More Entries from Tom’s Audiophile Notebook
That guy you see pictured to the left has spent much of the last forty years wandering around used record stores looking for better records (ahem). Before that he wandered around stores that sold new records because he didn’t know how good old used records could be.
Here are some of the things he’s learned since he started collecting at the age of ten, sixty years ago. (First purchase: She Loves You on 45. It’s still in the collection, although it cracked long ago and is no longer playable.)
I’ve noticed an interesting development in the world of record collecting, one that seems to be true for me as well as many of my customers.
As I’ve gotten older I find I have more money, which allows me to buy higher quality goods of all kinds, including — and especially — records.
I also seem to have much less tolerance for practically anything of mediocre quality.
And I have much less patience with the hassle of having to work to find a record exceptional sound, one that actually will reward me for the time and effort it will take to throw it on the turntable, sit down and listen to it all the way through.
As a consequence, if I’m going to play a record, I’m going to make sure it’s a good one, and I don’t want to have to play five or ten copies to find the one with the magic that will keep me involved from start to finish.
Because it’s our business, we actually do play five or ten copies of every record we judge, but I sure don’t have the patience to go through all that rigamarole for my own personal listening the way I did before I retired.