How much is too much Audio Gear?

I was just thinking that I have quite a bit of audio equipment.  I certainly have more than most people.  My daughter informed me that none of her friends' parents even have a home stereo, perish the thought.  I use most of my equipment most of the time.  I love having options and systems in different locations throughout the house.  I made a list of the equipment that I have and it turns out to be quite extensive.  I am wondering if I just have too much stuff, or if it is normal for audio-crazed individuals to have a few working stereo systems in their homes.

Here is a list of my equipment as it stands in January 2013:

I have a few amplifiers:

McIntosh MC250 - 50 WPC Stereo amp - Purchased used 2011
Onyko 5.1 Receiver – 75 WPC - given to me by a friend in 2011

Parasound HCA-800-II - 100 WPC stereo amplifier - Purchased used in 2011

Quipu 2.5 WPC stereo tube amp - Purchased new in 2010
Yamaha RX-V2700 - 140 WPC Home theater Receiver - Purchased demo unit 2008

  

I have a few sets of speakers:

Bose 10.2 series II – Purchased new by my Father in 1988ish

Bose 301 series II – Purchased new by my Father in 1988ish
Boston Acoustics T930 – purchased new 1988

Klipsch KLF-20 – Purchased used in 2008

Paradigm Monitor 5 – Purchased used in 2011

Polk T15 – Purchased used in 2011
PSB Image 6 speakers – Purchased used in 2012

 I have a few tape decks:

Nakamichi CR-1a – Cassette Deck - Purchased used in 2009 - rescued
Pioneer RT-1020L – Reel to Reel Deck - Purchased used in 2008 - rescued

Sony TC-377 – Reel to Reel Deck - Purchased used in 2005 - rescued

Teac A-6010 – Reel to Reel Deck - Purchased used in 2010 - rescued

  

I have a couple turntables:

JVC Straight Arm Turntable – Purchased used 2010
Technics SL-B3 – Traded with a friend for a 17” computer monitor in 2004 - rescued

I plan to build a custom turntable using an old garrard mechanism and a Technics arm

I have a few more assorted items:

ADCOM speaker selector switches - Purchased used in 2010
Bose Noise Cancelling headphones - Purchased new 2008
Grado 80i headphones - Purchased new 2012
Hafler preamp - Purchased rebuilt by a friend in 2011

HRT Music Streamer DAC – Burned up December 2012 – Bought new 2009
Mitsubishi 55” rear projection TV – Purchased used 2010

Quinpu tube buffer / preamplifier - Purchased new 2010
Sony  Blu-Ray player – Purchased new online
Sony CDP-C445 Cd player – given to me by my brother
Sony ES 5-disc changer that just started acting up – Purchased new 1991

Sony Reel to reel 3-way deck selector switch - Purchased used in 2010

Yamaha CR-70 Preamp - Purchased used 2010

Yamaha DVD Player – Purchased at a sale at paulsen's audio in Farmington Hills, MI

Zenith Trans Oceanic 3000-1 - Purchased used in 2010

Zenith Trans Oceanic Royal 7000-1 - Purchased used in 2012

I have just purchased a Schiit DAC to replace the burned up one - the Modi

I have a few Record Needles:
Denon DL-160 MC - Purchased NEW

Grado Black - Purchased NEW

Grado Blue - Purchased NEW

Grado Mono - Purchased NEW

Grado 78 RPM - Purchased NEW
Pickering XV-15/625 - Rescued
Shure V15RS (Radio Shack version of the V15) - Original Stylus - Purchased Used

Shure M97xE - Purchased several NEW

Shure M91ED - Rescued

Shure M95 - Rescued

Shure 78 RPM - Purchased NEW

How do our wives feel about all the gear?  I know that my wife does not like it one bit.  My equipment has been banished to the basement regions since we bought our home.  My equipment would not fit very well upstairs and the rooms are not suited to good listening.  Hard walls, hard floors, square in size and not suited well to running wires. 

I haven't even discussed my media collection, hundreds of Cd's.  I have over 100 Reel to Reel pre-recorded tapes, with around 100 more home made and blank tapes to be used in the future.  I have about 150 movies on DVD and Blu-Ray, I hate to think about the VHS tapes I am about to donate to the Salvation Army.  I have around 120 - 45 RPM records, around 80 - 78 RPM records, and around 1500 or so LP's in my collection.  

I also have most of the support gear associated with having the hardware and the software to play these recordings.  I have custom oilers, degreasers, deoxit, cleaners, lubricants, brushes and so forth just for the rejuvenation of the hardware.  I have reel to reel tape splicers, tape and media so I can add leaders to my tapes.  I have head cleaners, head lubricants, swabs and a demagnetizer for the reel to reel decks. I have storage bags for the reels and the records.  I have created custom sleeves for my 78 collection.  I have taken the artwork from nearly destroyed sleeves, and added it to new sleeves to at least preserve some of the information from the original sleeve.  I am adding my collection, a little at a time to Discogs so I have an accurate accounting of my collection.  So far I only have 400 or so entered.  I also purchased boxes for my collection of stuff from bags unlimited, which specializes in preservation.  I am trying very diligently to maintain my collection of gear and media so it can make it to the future for someone else to take care of into the next 50 years after I am done with them.

So what do you think, do I have too much gear?  Like I said I use most of it all the time.  I am playing the record players most days, the reel to reels most months, the amps at least weekly and I change up the speakers using banana plugs or the speaker selector switches depending on the configuration.  I use the TV the least of all the items on the list, but keep it for playing movies.

I am thinking it is time to turn it down a bit so I can listen longer, this will be a post at some point!

Keep on listening as long as you can.  

Peace out and Happy New Year 

Jeff

Take a stereo on vacation?

Yes, I take a stereo and a radio on my vacations.  I alter what I take based on who I am traveling with and where I am going.  I find that having music available to be played at a decent, good sounding volume level is a necessity when traveling.  I was able to get a couple days of listening in on both of my summer vacations this year.  I get a bit tired of only having the music they play on the radio in northern Michigan and need a variety!  I also take one of my Zenith Trans Oceanic radios, either the 3000-1 or the 7000 series radios.  I like the reception from both of them as I can pick up AM and SW from all over the place! 

When I go up north to the cabin I take my small flea-watt amp and a pair of Polk mini-monitors to listen to.  Placement of the speakers is a bit of a pain in the butt.  I choose the Polk's as they are front ported and can be placed up against a wall, if necessary.  I use my laptop with a music streamer DAC to play the music.  I find the sound pretty good for such a smallish setup.  The 2.5 Watts of the tube amp play the Polk's to a pretty decent sound level.  The sound is pretty good too! 

When I travel with my best friend to play video games and listen to music up north in a house we rent. I take my Sherwood 70WPC integrated amplifier and my pair of Paradigm Mini Monitor V.5s with a pair of stands.   I also bring my laptop and the music streamer, of course.  I find the sound pretty satisfying and it goes quite loud.

I have relegated the Sherwood to duty in my garage system, so I cannot bring it this year.  What I am going to do this year on guy's weekend is take the Paradigm's, a pair of stands, my Hafler pre-amp and my Parasound HCA-800II power amp.  I still plan to bring the laptop, but I want to be able to choose other sources like when I take the Sherwood.  I don't want to be switching cables all over the place, so I will take a couple decent cables to connect media players to the pre-amp and play different types of music than what I have on my laptop.  I expect the sound to be vastly improved as the Parasound is a very clean sounding amp, it is newer and it has 100WPC.  I certainly won't be able to turn it up all the way with the Paradigms, but with their decent efficiency they should go quite loud and sound very clean! 

What do I listen to when I travel?  I try and switch it up a bit, so I listen to some old Jazz, Rock, Soul, Funk, R&B, and Oldies.  I have some old radio shows that I have recorded over the years and they are fun to listen to as I have digitized them.  I have also digitized some of my old Cassette tapes that I made years and years ago.  I did this to basically be able to listen to them for years to come as cassette lifespan varies from brand to brand of tape.  I have music recorded on old El-cheapo tape, but mostly I have the old Memorex tapes then I upgraded to using Maxell High-bias tapes , some TDK's and Sony's along with some Scotch and Denon tapes that I started using when I realized that they would last longer.  Quite a bit of my tape collection is over 30 years old and they still play.  I bought a Nakamichi CR-1A tape deck a few years back to allow me to record from these old tapes.  I still had the first tape deck I purchased until a couple years ago, but it wasn't even that good when I bought it.  I plan to digitize my tape collection over the next few years.  That will take a while as I have hundreds of tapes. 

Why do I take a stereo on vacation?  Pure enjoyment!  I have found that I am less stressed out when I get some listening time every couple days.  Otherwise I get crabby and I am in a hurry to get home.  Listening to music is one of my favorite things in this world!  Thank you to all who make music, without it life would certainly suck a whole lot more!

Keep Listening!

Jeff