is why I'm posting. My name is Jeff, I'm a journalist in Las Vegas, and reintroducing myself to my love of stereos and hi-fi ( I know that's real old-school) that I had in high school. I'm 55; my gear is primarily mid-fi: Arcam Alpha 9 integrated and power amp, which I bi-amp to B&W 805's. I have an Arcam Alpha 9 CD player (wonderful) and MCD (great); my surround system is powered by a Marantz SR 7005; I have a collection of other gear...I have upgrade plans...but so far....enjoying what I have. I love my music...; everyone....here's to a great 2013, and to a thread that lives on.

Arcamguy inspired me to respond. I am a 50 year old surgeon and I got into this byzantine hobby through my love of music. I am not a guy who listens to sounds, but a music-lover who listens to almost everything. My current system is analogue-based with a SME 30/2 table and SME V arm tricked out by Kevin Scott to include Kondo silver wiring through from the cartridge, outputs, interconnects and bi-wired speaker cabling as well as the internal wiring of my Living Voice speakers being Kondo silver. I am currently using a Transfiguration Orpheus cart, and Whest phono stage. Power comes from a Graaf tube amp as well as a solid state option of a Pass Labs 30W class A integrated. CD player EAR acute. I have a very hectic life, but music provides the grounding, and the serenity required to keep it all going. I am so grateful to all of the Audiogon responders for their thoughtful comments, that keep it alive for me. Sorry to weigh in so late, and I hope that I am not the last responder on this very interesting thread.

Ok, I'll play here.

I'm a 54yr old, married, getting fat, machinist. My preference for quality sound started in my high school years but since I've never been well off I've never had the opportunity to do anything about it. Back in the day my best stuff was a Nak 420 and CA5, NEC TE6 and Denon DCD-910. Guess what? I still have it all! lol. I've added a NAD seperates group from a garage sale $150 grab, so made out there pretty good.
Just last weekend we picked up some Paradigm Monitor 7's, and the quest to put a good system is on.

a 52 year old from Edmond Oklahoma. I got the bug when i was a very young boy of 13 DJ'ing at the local roller rink. begun buying equipment in the 80s while serving overseas in the Navy. stopped buying and hobby went dormant while raising family. Now an empty nester back into analog audio and starting to get into digital sound.

Vonschwekert VR4jr
Sim Audio P5
Celeste HT3
Project RM5
Sumiko Blue pt#2
Cambridge Audio DAC Magic
Audioquest interconnects
Signal Power cords

Just discovered this thread. I'm a 55 year old divorced male. Always had a draw towards music ever since around 5 or 6 when I was at a relatives house and down in their basement, there was this "wall of music", a whole wall loaded with lps!

Later on my relatives would always gift me lps on holidays. Of coarse, through the years of radio & buying 45's my interest grew. ( This was in the late 60's early 70's), I did play coronet in my middle school band (first string). I had some piano lessons early but as time went by and my parents moved, I lost that aspect of my musical history.

I still have every lp I was ever given or bought. During the high school years, I was the one in my group that always had the best sound system in his car/van, yes I had the "cool" van that everyone gravitated to. I still remember going to the hi-fi shops and listening to the latest speakers. My usual choice then was Pioneer. Late at night, on weekends, I'd stay up late listening to the "cool" station in Charlotte, NC. They played, Led Zeppelin, Robin Trower, Pink Floyd... well, you get the picture.

I always would listen to the whole album,tape.... others just wanted to hear the hits. I contantly found the "good" stuff others weren't aware of. I kept it to myself.

After years of reading about the GREAT sound that reviewers were writing about, I finally found it for myself and on my own.

I didn't have any friends that were into it like me. When I finally "found" the sound I had always read about it was like, "Yeah, I couldn't believe it", but I had the faith and it turned out to become reality.

I've tried to let others know, but they usually get scared when they see the high prices. I remember that stage, and now, while I'm very aware, music is so important to my life that it's really not an issue.

I now have that "wall of lps in my home"!