@td_dayton - sounds like you are a dealer. There must be hundreds of records you never listen to. Would you or would others consider an audiophile?
Record collecting versus hoarding
At what point does "collecting" records become hoarding? Unless you are in the business of selling records either primarily or even secondarily, why do so many people here talk about having 2,3,4,6,10,000 records and CDs? It's not stamps or coins.
Let's say you listen to records 15 hours a week (a good estimate for me) that equates to about 750 hours a year or 1000 records a year. I like to listen to mine at least once every three months - I have 300 records and change. In the rare instance when I replace one for a better sounding one (I've done it maybe 4-5 times), I immediately sell the old one - with only one exception. The Sgt Pepper UHQR. I already had it on the Beatles Collection and do occasionally listen to it when I want a treat. It does sound better than the regular Mofi one, which sounds great to me.
Why would you have multiple copies of the same record and not just listen to the best sounding one and sell the rest?
Why would you want records you listen to less than once a year?
Maybe some people listen a lot more than me (and replace cartridges/styli pretty ofter or have a bunch of them)?
The reason I bring this up is because Acoustic Sounds is releasing Steely Dan's studio albums from the 1970s on their UHQR brand (not sure how they now own the name and not Mofi, but that is not the point), I am a huge fan and will be getting a few of these overpriced (IMHO) records, which will replace a few of my non-audiophile (except the Aja Mofi) records. I plan to sell the Aja Mofi immediately after getting the UHQR, which I am sure will sound much better. That is worth a few bucks, but the others I sell should be worth $10-15 in trade at a record store.
Anyone with records they play less than once a year or keep multiple pressings of a single album, please let me know your rationale.
Are you a hoarder? Too lazy to get rid of them? Like the way they decorate your room?
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@sokogear i am not a dealer - i just listen to a lot of music and enjoy the hunt. i work from home which helps - probably listen to more music than most people for that reason. i sell and trade because space is limited, and my tastes and interests are constantly evolving. as far as not listening to hundreds, it really depends. much of what i buy is singles, so it's not a 40 minute commitment every time. other times i scan through albums i'm unfamiliar with and decide whether they merit a proper listen. as to whether i'm an audiophile - i care a lot about getting the most out of my records, and i appreciate great sound, and i enjoy trying different equipment. so i'd say yes |
In my opinion, one must have a certain number of LPs in order to enjoy occasionally that serendipitous musical revelation, where you spot an LP you hadn’t played in years or didn’t even know you had in your collection, and you experience the delight of listening to it. I suppose that critical mass of LPs is different for different people, but I’m sure you need more than 300 LPs for that to be possible. Today I was delving into a cabinet that houses LPs I’ve owned for 30 years or more, which therefore I tend to ignore, and I experienced that epiphany 3 times, with Joe Williams/ Count Basie, Blue Monk, and Phil Woods Quintet + Dizzy. |
I think it depends on your personality. For me, I sometimes just feel like listening to something different. I have a high quality record cleaner… so, if they have not been cleaned I clean them. Also, I have a great turntable… and often pulling a random album is of great joy. So, one way or another I enjoy them all. |
I don’t have a lot of LPs any more, and don’t intend to add many, but I do have some and an old Sansui turntable with an Audio Technica cartridge... works well enough. I like to flip through them, and they’re rather inconspicuous in the bottom of a small cabinet that also holds some folders with my much larger, much more carefully curated CD collections (QUITE the variety of genres). I have I don’t know how many hundreds of CDs, and I’m certainly not going to get rid of them; I got rid of the cases, though, and organized them by genre and some semblance of rational order therein, within those three-ring-binder type cases and it’s great to flip through them, take one out, give it a spin... kinda like old books, or LPs in that regard. It’s only a problem if you spend too much money on it, and/or it becomes an cluttered zone that negatively impacts your and your significant other’s enjoyment of your space. |
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