Suggestions from all you wise ones


This may be long but I will try to be brief. 63 years old, spent $1200.00 back in 1974 for my system. I'm known around my circle as a music nut. I only have a couple of friends that are into music as I. But, they have no systems, they would be happy listening to some old Zeppelin through a sea shell. I've been following this site for months and feel really upset that I'm missing out on my number one passion, music. I'm running a new NAD C165BEE That replaced my old Adcom GTP-500 II that started having balance problems, a Adcom GFA-555 II amp which I need to feed my Infinity Kappa 8's that are in great shape. Just got back into vinyl so I had my 1974 Thorens TD 160 tuned up. I think it sounds great. Is there any of you that live in the Milwaukee area and be willing to give me a listen to your system? Or any comments from you all.
Thanks Very Much !!!
Some more info, I have a new Grado Red cartridge and had to get a phono amp to run through a different input on the new NAD due to the lack of volume.
golden210
Hello Golden - I don't live in the area, so I can't offer a convenient listening session, but I would be happy to lend any advice that I can.  If you fancy a visit to Miami, let me know!

If you feel that you are missing out on your music passion, is that from an audiophile / sound quality perspective?  If so, there are many ways to upgrade, just decide on a budget, and consider your weakest link.  The people on this forum will happily help!  Your amplifier is a good one (a Nelson Pass classic I believe!), and the speakers are high quality, though they are probably getting a little long in the tooth.

Are you using a streaming service such as Tidal?  This can be a very, Very good way to turn up the music passion meter a lot!  By having access to literally millions of albums, you can go wild in seeking out new artists, or albums.  Tidal gives you access to millions of albums at CD quality or higher for a monthly fee.  I have a large CD collection (2,000+ albums), and I also listen to vinyl (a smaller collection than my digital), but despite owning a fair amount of music, I would be lost without Tidal.  I can get on a whim with an artist and listen to virtually anything that they've recorded.  It's pretty outstanding.  

What are you using for music on the digital end in your system?  CD player?  Or do you already have a streaming option in place? 
When is the last time you heard live music?Go see a few concerts of differing types of music.Since our ultimate goal is to reproduce recordings as closely to the original event as possible the only baseline you should use to gauge your system is a concert or 3...
 +1 to above reply regarding Streaming music...Even a free service like basic Pandora will expose you to a ton of music & artists in your favorite genre 's you didn't know existed...
Thanks guys, I don't use a streaming service. I have over 3000 CD's and about 150 quality albums. That keeps me busy.
@golden210- So, you were last involved in 1974, and are only now just getting back into it due to your love of music and want to get your bearings?
First, nothing happened between 1974 and now. :) Record manufacturing declined, the audiophile market expanded beyond a handful of expensive brands to a lot of expensive brands as well as a lot of hype. Numerous factions developed- the tube v transistor schools, the analog v. digital schools, the explosion of ancillaries, from cable to various resonance and isolation devices. Perhaps most significant, the Internet happened, and people no longer rely on their monthly dose of "informed entertainment" via commercial magazines to glean information. 

You should go hear some systems. In my experience, home listening and live performance are very different worlds, and though we have come quite far since 1974 in some ways, I’m not sure the gap between live and reproduced has closed that much, though hi-fi has gotten much better in many respects. At the same time, many people- not just fringe retro-geeks, have taken to vintage equipment, from rim or idler drive or direct drive turntables, to SET amps and horns, old Western Electric hook up wire, and other antediluvian technologies.
How does this relate to music? That one’s on you. I found the "audiophile" approved listening diet to be far too limiting- sonics over musical quality. It took me a while to break through that but once I did, my level of enjoyment increased as the range of what I listen to expanded into genres and artists I missed or ignored. Streaming is very good (though I don’t do it) to access a wide range of material. Ultimately, you can get recommendations, but aside from sonics (and even opinions on that vary), the choice of music and performance is a very personal one.
I treat it like an adventure of exploration. One thing the Internet can do is help you with research on recordings, artists, bands and history. I buy a considerable amount of older records and the hunt is fun, as is knowledge about different pressings. Record cleaning is important and that has also improved since 1974 when, apart from the Discwasher and a couple of dry brush devices, the only machine was a Monks, something that few people had access to.
Enjoy the journey-- we are approximately the same age- I stayed plugged in to a degree throughout the years, but what has changed most for me isn’t the equipment but my interest in pursuing different genres and recordings.
Welcome back to the fold.
^^^ Go hear as many systems as you want BUT without Live Music reference as to what  instruments actually sound like how the hell do you know what your chasing?