Have you reached your end point with this addictive hobby?

@markalarsen 

Wow, just looked that model up (They have so many).

Beautiful!

How did you settle on that particular model?

Looks like our vinyl rigs Are pretty similar.

How does your Vinyl sound? 

I think it depends on how you define the "hobby"-- if it is the ongoing quest for improvements in sound through the acquisition/change of equipment, tweaking and room positioning, you could conceivably do that endlessly until you run out of funds or get frustrated and/or say "good enough." To me, gear acquisition and improving the performance of a system in a given room is but one part of the hobby- the other has to do with learning more about different music, its history and being exposed to different performances. 

I was very caught up in the "high end" at a young age- and had already built quite a good system by the time I was 20 years old- all ARC electronics, Quad Loudspeakers, SP-10 table, etc. I augmented that over the years with ribbon tweeters and subs, and migrated to Crosby Quads, with a continuous procession of ARC tube electronics. During that period, I was mostly listening to "audiophile" recordings, and focused more on what was wrong with the system than just enjoying it for what it was.

At some point during a hiatus from audio- I didn't even have a good system set up at the time, all was in crates, but had a roomful of records in boxes--I decided to go in a different direction, started to curate the records I had and search out better copies of all sorts of things. I had a substantial collection of classical and straight ahead jazz, along with a lot of rock warhorses, but dug pretty deeply to find the vaunted pressings, which led me into the collector's market and that exposed me to a whole other world of music, including deep prog and avant-garde jazz. I started building a new system from scratch in around 2006. I made running improvements through the time I moved full-time  from NY to Texas in 2017.

I'm at a point where I'm very happy with my main system (and set up a vintage system that replicates what I ran in 1975, using some of the exact same equipment I kept from more than 50 years ago). And though I was on a tear in buying up obscure and collectible records, I've slowed down considerably, due largely to grade and price inflation. I still buy, but I'm very selective, and there is very little I really "need" or want. 

I do not think of this as an "ending" but instead, a transition that was long in the making--being able to enjoy what I have. Yesterday, I played a couple of discs from the Art Pepper Live at the Vanguard and Shelly Manne Live at the Blackhawk and reveled in what I was hearing. To me, the end of the equipment quest was in some ways the beginning of my understanding of the music and the performers behind it. 

@prof,

Feels awfully cruel to have gone all this way landed on my final dream system, and then I can’t appreciate it.   Hopefully that situation will change at some point.

While things are ok (for now) with me, I have been following researches related to hearing improvement. While we are still a few years away from experimental treatments, news such as THIS is encouraging. My father had major hearing issue and that turned him form a full scale extrovert to an introvert and his social life at the fag end of his life was practically 0, because he was embarrassed that he could not hear others properly, even with hearing aids.

I am hoping that the treatment to REVERSE the hearing loss is available within the next 5 years. With AI now, things should expedite. Man lives on hope!

@whart ,

 I played a couple of discs from the Art Pepper Live at the Vanguard and Shelly Manne Live at the Blackhawk and reveled in what I was hearing. 

Talking about Shelly Mane, at 2015 AXPONA Chad Kassme played "Sounds Unheard Of!" at one demo and I have been searching for this recording ever since, on CD, since I am not into LP. My guess is that you might have this LP and it sounds fantastic on your system!

Just recently I came across internet archive where this LP has been ripped to FLAC. Since it is on archive.org, I believe it is legal?

@milpai there is a history of copyright litigation against the Internet Archive if you do an open web search. I’ll look up the record as an LP. Discogs will usually list legit CDs, so might be worth checking if you haven’t. 

Took a quick look- no CD listed on Discogs, Chad test pressing circa 2015, released 2024 on LP. Looks like a compilation of standards that was meant as a showcase for sounds back in the day, a/k/a a "demo record."

I particularly like side 2 of the 3rd Vol of Shelly and His Men at the Blackhawk. I don’t think Craft has reissued it, only Vol 1 (on vinyl, did not check CD).