Anybody Drift Away From Music, And Come Back

[BlueFox]

A comment in another thread starting me thinking about this subject. I grew up with a father who had, what we thought, was a nice stereo (a Sears console with a radio, amp, turntable, and a speaker built-in, along with a separate speaker for stereo). Anyway, he always had it on playing Big Band music, and every once in a while I could play my Chubby Checker, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, etc. albums on it. As time went on I acquired my own stereo, and after a few years it sounded pretty good, considering it was mostly Japanese 70s gear (Sansui receiver, Sony R2R, Pioneer speakers), along with an AR-XB turntable. Over the years, upgrades were made, and into the 90s I had a Denon integrated, Sony CDP, and Polk Audio SDA-2 speakers.

However, at that point, I found my interest in music going away, and there were periods where the stereo might be played only a few times a year. Why, I have no idea. When I did play it I enjoyed it, but it was an occasional thing. In 1998 I bought my first DVD player, and almost immediately had the audio going though the Denon, and into a pair of Polk book shelf speakers. Being able to watch movies with good sound was fun, and I soon found myself on a Home Theater journey. Over a few years I went through numerous AVRs and speakers, until I ended up in a spare bedroom with a Hitachi 57" monitor, Sunfire TGA-5400 amp, Sony 7100ES AVR, Sony 9000ES DVD/CD/SACD player, and four Polk LSi15, and LSiC, speakers. At that time I was still using Radio Shack interconnects, Home Depot 12 gauge stranded copper wire, and stock power cords. LOL.

One night I put a CD in, and sat up. This sounds pretty good, I thought, and I started listening to music again. A little at first, but it grew over time. At some point, I went back to the two channel system in the living room, and started using it again. Around 2007, I went on a multi-year upgrade, and now 7 years, and over a $150k, later, I am back where I was in the 70s, with non-stop music. Thanks to the two-channel upgrades, the hand-me-downs ended up in the HT, and I find myself alternating between systems for music.

So, I'm not sure what happened in the 90s, but that funk seems to be gone. I am at the point now where I find myself watching a movie, and will pause it so I can listen to music. It is a rare day when I will finish a movie in one day. Now it takes a week. This is especially true after getting my Magico S5 speakers. It is so hard to move away from them.

While it is impossible to predict the future, I really can't imagine going through that phase again. However, I seriously doubt I will be doing any more massive upgrades. Maybe a power cord here and there, but nothing major.

Happy New Year.

 

[Ritmo]

Me 2!

My father got me in to music and stereo equipment when I was a kid. I worked in a stereo store while in college - made decent money and got good discounts.

Anyway, during the 90s, I lived in FL and spent most of my time outdoors. Staying indoors to listen to my stereo was not really exciting to me at the time. So, I sold my Linn LP-12, my almost 1k album collection, Aragon Pre and Power Amp, Magnepans 2.5Rs and Elite CD player. To think that I sold this to buy a Denon DVD player and AVR along with B&W N804s, HTM center channel and Velodine sub - aaahhh!

Anyway, moved to Ohio 10 yrs ago and it was inevitable. Spending more time indoors took me back to audio. That started my journey back into audio.

 

[PMCH]

Back in the 60's and 70's music was very important to me. My father had a Admiral stereo console. It was more furniture than audio but when my parents were out of the house I would put on the Beatles or Doors and shake the house. Back then we only got 3 channels on the TV and if you wanted to watch a movie you had to go to the theater. Played records all the time. Going to college in 1972 records were played constantly in the dorms. Married in 1977 and one of our first purchases was a pair of Magnapans with a Tanburg receiver and Beogram TT, was a happy camper. Kept that system until 1985 when changed to Kef 104.2's a Denon DD TT and Nakomichi Receiver - really liked that system. In the 90's with CDs I found myself not listening to music that often. Sold my TT in 2000 since it hadn't been listened to in 10 years. I don't even remember what happen to most of my records. In 2007 I got a larger TV and went with a 5.1 sound system. It peaked my interest in music again and have been upgrading and changing things around ever since.