Why do you spend Time & Money on Audio?

Wonderful topic.

I have had so many "hobbies" from stamp collecting to photography/cycling etc etc. Hifi has been one which stuck on for more than 20 years now and its the fun of setting up a system getting it right and then when you get it right enjoy music .

Music has been on part which has always been part of me ever since i discovered a hitachi mono we had at home despite my family not being really into it. In fact after my first job when everyone bought a TV with their first salary, I went and bought a music system and always had a stereo with me no matter which country I lived in !

22 years ago heard a Klipschorn and realized what real hifi was and was hooked . Am hearing the video above and I reflect his sentiments exactly !
 
Last edited:
‘discovered a hitachi mono we had at home despite my family not being really into it. In fact after my first job when everyone bought a TV with their first salary, I went and bought a music system and always had a stereo with me no matter which country I lived in’

Very close to my own story! My family owned a National mono player though.
 
My Youtube feed showed this interesting video "Why High End Audio"?
But to avoid some of the limits and controversy in that term, let us keep it broad based.

Please let us know why you care about your audio setup and why you spend your time and money on it.

Regards




.
Great topic @Nikhil. Thanks for sharing this video; Steve Huff has said it so well and eloquently.
Music is enriching, therapeutic and more.
Having a high quality music playback set up is a privilege I am grateful for, everyday.
As Nietzsche said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.”
 
Yet to view the Video:

In my opinion,

Music is an extremely natural phenomenon and pervades our lives in all forms and moods. It has the unique distinction of physical and emotional fulfilment, often bordering on epiphany. It can be enjoyed in a group, between 2 souls or in solitude. It traverses all mundane limitations like caste, creed and colour.
One does not need an expensive gear to enjoy music and that underlines its worth and beauty, and there also lies the mystery of the question in hand
"Why you care about your audio setup and why you spend your time and money on it".


In my home, my wife possibly listens and enjoys more music from her Saregama Carvaan that I do from my dedicated 2-channel gears which has kept oscillating over the years.

Now to the question of why????
It is and can become an addiction. Sometimes that one euphoric moment (placebo or factual) by a change of a cable makes you forget the money you drained on it. At other times you are often at loss if you experience the opposite or experience no improvement (a dead investment).
Audiophilic Insurgency is a self inflicted internal conflict that often borders on insanity and makes us do things beyond our means for God only knows to meet what end.
It is like the mysterious Blackhole - full of gravity, darkness and keeps sucking you in.

In this journey, it is extremely important to keep the senses under control and not get carried away with the hard earned money or the never returning time.
One must ultimately learn to enjoy music, in whatever form it is delivered, as most of the nuances are already hardwired into the neurons of your brain.
 
I spend time on audio/video because it is a stress buster and deviation from the routine.

Money is spent on the gear to find that elusive grail of refined good sound which in most cases would always be elusive.

Totally agree with FM Kannan that if one wants, he/she can enjoy music in a simple setup and don't need to spend a lot. But then sometimes, the curiosity gets rekindled and the journey continues...
 
I too bought a music system with my first salary. It all started with the BPL Sanyo Cassettes player that my Dad bought us during our school days. Who buys the latest release cassettes first is a kind of a game amongst my class/school mates and I cycled 40 kms many a times to grab the cassettes to be a first. This energy and interest carries even today. As other members mentioned, its therapeutic.
 
My signature says it all in my case.

"... Yeh Mere Junoon Ka Ghuroor Hai"
A line from the poem "Mujhay Baar Baar Sada Na De" by Sufi poet Hazrat Baba Gulzar Sabri (Sung by Abbas Ali Khan)

The literal translation would be "... the pride of my passion",
but applied to my audio hobby it could also be interpreted as "... the vanity of my lunacy"

Cheers,
Raghu
 
When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.

Henry David Thoreau

Music for me is the food for soul. As a sitar and surbahar player I’ve been associated with music since my childhood and trust me, it can transform you. It teaches you how to be calm and find peace within. It’s a form of meditation to me. When ppl can go round the world seeking solace, I feel it when I’m with music. Time and money are just worldly things and shouldn’t be considered a hindrance. What ever audio gear or eqpt you have, how much time you can devote doesn’t matter, as long as you are enjoying it, you are enriching your soul.

LET THE MUSIC PLAY …
 
For me its most importantly about staying true to intended way of listening. I am a 100% movie person and no inclination to solely music (2.0) listening whatsoever. So when it comes to movies, the very fact that they are recorded in 5.1 and within that there are highs and lows and sweeps between fronts and surrounds and subwoofer recorded in a certain specific way to give a certain emotional impact on the overall experience of a film that contributes a lot to the final verdict we form on a film. This solely is the purpose why i spend on HT. Now its obvious that no system at home can come close to theatrical experience of a film as 100s of variables like acoustics, compression etc change/dilute the experience at home. But it gives me the psychological satisfaction that i am close to listening to a film the way it was recorded which is minimum 5.1 channels while ensuring it gets decoded by my system in the intended format and not get diluted to the unacceptable for movies i.e. TV sound or 2.0 channel format

So bottom line its my respect for the original efforts in recording in a certain way that drives me to spend more time and money to respect and listen to the intended way. Ultimately this effort pays off well as the pleasure derived can never be described in words
 
I am thrifty by nature so have not spent much. But if time is money I have spent lot of money.

A case for hardware :
I understand music is important and all are music lovers but dont know why there is guilt attached to acquiring a nice piece of HiFi for music. This is same as having a nice (probably expensive) car and bike. There is joy to acquire Revels, Focals and Accuphase. I like well made, neat, beautiful amplifiers, speakers. I study and learn about them. And in my limited budget have spent on various diy/modules etc. just to see how they sound.
This is expensive but nice hobby.
Regards
PS : Haven't watched linked video. Will watch later.
 
Please let us know why you care about your audio setup and why you spend your time and money on it.
My case for starters I would say being part of the forum and engaging with multiple threads. Before joining the forum I used a simple 43 inch tv for 5 years and a Yamaha Yht299 for 3 years with no itch to upgrade. Well after I joined this forum and reading a lot of posts I just kept getting addicted and have kept on upgrading with no satisfaction. Guess the more I learnt about audio and video the more curious I got on how good or better my experience will be with upgrading to better gears. Have managed to end up with 100% satisfaction on the video part but coming to audio it seems like a never ending journey for me
 
It’s a form of meditation to me.
True. To me its a fact.

In early 90's, working in office doing urgent work, continued for two days & two nights and then drained, reached home early. Our society friends were headed to a musical evening at a Delhi Univ college, where first Pt Bhimsen Joshi performed and then Pt Bhajan Sopori. It was my first experience attending a concert. Then someone told Hindu College is having an overnight festival and I headed there. First a Carnatic Violinist played fantastically, followed by Pt Shivkumar Sharma & Ustad Zakir Hussain who mesmerised, followed by Pt Rajan Pt Sajan Mishra who performed for a full 3 hours and by the time it ended, I was fully recharged, never felt the need to reach my bed.

It was indeed like a meditative experience. I just wished I had the Philips HiQ International system and I could cherish that again. (Then I had a Philips stereo with 2 twenty litre earthenware pots for the speakers.

Lastly, all I can say is "Shauk badi cheez hai", spending on it is no waste. (unfortunately, English does not have an equivalent word)
 
My Youtube feed showed this interesting video "Why High End Audio"?
But to avoid some of the limits and controversy in that term, let us keep it broad based.

Please let us know why you care about your audio setup and why you spend your time and money on it.

Regards




.
The same question has been lingering in my mind for a long time. I have to expend a lakh and a half atleast for a new home theater audio which can be summoned only from a long term MF investment(hard to let go the savings). Having just the visual solution with great TV purchase not completing the audio jig saw pieces leaves a void. On top of it, my collection of BR movies and PS4 gameing discs don't get a justification. And I am thinking sound bar htib solutions are not good enough. There are problems too such as loose connection, repairs, complaints by neighbours and aged parents, wires resembling spiderman Peter Parker's room, more heat and vibrations.
 
Was always into this hobby since childhood. 1 hour of music while getting ready to go to school back in the 90’s was a must. Back then felt the day went really smooth after listening especially kept the mind calm. Used to have a Philips deck and always grew up listening to my dad’s collection. Especially Boney M, Abba, Kraftwerk, Guns and Roses, Queen and so on.
As years passed it kept growing from Tape Deck to CD player to PC with Creative 2.0,2.1 and so on. Hostel days had to stick to Walkman’s and 1st salary like @arj mentioned mine too was a stereo buy. It was one of those Sony HiFi systems and went on from there. After getting into this forum, I understood the real meaning of a “Rabbit hole” and it’s just getting deeper and deeper. All said and done, no regrets on the money spent. I feel one should not account those as money as going down the drain, coz it’s given us that happiness everytime we ventured into something new and that cannot be quantified.
These are just my opinions.

Regards,
Som
 
I do not use headphones thanks to peripheral neuropathy hence play music and devote time/money only on my hifi system. Without music I exist. With music I live.
 
Same question is asked by my wife and parents each time any audio equipment comes home

Love for music started at quiet a young age as mornings used to start with Suprabhat playing over radio on a tape deck. Later started listening to bollywood music by purchasing tapes and majorly recording songs playing on radio. Major exposure came when we first got a PC in 1998/99 and our computer dealer provided a mix of hindi/english mp3 songs and we used to play that repeatedly on the 2.0 multimedia speaker setup we had got with the PC. After getting exposed to PMPs and earphones this where the fetish for gears started and the journey manifested itself in the form of a growing black hole , now dont find any point on pondering over the why once you are already sucked in :D
 
The Marantz PM7000N offers big, spacious and insightful sound, class-leading clarity and a solid streaming platform in a award winning package.
Back
Top