Interest in Hifi- is it age related?

Don't worry Noopz! God willing and a fair wind, one day you too will be over 40.

I had a great day on Tuesday with the 'West Norfolk Gramophone Society' meet, quite a number of whom are 7-20 years older than me. Being able to talk freely about our shared interests - (1) music (2) the equipment required to play it - is much more important than age!

So while you wait for 40 to catch up with you, enjoy your music, and make full use of the bits that are still fully functional... For one day you too will have a ... brain ... like mine.

James

quote:

I only wonder as I'm 25 and there doesn't seem to be many members here around my age.

Don't worry about it Noops, I consider my self a 25 year old with 25 years worth of experience.

Rob

quote:

Originally posted by Noopz:

1) They got into hifi when it was a much bigger scene (20+ years ago) and are still into it

This is the one that applies to me. I was around 15 when I first became interested in music reproduction and at the age of 42 now the interest is stronger than ever.

Mark

JWM- I'm not trying to knock anyone for being over 40!! I'm just trying to say that there seem to be very few people my age that are into Hifi.

My interest in hifi stems around my love for music. I've always been a big listener and playing guitar for 10 years has certainly helped too.

What was the question again?........

Option 1 for me.
I "got into hifi" when I was about 20, approx, well, um, a few years ago then. Music in one way or another has always been important to me, either as a pro/semi pro/& now strictly amateur musician & studio engineer, & also as a music lover. I can't really ever see music being irrelevant to me. Money to buy the gear helps, but its disposable income rather than just money that is important.
Matt.

To be honest, I couldn't have afforded Naim when I was younger. Most likely in common with many here I had other commitments, lesser salary etc...

quote:

Originally posted by Malky:
To be honest, I couldn't have afforded Naim when I was younger. Most likely in common with many here I had other commitments, lesser salary etc...

I could have done it if I had bought Naim from the beginning instead of throwing money out of the window by buying terrible sounding crap gear.

Yeah and with 20 my hobbies were more of the active sort (sport, photography) so switching to hi-fi is another proof that I am getting old !!

We (the wife and me) were on a holiday from Saudi. I was 33, she was 26. We went to see an old ex-RAF and ex-Saudi workmate of mine for a drink or two and stayed the night. He put a Carol Kidd LP on his LP12 through 62, 250, HC and SBLs. My wife was hooked! She had never heard anything like it.
Back to Saudi to MATE Hi-Fi in Al Khobar, minus a few thousand Riyals... a few times... She wouldn't change it for the world, I wouldn't change her!
I'd heard Naim a few times a couple of years before but couldn't warrant the expense. Somehow Mrs T liking it took away all the barriers.

Tony

I was about 30 before I could afford/justify my first "proper" hi-fi system. I was a loyal Quad customer for the electronics for a long time, then had a spell as a valve amp aficionado. Didn't get my first Naim product (CD5x)in my early 50s and went totally Naim 2 years ago. Have never once regretted that decision. I still play the music that I loved in my teens and 20s but for th first time I ever I think I am hearing it as the creators of it intended in the first place.

I started my first system with saving money from a paper round. It consisted of a Tripletone Amp costing £20, Unknown speakers £15 and a Garrard 2025 Turntable around £20.
The amp caught fire under guarantee and was replaced with a Nikko which cost an extra fiver.
I have been changing the system ever since hopefully for the better, now some 33 years. You only seem to be able to afford the better things in life when you are older and presumabley have more money available.

Trevor

Gentlemen, source first. I think the one love we all have is music it's manner of reproduction came second. For me it was as a 15 year old I attended a dem by Linn in Dundee. It was all so simple I had to have an LP12 (never did get one) I had promotion through the ranks from sansui to Rega and I well remember as a student in Aberdeen anoying the bejesus out of the guys in Holborn Hi Fi almost weekly for a dem. I lived a couple of doors up and just popped by with a couple of discs on a Saturday if they did'nt look busy(bless them I don't know how they tolerated me) As the years have passed and the disposable income appeared I have been lucky enough to continue my love affair with music on some of the most involving equipment around.
Noopz, in an age of musical downloading you are indeed a member of the ipod generation and have had the good fortune (or skill) to realise that music can be much more than a tinny rattle at the end of ibuds
Good luck to you young fella me lad

Yeah Noopz, one day you too will hit 40+, most of us did not have the 'disposable income' or the authority of the better half to afford Naim gear back in our youth. You may be in a luckier position than some of us, but whatever happens, if your now on the slippery 'Naim slope' enjoy it!

What is your system?

I can't remember is it is or not!

Noopz,

It is a combination of both - I have been into HiFi since varsity days, but until a few years ago had really been (barely) able to purchase 2nd hand Naim.

Noopz,
I can empathise with you in that there aren't many members of my age either, but that's because they all keep dying off. Either that or they have found better things to do with their time.
Think yourself lucky. As Malky said, not many could afford Naim at your age.
Regards,
Ken

About old days and what you could afford when you where young.

In 1976 I had my first summer job and used the money to buy a Teac cassette deck. It costed the equivalent of £140. Checking old HiFi mags from that time, an LP12 was actually cheaper!
Don't know what Naim amp costed, but my guess is that they wheren't that much more expensive than the typical Japanese amp in those days.

JohanR

I had the same Naim gear for over twenty years when we were raising kids and all that. More than made up for it lately though.

Noopz,

I started on the Naim path when I was 20 earning the necessary money working at BAe Broughton during the summer (11 years ago).
My kit hasn't changed much since then, with only the change from Rotel to Naim for my cd player (Naim's intro cd player was way too expensive for me then) and a service for my Nait 3.
I was very much on my own with "proper" hifi back then and it is only now that my friends are in the financial position to invest and are interested in similar kit (plus having heard my system I think has educated them a little)

I agree with Noopz, younger Hifi enthusiasts are a dying breed - I am 30 and am the only person I know out of my social circles who has interest in higher end hifi. Most people I know are using MP3 driven systems now even the ones that were buying seperates in their early 20's - I admit I envy the convenience and would love a suitable solution.

I bought my first Naim system the day my graduate loan cleared - I had a naim brochure on pinned to my notice board throughout studying.

quote:

I am still 25 in my head its my body that's not.

Do you ever look in a mirror and think for a moment that its your Dad looking back at you? I know I do

Look on the bright side Noopz; in 10 years time when us 50 year olds are suffering from increasing hearing loss and downgrading our systems to ipod ear trumpets, there could be lots of second hand bargains to be had

KR

Rob

quote:

Yeah Noopz, one day you too will hit 40+, most of us did not have the 'disposable income' or the authority of the better half to afford Naim gear back in our youth. You may be in a luckier position than some of us, but whatever happens, if your now on the slippery 'Naim slope' enjoy it!

What is your system?

Hi there, it's a 202,NAPSC2,200,CDX2 along with some Dynaudio Focus 110s.

I bought the best system funds could possibly permit (all 2nd hand). The system will stay like that for a long time as I'm buying my first property soonish. No way would I be able to afford anything Naim if I had a mortgage.

Maybe I'll try scout out a 282 before I put a deposit down on a flat

Not the nine o'clock news "Gramophone" sketch. For those that havn't seen it.

/dl

Noopz

I am about to turn 30 and none of my friends are into hifi at all. I got my first system just over 10 years ago and got into naim about 2 years ago. I would say that younger people in general are not interested in hifi. Young people nowadays look to computers for everything (music,movies,tv etc.)

When was the last time you went to sombody's house Noopz and saw the speakers NOT sitting either side of the 'stereo' on a shelf?

quote:

Originally posted by David Legge:
Not the nine o'clock news "Gramophone" sketch. For those that havn't seen it.

/dl

Not for a while. That takes me back. Very funny!