audiophiles or retrophiles

My best guesstimate is 53.2 percent.

Is there a point to your discourse? It would appear that you are someone attempting to comment on the state of the hobby from a perspective of a little reading and research rather than from actually taking the journey yourself. My suggestion to you is that the fun lives in the audible journey, not the reading or the theorizing...

"Solid state bad, tubes good." This has been true since transistors have existed! (It's a JOKE, boyz and girlz, it's a JOKE!!!!) Actually, SS equipment can sound quite good, and there are twelve of those cool-running little things in my 6-channel preamp.

It IS the journey, and it IS the music, too. Some of us emphasize one more than the other. Some of us realize we love to tweak things. I just removed Quad 989s from my system and added Eminent Technology LFT-8s--I can't tweak the Quads, but I surely can and am tweaking the ET8s (and they sound FABULOUS!).

If you love and enjoy the sound of your system HALF as much as I love and enjoy mine, you're a happy man, Don.
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I personally just think that it really takes a long time for a new technology to mature to the point that it is sonically competitve with older, more mature, technologies. Ten years ago, I did not own a CD player and ran out of the room when I heard one. CD software and hardware has really come a long, long way in the intervening years and the sound is quite good, even on modestly priced gear. I would say that solid-state has really improved, as well in this time period, to the point where it is competitive with valve ware, though somewhat different sounding. As for the higher maintainence required by the older technologies, you are right, there is, and has been, an aspect of elitism over setup issues, and it has contributed to the lack of a wider audience for the pursuit. But, I assure you, I would be more than pleased to give up my turntable, if the alternative offered equal sound quality, equal availability of source material, and the marvelous convience of CD. And let us not forget, there are many, many major works that have never been released in digital formats, and for which, LP, casette, or open reel tape are the only ways to enjoy these important parts of our recorded musical heritage. And as you so well indicated, it is about the music after all.

I think it is fair to say that not all "new technology" is better. Some is, I like the modern materials and techniques used to create some of the new cartridges, loudspeaker drivers, cables, or isolation technology. It's enjoyable to plug in a CD when I am working on something around the house or when we are too... preoccupied to clean, fetch, and catch an Lp side to side. But for my ears tube preamps and amps have a more visceral connection to making music, similar to that of a real acoustic instrument. It’s more than a hobby or a life style. And record collecting is something my friends and I have been doing our whole lives. There are so many events around music or caused by music or in the pursuit of music and the vinyl it resides on that I can not imagine what life would be like without it. There is the obvious fact that beyond the music is the visual art on a 12 ½” x 12 ½” scale, not to mention gatefolds. You don’t get that with the “perfect” modern format. And as I age I find the liner notes are getting a little small to scour. Well ironically, there’s always Lasik. Here's to modern technology, Cheers!

For those of you who wondered whether my exposure to audio was entirely through reading, my first experience with serious audio systems began in the early 1950s. I've built amps, preamps, and speaker cabinets. I've owned tubes, vinyl, and corner horns, and still own a collection of Westminister Lab series and two of the early Capital FDS LPs. My early research was in binaural processing. And I periodically listen to current high-end tubes and vinyl.

Although posed as a question about how many audiopiles are actually retrophiles, I was trying to make a point. Too often the advice given to a real question is you need vinyl or tubes to get good sound, and the advice is spewed forth smugly as though it should be self evident. Having matched my share of pairs of 6L6s and KT88s, and having adjusted my share of tone arms to track properly, I'm skeptical about the superiority of tubes and vinyl.

db