I don't I have wife or girlfriend to contend with. However, I do have family and friends. I have learned to cope by not talking much about this hobby of ours. I kinda downplay the whole system.
This used to not be the case. Initially, when after a long absence, I started to return to this hobby my family and friends were supportive, i.e. "Oh he found a hobby. That's good. He works too much."
It started with an Ipod. The darn thing really fascinated me and gave me perspective on how it changed the world. So then I decided to replace my 19 or 20", 30+ year old Toshiba, CRT as my primary TV. I bought a Samsung 32" HDTV.
Then someone told me that I could run the TV sound through my receiver into my stereo speakers. BTW. My "receiver" was a 30+ year old Sansui stereo receiver that only had 1 channel working. So I hooked up one speaker to the A channel on one to the B channel and would select the A or B channel depending on where I was in the house when playing music.
We tried the hook-up of the TV to the receiver to see how it sounded coming through the stereo speakers rather than the TV. It sounded like s------t. But now I was really curious so I decided to bite the bullet and replace (finally) the receiver.
Long story short, in about 3.5 years I went from a 30+ year old receiver with one stereo channel working and a 15 to 20-year old Yamaha CD player and a similar-aged Yamaha dual cassette deck...
To an Ipod. To a Samsung 32"HDTV. To a Denon AVR 3808-CI, to a new Denon DM 2910 CD player, to a 5.1 channel surround system driven by Vienna Acoustics speakers--4 Mozart Grands (full range) and a Maestro center channel, a JL Audio fathom f112, a Pioneer KURO Elite flat panel and a few components I probably forgot about.
Oh and I also resurrected from the dead a 30+ year old Sansui Direct Drive turntable, then I put a Pickering cartridge on it and now am running a Denon DL-160 on it and then I added an EAR phono stage. And then I brought my old record collection into the living room +/- 500 records from storage. And there are still probably a couple of components I have forgotten about, not including the fact that I am still using the 20+ year old Yamaha gear (I had a bunch of cassettes also in storage).
As I said, when I first started down this path my family was supportive. We used to talk about equipment, go to stores together, demo my new purchases. We all enjoyed it.
But as I moved beyond the entry level, type product at the Best Buy and Circuit City and Fry's level, they started to think that maybe I had gone off the deep end. As an example. One time I was searching the 'Gon for turntables. A friend was over and I had him look at some of the turntables with me to get his $0.02 worth. Well, his $0.02 worth was, "Wow. That costs $900! That costs $1,200!! For a turntable?" The next day or so I saw another friend and he had this concerned look. Like he was thinking that I needed an "intervention". He says, "So I hear you're looking for a turntable. You know. You can get a really good turntable at Best Buy for about $200."
At some point our views had diverged. To a certain degree. My family and friends had started wondering if I was crazy. They saw me wasting money needlessly on items that could have or should have just been bought at Best Buy for a less than $1K.
My view was hey, 1) it's my $$$, 2) I work my ass off, 3) it's a hobby, 4) in these days and times and in this economy it helps relax me. They don't get the emotional connection I have to the music and movies or the peace and sense of calm this hobby provides. I enjoy it. And hey, isn't 3.5 years to assemble the system I have a long time? At least compared to some of you guys it must be.
Anyway so now I kinda just keep my mouth shut.
The last thing I did related to this hobby that no one thought was crazy was I had a BBQ for a bunch of audiophile/videophile people that I know. About 20 like-minded dealers and hobbyists showed up. One gentleman even drove from out-of-state to attend. That was fun too.
So that's how I cope.
This used to not be the case. Initially, when after a long absence, I started to return to this hobby my family and friends were supportive, i.e. "Oh he found a hobby. That's good. He works too much."
It started with an Ipod. The darn thing really fascinated me and gave me perspective on how it changed the world. So then I decided to replace my 19 or 20", 30+ year old Toshiba, CRT as my primary TV. I bought a Samsung 32" HDTV.
Then someone told me that I could run the TV sound through my receiver into my stereo speakers. BTW. My "receiver" was a 30+ year old Sansui stereo receiver that only had 1 channel working. So I hooked up one speaker to the A channel on one to the B channel and would select the A or B channel depending on where I was in the house when playing music.
We tried the hook-up of the TV to the receiver to see how it sounded coming through the stereo speakers rather than the TV. It sounded like s------t. But now I was really curious so I decided to bite the bullet and replace (finally) the receiver.
Long story short, in about 3.5 years I went from a 30+ year old receiver with one stereo channel working and a 15 to 20-year old Yamaha CD player and a similar-aged Yamaha dual cassette deck...
To an Ipod. To a Samsung 32"HDTV. To a Denon AVR 3808-CI, to a new Denon DM 2910 CD player, to a 5.1 channel surround system driven by Vienna Acoustics speakers--4 Mozart Grands (full range) and a Maestro center channel, a JL Audio fathom f112, a Pioneer KURO Elite flat panel and a few components I probably forgot about.
Oh and I also resurrected from the dead a 30+ year old Sansui Direct Drive turntable, then I put a Pickering cartridge on it and now am running a Denon DL-160 on it and then I added an EAR phono stage. And then I brought my old record collection into the living room +/- 500 records from storage. And there are still probably a couple of components I have forgotten about, not including the fact that I am still using the 20+ year old Yamaha gear (I had a bunch of cassettes also in storage).
As I said, when I first started down this path my family was supportive. We used to talk about equipment, go to stores together, demo my new purchases. We all enjoyed it.
But as I moved beyond the entry level, type product at the Best Buy and Circuit City and Fry's level, they started to think that maybe I had gone off the deep end. As an example. One time I was searching the 'Gon for turntables. A friend was over and I had him look at some of the turntables with me to get his $0.02 worth. Well, his $0.02 worth was, "Wow. That costs $900! That costs $1,200!! For a turntable?" The next day or so I saw another friend and he had this concerned look. Like he was thinking that I needed an "intervention". He says, "So I hear you're looking for a turntable. You know. You can get a really good turntable at Best Buy for about $200."
At some point our views had diverged. To a certain degree. My family and friends had started wondering if I was crazy. They saw me wasting money needlessly on items that could have or should have just been bought at Best Buy for a less than $1K.
My view was hey, 1) it's my $$$, 2) I work my ass off, 3) it's a hobby, 4) in these days and times and in this economy it helps relax me. They don't get the emotional connection I have to the music and movies or the peace and sense of calm this hobby provides. I enjoy it. And hey, isn't 3.5 years to assemble the system I have a long time? At least compared to some of you guys it must be.
Anyway so now I kinda just keep my mouth shut.
The last thing I did related to this hobby that no one thought was crazy was I had a BBQ for a bunch of audiophile/videophile people that I know. About 20 like-minded dealers and hobbyists showed up. One gentleman even drove from out-of-state to attend. That was fun too.
So that's how I cope.