Gear Geek vs. Music Nerd

[SlumpBuster]

So I had a slow day at work today, and caught up on my forum reading. There is a thread in the Steel Cage currently that I don't wish to revive, but in it there are accusations thrown of a person being a "gear geek." It is not surprising that no one ever cops to being a gear geek, even though many of us painfully and obviously are. In fact, some of us are obsesive fetishists over audio gear. It doesn't matter how many records we own, for some of us, we know where to get our fix: the stereo shop. But, alas the badge of gear geek, often like "audiophile," is often avoided and denied even when someone is caught red handed with their fingers in the techno slop. Or, worse yet, caugth with their Golden Ear waiving in the breeze. So without further ado, and with much pilfering from Jeff Foxworthy I give you "If.... you might be" of Gear Geek vs. Music Nerd.

If you’ve ever bi-wired speakers… you might be a gear geek.

If you’ve ever had to explain to your wife why you’re buying a 20 year old amp for more than $500… you might be a gear geek.

If you’ve ever seriously contended the legitimacy of double blind testing … you might be a gear geek.

If you’ve ever taken public transportation to audition gear, and then brought that gear home on the bus… you might be a gear geek.

If you’ve never heard of the Rave Recordings forum… you might be a gear geek.

If you have at least two complete systems gathering dust in a closet… you might be a gear geek.

If you’ve ever made your daughter upset fussing with the audio settings while she’s just trying to watch “That’s so Raven”… then you might be a gear geek.

If you think Robert Johnson’s is a good place to have breakfast… then you might be a gear geek.



If you’ve ever gone to a Yo La Tengo concert, and it wasn't just to get some artsy chick… then you might be a music nerd.

If you've ever claimed to have not liked anything REM did after Document... then you might a music nerd.

If you've ever claimed any band anywhere ever "sold out" or if you have ever claimed for any band at any time to have "only liked their early stuff"... then you might be a music nerd.

If you’ve ever chosen a side in the Dave Davies/Ray Davies and/or Liam Gallaugher/Noel Gallaugher debate… then you might be music nerd.

If your girlfriend just doesn’t understand the genius that is Dinosaur Jr…. then you might be a music nerd.

If you’ve ever in a drunken stupor declared Billy Corgan as having unseated Little Richard as the “Architect of Rock’n’ Roll”… then you might be a music nerd.

If you’ve ever paid fifty bucks for a Japanese import pressing of anything… then you might be a music nerd.

If you’ve ever traveled overseas and your friends gave you a list of records to buy (or if you were the friend giving the list)… then you might be a music nerd.

If you’ve ever engaged in a debate about Rock and Roll being descended from Country music rather then the Blues… then you might be music nerd.


And last but not least, if you collect 78’s… your both.

For the record, many of these have been culled from my own experience and am guilty of more then my fair share.

Cheers, Slumpy

[N. Abstentia]

Dang, I'm both..but I don't collect 78's!

[Bernd]

I own up to some-but not to all of them. And I do not collect 78s' either.

The power of music gives you wings

Bernd

[topspeed]

:D:D:D ROTFLMAO!

Good stuff, Slump.

I'm definitely not a gear geek, but I don't know that I'm a music maven either (who ya callin' a nerd?!?).

Besides, anyone in their right mind knows there is no debate: Without Ray Davies, there would be no Kinks. Sheesh :rolleyes:

[JohnMichael]

When friends gound out I had my Rega RB250 rewired and replaced the stock subplatter with a machined subplatter I fell into the gear geek camp. Of course later when they found I had 5 different recordings of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" 3 with orchestrations by Ravel, one with a different orchestration and a solo piano version I was labeled a music nerd.

[SlumpBuster]

First, I think turntable tweaks are a whole different ball of wax. Since a turntable is mostly a mechanical device (vs. an electrical device) many tweaks are justifiable and verifiable. Heavy bases, clamps, platters, suspensions, ect. all make sense. I don't think that is necessarily all that geeky.... Dammit! I just advocate a gear geek position! Oh, well.

However,
"5 different recordings of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" 3 with orchestrations by Ravel, one with a different orchestration and a solo piano version I was labeled a music nerd"
Yep... no doubt... you're a nerd. :D In fact, I don't even understand most of that sentence. :P

[GMichael]

OH no! I answered yes to 8 of them (5/3) And I do have several cases of 78's.

Someone stop me before I buy again!

[Florian]

I think its sad that you guys can't accept that a equipment geek and music geek can be the same person. Do you think myself, E-Stat or Mr Y. are only equipment geeks? Or the Genesis II.5 guy in the gallery? A music and equipment geek can be the same person but those with envy are quick on the draw when it comes to labeling someone a equipment geek.

[L.J.]

Well I'm guilty of a few gear geek statements.

What's a 78 :confused:

[JohnMichael]

First, I think turntable tweaks are a whole different ball of wax. Since a turntable is mostly a mechanical device (vs. an electrical device) many tweaks are justifiable and verifiable. Heavy bases, clamps, platters, suspensions, ect. all make sense. I don't think that is necessarily all that geeky.... Dammit! I just advocate a gear geek position! Oh, well.

However,
"5 different recordings of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" 3 with orchestrations by Ravel, one with a different orchestration and a solo piano version I was labeled a music nerd"
Yep... no doubt... you're a nerd. :D In fact, I don't even understand most of that sentence. :P

It gets worse. I forgot about my sixth copy of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. It is a jazz version conducted by Allyn Ferguson.

[SlumpBuster]

[QUOTE=Florian]I think its sad that you guys can't accept that a equipment geek and music geek can be the same person."

Um.. Duh? That is the entire point to my post.

"A music and equipment geek can be the same person but those with envy are quick on the draw when it comes to labeling someone a equipment geek."

Um... You might want dial it down a bit. I had no intention of rekindling your rant or baiting you. This is supposed to be all in good fun. Don't be a sphincter... get a sense of humor. :D

[Florian]

I am a pure stiff who never laughs and i dont like jokes either. I am never funny and surely take everything seriously and think that everyone with less then 100K systems are pure jerks.

[SlumpBuster]

I am a pure stiff who never laughs and i dont like jokes either. I am never funny and surely take everything seriously and think that everyone with less then 100K systems are pure jerks.
See! Now that's what I'm talkin' about. Thats funny. :D We all have to laugh at ourselves. Its even funnier imagining it with a german accent. Like Dieter on Sprockets. "Now touch my, Monkey. Touch hiiim!"

[GMichael]

See! Now that's what I'm talkin' about. Thats funny. :D We all have to laugh at ourselves. Its even funnier imagining it with a german accent. Like Dieter on Sprockets. "Now touch my, Monkey. Touch hiiim!"

You want a purple cat to touch your monkey?

Hope ya got some band aids.

[GMichael]

everyone with less then 100K systems are pure jerks.

Oh! That hits home. Like a dart in the heart, shot from a canon. It hurts so bad. I feel the life spilling out of me. I feel faint. Everythings getting dark. I'm slipping away. Fading, fading.... Elisabeth! I'm coming to join ya honey!

[PDK]

Yikes!! This hits a bit too close to home...

I'm not a nerd or a geek- I'm just a firm believer in redundancy! That's why I've got four iPods, multiple copies of the same record titles (you need different formats and sometimes you just forget where it is or that you had it to begin with), barely used speakers and components conveniently out of view in the guest bedroom closet, subsciptions to multiple HT and music mags, one browser window open to audiogon and the other on xfm.co.uk reviews, and sketches and equipment lists for the home we're building in 2007!

However, I've drawn the line at one wife. Luckily, I managed to find one who doesn't mind my (audio/video) dalliances!

[topspeed]

What's a 78 :confused:
Oh man, you must be have been born after the first Star Wars was released, right?

A 78 is in reference to LP's, you know...records, vinyl, analog. The big black discs with grooves around the circumference. Get it?

[L.J.]

Oh man, you must be have been born after the first Star Wars was released, right?

A 78 is in reference to LP's, you know...records, vinyl, analog. The big black discs with grooves around the circumference. Get it?

I just turned 29 a month ago.

Oh, that's what I figured. I thought they were just called records or vinyl. I never heard the expression 78 before. :o

[SlumpBuster]

A 78 is more than just a record, it is really old record. "78" is a reference to the RPMS. i.e. a 33 plays at 33 1/3 RPM, 45 at 45 RPM and 78 at 78ish RPM. Actually, depending on the record company a 78 should be played at anywhere from 70 to 89 RPM. I think they stopped making them entirely in the early 1960's, but most people associate them with the period between the wars.

[GMichael]

It goes kinda like this:

CD's now
33&1/3 old (late 60's through 70's)
45's older (50's to early 60's. mostly singles)
78's old as dust from when turntables needed to be wound up with a spring. Call granny.

[L.J.]

My parents had a record player. My mom was the music lover in the family. She went to cassette and then to CD. I have no clue what she did with all her records. I just never heard anyone say anything about a 78. Or a 45 or 33 for that matter. Well now I know.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I just turned 29 a month ago.

Oh, that's what I figured. I thought they were just called records or vinyl. I never heard the expression 78 before. :o

I am ten years older than you, and I thought a 78 was something restaurants served appetizers on. LOL

[Feanor]

First off I have to say that your Music Nerd examples pertain to popular music which I hate and never listen to. But that's OK: someone could come up with examples for classical music as damning -- actually, much, much worse.

Be that as it might, I love music but I'm not obsessive about performances, performers, or even attending live events. I think I have three versions of Bach's Brandenburg Concerts -- no biggee. So I'm not a Music Nerd.

Gear Geek is an other matter. Yeah, I've hauled stuff home on pubic transit from Toronto all the way to Guelph, Ontario, for example. But I'm not the worst example: e.g. I don't think the length of leads on a resistor makes much difference.

[Feanor]

Oh man, you must be have been born after the first Star Wars was released, right?

A 78 is in reference to LP's, you know...records, vinyl, analog. The big black discs with grooves around the circumference. Get it?
But they belong to my wife, so it doesn't count.;)

[Resident Loser]

It goes kinda like this:

CD's now
33&1/3 old (late 60's through 70's)
45's older (50's to early 60's. mostly singles)
78's old as dust from when turntables needed to be wound up with a spring. Call granny.

Sorry TS...78s and LPs...very different...

...78s were actually available into the 60s in some parts of the world and as it has been pointed out there was a wide latitiude in that 78RPM speed as was there an equally wide variance of playback EQ curves...different mfrs. had different ones particularly European vs. US...the RIAA standardized it all. One of my valued articles is a Sun Records 78 of "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins(he wrote it) b/w "Honey Don't". Ringo Starr did a cover with that group he was with...a...er..The Beatles...There are still some TTs available with the speed and some cart mfrs. (Stanton comes to mind, as I have one) who make stylii suitable for proper playback.

LPs have been around for quite some time, in the early days they were for pro apps and were called transcription disks and were 16" in dia. Bing Crosby used 'em for his radio show until sometime after WWII, which brought some re-worked German Magnetophon tape machines to the U.S., He is also responsible for the nascent stages of the development of VTRs, but that's a whole 'nother thing. In 1948 the 12" Columbia "Microgroove" was introduced and most of us are aware of how that evolved. The 45 was introduced (RCA maybe)as some sort of "competiton" for the LP, which seems strange because the 45s were aimed more a the pop audience and record changers(yes, there were 45RPM EPs), whereas the LPs gave classical listeners a respite from changing their 78RPM recordings of operas every few minutes...just another case of the industry screwing things up like Beta vs VHS and the competing formats and ultimately failed debacle called "quad"...

Howzabout some bonus trivia for the kiddies...16RPM too slow for music, used primarily for the spoken word and language lessons...or maybe something a bit more current...duplicate LP catalogs albums released in both mono and stereo...you couldn't play stereo disks on a mono player...different groove dimensions, you would destroy the disk if you did so.

Funny how the suits actually catered to the public waybackwhen and had transitional phases to avoid outright obsolescence...now it's "Nope! $h!tcan it all, THIS is all we are making, like it or lump it"...and we the people just eat it all up!

Just recently purchased a digital re-master of Dylan's "Blonde On Blonde" and I still have the mono two-record set released in '65 I think...I paid around three bucks for it back then...

jimHJJ(..."stereo slightly higher" as the ad copy read...)

[SlumpBuster]

First off I have to say that your Music Nerd examples pertain to popular music which I hate and never listen to. But that's OK: someone could come up with examples for classical music as damning -- actually, much, much worse.

I've never been able to get into classical music, try as I might. And, I have tried. I even sung in a choir most of my young life, through high school at least. But, through my experimenting with classical, I did discover Celia Bartoli. Granted its opera, but I must have at a half dozen of her CDs and just love them and she's probably the only classical I buy. Other than that, I have some Mozart for dinner parties.

[happy ears]

Proud to say that I am neither a geek or nerd, what do you mean I have to take the test first. Maybe this well help answer the questions, which component is in the shop for repairs not a problem I should be able to lend you one. Wow you got hit with a lightening strike and smoked your whole stereo, still should be able to help you out as I have a back up system just for those days when nothing goes right.

All your records and CD's where damaged as well let me check the spare pile, lets see a couple of half speed masters of Supertramp, Boston or Pink Floyd, how about some classical records. You prefer CD's well lets check out this pile overhere to see what we got. It gets worse after a close inspections I gave a bunch of records away because I had more than one copy should have had a closer look as I found more of the same.

Good thing I skipped the test otherwise I might be a geek or nerd at least I am not both, well maybe. So until next time enjoy the music.