After fifty years… amazing. What high end audio can be.

@ghdprentice - interesting point re ham radio. Yes, agreed, listening won't go away, music won't go away. How we listen- via the types of gear, I think may change- in some ways, it already has- the headphone listeners, the streaming (which I know you are on board with using the big Aurender). I do think we came up in a golden age of hi-fi, from the post-war boom and all that came with that. 

If somebody asked me for advice on a starter system today, I'm not sure what I'd tell them. I doubt I would encourage them to go into vinyl. 

Thanks for the kind response- I certainly didn't mean to be negative. I do think we have it good right now. Lee from TAS posted on another forum that there was a large audience of young people at the Warsaw show. I don't know what those markets are like- I guess my comments have to be limited to my experience in the States.

Bill

ham radio.  ... They are gone… come on, any left would have been killed with the internet.

I have two in my neighborhood, and I live in a town of under 9,000. Other's I don't know have antenae.

As yet, after seven years, I've yet to find another audiophool such yhs.

I started in 1972 with Advents, Sansui 2000x, and Dual 1215S with Shure M91E, as a 15 year old paperboy. Upgraded constantly for 10 years, then sat mostly tight for 3 decades while raising kids and doing a career with lots of moves. Now, I have furiously revamped in the pandemic era with new speakers and electronics and streaming instead of vinyl. Back to rolling tubes, though the prices are a bit higher (wish I had kept my perfectly good Dutch Amperex and Telefunken tubes I threw away each year of retubing!). Never have I enjoyed my stereo more!

Let me join the crowd born in 1953 to say—happy 70th to all of us and many more years of happy listening! I too have spent years and $$$ to get to the system I have today and like GHDPrentice I don’t regret all the effort to arrive here. Now let’s all keep our hearing—as much as possible. Happy new year to all, both young and old!

Re affordable gear for the yout’ we elders run into—I was with one of my nieces over Christmas and she bought 3 albums at a sale at the library and asked me about some $400 TT-speaker all in one setup she saw at Crutchfield. I recommended she get the new Technics 1500C TT (has a good Ortofon cart and built-in phono stage) and the KEF LSX2 powered speakers for a 3-piece all in one setup! The price went up to $3000 instead of $400 but I caught her attention. I have the LSX2 speakers in my bedroom for TV and Roon and they sound fabulous for the price. You can find them used for around $1000.