I have this CD and an LP by this musical group. I’m listening to the CD right now. It’s absolutely gorgeous. The kind of music you want to turn it up loud and just submerge yourself in. I can’t say enough good things about A Winged Victory For The Sullen. 🎵

This is not a post about bragging about my stereo.

First off, it is a nice system that sounds quite fantastic, but it' not a system that was just thousands and thousands of dollars. It is not an audiophile system. It’s about a $1500 system. Klipsch Reference RF-42 II speakers, which were the bottom of the Klipsch line of floor speaker when I bought them. I think they cost about $250 each. They sound great. They are enough. They are rated for a max of 75w of power. The receiver/amp is a Yamaha R-S300. It give you 50w per channel. Not giant, but again, plenty for our small house and the front room. It will fill up the room quite nicely with the speakers – a nice rich sound. The new CD player is a Yamaha CD-S303. Again, it a nice single-disc player. Frankly I think it sounds better than the one it replaced. I don’t know a lot about technical stereo stuff. The turntable is an Audio-Technica AT-LP120-USB. It sounds good. It is maybe the only component I might switch out in the next few years, but I’m in no rush.

When I replaced my old stereo (a big mistake! It was great!), there were not a lot of simple stereo systems available in the stores. Not like in the 1970s and 80s. I finally found this amp and speakers at Fryes. They were trying to get me to look the home theater systems. Nope. I have NO INTEREST in home theater. If I want a theater experience, I’ll go to the theater. I just want a simple 2-speaker stereo that sounds awesome and is only for listening to music. That’s it.

Second, I know times are tough for young people. They were rough for use when we got married in 1990, and I think times are tougher now. Our jobs sucked, but at least if you had been to college you could almost always find a job with enough pay to live on and health insurance if you looked for a couple of weeks. We had enough for a nice apartment on Barton Creek in Austin and we could buy a couple of CDs every week. Which we did. We still have all of them. And we had a nice stereo back then to listen to them. I think it is just harder for young people now, and I think a lot of young people prefer to be more flexible and mobile. They don’t want to carry a ton of records or CDs around with them. And why would they pay $25 or an LP or $15+ for a CD when they can have everything for $5 a month on Spotify. I mean, if you are listening on ear buds or a small device, that’s fine. It make sense.

I also know that many people simply prefer to keep their lives simple. A small apartment, not a lot of “stuff”. That is a good way to live. But man, I love having this stereo and just submerging myself in the music waves filling the room. It is maybe my one real extravagance in life, and I’m good with that.

One of the perks of being a middle-aged person with a job and a house is the ability to have a reasonably nice stereo and a house in which to play it as loud as you wish. Honestly, it sorta makes all the other bullshit and expense related to home ownership and adulthood worth it.

I say this not to brag about my cool stuff. I’m just saying I love my stereo and my LPs and CDs. It’s not a super expensive stereo, but it sounds really good. Yamaha amp/receiver, Yamaha CD player, Audio Technica turntable, two Klipsch floor speakers. That’s it. No bluetooth, no “home theater.” A stereo for listening to music, and only music, thank you very much.

I year or two ago I had a conversation with some people in their 20s about the notion of “owning” music. It made no sense to them. The idea of buying a CD for $15 or an LP for $25 was nonsensical for most of them. Given the media landscape and current technology this makes sense. A lot of younger people prefer portability, mobility, and flexibility. The economy isn’t really that great for a lot of them either so as one of them said, why would you spend $25 on an album when you can spend $5 a month on Spotify and have access to EVERYTHING. Their logic is sound, but I like my stereo and the experience it provides. I also enjoy having thousands of songs on my phone. That’s awesome too.

Anyway, I’m sitting here this morning listening to The Jam. Happiness and bliss is happening.