I have long danced around the many reasons people get into the audio reproduction hobby. VERY generally, I divide us into two categories: those who do it to better hear the recordings they love (like me) and those who just love the tech and different listening experiences all the various products offer (gear collectors).
When you look at the nature of the discussions here and elsewhere, and the way various people buy and replace components in their systems, I get the impression that most of those talking (or writing) about their hobby online tend to be focused more on the collector side of the hobby. I think it is because they are always hunting for something new and different AND they want to share the new and different experiences they are having. Whereas, the listeners find a certain level of Nirvana and just enjoy the music they already own. They aren't seeking new things and only pop up from time to time when a piece of gear breaks, an exciting new technology appears on the market, or they finally have the money to upgrade significantly.
Both forms of this hobby (and the variations between the extremes and the far outside hobbyists) are perfectly fine and there is nothing wrong with either. But in the years I've been participating online with this group, editing articles and blogs for others, and working with developers and engineers for audio companies, I have seen that the way the two extremes discuss products and issues in the hobby is very different. Collectors want to talk differences, even when the experiences are worse, and they want to touch, feel, and hear everything out there. Listeners discover what characteristics they love and hunt for the tools to create that experience and then tend to stick with it for as long as possible. The end goals are completely different, so the discussions and important facts are also different for the two groups.
So, where do you fall on the spectrum? On a scale of 1 for completely about perfection in listening to 10 for completely on the collector of everything you can afford to buy or borrow, where do you lie?
Me?
Well, most of you already know, I am at 1 on the scale in terms of actions (purchasing) with a tendency to want to hear and experience things just because I am also a nerdy techie sort of fellow who loves the advancement of the art of reproduction.
I am somewhere in the middle, I started wanting to have surround sound, so I could hear planes passing over, audio in front and behind me. Actually, I was wanting to enhance my visual experience with audio. Then I started looking, shopping comparing, agonizing, hunting, discussing. One day my wife said; "Either go out an buy something or quit talking about it." So I did. I started with paradigm bookshelf speakers, if I remember correctly the center, right, left, surrounds, and sub were under $900.00, but that was a lot of money.
That is where I should have stayed out of audio/visual specialty shops. (They are more difficult to find now). I started listening to better speakers, and didn't understand why I couldn't get the sound out of my Yamaha A/V and the great speakers I had. A guy at work (I was in IT) invited me, my wife and another couple over to listen to his setup. He just got new speakers, Monitor Audio's bookshelves (much larger and heavier then mine. He had a new pre-pro and a great amp. I had never heard sound come out of anything that was a wonderful as that. I heard sounds in songs that I never knew existed, I was screwed.
So I started on a quest to build the very best system that I could afford. "Build and Patience" were the secret words. It took me many years, I am guessing I have been at building my system for about 12 years now. I get the itch to buy something new, a new pre-pro, new amp, new something, but I need to finish, I system....for years (as you guys know) I have been once again agonizing over getting a new sub, but my 16 - 17 year old Paradigm still goes low and makes way to much noise, so I have stayed with it.
Now the IT side of me has added wireless Roku, Sirius, tablets, phones, anything else that I can play through my speakers and make me smile. I keep looking and making small purchases, but my Gold Monitor reference speakers are the heart beat of my system and they just keep getting better every hour I play them.
Sorry to have rattled on but, no one I know shares my love of good audio and yes video. You guys do. Thanks
