I've taken a lot of tips from here over the years, but never posted a topic before, so I thought I'd share the story of how me and 4 friends set up an Album Club about a decade ago.
Born out of a pub conversation, the idea was each month someone would host an evening to play some albums (and provide drinks and nibbles). We'd experience new music and have a bit of a catch up.
After the first round, it became painfully obvious that nobody (other than yours truly) actually had anything even approaching a bearable system to play music on. The lineup: a portable bluetooth speaker and a modern suitcase record player (to hear Led Zep on a Crossley is to know sorrow); a cheap 90s music centre; a childhood Dual/Denon system (sadly with a blown bass driver and cheapo cartridge with at least 20k hours on it) and lastly a Sony/Pioneer separates system that would have been reasonable had it not been reversed over by a car (I kid you not).
If I wasn't going to grind my teeth away listening to records played at 38rpm accompanied by neighbourhood dogs whining in distress, I clearly had to do something.
Luckily we live in an age where people are pretty much giving away decent mid level hifi to make room for more modern stuff. I made it my mission to get everyone a decent set of speakers, amp and record player for less money than my last stylus. Thanks to the usual auction sites and freecycle, I slowly replaced everything despite the withering/bemused/exasperated looks from my friends wives.
None of my friends have the slightest interest in further upgrading - I think they consider me eccentric for what I've spent on what is a modest system by WAM standards, but they're happy with their new setups and listen to a lot more music now.
I'd recommend forming an album club - they make for a great evening. Perhaps there are others out there?
Born out of a pub conversation, the idea was each month someone would host an evening to play some albums (and provide drinks and nibbles). We'd experience new music and have a bit of a catch up.
After the first round, it became painfully obvious that nobody (other than yours truly) actually had anything even approaching a bearable system to play music on. The lineup: a portable bluetooth speaker and a modern suitcase record player (to hear Led Zep on a Crossley is to know sorrow); a cheap 90s music centre; a childhood Dual/Denon system (sadly with a blown bass driver and cheapo cartridge with at least 20k hours on it) and lastly a Sony/Pioneer separates system that would have been reasonable had it not been reversed over by a car (I kid you not).
If I wasn't going to grind my teeth away listening to records played at 38rpm accompanied by neighbourhood dogs whining in distress, I clearly had to do something.
Luckily we live in an age where people are pretty much giving away decent mid level hifi to make room for more modern stuff. I made it my mission to get everyone a decent set of speakers, amp and record player for less money than my last stylus. Thanks to the usual auction sites and freecycle, I slowly replaced everything despite the withering/bemused/exasperated looks from my friends wives.
None of my friends have the slightest interest in further upgrading - I think they consider me eccentric for what I've spent on what is a modest system by WAM standards, but they're happy with their new setups and listen to a lot more music now.
I'd recommend forming an album club - they make for a great evening. Perhaps there are others out there?
