Music lovers of just in need of NA

Time for the real mullets to stand up! I wonder how many people who stand pat by the "source first" rule are fronting systems with a hot rodded lp12 or naim cdp with a relatively small supply of music. My music collection outweighs my kit by about 2 to 1 ; maybe more. It seems counterproductive to own a few records and an expensive TT if you ask me. I started with a planar 3. I now have a planar 25. I have hundreds of cds, and a few hundred records. I love music, but lust after kit.

My software has been accumulated over many years so no idea of the real cost.

Software:-
CD's - 850
LP's - 400
SACD's - 2

Hardware:-
CD5, FC2, NAC112, NAP150, Stageline, Rega P3 and Kef Q1
and just got one on those Pioneer I-am-so-bloody-clever-I-can-play-anything DVD players for $200
hence the 2 SACD's

Not guilty.

LP's 3500ish (last count)

CD's 70 something.

Love the music and love the gear to play it on. The gear serves the music.
Music first, without it no need to have a source first.
LPs and CDs about 600 or so (never counted)of each.
Cheers.

there was a thread similar to this a while back.

personally I dont geddit - I may have 10 Led Zep CD's and 10 grands worth of equipment to play them on. It's still justifiable on musical grounds if not moral ones.

Paul.

How do you calculate the cost of the hardware and software?

I recently bought a s/h 250 so should that be the price I paid or its new value?

My old LP's cost 2 or 3 pounds new, new LP's cost say £15 - £20
S/h LP's can cost peanuts - I bought 5 for £1 from a charity shop recently so is that £1 or £75 - £100?

I think the last time this question was asked it was slightly barbed and aimed at a former 'contributor' who posted regularly in the Hi-fi Corner but never in the Music Room.

Myself not counted but it is in the hundreds rather than thousands of discs (black and silver).

I think the question really should be

"What do you do when you have some spare time at home..."

a) read a book
b) watch tv
c) listen to music

If the answer is not c then why have an expensive hi-fi like Naim?

Good points here, i mainly listen to music or play my drums in my free time, then watch tv, then read a book.....have around 4000 lps and about a 1000 cds....the better a sysem is the more it makes you want to listen to music, regardless of big bucks or smaller bucks...to wit a cd5/nait5/qualitysmall speakers is a very musical set up and worthy of all the software you can throw at it. When you climb the ladder it should sound better, you should hear more of the music and get more of the impact and it by all means should want to make you play and listen and buy more music, if it doesn't do this then what is the point

It ain't the quantity of albums, it's the quality.... and how much you enjoy it.

This subject has been bandied around a lot in this forum. To the point where if $ in music < $ in hi-fi must mean that they can't like music. Leading to statements of paranoia or justification.

Next we'll be comparing the number of forum posts we make in the hi-fi and music rooms.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
Linn Binn Sinner

quote:

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I think the last time this question was asked it was slightly barbed and aimed at a former 'contributor' who posted regularly in the Hi-fi Corner but never in the Music Room.

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Well I've never posted in the music section. I had a look once but that lasted all of 20 seconds.

But that's just because you (or at least I) can't talk about music in the same way as actual hifi. Music is too personal a thing, I'd just end up telling you all that you've got no taste. I'd rather just listen to my music rather than talk about it. Hifi on the other hand, I find is a much more definite thing, so you can ask questions and generally have more meaning full conversations about it.

But I do love music - ask any of my flatmates, cos it's coming out of my room permenantly.

With the balance of music and equipment though - everytime I make an upgrade to the hifi, I've suddenly just got myself another hundred new CDs!

By the way I'd say it's about 1:1 for me.

I have two CDs and a very small screwdriver.

What is the point of these hardware-software comparisons? If I own 500 LPs and a Dual all-in-one, I get the thumbs up, if I own 500 CDs and a Discman, I'm doing OK, but 500 CDs and a system that costs as much as a car, I'm not a music lover -- even though the amount of music I listen to may be exactly the same? (I'm in the latter cateogory, BTW.) What if LPs and CDs suddenly cost 10 times as much because of a worldwide shortage of vinyl or CD plastic -- would that affect my True Music Lover (TM) status?

I spend a lot of my spare time exploring new music, I'm just very picky about what I finally buy and I'm quick to sell stuff I no longer listen to (I'm not a collector). Didn't used to do it to that extent when I had Technics/JVC, and I think that's really what's important. When I fall in love with a new album I listen to it excessively to get right inside the music (pardon the cliche). I've also played several hundred gigs in my lifetime, spent countless hours in dank, smelly rehearsal rooms with excentric nutters -- believe me, I didn't do it for the money or the hoardes of girls running around naked backstage.

Thomas

How about, if you had to give up your music collection or your hi fi, which would go? I love them both with a passion but I'd keep the music and play it on 10 yr old pioneer all in one. The hi fi is only great because I love the music so much. Couldn't see the point in the boxes without the tunes.

Kevin

Hy there!buying software my only intrest is to get the music i like.I do not go for the best
records (technical made)if i do not like the music(or interpretation).Sometimes you win in the lottery and your
favourd music is also made technical perfect.
(thinking about latest jonny cash cds)
buying a new cd or record has imo nothing to do
with my current hifi sytem,for me the system
is a tool for reproducing all kinds of music.
(of course i decided before to buy the best
tool)
O.J.

Nick,

just so long as you don't (a) + (b) + (e).

Your insurance sums might be a LOT bigger if you did

Nobody told me I'd have to buy CD's as well.

This is ridiculous!

I asked this question, partly to see what other people on the forum thought and partly to get an idea of how much software people owned.

I used to buy as much music as I could afford, then an itinerant lifestyle and disinterest in CD’s lead to no HiFi and no storage for relatively delicate vinyl. Having become “of fixed abode” recently I got back into listening to music and had the equipment serviced - which inevitably led to a few upgrades. (ooops!)

It would seem to me that an intention to buy music might be enough to justify a 2000 GBP system

However a ten grand system to play a dozen discs might seem a waste – unless of course the owner just had very specific taste?

“Those surveyed” all seem to have loads of software; the thread was not supposed to be accusatory, more well, nosey really.

Is there any chance Basil or ben r could post a photo of 3 or 4 thousand records, I’d love to see how much storage space I may need in the future

As my old friend John used to say, “if you stop buying records, in real terms your record collection is shrinking.”


Cheers for replying,

Julian


Ps 550 records and buying in earnest (has anyone noticed ebay to be incredibly slow to load at the moment)

Pps J.N.’s reply made me laugh the most

now 82/135's

quote:

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How about, if you had to give up your music collection or your hi fi, which would go? I love them both with a passion but I'd keep the music and play it on 10 yr old pioneer all in one. The hi fi is only great because I love the music so much. Couldn't see the point in the boxes without the tunes.

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I remember saying something similar in a previous thread about the difference between someone who love music and someone who loves hi-fi. It didn't go down too well (what a surprise on a hi-fi forum!!!).

How often to do hear someone saying a CD is no good because its badly recorded/mastered? What about the tunes, or the words, or the musicianship?

I'd much rather listen to badly recorded Led Zep (ie a bootleg) than a wonderful hi-fi demo disc of Barry Manilow.

Music, music, music! That's what counts.

David

We buy music to listen to and better hifi allows you to hear it more effectively.

Yes I do have over 400 LP's and over 500 CD's, but the simple fact is I love music and use Naim because it is better at reproducing Music, than most hifi you hear.

David is right, some people are more interested in the hifi than the music, thats their choice and how they get their enjoyment.

I think we have a bit of both in us, a love of music and hifi; why else do we buy a lot of music and good hifi to listen to it.

If you just have 10 CD's maybe you should spend lots on hi-fi and maybe not; but if you have thousands then it makes sense to hear them as well as possible. It means you are spending lots on music so you might as well have a good system to play things.

I used to argue [before digital cameras] that a rool of film + processing is Euro/Dollar 10 [at least] and if you take lots of films it's stupid to have a cheap camera.

Personally I have lots of CD's [don't count but hundreds rather than thousands] and about 5-feet of LP's [I don't buy them anymore but still play them]. I never get rid of CD's because stuff I don't like now I may come to love as my tastes change/improve/degenerate [I saw a program on BBC TV last night saying Mozart was the greatest composer ever -- I don't agree -- but I have some Mozart CD's and maybe I will listen to them again].

James

Isn't a bit each to his own?

If somebody has a mega Hi-Fi syuystem with one CD so what?

Or thousands of Cds and a JVC mini system?

Anyone looking into the Naim Audio forum is by definition interested in Hi-Fi > Music ?

I like to have a wide choice of software, and appreciate listening to it on equipment that brings it to life.

DS

ITC - Various Artists - Nag Nag Nag

What about the third option of listening to a tuner? which I do most of the time. My CDs and LPs are far outweighed by the number of hours I listen while doing computer work, chores and reading. But, that is how I gather new information and tunes. Wish I had better contemporary rock radio here in LA (it is so top 40 driven) tho the classical scene is really hopping. I had an old system stollen a decade ago and went into 7 years of unsettled roaming around starting my career, now that I'm settled I wanted a better system for intense listening and I came into some money to spend on good equipment. So why not! I also spend lots of money and time at live concerts, enough to buy second hand kit if I wanted. the passion just grows with the years and past experiences.

glenn

Life is analogue

Whilst I fall on the music side, I have a large collection of CD's (probably over 1000) and will always value that more than the HiFi equipment itself, I have to admit for me the two are interlinked.

If my "HiFi" system had remained static from DAY 1 I might have grown away from listening to music simply because it was a lousy HiFi system. I found Naim and that opened a window on music appreciation which would have otherwise have remained closed.

The "upgrade" bug has subsequently hit and revitalised the music periodically as old CD's get revisted to hear the extra nuances of the music revealed as the upgraded system components get better at their job.

Whilst I use my system to appreciate the music I have to be honest and admit I would not be listening to music at the level I do today if I still only had a "crap" HiFi system.

regards
GEOFF

quote:

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Is there any chance Basil or ben r could post a photo of 3 or 4 thousand records, I’d love to see how much storage space I may need in the future

---

Can't oblige with a photo, but I had to build a custom set of wall shelves, floor to ceiling along the width of one side of the spare room (about 10ft).

How did I end up with so many Records? 5 years in a specialist, second-hand Classical Record shop.

Hi all,

I got into Naim just a over year ago. I believe i have between 500-600 CD's. Therefore in monetary terms the CD's i have are only slightly more expensive than the sistem. However, that is because i have been saving up for the upgrades over the last year, while fully enjoying the CD's i had. I normally buy between 80-100 CD's every year.

I play about 50-100 of my CD's more often than the others, i feel that this is 'natural'. But i know that i have a CD for every 'mood' and that is when the joy of software and hardware come together and make it all worth it.

Happy listening.

Stan

I think we all need to stand up and admit a bit of boys toys going on. Naim as with any hifi is luxury consumer goods. Not one of us here needs a naim system to survive, or to listen to music.

However excepting that we wanted a higher class of music reproduction there is an obvious up side to having decent kit.

It makes you listen to decent music, it makes you go out and purchase stuff to 'see what it's like', it makes you check out 'drill and bass' as well as 'Radio two fodder'. If it does not make you do that, then you are a HIFI geek. There is nothing enherently wrong with this.

For sure you make mistakes (grrove amarda anyone?) but also its a lesson to learn.

Mabye we should look at how often you buy new music and how much more you buy as a result of purchasing your hifi, does it go up poportionaly with the hifi you buy.

FWIW I now have more records than CDs. Infact in my life it starterd out: Purchase mostly records, then CDs (Dumped the records), then re-purchased records, then repurchase better quality records.

Funny old game.

quote:

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When I was constantly auditioning gear and upgrading, I got away from the music more and more. I even started listening to crap like Jazz at the Pawnshop when my normal diet was Miles, Coltrane etc. In the last few years, I have reevaluated things and stopped thinking so much about changing gear (admittedly I'm at the level where each change is likely to cost lots!).

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Hock

I am in total agreement with this comment.
I was not saying that the upgrade process should go on for ever. I have a target system which I have almost finished buying.

I do not have the possibility or the desire to payout what you might call obscene amounts of money (Obscene is relative here- see later). It ain't going to happen

But as a Gary says we must be honest about the boy's toys effect. I have by the vast general public view already spent obscene amounts of money on HIFi equipment. CDX2/XPS2/282/SC/250mkII on Fraim + what was spent on 112/150/ 2x HiCaps & a Stageline. With the speakers which were'nt cheap that comes out at 20K +!!, and that ain't that much by forum standards.

WOW I need my head examined!

All I can say is I realise how lucky I am to have been able to "afford" this and I don't rgret spending it.

I think I'll just pop off now and buy some more CD's / Vinyl to even the balance out a bit.

regards
GEOFF