I had a reasonable amount of vinyl in the 70's and early 80's but with the demise of vinyl as a mainstream format, I started acquiring more. And, as I continued to develop my playback system, I sought out many of the Harry list, old RCA, Mercury Living Presence, Lyrita, Decca, London, etc. I got to the point where I was buying vinyl wherever I travelled- would have it shipped home. Over the course of this spree, lasting say 15 -20 years, I probably acquired 5 or 6 thousand records, and then bought a collection from a dear friend's widow- say, another 4,000 records. In all that time, I was working, 6-7 days a week, and when I had time to listen, I would pull out something I knew, or something that had been highly touted.
At this point, I'm guessing I have somewhere around 11,000 records. And, because I recently retired from the fulltime practice of my profession, I have more time to listen. So my objective has been to listen to records I have never heard before. I will try to pick out some things in advance, a mixture of jazz, classical, pop, choral, etc. I have made some fabulous discoveries.
My collection is not well organized, though, which is something that i will eventually have to undertake. And, I have many duplicates, albeit different pressings, of the same record. I have not had the energy to sit down and listen to 5 different copies of the same record to determine which one sounds best.
But, all those years of acquiring have now paid off. I have some real gems and there is a constant process of discovery. It is also an education, because while I know some of the more famous classical pieces, and better known jazz records, there's a vast amount of material that is less well known (at least to me) and that's part of the joy of learning and listening.
At this point, I'm guessing I have somewhere around 11,000 records. And, because I recently retired from the fulltime practice of my profession, I have more time to listen. So my objective has been to listen to records I have never heard before. I will try to pick out some things in advance, a mixture of jazz, classical, pop, choral, etc. I have made some fabulous discoveries.
My collection is not well organized, though, which is something that i will eventually have to undertake. And, I have many duplicates, albeit different pressings, of the same record. I have not had the energy to sit down and listen to 5 different copies of the same record to determine which one sounds best.
But, all those years of acquiring have now paid off. I have some real gems and there is a constant process of discovery. It is also an education, because while I know some of the more famous classical pieces, and better known jazz records, there's a vast amount of material that is less well known (at least to me) and that's part of the joy of learning and listening.