Have them bring home a couple of pals and do what 1 kid did.
Brought home a couple of pals for Christmas…when the college
lad showed his pals the main gear down in the basement…they were
shocked at the “giant size speakers”, all they had ever seen or heard
were ipods. So when the college kid fired the system up and played
the 1st track…the pals were speechless…needless to say the basement
became their den for Christmas that year.
Ah, yes! Your experience reminds me of a similar one as well.
While in college my daughter brought her boyfriend by for dinner and an opportunity to meet the parents. This fine young man had recently been bitten by the audiophile bug and my daughter introduced him to my main rig playing a bunch of vinyl. The two of them spent the better portion of the day in the living room listening to records of all sorts. He indicated he was searching for a reasonably priced integrated amplifier, speakers and planned to hook-up his iPod to it. After hearing multiple LPs he reconsidered the iPod aspect and asked about turntables. I set him up with a restored Technics SL-1300 with an Audio Technica cartridge. I also introduced him to Audiogon. Several days later I received a phone call from his father “thanking” me for feeding his audio interests. Turns out he purchased an integrated amplifier and speakers on the Audiogon website after hearing my system.
It’s cool to get that acknowledgement from the younger generation. When my youngest was not long ago in elementary school, her friend was over and was super intrigued by the sound quality of my system, and it was clear she’d never experienced that before. Now a couple years older, I still have hope for mine, though she is all too content for now with Amazon Echo Dot and has them all over and always has music playing. She’ll come around I hope. I’m hoping at least when she goes to college in a few years I’ll send her with a Powernode and some bookshelf speakers…
'78 was when it hit me. My brother had found The Absolute Sound in the public library in Normal, IL, where he was a student at ISU, and through it he introduced me to a world I never even knew existed. I was in my last year of college that spring, and I sold my mostly-Pioneer system and got into GAS electronics and Magnepan, and later on Apt and B&K. I was simply in awe of ARC and ML, unreachable as they were. But even Bryson and C-J were too rich for my blood.
I started in high school with a compact JVC system. First component system was after my freshman year in college, and consisted of a Pioneer SX-727 receiver, Pioneer PL-12D turntable, probably with a Shure cart I no longer recall, and Cerwin-Vega 10" bookshelf speakers. And I splurged on a pair of Koss Pro4/AA phones.
These days it’s:
VPI Prime 21 turntable with VPI Shyla cart
Channel Islands Audio PEQ1-Mk2 phono preamp w upgraded power supply
PSA PST transport
Aurender N100H streamer w upgraded 4TB SSD drive
PSA DSD Jr DAC
PSA Stellar Gain Cell
PSA M700s
PSA Stellar P3
Magnepan .7s
REL T/7x subs (2)
nothing exotic cable-wise: mid-line Kimbers, Audioquests, etc.
Like many audiophiles, I’ve done my share of hand-wringing over the apparent lack of interest by younger generations. I used to think it was ignorance that could be overcome (how’s that for hubris?), but now I think there’s a cultural difference, and I’m not sure what drives it, or whether it can be changed. I don’t have any kids of my own, but my brother (who’s always had better systems than I) has two sons who love music, but show no interest in anything other than modest headphone/earbud listening.
(1) Friends’ children or grand children
(2) My daughters’ buddies
(3) Meet-ups at jazz concerts these are small salon type events as there looking at the product table I typically strike up a conversation and buy them CDs it supports the musician and their musical curiosity
(4) Record shops, we strike up a conversation and I purchase vinyl I think they may enjoy - I pick the music
(5) Brick and Mortar stereo shops - If I spot some one buying a turntable I typically provide them with some vinyl including at least one from the retailer
(6) I also support our local community radio station, providing music, occasional co-hosting, and other means
It is a true pleasure to help open the door for the youthful musically inquisitive. I’ve probably provided for 10+ restored turntables, mostly Technics SL series and Philips GA 212/312, three B&o turntables, eight refurbished Yamaha integrated amplifiers and receivers CR 820/1020, CA 810/1020/2010, as well as NAD 3020 integrated amplifiers. AR M1 speakers three pairs, Polk Monitor 7 and Monitor 10 speakers, various KEF Ref speakers 101/102/103, a handful of Infinity monitors.
I feel strongly about giving back for all those that encouraged me along the way. I’m not alone in this regard. A friend I worked with learned that my youngest was an avid record collector. He transitioned to CDs and donated his entire record collection to her, which included all original Beatles Parlaphone through Abbey Road LPS, original Rolling Stones LPs through Sticky Fingers, and all the Velvet Underground LPs . She still listens to them, preferring vinyl over other media. She gives back to her community via a local CSA as production manager supporting those in Chicago’s food desert. She can’t keep up with the demand.
I used to turn on my system 8 hours per week, if that. Now I am retired so I can enjoy listening music 8 hours per day.
The only bad thing is I got bite by an audiophile bug, and it is a nasty one!
I just ordered a Oyaide Electric High-grade Outlet Wpc-z and the matching Oyaide CRYO pallad-gold-bronze SWO-XXX outlet. They are replacing a good one that I ordered from PS Audio years ago.
I am sure they will make another un-measurable tidy difference. Like I said, I was bitten by a real bad bug.
I just happened to change out a wall recepticle of 30 years use…(still had grip),
with a Pangea Audio Premier XL be copper ac outlet…burning in now…quick
With just a couple of days run time sound has more solidness…with
very quick detailed bass on up to high freq air and spatial qualities
excellent thus far…bass needs to come in more though
a few more days burn in time ought to do the trick.
64 here. I too have been an audiophile forever it seems. Starting in my early teens with gear I scrounged out of my grandfathers attic (no joke). Several things have changed. More discretionary income to spend on my toys. A rig that peaked in overall musicality 10-15 years ago and I’ve been happy with. The only reason I continue to spend money on it is not out of lack of satisfaction, but the impulse for something different and obsession with my lifelong hobby. The third is how I listen. No more Maxell tape advert guy routine for me. 90% of my listening is casual. While working, while puttering around the apartment doing whatever I’m doing. Having gotten past the hyper-analytical deconstruct every minute detail of what my system is doing phase, I am indeed enjoying music as my priority over the hardware more than ever.
My new Pangea wall receptacle has a very open airy detailed quality to it
as well as quickness.
Very close to what the SR Master brought to my P15 and thus my
whole system…
Bass is still “maturing” shall I say…but much better otherwise than my
30 year old stock unit. It still had plenty of grip though.
Let us know your Oyaide receptacle turns out for you…
I should get them by today in fact! I will wait until next week to install them. I need to try out different fiber-optic link again. I may raise an uproar for sure.
I heard they need quite a bit time to break in. I am heading out of door and my wife said I need to get off the PC.
79 years old here. My first kit was a homebuilt Heathkit AM radio with an AUX input for my 45 rpm disc spinner in the late 1950s. I still have all those 45’s. Next I built a Heathkit 14W mono amp and a Heathkit 2 way speaker. The rest is history.
