PDA

View Full Version : Hobby for life!



Vinyl Grinder
23-02-2008, 18:52
Any of you had past intrests that have just passed away in time.

Mines Hi-fi, i've been in this frame of mind for a couple of years now, seems my past intrest in hi-fi is well over.I've decided to retire from it ow living with a buget system i bought when i left school.I believe you can't have more than on serious hobby, Progressive rock music far surpasses hi-fi for me, i'd rather carry on collecting & listerning to my music than bother with the audio side of things ifes too short.

Anyone else?

Filterlab
23-02-2008, 19:00
Hi-fi has been mine since I was about 11 years old (so 21 years now), in addition I have photography, films and music (writing) but none of them have ever been as serious as hi-fi.

So what system will you use?

stupinder
23-02-2008, 20:08
Bugger!!! I just spent the last few breaks i had telling my sad life story of addiction to various "hobbies" only to find my computer had logged me out and so when i posted it ......lost.
Condensed version. Add the relevant toys at suitable junctures.
Climbing......Hifi.......Djing.....record shop......ooh proper job.....photography....Hifi I will expand when i get a mo'. It all came from a guest who said she thought i had an addictive personality. Rubish!!!! Anyway must dash the crack pipes waiting, the soiled copy of hifi news beckons and the upgrade bug is scratching away beneath the skin

greenhomeelectronics
23-02-2008, 20:13
Interests change with age. The deepest passion I have had for life as it were is for Jaguar cars. My eldest brother bought one when I was about 8 (I am my father's 11th child, my eldest brother is a lot older than me) it so impressed me that I still can't get the sodding things out of my blood. I guess it was a time when my parents had a 1300 Mkii Cortina that did not even come with a radio and here was this 4.2 litre monster with air conditioning AND an 8 track stereo. Flash git. It just blew my mind - the style the quietness, the performance. I have had 4 since then and currently run a 1996 3.2 Gold, it does not get out often as it is a thirsty old bitch.
Hifi is my second passion and I love my job because loads of people buy stuff from me that lets them listen to music - not all can afford the Linns and the audiophile stuff but everybody goes from my place with an ability to listen to their choice of music. I really , really love that fact and get the same buzz from selling a 20 quid cosmetically challenged all in one system as I do from selling the high end stuff.
Best of luck with whatever you do, Andre.
Dave.

Mike
23-02-2008, 20:35
This:

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/5020/img03551dx4.jpg

But I can't be arsed these days. I don't bounce so well at my age! :lolsign:

Filterlab
23-02-2008, 20:43
What's made you give up hi-fi Andre?

sastusbulbas
23-02-2008, 21:04
I was quite a bit into cycling. Mainly mountain bikes, plus cycling to work, and a little road cycling.

I have had some nice kit, sold most of it not long after Daniel was born, I felt I was missing out on family stuff by going out cycling for a few hours on my days off. I sold all the bikes, and cleared my workshop and spare room of bikes, frames bicycle components and some audio equipment and my weight training stuff. Amazing the amount of room two childen require.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd115/sastusbulbas/Picture918.jpg

Chris Frost
24-02-2008, 00:54
The hobby I no longer do is motorcycling. God I miss it.

It started off as just a means of transport, but I quickly became hooked on the unique sense of freedom and excitement that no other means of transport, including cycling, has ever given me. Through motorcycling I met a great bunch of people and had some of the best times of my life.

For a short time it became all about the gear; the right bike, the right helmet, the right leathers and so on. Then I realised that that was distraction, and that I got more enjoyment from the hobby when treating the gear as a tool rather than objects of desire. My approach is the same with HiFi and AV. It's music and films that I love; the gear is secondary. Does anyone else share the same view?

Vinyl Grinder
24-02-2008, 02:30
What's made you give up hi-fi Andre?

It's a long story without getting into an argument..

My first ever system was:

J.A.Michell 'Focus One'S'/Mayware 'Formula IV'/Nagaoka 'MP11'
A&R Cambridge 'A60' Amp/Castle 'Pembroke' speeks...Maybe cheap shit to some but i have advanced over the years to high end & back, but all seems a joke in the end..

I've managed to get together the 'Focus One', Mayware 'F4,III/ Nag 'MP-11Boron', A&R 'A60 AP/SA60, using my old B&W 'DM2a' at the mo, never been as happy.:confused, what a waste of 25 years.

I do suffer from hi-fi mental problem which inevitably gave me pack it up for my sanity & that's no joke.

Filterlab
24-02-2008, 09:49
It makes me wonder how much one really needs to spend to be honest, my current system is a lot cheaper than it has been in the past and yet sounds better than ever. Once I change my amp that'll be it, and I probably won't spend a fortune on an amp either, maybe £2k max. A
s long as you're happy with the sound that's all that matters mate. :)

greenhomeelectronics
24-02-2008, 10:27
It's easy to get obsessed and drawn into the law of diminishing returns. There comes a point where spending a fortune only makes a tiny difference to the enjoyment of the sound. This will be highly controversial but I am of the opinion that it is possible to put together a system (used, of course) for way under a grand that will be 99.9 per cent of a 10 grand system. But that's where the obsession comes in - trying to find that extra 0.1 per cent. Personally I prefer to just relax and enjoy the music and not worry about that last 0.1 per cent, I can fully understand those that want that last bit though. Maybe it's because I am self employed and don't have that sort of money to throw about, maybe it's because I have so many other things to spend my money on.
Rob is spot on though, we buy and build systems to please ourselves and to listen to our music - nothing else matters. What may be theoretically right or wrong and whatever theories may have sound scientific foundation behind them the only thing that is important is how your system makes you feel when you listen to your kind of music.
Long may it continue.
Dave.

Lowrider
25-02-2008, 12:10
My first serious hobby was to listen to music, I dont want to select the tunes, most times I even dont want to know who is playing...

I would spend entire afternoons closed in my parents living room kistening to radio, while my 7 brothers and sisters fought in the bedrooms... :mental:

I kind of "studied" a bit about classical while building a nice CD collection during my 7 years in Canada, now I just tune MEZZO or MCM, depending on my mood, and listen to whatever they play, my discs are used almost only for demo... :o

I started the hifi hobby in 1979, interrupted between 1987 and 2000, now it is my main hobby, I also try to play Golf whenever the weather and job permit...

Meanwhile I did my share of photography, until my equipment was so cumbersome that I stopped using it, also had Harley-Davidsons, betweem 1992 and 2002, I miss them, and the lovely trips around europe... :confused: