Is It Time To Sell My Vinyl Rig?

I am now retired and have a collection of 2,000 albums. I upgraded all of my equipment. At this point my analog end cost $31K and my digital end cost $41K... I have to admit the analog side sounds a little better than the digital side. I will probably put another $10K into the analog end, pulling it ahead by a good degree. But even as it is, it is fun to listen to the digital end when I feel lazy, and is really fun to spin a disk when I am feeling like being involved. It is also fun to hunt down a new record. I have a collection I have continually added to since I was 15 years old. At some point I might have gotten rid of the vinyl, it would have been a huge mistake. Now retired it constitutes a record of my progress and interest in music. My experience is that for any given cost level vinyl out preforms digital. Up to and including $100K+ range. Depending on your system it might not if there is a non-synergistic piece of equipment. But vinyl, depending on the recording quality, in general has the greatest potential. I say this and enjoy my Aurender WE20se with all else being Audio Research Reference components. Not as if my digital end is crappy.

As far as selling my collection, it will be sold as a collection, not pieced out... or willed to a relative or friend.

ghdprentice,

I understand your situation and I’m glad your experiences are as such. I could not come within a fraction of what you’ve invested in your analogue gear. My total investment where it pertains to equipment, including tweaks, cables, etc..is about $55,000.00 retail. If I were to spend $30,000.00 on a table, cartridge, phono stage, etc...then yes, my analogue rig could outshine my digital source in most situations with one clear exception, newer recordings. When I buy a new cd, the likely-hood that it’s available in any other format is about zero.

Currently, my cartridge is a mono MC cartridge and my record collection dates from that golden age mono period of the mid to later 1950’s. I prefer the denser resolution of mono to stereo vinyl and this also allows me to focus on the more arcane, older pressings that most other collectors don’t own nor even know about. With $30,000.00, I’d buy a table with multiple tonearms and both stereo and mono cartridges but I would still be selective to insure that I’m getting the most from budget.

Anyway, my current digital front end is excellent and when I play a quality, recently recorded file, I’m not left wanting for anything else. So at this point, the question is whether or not I’d miss not having my table or phono amp and the answer to that is that I’m still not sure. Of course, I would rather have than not have. Maybe I’m just materialistic but that rule pretty much applies to anything I hold valuable. Would I rather have a German dictionary than not; yes, I’d rather have the dictionary. But I was recently told by my doctor to get an exam regarding surgery to correct a deviated septum and if I can’t afford the surgery without selling my gear, then unfortunately I may have to sell. My exam is this Friday.

@ghdprentice

Thanks for sharing your lifetime pursuit of hi-fi.  We agree on vinyl, and I've invested only 25% of the amount you have.  The idea of converting sound into a long groove on a flat rotating disk is well over a century old, but considering the advances in analog recording and playback equipment in the mid-1900s, humans still haven't come up with a superior medium.

Rewarding, isn't it?