Audio: the Most Beautiful Hobby on Earth or a Black Hole?

As you know, I'm a music lover and consequently an audio fond user and scholar since my teens... sometimes - like in these days - I do a resume of last purchases and deals: records, audio gears, also instruments, to a broader music-related extent...

The grand total (only considering last year...) is something resembling the purchase of a brand-new mid-sized car... this shortened my savings, leaving me with a feeling of being, someway, "unbalanced" vs. other life priorities: not a reality, BUT a definite feeling... nonetheless, a someway bitter feeling...

When I entered my music room, yesterday evening, I sort-of had the shivering sensation that music-system wasn't only a mess of cables, gears, parts and materials, BUT a living/mechanical creature in "OFF" mode, sleeping, yet alive... and hungry, VERY hungry!

An hungry beast, asking every day passing for "more" everything: discs, tapes, disks, tubes, cables, speakers, cartridges, arms, care and attentions... almost a diet for a (Japanese film-maker) Tetsuo-like creature.

A mechanical Lion always hungry of Steel Steaks...

I still fondly remember when I peacefully lived with an all Quad combo: 33/303/FM3/ESL... for thirteen long years I pressed an "ON" button and put a record on turntable platter (a Linn Sondek with Syrinx PU-3 and Accuphase AC-2) and enjoyed music. Period.

... then one day, I began to hear the difference among audio gears and cables, and cartridges and tubes... TUBES!!!

I hate TUBES!!!!!;-)

I spent real-estate amounts for tubes and related...

... as I hate vinyl... I HATE IT!!!!

I spent BIG bucks on those stupid sleeves and black plastic discs... when you buy a rare, sought-after record, you pay a lot... due to scarceness and elusiveness... when you die, ALL those discs are - often - sold as a lot and at weight-value. Very unfair market-laws, at least!

... maybe audio isn't an hobby... it's a Black Hole...




... maybe;-)