Young new members

harman/kardon

From the Fatherland
Subscriber
While browsing the Birthday calendar regulary, I have noticed a lot of very young new members - a remarkable number of teens and twens.

A lot of them will never or hardly post, but I am convinced that some of them will become one day lively participants in our community.
The appearance of younger blood will guarantee the future of our forum.



When AK members - friends - silently appear... ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
While browsing the Birthday calendar regulary, I have noticed a lot of very young new members - a remarkable number of teens and twens.

A lot of them will never or hardly post, but I am convinced that some of them will become one day lively participants in our community. The recruitment of younger blood will guarantee the future of our forum.

When AK members - friends - silently appear... ;)

I too have noticed this--and it is a good thing for the future of AK (IMO). There seems to be an increased interest among the younger folks regarding vintage gear and analogue recording/playback devices (tape and vinyl). Think "I remember dad's or grandpa's old stereo--and it was amazing"--after all, they grew up in what I consider to be a rather "bad" era of BPC, HT, big box stores, and low-grade mp3s.

As for the "silence"--they are doing their homework, and will eventually ask questions or post something, once they have done their "homework". Back in the "day", we didn't have the internet, so the only way to learn was to meet someone and ask questions or do the ol' "trial and error" experimentation. Now, a lot of this "wisdom" is only a few keystrokes away, so they "lurk" at AK and other sites until they are ready jump in and participate.

I don't think "recruitment" is necessary, but a warm welcome and tolerance for the never-ending "noob" questions will hook them and keep them, and they will continue to learn and advance in the hobby.
 
I felt in a way that "recruitment" is a wrong word in this context, I wanted to express it differently but I failed...
 
Last edited:
I wonder if a lot of these younger AK'ers are "into" headphones? I noticed that the group spending time at CanJam at RMAF this year was much younger than those spending time in the "speaker" demo areas. More than likely the shear cost of buying audio equipment (vintage or new) keeps the younger set somewhat on the sidelines, but as has already been said - they will become active as they "join in" the hobby more actively. Those who do post from time to time, do seem to be enthusiastic. It behooves all of us to be supportive when they do chime in :)
 
I wonder if a lot of these younger AK'ers are "into" headphones? I noticed that the group spending time at CanJam at RMAF this year was much younger than those spending time in the "speaker" demo areas. More than likely the shear cost of buying audio equipment (vintage or new) keeps the younger set somewhat on the sidelines, but as has already been said - they will become active as they "join in" the hobby more actively. Those who do post from time to time, do seem to be enthusiastic. It behooves all of us to be supportive when they do chime in :)

I'm no youngster, but I got here by starting into headphones. There's a huge thread on head-fi about using vintage receivers for their headphone outputs and I started hunting for those and ended up here. Then the vintage gear eclipsed the headphone interest and I've since sold off most of my headphone gear and have 5 audio systems with 3 TT's and maybe 600-700 records - when I started into headphones, I had no TT's and a handful of old LPs from my teenage years.

So in the quest to save $ on headphone amps by getting old vintage receivers, I sure have not saved $ overall, but have had a ton of fun and met a bunch of cool people. So it's been great.
 
I'm no youngster, but I got here by starting into headphones. There's a huge thread on head-fi about using vintage receivers for their headphone outputs and I started hunting for those and ended up here. Then the vintage gear eclipsed the headphone interest and I've since sold off most of my headphone gear and have 5 audio systems with 3 TT's and maybe 600-700 records - when I started into headphones, I had no TT's and a handful of old LPs from my teenage years.

So in the quest to save $ on headphone amps by getting old vintage receivers, I sure have not saved $ overall, but have had a ton of fun and met a bunch of cool people. So it's been great.

Very interesting. Yes, those old receivers did (and still do I'm sure) do a good job of driving headphones.
 
I felt in a way that "recruitment" is a wrong word in this context, I wanted to express it differently but I failed...

Do not feel that you have ever "failed"--there are some things, "nuances" lost in interpretation. I never meant that in the true sense of "recruitment" --more of a welcoming environment to ask the "noob/newbie" questions and get relevant answers.
 
I noticed this summer that there was a solid core of younger buyers picking up records from me at the flea market. They are a very informed group and do research on the music from different eras. I've been really impressed by some of the discussions I've had with them.

I routinely mention AK as a great site for music and equipment information to the younger generation. One kid who could almost be my grandson, stops by and sits behind the table with me and we talk music for a good piece. It warms my heart to see the flag being carried into the future. Encourage anyone you meet and share the knowledge.
 
I'm almost 27 and this fills the huge void I had the last few years. I've never done something with the heart and diligence I put into this. We all need our hobbies or few things to make us happy. I feel at home here and have made my entrance relatively recently.

It doesn't feel stereotypical audiophile snobby,...well to me anyway haha no seriously I've got nothing but respect for everyone. This is hard hobby to figure out yourself let alone putting us all together with so many different music paths haha. Patience is a virtue,...to me that couldn't be anymore true.
 
I too have noticed this--and it is a good thing for the future of AK (IMO). There seems to be an increased interest among the younger folks regarding vintage gear and analogue recording/playback devices (tape and vinyl). Think "I remember dad's or grandpa's old stereo--and it was amazing"--after all, they grew up in what I consider to be a rather "bad" era of BPC, HT, big box stores, and low-grade mp3s.

As for the "silence"--they are doing their homework, and will eventually ask questions or post something, once they have done their "homework". Back in the "day", we didn't have the internet, so the only way to learn was to meet someone and ask questions or do the ol' "trial and error" experimentation. Now, a lot of this "wisdom" is only a few keystrokes away, so they "lurk" at AK and other sites until they are ready jump in and participate.

I don't think "recruitment" is necessary, but a warm welcome and tolerance for the never-ending "noob" questions will hook them and keep them, and they will continue to learn and advance in the hobby.

I think you are right! This is what I did and I only started posting here a few months ago.

Even though I am not a teen anymore (I'm 22 years old), I started trying to up grade my sound in my late teens. I started with a Crosley Cruiser turntable (Yeah, I know. But I only had beat up records anyway), Then I bought an Ion Turntable and a set of Bose computer speakers, which at the time, sounded pretty good.

I was happy with the sound until I watched Youtube videos of vintage turntables and I knew I wanted a vintage system. After searching, instantly found AK. I have "lurked" on this site for a few years before joining and found a WEALTH of information here. I had no need to post until I got a Pioneer SX-950 receiver.

I have to say, without AK and its knowledgeable members, I probably would never had the courage to tackle the restoration of my SX-950 (still in progress).

I did a LOT of "homework" before starting the project and found several threads that answered my questions as well as opening my eyes to things I was unaware of.

Thanks for everyone's willingness to share what they know and helping others! Us "noobs" really do appreciate it!
 
I'm in this boat for sure at 28. I've been collecting records for about ten years but have only recently started buying vintage gear. A year ago, I had one receiver, one pair of speakers, and one turntable, all modern pieces that I have mostly sold off. Suddenly, I have 5 amps/receivers, 6 sets of speakers, and 5 turntables. I really can't control myself, and I love learning from all of the experts on this forum as I try various restoration projects. I teach high-school math, and it's crazy how poor kids' access is to music these days. I don't think it's their fault, they've just never heard what music can sound like and modern mediums are just so easy. I'm planning to stick a setup in my classroom when we get back from winter break, so we will see how my principal likes that.
 
Hobbies are a wonderful thing in more ways than one....

If you look at all the successful societies like the German and British you see how hands on hobbies increase a persons competency in general. Hobbies increase attention to detail, problem solving and promotes a sense of accomplishment! There are older retired gentlemen in England that are the absolute expert on vintage sports cars due to just being interested in a hobby and the same is true for some members of AK when it comes to audio expertise. Cooperation based upon common interests creates community interaction that leads to an improved society. It's as simple as just doing things instead of paying someone to do it because it creates a never ending learning cycle that benefits every part of a persons life. Then when birds of a feather flock together in ernest, change for the better happens and that's the difference between our present day and age and how life use to be in the good old days. It's what people did for themselves as a whole contributing to society. Because there was a time when life was more rewarding due to everyone doing for themselves and the reward was self reliance.
 
So far I think I'm the youngest to chip into this thread at 21, I started this hobby at about 15 when I heard a fairly nice system from the 80's I think it was all top end Technic's gear. I learned that day that you don't need headphones to hear detail in music, and I strived to get that quality for myself and bought a old 80's MiDi combo unit and was always disappointed with it. So I started googling around and started to find better gear, I started to understand why my MiDi Sony HST-D205 sounded garbage so I started investing more and more pocket money/ lunch money to buy a decent pair of loudspeakers with a Sanyo DCA-3510 *Now lovingly nicknamed Bertha. My test amp* eventually that got replaced with a Technics SU-V3 but still that wasn't enough, so I did more googling and stumbled across a site called audiokarma, and it was there I read multiple posts by a bunch of old folks ;) driveling on about their old Receiver thingy's and with that I eventually found myself a SX-450 and after that I started reading about folks who "re-capped" them to make them sound even better, so I re capped my SX-450 and it was a whole new world, and since I've been investing more and more time, effort, money, blood, sweat and tears into finding that detailed sound I crave.
 
I felt in a way that "recruitment" is a wrong word in this context, I wanted to express it differently but I failed...

Your a subscriber, you don't need to ask to correct anything just click on the edit button and make the changes and save it.
 
I don't think "recruitment" is necessary, but a warm welcome and tolerance for the never-ending "noob" questions will hook them and keep them, and they will continue to learn and advance in the hobby.
Exactly. :)

We only need to remember one little thing--"do a search" or "Google is your friend" is not a good reply to a newer member. A bit of a preamble, a welcome, then mention that if this newer member searches for "Xxxxx", or maybe try "Yyyyy 123", they'll find what they're after. Just a little "customer service" thing I've tried to promote throughout the years.
 
Back
Top Bottom