Audiohaulics Anonymous.. You have a problem? How do you cope? Your stories.

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Alobar

Addicted Member
Ever feel like you can't stop? Is the next purchase always your last? Until the next? Do you sneak in gear behind your spouses back?

I seem to be borderline on this myself even though my budget is minuscule compared with others.. I currently put $200 into an audio account every month, but I am always running it in the red, and still I can't see any end to it! I have other interests besides audio but they are all suffering, and for what? A little bump in SQ? Another shining face in the audio rack?

How about you? Are you the equivalent of the man who says he doesn't have a drinking problem in that he drinks, gets drunk, falls down, no problem? Or perhaps you have a need for something new all the time out of boredom? Do you have an exit strategy? Or is this a lifetime weight to carry.. I want to hear stories from the front lines!

How many feel audio has ruined their life? Anyone get divorced over audio? Evicted? Bankrupted? Anyone ever recover cold turkey? What was that like?

Or perhaps for the more wealthy, this is not a problem at all.. Or is it anyway, only with much bigger stakes?
 
Alobar said:
ow many feel audio has ruined their life? Anyone get divorced over audio? Evicted? Bankrupted? Anyone ever recover cold turkey? What was that like?
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The guy who owned a record store in Houston I used to frequent mentioned one day that his wife divorced him because he spent all his money on audio stuff. I thought he was joking, but a worker at the place told me soon afterward it was true - and that he, himself, was divorced for pretty much the same reason. Scared me straight.

And as for coping - I've found that doing DIY projects helps keep the cost part of the equation down and to help slow the upgrade-itis. Of course, I'm now getting to that point where I want to build components that I have absolutely no use for just because the project looks fun.
 
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Ehhh.
For many years I routinely spent much more on records than I will ever likely spend on equipment.
I keep a personal stash of cash but only because I've been doing the same since I was a kid.
If my wife ever gave me trouble about any of my spending, I'd just trot out the figures she spends traveling.
 
45rpmspinner said:
Ehhh.
For many years I routinely spent much more on records than I will ever likely spend on equipment.
I keep a personal stash of cash but only because I've been doing the same since I was a kid.
If my wife ever gave me trouble about any of my spending, I'd just trot out the figures she spends traveling.
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Right on.. I hate traveling anymore and to me traveling is just as discretionary as audio purchases..
 
Music and audio equipment enhances my life. I don’t take it to far but like try to listen to my 2 channel system just about every day that I’m home. I share my love of music with my wife and family.

Fortunately I have what I need to be happy and comfortable with some extra cash to have a hobby.
 
I go through buying spurts then I get tired of the clutter and sell like crazy. A few months ago I decided I wanted vintage integrated amps and tuners and sold all but three of my receivers. Lately I have been buying the speakers that have been raved about on here.......I have a set of Dynaco A 25s on the way as a matter of fact. If someone has to decide between a speaker and rent however then it is time to admit a problem.

I cannot imagine letting ANY hobby ruin a marriage.......that shows a lot of other problems were around before the hobby.
 
I already am suspecting my audio spending problems are going to pale next to others..
Keep em comming, I'm already feeling better about myself!
 
Archguy said:
Tell us more? What was the cure? I may need it.
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There is no cure. It's like being a recovering alcoholic. You are either recovering or an alcoholic. In otherwords, the disease is with you....always.

If I went into an audio store I had to be careful. It was like being an alcoholic and walking into a bar. I kept my hands in my pockets, I left the wallet in its place, I tried very hard to avoid the temptations.

If you give in and continue to peruse the bar, DON'T ORDER ANYTHING! Don't let the bartender serve you a drink.

But, to this day, I'm still fighting the battle. Who knows at what weak point I may be confronted by a McIntosh component and I'll want to open up that bottle again...
 
I am one of the lucky seven to ten percent of the population who is an alcoholic.

Among other things, I consumed alcohol daily for 35 years. The last time I had any was November 5, 2005. But that obsession had to go somewhere and it wound up enveloping my pretty much life long interest, fascination, or whatever in music and HiFi/stereo equipment.

But not necessarily just stereo gear.

My first attempt at abstaining from alcohol, 12 years earlier, resulted in a semi-uncontrolled urge to find and purchase a particular color/pattern of carnival/depression glass. I spent several thousand by the time I thought "this is nuts" only to let it all go at an auction for about $160 in my pocket.

An obsession, is an obsession, is an obsession and in my case anyway, it could be about anything. I have felt many times that my more recent obsession "is nuts" too but it is more difficult to rid myself of the offending items because I gave them new life (sort of) and like the way they look. But I'm hindered by having no time to actually try and sell the stuff.

My contemporaries, those friend of a similar age, did not suffer from obsessiveness as I did so were able to set and meet financial goals and are therefore, now retired. Me, I'm carrying a horrendous amount of debt thanks to my lifelong behavior and now being at the time of life when my "best before" date is behind me, I must work twice the hours for 75% of my former income. So being as there are 24 hours in a day and I am home 8 to 9 of them, there is no time for me to do anything - and I mean anything.

And so the gear sits, surrounding me, taunting me.
 
Do I have a problem? Maybe...$50K+ MSRP of mostly modern gear shouldn't be unreasonable should it? Hey its my big hobby, I could have a bass boat instead...but this is more enjoyable.

How do I cope? By buying carefully, and knowing that I can resell for about what I paid for. Add the money I saved to the pot, and I can afford that next upgrade.

Will it create financial difficulty? No. I never financed anything. Never compromised my finances to buy gear. Yes I have skirted the edge on that rule sometimes, but never stepped over the line. Now you ask my wife, and she would probably say I am nuts. Oh well, she is probably right...and most people would agree with her.

Stop? AA (Audio Anonymous) is for quitters.

Cheers
Mister Pig
 
Yamaki said:
If I went into an audio store I had to be careful. It was like being an alcoholic and walking into a bar. I kept my hands in my pockets, I left the wallet in its place, I tried very hard to avoid the temptations.

If you give in and continue to peruse the bar, DON'T ORDER ANYTHING! Don't let the bartender serve you a drink.
Click to expand...

I hear you. Used to be books for me. Had to avoid book stores completely. They helped by shutting down, coast-to-coast. Then I discovered online rare-book dealers.

When I was married I was kept apart from many of the things I loved. So when I became single I gave in and spent a fortune on really nice European cars. I could use that money back now. The audio obsession isn't nearly as ruinous as the car thing, so far anyway. But it's a tad worrisome, I can't deny.

But, to this day, I'm still fighting the battle. Who knows at what weak point I may be confronted by a McIntosh component and I'll want to open up that bottle again...
Click to expand...

Hmm, I'm in negotiations on one so that means I might soon have an extra...or two... :idea:

62vauxhall said:
And so the gear sits, surrounding me, taunting me.
Click to expand...

If nothing else, you're a very compelling writer. And at some point the money you'll make from selling gear could outweigh the extra time spent on your job. Right?

This discussion is really helpful to me. Like a 12-step group, sort of. Some people's stories don't speak to you, others you say "there but for the grace of God go I" and others start hitting home. I appreciate it.
 
I never went too far overboard. I did hide and fib about prices at one time (early in the marriage) with the first wife, though. However, that ended when I was selling audio for a living because selling used equipment from home (while selling new at work) added very significantly to our income. When we divorced after sixteen years of marriage, it wasn't anything about audio, or money.

I wasn't the type who bought a lot of gear I didn't use. I needed just one pair of speakers per system. Nor did I buy non-working units with the delusion of someday repairing them. No, I found less healthy outlets for my obsessions, but learned to tame them, as well.

Christine and I don't lie to one another about anything. Don't need to. If one of us considers spending a significant amount on anything, we discuss it, even though we have separate checking accounts. I did surprise her with the Khorns, but it was the size, not the expenditure, that was the surprise. She knew I was looking for new-to-me speakers, and kept that kitty in cash at home. We have your money, my money, and our money accounts.

As for upgraditis, like many folks I kept making moves more lateral than up, until some AKers - Mister Pig, E-Stat, JoeESP9, and many others - convinced me by example, and by posts sometimes explicitly stated, that when you make a move, make sure it isn't a lateral one. Make it a bigger move. Makes sense, so I started saving.

It brought me the best sounding system I've ever owned. I don't even think about upgrading amp or speakers now. I'm content with what I have. It works well in my limited space, and that space - and my need to compromise speaker placement within it - means I would benefit little by further upgrading. I found a system that works well in here, and I'm also happy with the bedroom system.

The biggest plus is that I also found a wife who never complains about my audio interests, or pursuits. We're now sixteen years together with no thought of ever separating.

My advice to any who are struggling with audio acquisition is to learn to save. Pay off debt. Pretty soon you find you can buy what you want without needing to lie to anyone, especially yourself. And if you have plenty money, don't mess with lots of cheap stuff. If, like me, you don't have a lot of money, delayed gratification satisfies in many ways, including one's own self-esteem, because you are under your own control. I was a slow learner, myself, but finally got there.

That's my two cents. You can keep the change. Now I'll put the soap-box back in the garage.
 
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I may have a bit of a problem but I don't think it's bad or uncontrollable. I'm probably in the black if I add up all of my buys and sells. I don't consider myself a flipper and I don't have very many sells but three of them have probably funded my entire collection. The value of the gear that I listen to isn't worth a great sum but it's not peanuts either. I've been wanting a particular pair of vintage speakers that don't come up for sale very often for sometime now but I'm not willing to spend 3k for a pair of them. Well at least not yet. I'm actually thinking of building a pair or something similar but it would still cost over 1k to build them.

I'm fairly happy with where I'm at but I still want to upgrade some and experiment. It'll just take time and patience to get to where I want to go but when that time gets here the bar may be higher.

My family always comes first.
 
As Leo Bloom says in "The Producers": "It's not important, it's a minor compulsion, I can deal with it if I want to."
 
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