Mid-life crisis?
Hello all.
Well, where to start? Perhaps a confession.
It's 25 years since I bought any new kit.
Strange thing. Partly, the years come fast. Partly, the open plan room that the system has been in has seen it underused. Partly life got in the way. Partly, to be quite honest, I think I fell a bit out of love with music. Let's say agnostic.
But we've moved house. Different rooms. All the vinyl is out now. And the wax stain from the candle spilled down the front grille of my speakers by Brian Molko from Placebo some time around 1998 had finally got too much.
My music collection is probably equal parts vinyl and CD. I was late to CD, but as LPs got harder to find I got into the habit of buying them. Turns out I have more than I thought.
What's on all these discs I can hear you asking.
I was a teen in the 80s, so there's a lot of 80s and 90s. British pop of the early 80s has been regarded as a bit cheesy, I think. Perhaps not entirely fairly. I still get a lot out of the first couple of Duran Duran albums. And the consistently inconsistent Police releases.
By the end of the decade I had a few things going on - ernest, winsome singer-songwriter types (Stephen Duffy/Lilac Time, The Bible, Prefab Sprout, Aztec Camera, Lloyd Cole); funk crossover things (Prince, Living Colour); electro-pop (Depeche Mode, Erasure, Blancmange).
Loved britpop. Probably more Blur than Oasis if that was about taking sides, but Radiohead seem to be the band who endured from out of that time.
And Neil Finn/Crowded House continue to be a firm favourite.
My dad's record collection offered The Who, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Spencer Davis Group and others who in hindsight have obviously shaped my tastes, so I have a smattering of 60s and 70s things.
Love a bit of old-fashioned soul - Motown and Atlantic. Good tunes, keen emotions, terrific voices. And coming out of a different tradition, but a similar era, I think Bacharach is probably a genius.
Then I reached a point where nothing much felt new and exciting. Bands seemed to me to be pale imitations of Talking Heads or XTC or The Clash and I'd rather listen to them than hear the results of their influence. Somewhere around 2004/2005 my record-buying slowed significantly.
I carried on buying stuff by people I already liked - Stephen Duffy, Crowded House, Paul Weller and made a few newer discoveries like Joe Henry, Wilco, Ryan Adams. But that youthful hunger seemed to leave me.
Not talked about the women. Always keen on a female vocalist. Still can't think about Amy Winehouse without shaking my head. Oh, the music we might have got from her if things had been different. Chrissie Hynde, Joni Mitchell, Blondie, Kathryn Williams, Clare and the Reasons, Rumer, Aretha, Annie Lennox - all big favourites.
Now you're bored and you want to hear what I play it on.
Rega Planar 3 with an RB300 and K5. Needs a service and will ultimately be replaced in this mid-life refresh.
I've a stable-platter Pioneer PL-S703 CD player from the mid-90s which I think is still very, very good. Do I get a DAC and use it as a transport? Or get a 21st century CD player?
I've had a Creek 4240 doing a lovely job for the last two and a half decades. But it's got a new, temporary role in the last month or so.
That's because I accidently bought a Naim Nap 250 DR. There was one on eBay and the bid was low and I picked number and pressed submit totally expecting to be swamped and outbid by several hundred pounds in the closing minutes. Didn't happen. Turned out I won. And didn't entirely mean to.
Here we are then. Am I about to become a Naimiac? I certainly can't afford it. Either in minutes or in pounds. But its presence in my system demands action and upgrades.
Right now I'm using the 4240 as a pre-amp (it has an output) and it seems to be doing a fine job. But I suspect there's more to come with a matched pre. Thinking of a 32.5 or 72 or an 82. But know nothing other than what I've read about them.
And the amp drives a second hand pair of Neat Motive SX1s which are big step up from my 90s B&W 600s that Brian Molko baptized with candle wax.
So there you have it. I'm all ears on what I should audition to give me a system I can enjoy untouched for another 25 years. And for music that I might like to check out.
And you all probably know about streaming, don't you. Which I've always regarded as something young people use to annoy me by playing on their phones without earphones on public transport, but I now understand can be a real hifi possibility.
Feel free to welcome me to the 21st century. And see you all again in 25 years.
Cheers.
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