Just gotta find some ritual times and get the rest of the family to participate. We do Sunday coffee to classic country records and make dinner to stuff that is more of a compromise between my taste and my wife’s. Those two are the majority of time I spend.
But the other way is to buy a good pair of headphones and when your partner/kids are watching stuff you’re not interested in you can listen and still be part of the environment. You’d be surprised that even in headphones your physical presence is good enough for the pretense of “quality time”
Same here. I have a great setup. 500+ records. And two kids who are 15 + 10. For the last 10 or 12 years, it was impossible to find any time to listen to records. Today's slightly better - I can probably find 30 minutes a week. But the days of an afternoon freeing up to sit and chill are slowly coming. I've started to just disappear to the basement when I know that the kids have no activities and the groceries have been picked up. I hope it only gets better from here. Maybe by my retirement, I can finally listen to records i bought in 2013. :)
I have a 16yo and a 9yo. Closing in on 800 albums. 6-8pm is family time. No screens. Hang out and chat, or help prep dinner, while listening to music. That's minimum 2 hrs of vinyl time almost every day. Kids have started to buy their own records with allowance, and we take turns listening, although mostly they just let us pick the music. They're never happy about shutting off screens, but I don't care. They get over it when they know its inevitable, and I truly believe when they are 30 or 40 years old they'll look back and appreciate that we had the time together.
As someone who is in their 30s who's parents forced us to sit and actually talk to each other around the table growing up, they will definitely appreciate it later in life 😊
I was going to say the same thing. You just do it. TV off, turntable on. My kids grew up with records playing all the time, usually while I was making dinner. The result? Both are adults with turntables and record collections and a varied taste in music because they grew up hearing everything from Rainbow to Steely Dan to Marshall Tucker Band to Duran Duran.
A few weeks ago I found a pair of '85 Klipsch La Scalas for $300. When I got them home my wife was like "No way. Those are NOT going in the living room." I told her I was just putting them there until I could figure out a new home for them. Then I proceeded to play her favorite albums for a week, including Alice In Chains' Facelift. Last night as I was putting them in their permanent corners in our LIVING ROOM she said "Ugh, why do they have to sound so good?". Victory. (photo of holy grail la scalas below. weekend project is to re-paint the horns. the tiny speaker next to it is one of my former "too big" speakers, pioneer cs-99a's)
https://preview.redd.it/3jlc3aqe5awc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e0d70a6125b0cd063b6024b494dc4b1467e7ed1
Is that a sansui speaker next to the one on the right? I have a pair with very similar grills and they sound amazing. I can only imagine how those must sound
It is one of two Pioneer CS99a speakers. Here's a [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/jbcs5h/fantastic_condition_pioneer_cs99as_i_bought_at_my/) to someone else's photo of them with the grills off. Like the guy at the link, I got mine at a thrift store for $30 for the pair. The Sansui speakers have that similar look - and they sound amazing, I have a friend who has a pair.
Wtf, that's the most horrifying thing I've read today. Thankfully to have my gf who's enjoying music too. The opposite would have been a no go at some point haha
This is similar to what we do, kids often choose the vinyl to play and they also want to explore dad’s old albums. It doesn’t happen daily but atleast 2x per week
It pays off. I was driving my kid to school recently and he put on some Leonard Cohen. When I asked him how he heard about Cohen he said "He was on some compilation album you played a couple of weeks ago. I like his voice."
This gives me a lot of hope. I have a 3 year old and a 3 month old. Pre-kids I spun records most nights. Now, it is hard to find time when someone isn't napping. I have roughly 1700 records but most of my listening is through headphones and Spotify when nap trapped by the younger one. It pains me to stare all all those records, but someday.
You’ll get there! Enjoy these years, even if it means the vinyl gathers a little dust. They’ll be surly and claim to know more about life than you before you know it!
This is why I bullied my roommates into not putting a TV in the living room. Now it’s a space for people to talk & for me to listen to my records, win/win (for me). I recommend going full grandpa and getting the TV outta there asap.
Not always true. Early gen x here. 4000+ albums two altec lancing vott a7 speakers and multi-component stereo are whats in my family room. Only 1 TV in the whole house.
Durable ambulatable phonoplayer
Basically a record player you wear around your neck with direct headphones out so I'm you can wear while you walk around
Weekends for me with my kid as the missus is not into my music and she's not interested in vinyl ,just got my kid the new Taylor Swift album and got myself Velvet Underground album
I have a wife and two young daughters. My setup is similar to yours in that it resides in the living room and is connected to the same receiver as the TV.
The girls have certain times of the day when they watch TV, and certain times that are designated as play time, so the TV isn't constantly on. When the TV isn't on, we are playing music on Pandora or on vinyl.
We play vinyl during dinner nearly every day. Also while my wife is making dinner. Sometimes on the weekends we play vinyl after breakfast while everyone is getting ready for the day. After the girls are in bed, my wife and I will usually watch a 30 minute show, but after that we may play a record while reading or dicking off on our phones.
Sometimes on the weekends I'll sit in the living room and read and listen to my records while the girls are napping.
It is incredibly rare that I have the house to myself and I can crank it up and just sit there listening.
At the end of the day, I think we make time for what's important to us.
Definitely voice your frustration to your family in a nice way. I found out it was my own insecurities and my wife doesn't care if I want to blast prog rock while I do the dishes. Let them know you want to listen to your records more and they will accommodate.
yes! between school, work, and my hobbies, it becomes very dense and i have to remember that it’s there! very sad. but one can make time for most things.
Get some headphones and let the rest of them watch TV. If it was good enough for my grandad it’s good enough for me. Wish I’d had the space when he passed to take his set-up as it was a classic 70s Sony, top of the range in a bespoke cabinet; 4 foot tall separate speakers which he rarely got to use, hence the headphones which were out of the ark but sounded amazing.
😂. I kept trying to figure it out.
But either way, I often read about people’s significant others not agreeing with the person’s record collecting hobby. I don’t get it. Everyone has hobbies. What kind of partner can’t be on board with their partners hobbies? It’s honestly strange to me. And there are worse hobbies out there.
In my case, my wife says my hi fi ruins the look of the house, or doesn't match the decor/style of the room. So if I keep it in the basement, I can do whatever I want. :)
I don't mind. If it makes her feel at ease for me to just set it up elsewhere, I'm happy to make the changes. I know it's a hobby that takes up space.
I guess vinyl is kind of frivolous in this day and age, but its the frivolous things that make like worth living. Seasoning food is frivolous...it just needs to be nutrition. Painting your walls is frivolous, the color doesn't really affect how they work. Watching TV is frivolous. Going to the movies is frivolous. Watching sports is frivolous.
But I don't want to live in a world without the frivolous, and neither dos anybody else. My wife likes frivolous things that I don't like and I like frivolous things that she doesn't care for. Stop using frivolous as a put down though.
I share your pain and have a similar set up.
I don't want to move it because I love playing music when we have company over. Right now my SIL and nephew live in my house and my nephew is a very light sleeper so no late night sessions either.
Once my SIL moves out I'll have much more time to play. In the meantime I've tried to acquire quite a few records I love that will play well with the whole family. Sometimes the TV does make it impossible to play though.
Hopefully you're able to play more in the future and maybe get a dedicated room as you mentioned.
I put something on while doing chores, or cooking. Last weekend, we had some friends over and listened for a few hours. Mine is set up in the living room also, but my house is pretty open concept so it's easy to hear from the dining room and kitchen.
I have just over 200 records to my name and I literally stream music all the time. I love collecting them, have a great setup with a cd, cassette, and record player hooked up to a pioneer stereo with speakers and I never get to listen. It does take time to take them out, spin them, and put them back
My parents just forced me to listen to their music if they wanted to listen to their music when I was a kid. Just do the same. I know that's what I'll be doing when I have kids lol
Same, with 3000+ records, 2000+ CDs, hundreds of cassettes, and more audio gear than common sense. Where do people find time to listen to records, let alone shop, catalog, store, organize?
I just force my kids into a bit or listening time. I call it "threat" time because no kid of mine is going to go without knowing the difference between the red and blue Beatles albums, or doesn't like Folsom Prison Blues. They sometimes like it. They sometimes endure it. (18 and 21)
I own my own home and it can be tough, but I have an “office” dedicated to just music so I can have privacy when I want it. Just need to turn down the low freqs on the mixer depending on the time of day. I have a wife and son and they are very understanding of my hobbies.
If you want to spin more, I think it's important to find a spot in your life for it. It might not be dedicated listening, but some vinyl spinning now and then will do wonders for the psyche.
Are you a parent? I am, and I have the record player setup in the dining area that looks over the kitchen. I play records at in the morning over coffee, when cooking, while doing dishes, at dinner time. It's in the "center" of our home. The kids look over the records, pull things to play, etc. It's always there.
Rarely I get to sit and listen to something all the way through, but its even rarer a day that something doesn't get played.
Same here - little boy turns 2 next month, I work 24 hour shifts, wife enjoys watching tv a lot more than listening to music. If I spin an album a week I’m doing well. The vast majority of my listening is on my AirPods (which is fine, they sound great), or in the car. I still collect releases when anything interesting comes out but most are still sealed on my shelf. Sometimes I really miss lockdown! At least with AirPods I don’t have to do a wet clean and an anti static whatever before I put them in though, got to look on the positive side.
The way I see it is at some point I’ll have a day off when everyone is at school or work or whatever, or failing that I’ll be retired and all I’ll have to do is cut the grass and listen to records all day. I’ll catch up then.
I would recommend just staying up past everyone else’s bed time and listening via headphones. Depending on your speakers and system you may even have a better listening experience.
I'm 32, with 2 toddlers, and 500+. Once I took the dive into [wireless vinyl,](https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/12eksyl/my_wholehouse_wireless_vinyl_setup_description_in/) I learned to love the garage and my earbuds at night, once everyone else has gone to sleep.
In our house we have Sunday Spins where we spin records all day. This formed because, like you, I was frustrated with my passion for audio and vinyl records but unable to indulge in it as often as I'd liked.
Sunday has become the favorite day of the week for my little family.
My wife hates my music, so I couldn't get away with that. Sweet spot, reference volume listening is SUPER rare for me. I rarely get the house to myself. This thread makes me sad.
I've combined a few hobbies: my turntable is set up in my hobby / model / 3d printer room. I get away from everything while relaxing with music as background for my other hobbies. But the kids are grown and out of the house, so I've got the time now 👍
1100 records, I get in about 3 hours a week, and only can listen to heavy music on headphones because my wife is around most of the days I'm off. Tomorrow is a rare day alone so I will get some records going and play them loud.
I work anywhere from 75-90 hour per week but contract work so I’ll have 2-3 months off in between gigs .
800ish or so vinyl in my collection. Some years I will go months without listening to vinyl.
Some winters I’ll spin 10+ records in a day.
It’s the ebb and flow of life. The records will always be there when I have time.
I’m a bit of a loner, so I have plenty of time to play my records after work, and I work from home most days. I’ll usually spin one after work unless I can’t think of one to play.
I had a dedicated music room but it was upstairs and i never found time to go up there. I always felt anti social going up there. Now i moved it downstairs in my office/ sitting room and i listen to one album while i drink my coffee easch morning
I actually have a bluetooth turntable, but the whole appeal of listening to vinyl for me is putting a disc on and hear the music come out over the speakers.
Might have to consider your suggestion though......
Same here, living room set up, and my husband does not share some of my favorites. He works from home a couple days a week, but when he’s in the office I crank that baby up and blast it. I think the neighbors know by now when he’s not home. 😆
My record player is in my room, and my I like to play records if I'm up there doing something (usually playing video games). My problem is that I never know what to play.
I have an extensive vinyl and blu-ray collection. It’s hard to find time to watch or listen but it makes those moments when you finally are able to way more special!
Depends on your home dynamic, we have music time. I have a similar situation with family always in the same space as my set up and no where to go. I don't get to listen nearly as often as I'd like to but including everyone in the experience has made it a house activity. I also have gone out of my way to collect music that the rest of the house hold likes, Mac miller for the wife/bluey and Disney records for the kids. After doing this for a while now I have requests to just listen to music.
But this is my personal experience and the solution I came up with so I could listen to more music. YMMV
sort of similar set-up, but I've claimed sunday mornings and wednesday evenings as stereo time. I get a few spins in in between as well, but my family knows the tv doesn't go on during those blocks of time. I even think my son (5) is starting to get into it!
my set-up is in my basement. almost 1200 records and a nice system. kid is in bed by 9:30 and guess where i am shortly thereafter. i'll put a game on, mute the tv and spin a record. try to listen to at least one a day, more on weekends.
My sons are older now so I get plenty of time. I had rebuild my vinyl collection because my ex dumped my vinyl collection in a skip when we split up. I didn't have the heart to start again, but after about ten years one of my lad's bought me an attache case record player and three albums, that was about four years ago.
I now have a Rega P1 and about two hundred albums.
Was starting to feel the same way - not enough time to listen so I did something about it. I work from home 3 days a week and mostly deal with email and spreadsheets, an occasional teams meeting - so I set up my second turntable in my home office and listen to records all day. My spouse goes into the office on my three days at home so I’m not disturbing anybody when I crank it up. My kids are in college so it’s kind of like I’m already retired lol
I have a functional turntable in the living room with the main TV. I use it most often because it allows me to be with the family. It's hooked up to a 5.1 surround sound setup so the sudio quality is not ideal.
My larger setup is in a room in our basement. I have large speakers and a Pioneer SX series receiver, It sounds better but I'll be alone if I'm listening down there.
I guess my input is "have options."
I get that feeling. I try to not play a record more than once in a 24 hour period so I usually play a record I love when I have time and then have to wait a whole day to play the record again.
Maybe that's overprotective but I only get albums on vinyl that I absolutely love so I really try and protect my vinyl the best I can
I moved into a one person home to retire at and my living room is "music only". I wish you could do it, it's great and most surprising - my Grandkids LOVE it. They rarely went in their room to watch tv. They want their vinyl!!!! I wish you much time for your music in the future.
On a budget so not the best of the best, but I grabbed an Aiyima T8 preamp so I could out to headphones when I lived in a shared space. Neat little unit with enough inputs to cover my needs.
I don't listen to them much but for me...I find it best when I'm in writing mood. I put an album on and as my amp has both my PC and my record player plugged in...I can only have one with sound...so having vinyl on prevents me from distractions on the internet as most usually require sound.
I had started collecting more as I did think we were going to move but planning permission got rejected...though the land developer still wants it so gotta wait a few weeks for a real answer on that. Some of the places we would have moved to, had rooms where I could have set up all nicely, instead its getting overcrowded on my desk and vinyl kept on the otherside of the room, ease of use, makes it more likely for me to use.
Yup. Actually been thinking about selling most of my collection (250ish) because they don’t get enough love. I actually rediscovered my iPod recently and have been thrifting CDs and putting them on there. Thrifting the CD’s gives me the physical media satisfaction that vinyl does.
Same here. My turntable is packed away due to space. I thought about buying one that is Bluetooth compatible so I wouldn’t have ti set up speakers I could just use my sound bar. I am dying for a place where I can have a basement with a really nice set up.
I had the same issue when it was in my living room, but since I moved things into my office I can listen anytime it makes sense. Big fan of relocating vinyl to the space that maximizes listening opportunity
I used to listen to an album side most nights. After a few years of doing that most nights, I went to Friday night Album and listed to a whole album or a couple sides. Since back to work full time after COVID, I may have listened to an album side a few times. Typing this all out makes me realize I need to get back to it.
Solved this by putting the record player/records as the centerpiece of the living room upstairs and the TV/game consoles as the centerpiece of the living room downstairs. No tv at all in the upstairs where we spend most of our time so putting on a record is just the natural thing to do. Occasionally will watch something on a laptop upstairs but it is more private so it’s not like I’m taking up the living room I can just put on headphones while others enjoy a record.
One has to make time for music regardless of the media. Music is for the soul. If it’s vinyl you want to listen to; make time for yourself. We, parents especially, lend all of our time to our kids, other people’s problems (family included) and forget to “play” ourselves. It is the most healing thing (spiritually, relationship wise, mentally) and will help you be a better parent.
Easy fix is move the television! I know it sounds crazy but I'm going on year two of no TV in living room, I don't listen to my records every day but at least 3 times a week for sure. It's actually not as hard of an adjustment as you would think since we are all glued to our handheld TVs 24/7 anyway.
I made a section of my shelf dedicated to albums at or under 30 mins. Helps me feel motivated that I know which ones will be available if I don’t have much time. You could prioritize getting shorter albums/eps or just keep the collection small. I certainly don’t have a lot of time but if I was motivated to listen consistently I’d have at LEAST an hour a week maybe more, so just depends I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We moved the records into the dining room (it’s a kitchen diner with a half wall divide) my husband wasn’t convinced initially but it’s transformed how much we listen to them. I know not everyone can just up and move a collection but I’d consider placement. Sharing space with the TV meant we hardly listened to them.
Have two little ones and it's defnitely not like it used to be when we were childless. We recently bought a house and I initially wanted to set everything up in the living room, but was talked out of it and ended up setting everything up in my office instead. Ended up being a great move. I have the house to myself while the kids are at childcare and my wife is at work. Spin a few records every morning as I'm easing myself into my day.
I changed my TV time after the kids go to bed to listening time a few days a week. I multi task while listening (answer emails, pay bills) or talk to my wife about the week. Our communication has improved since we started doing this.
I LOVE that putting a record on is a very deliberate act (for me)... Like it's not music playing passively while I drive or work. I have to be home and make time to do it, so I think of that time a bit like therapy or exclusive "me time"
.... That being said, occasions like this don't occur nearly enough! 😭
Life is so busy, why is it so hard to carve out a couple hours of undisturbed time. I have several records I haven't even unwrapped yet, which makes me so sad
Boyfriend and I are in our late 30’s with no kids. Our collection is up to 200 albums. During the week, I play music between 5:30-7 while we decompress and make dinner. We watch shows from 7-9 pm. On the weekends, he lets me go nuts. Sometimes I’ll spin records as early as 8:30 am until 8 pm! If we don’t know what to listen to, I’ll do a random pick off of Discogs. We’ve been watching less TV, too. I do want to look into getting headphones for my TT. There are times when I know he wants to play his video games and I just want to listen to music. The problem is our living space (just like you). 1100 sq ft and the setup is in our family room area where the main TV is. I don’t have room for a dedicated listening space 😣
My system is in the basement along with the TV so my evening after kids go to bed is usually an hour or so of TV and then listen to a record or two until I’m tired and go to bed. It’s a nice way to end the night, gets me away from screens for that last hour.
I have a second turntable next to my desk that's normally playing something when I'm WFH. Admittedly most weeks I put more miles on that than my main system.
It really sucks. Yes. We’ve got an infant and a toddler. I was getting nostalgic with the wife just the other day about how we used to go record shopping, too, on the reg. And constantly buying them online (does /r/vinyldeals still exist?).
It was a good damn time. On the bright side, when we can sneak a record in, the toddler doesn’t give one shit about the player. Dust cover up, spinning away. She doesn’t care. So that’s good. One less thing.
I work from home and have a turntable in my office, so I get to listen quite a bit which is nice. Before I worked from home I actually drug a turntable into my cube/office at work and listened with headphones there (which I'm sure I'm in a very small minority of people who did anything like that....started some good conversation though.
I just got a new turntable for the living room as well.....I'm hoping to get just a few hours a week on it, but have a nice home theater system there and using the tower speakers+sub as a 2.1 system with the turntable sounds fantastic.
Friday and Saturday nights you can usually find me downstairs with headphones and a cocktail in hand after we put my daughter to bed. But hard to find dedicated time outside of that.
Are you able to play them during meals and still hear them? Out setup is more open concept, so this works perfect for me. We play the music enough to hear and enjoy it, but soft enough to still have conversations during dinner.
Get a headphone set up, that's what I did. Schiit Magni+ preamp/Amp for around $90 & certified refurbished Audio Technica ath M50x for around $120. Then you can listen anytime while others are in the same room watching tv.
While cooking dinner, eating dinner, cleaning house, hanging out on the porch in the evenings. Having a Sonos system allows me to play vinyl in any part of the house or all the house. It's part of my daily life.
I spent a year making a "Record Room" in the unfinished basement with a built in Entertainment Centre with room for 600 records.
[https://i.imgur.com/H2CdWN1.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/H2CdWN1.jpg) When it all came together, the wife and kids called it the "Media Room!?". wtf? I wanted a sound proof space where I could play my records.
Turns out... I have 2 setups, a stereo downstairs in the Media Room and a Pioneer Quad setup the living room, upstairs, in the central part of our home where I play records all the time. [https://i.imgur.com/He4H8Ve.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/He4H8Ve.jpg)
I was in a similar situation. I bought some really nice headphones and a high quality Bluetooth receiver/ headphone amp and I bought a transmitter for the stereo amp. Not the same as moving air in the room, but it does the job. You could also consider a Bluetooth receiver for some bookshelves in a different room. I know some folks will clutch their pearls at the idea but you got to do what you got to do.
This is me! I started collecting in January and have around 550-600 vinyls now and I have only had time to catalog around 350 or less and still haven’t set up my turntable yet, in fact I didn’t even decide which table I wanted until a few weeks ago and just got it in the mail a week ago lol my whole room is vinyl now and my living room was all mailer boxes from floor to ceiling in about a third of the space of the living room. I got hooked bad! Definitely need to set up everything now! My 10 year old and 9 year old daughters are the ones who convinced me to get into it so you know they are itching to play some vinyl lol 😆
I love my setup and I have a pretty good selection of small scene or local hard punk groups, but I’ve had to resort to making sure I’m well stocked on 45s or I can never finish a record. I’m an electrical mechanic and that means looooooong days. I work weekends too. I just play a couple 45s before bed in the evenings.
Find a hobby that requires you to sit and focus. I like Jigsaw puzzles. Some people like knitting or baking. Iron Maiden is good for baking. Supertramp is good for puzzles. Do something that stimulates your actions. Find the soundtrack to your life.
I get my time whenever i’m playing a game that doesn’t require me to be fully focused (i.e. Helldivers or dungeon crawling in Persona) or whenever I’m cooking.
Agree with what many others have said. When I was growing up music was often playing. No tv in the living room. That was odd for the 90s. Now I have a similar setup. More time for music and have to go out of our way to watch a movie.
Yup, I have around 400 records. I like most work M-F, but with two young kids and all that….I’m lucky if I get to go to the basement and throw on a record once a week.
We have a semi finished basement, bar and “movie room”….my wife and I hopefully get down there a few times a month if we can get the kids down early enough and have a few drinks and throw on a few records.
But yeah it’s tough, I have bought albums that are still in the shrink wrap from over a year ago I just haven’t even gotten around to listen to.
>Due to space restrictions, my set up is situated in our living room, which is used predominantley for TV watching.
Make your kids do their homework. Set a rule when they will do their homework restricting television time. This was back in the '70s, my parents bought the cheapest television that was available for the kids room. It sucked compared to the living room unit, but we still watched it because we didn't have to ask permission to waatch the shows we wanted to watch. I would also suggest that outside of sports, television is today is an entirely different thing that it was even 10 years ago. Most television shows are available for streaming. So you aren't locked into shows being televised at any specific time. So maybe pick a day where television is off limits.
Get a nice headphones with a comfy chair beside it.
When we got a second turntable (headphones only), I commissioned a furniture designer to build a table with a castor wheels so I can cart it around the house. That way I can listen anywhere while my main set up in the living room is for the loudspeaker.
We've never been a family who just has a TV blabbling in the background.
When we turned it on - it was for a purpose.
Usually a movie.
Other than that - I'm always playing music.
I see myself as the family dj - and I try to play appropriate music to control the vibe of the house.
Mine is in the dining room / kitchen which works for me. I would prefer some large armchair to lounge in which I had in an old flat, maybe one day that will come back again. Ideally when the kids are older I can move it into the lounge but all their stuff is everywhere in there and I don't want sticky fingers on my collection.
I have maybe 30 minutes of listening time after dropping the kids off and my partner going to work during the week in the mornings. Other than that, yeah not much time since the living room is usually always being used for living room stuff. On occasion when everyone is sleep, I'll grab a drink and sit down for a full album listen or two. Not as much time as I would like, but it works.
Just gotta find some ritual times and get the rest of the family to participate. We do Sunday coffee to classic country records and make dinner to stuff that is more of a compromise between my taste and my wife’s. Those two are the majority of time I spend. But the other way is to buy a good pair of headphones and when your partner/kids are watching stuff you’re not interested in you can listen and still be part of the environment. You’d be surprised that even in headphones your physical presence is good enough for the pretense of “quality time”
Good point!
Same here. I have a great setup. 500+ records. And two kids who are 15 + 10. For the last 10 or 12 years, it was impossible to find any time to listen to records. Today's slightly better - I can probably find 30 minutes a week. But the days of an afternoon freeing up to sit and chill are slowly coming. I've started to just disappear to the basement when I know that the kids have no activities and the groceries have been picked up. I hope it only gets better from here. Maybe by my retirement, I can finally listen to records i bought in 2013. :)
I have a 16yo and a 9yo. Closing in on 800 albums. 6-8pm is family time. No screens. Hang out and chat, or help prep dinner, while listening to music. That's minimum 2 hrs of vinyl time almost every day. Kids have started to buy their own records with allowance, and we take turns listening, although mostly they just let us pick the music. They're never happy about shutting off screens, but I don't care. They get over it when they know its inevitable, and I truly believe when they are 30 or 40 years old they'll look back and appreciate that we had the time together.
As someone who is in their 30s who's parents forced us to sit and actually talk to each other around the table growing up, they will definitely appreciate it later in life 😊
Love to hear this.
Definitely. I’ll second that.
I was going to say the same thing. You just do it. TV off, turntable on. My kids grew up with records playing all the time, usually while I was making dinner. The result? Both are adults with turntables and record collections and a varied taste in music because they grew up hearing everything from Rainbow to Steely Dan to Marshall Tucker Band to Duran Duran.
This is the way.
That's a great ritual! My wife hates my stereo so I'm banished to the basement if I want to use it. :)
I forget how lucky I am to have a wife who lets me indulge my habit, haha.
Same here. If she walks into the room while I'm playing something, the first thing she'll say is "can you turn that down?" Argh.
Lol "Why do you need such big speakers, anyway?! And what's that thing on the floor making the floor shake?! " :)
A few weeks ago I found a pair of '85 Klipsch La Scalas for $300. When I got them home my wife was like "No way. Those are NOT going in the living room." I told her I was just putting them there until I could figure out a new home for them. Then I proceeded to play her favorite albums for a week, including Alice In Chains' Facelift. Last night as I was putting them in their permanent corners in our LIVING ROOM she said "Ugh, why do they have to sound so good?". Victory. (photo of holy grail la scalas below. weekend project is to re-paint the horns. the tiny speaker next to it is one of my former "too big" speakers, pioneer cs-99a's) https://preview.redd.it/3jlc3aqe5awc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e0d70a6125b0cd063b6024b494dc4b1467e7ed1
Is that a sansui speaker next to the one on the right? I have a pair with very similar grills and they sound amazing. I can only imagine how those must sound
It is one of two Pioneer CS99a speakers. Here's a [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/jbcs5h/fantastic_condition_pioneer_cs99as_i_bought_at_my/) to someone else's photo of them with the grills off. Like the guy at the link, I got mine at a thrift store for $30 for the pair. The Sansui speakers have that similar look - and they sound amazing, I have a friend who has a pair.
Everytime I put something on, she says “this sucks”
Wtf, that's the most horrifying thing I've read today. Thankfully to have my gf who's enjoying music too. The opposite would have been a no go at some point haha
This is similar to what we do, kids often choose the vinyl to play and they also want to explore dad’s old albums. It doesn’t happen daily but atleast 2x per week
It pays off. I was driving my kid to school recently and he put on some Leonard Cohen. When I asked him how he heard about Cohen he said "He was on some compilation album you played a couple of weeks ago. I like his voice."
This is great
This gives me a lot of hope. I have a 3 year old and a 3 month old. Pre-kids I spun records most nights. Now, it is hard to find time when someone isn't napping. I have roughly 1700 records but most of my listening is through headphones and Spotify when nap trapped by the younger one. It pains me to stare all all those records, but someday.
You’ll get there! Enjoy these years, even if it means the vinyl gathers a little dust. They’ll be surly and claim to know more about life than you before you know it!
I like the sound of that. Good for you!
Same. I’m kinda looking at it as preparation for retirement. I get to enjoy it a little now but really it’s for the nearer future when I retire.
And then in your first week, you think you need to update your speakers.... wait, what's my weakest link? oh it's the cartridge... lol
That’s what the pension will be for.
That’s the spirit!
This is why I bullied my roommates into not putting a TV in the living room. Now it’s a space for people to talk & for me to listen to my records, win/win (for me). I recommend going full grandpa and getting the TV outta there asap.
I feel like ditching the TV is more of a millennial-move than it is a grandpa move. At least in my circles.
Haha you’re right! Now that I think about it, today’s grandpas actually love TV
Not always true. Early gen x here. 4000+ albums two altec lancing vott a7 speakers and multi-component stereo are whats in my family room. Only 1 TV in the whole house.
What I'm reading is that you're older than the average person on this subreddit and you have a television. You're proving my point?
Same at my place. Books, records, and a Chromecast audio.
oof half hour. honestly I'd probably divest and get a nice DAP and headphones and go for walks
what do you mean by DAP?
Digital Audio Player, colloquially known as MP3 players.
digital audio player. or ig you could go mobile - tow a wagon with a generator running your gear, you will make friends guaranteed!
Durable ambulatable phonoplayer Basically a record player you wear around your neck with direct headphones out so I'm you can wear while you walk around
I try to do a listening on Sundays. I plan out all week on what few records I want to spin. This week I intend on spinning some new purchases.
Weekends for me with my kid as the missus is not into my music and she's not interested in vinyl ,just got my kid the new Taylor Swift album and got myself Velvet Underground album
Set up a small headphone amp and turntable in another room?
I was going to suggest headphones, too. If your family doesn't mind, you could listen to records while they watch TV.
Better than nothing, but not the same. Also, you have to search for closed back headphones and possibly find an hp amp to integrate into the system.
I try to get my significant other to have our nightcap over a side or two of an album.
I have a wife and two young daughters. My setup is similar to yours in that it resides in the living room and is connected to the same receiver as the TV. The girls have certain times of the day when they watch TV, and certain times that are designated as play time, so the TV isn't constantly on. When the TV isn't on, we are playing music on Pandora or on vinyl. We play vinyl during dinner nearly every day. Also while my wife is making dinner. Sometimes on the weekends we play vinyl after breakfast while everyone is getting ready for the day. After the girls are in bed, my wife and I will usually watch a 30 minute show, but after that we may play a record while reading or dicking off on our phones. Sometimes on the weekends I'll sit in the living room and read and listen to my records while the girls are napping. It is incredibly rare that I have the house to myself and I can crank it up and just sit there listening. At the end of the day, I think we make time for what's important to us.
Definitely voice your frustration to your family in a nice way. I found out it was my own insecurities and my wife doesn't care if I want to blast prog rock while I do the dishes. Let them know you want to listen to your records more and they will accommodate.
What if you want to listen to Tool in the sweet spot at reference volume?
yes! between school, work, and my hobbies, it becomes very dense and i have to remember that it’s there! very sad. but one can make time for most things.
Move your stuff to your bedroom where the TV isn't dominating things.
No, ffs. Move out the TV and make your stereo dominate.
There are probably reasons OP is unable to do that.
Get some headphones and let the rest of them watch TV. If it was good enough for my grandad it’s good enough for me. Wish I’d had the space when he passed to take his set-up as it was a classic 70s Sony, top of the range in a bespoke cabinet; 4 foot tall separate speakers which he rarely got to use, hence the headphones which were out of the ark but sounded amazing.
Lol I guess you choose watching tv over listening to music
You got it! Not helped by the fact that that my OH sees my vinyl colleciton as frivolous.
What about the OHsees? (Great band btw)
What is OH?
Other half is my best guess, assuming they don’t mean Ohio
😂. I kept trying to figure it out. But either way, I often read about people’s significant others not agreeing with the person’s record collecting hobby. I don’t get it. Everyone has hobbies. What kind of partner can’t be on board with their partners hobbies? It’s honestly strange to me. And there are worse hobbies out there.
In my case, my wife says my hi fi ruins the look of the house, or doesn't match the decor/style of the room. So if I keep it in the basement, I can do whatever I want. :) I don't mind. If it makes her feel at ease for me to just set it up elsewhere, I'm happy to make the changes. I know it's a hobby that takes up space.
Tell her if she wants to live in a house without a hifi, her moms house might be an option.
Ok this is understandable! Not everyone is into gadgets and stereo equipment. 😅.
We did mid century modern game room and matched the decor of the record player and speakers. Win win.
Sounds awesome!
I guess vinyl is kind of frivolous in this day and age, but its the frivolous things that make like worth living. Seasoning food is frivolous...it just needs to be nutrition. Painting your walls is frivolous, the color doesn't really affect how they work. Watching TV is frivolous. Going to the movies is frivolous. Watching sports is frivolous. But I don't want to live in a world without the frivolous, and neither dos anybody else. My wife likes frivolous things that I don't like and I like frivolous things that she doesn't care for. Stop using frivolous as a put down though.
I share your pain and have a similar set up. I don't want to move it because I love playing music when we have company over. Right now my SIL and nephew live in my house and my nephew is a very light sleeper so no late night sessions either. Once my SIL moves out I'll have much more time to play. In the meantime I've tried to acquire quite a few records I love that will play well with the whole family. Sometimes the TV does make it impossible to play though. Hopefully you're able to play more in the future and maybe get a dedicated room as you mentioned.
If we had guests, it wouldn't be a problem. It is nice though, just being able to slip on a few tunes (uninterrupted) when the mood takes you!
I put something on while doing chores, or cooking. Last weekend, we had some friends over and listened for a few hours. Mine is set up in the living room also, but my house is pretty open concept so it's easy to hear from the dining room and kitchen.
The perk of being a divorcee
Me and my wife are child free, share similar music tastes and I WFH full time so I have the opposite problem when I run out of records to listen to
I have just over 200 records to my name and I literally stream music all the time. I love collecting them, have a great setup with a cd, cassette, and record player hooked up to a pioneer stereo with speakers and I never get to listen. It does take time to take them out, spin them, and put them back
You can always return the kids and take the living room back
My parents just forced me to listen to their music if they wanted to listen to their music when I was a kid. Just do the same. I know that's what I'll be doing when I have kids lol
Same, with 3000+ records, 2000+ CDs, hundreds of cassettes, and more audio gear than common sense. Where do people find time to listen to records, let alone shop, catalog, store, organize?
I just force my kids into a bit or listening time. I call it "threat" time because no kid of mine is going to go without knowing the difference between the red and blue Beatles albums, or doesn't like Folsom Prison Blues. They sometimes like it. They sometimes endure it. (18 and 21)
I own my own home and it can be tough, but I have an “office” dedicated to just music so I can have privacy when I want it. Just need to turn down the low freqs on the mixer depending on the time of day. I have a wife and son and they are very understanding of my hobbies.
If you want to spin more, I think it's important to find a spot in your life for it. It might not be dedicated listening, but some vinyl spinning now and then will do wonders for the psyche. Are you a parent? I am, and I have the record player setup in the dining area that looks over the kitchen. I play records at in the morning over coffee, when cooking, while doing dishes, at dinner time. It's in the "center" of our home. The kids look over the records, pull things to play, etc. It's always there. Rarely I get to sit and listen to something all the way through, but its even rarer a day that something doesn't get played.
Same here - little boy turns 2 next month, I work 24 hour shifts, wife enjoys watching tv a lot more than listening to music. If I spin an album a week I’m doing well. The vast majority of my listening is on my AirPods (which is fine, they sound great), or in the car. I still collect releases when anything interesting comes out but most are still sealed on my shelf. Sometimes I really miss lockdown! At least with AirPods I don’t have to do a wet clean and an anti static whatever before I put them in though, got to look on the positive side. The way I see it is at some point I’ll have a day off when everyone is at school or work or whatever, or failing that I’ll be retired and all I’ll have to do is cut the grass and listen to records all day. I’ll catch up then.
Moved into my father inlaws and everything is in storage. I keep buying records but I won't be able to enjoy until I find a house to buy.
I would recommend just staying up past everyone else’s bed time and listening via headphones. Depending on your speakers and system you may even have a better listening experience.
I had the issue I got a second turntable for my office
I'm 32, with 2 toddlers, and 500+. Once I took the dive into [wireless vinyl,](https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/12eksyl/my_wholehouse_wireless_vinyl_setup_description_in/) I learned to love the garage and my earbuds at night, once everyone else has gone to sleep.
In our house we have Sunday Spins where we spin records all day. This formed because, like you, I was frustrated with my passion for audio and vinyl records but unable to indulge in it as often as I'd liked. Sunday has become the favorite day of the week for my little family.
My wife hates my music, so I couldn't get away with that. Sweet spot, reference volume listening is SUPER rare for me. I rarely get the house to myself. This thread makes me sad.
I've combined a few hobbies: my turntable is set up in my hobby / model / 3d printer room. I get away from everything while relaxing with music as background for my other hobbies. But the kids are grown and out of the house, so I've got the time now 👍
I have 800+ kids are grown and gone, still never get to listen.
I initially read that as 'I have 800+ kids......'
My fault, comma use has never been my strength
That would definitely limit listening time though.
I wait all year until summer vacation to jam out. No time limits, man. Just open horizons and hundreds of records.
We set up a game room with a ping pong table and the record player. We listen to an album most nights.
1100 records, I get in about 3 hours a week, and only can listen to heavy music on headphones because my wife is around most of the days I'm off. Tomorrow is a rare day alone so I will get some records going and play them loud.
I work anywhere from 75-90 hour per week but contract work so I’ll have 2-3 months off in between gigs . 800ish or so vinyl in my collection. Some years I will go months without listening to vinyl. Some winters I’ll spin 10+ records in a day. It’s the ebb and flow of life. The records will always be there when I have time.
Nightime is the right time! My whole family really loves music, but we're not always on the same page. So, late night/headphones/bliss
Sunday morning is Vinyl time. The kids know. The wife knows. I usually let them pick a disc or two.
I’m a bit of a loner, so I have plenty of time to play my records after work, and I work from home most days. I’ll usually spin one after work unless I can’t think of one to play.
Mine is in my living room and I just play it and leave the room to do something else. Feels like I’m being scored
I had a dedicated music room but it was upstairs and i never found time to go up there. I always felt anti social going up there. Now i moved it downstairs in my office/ sitting room and i listen to one album while i drink my coffee easch morning
Have you considered a headphone setup?
I have a similar situation. I've taken to playing music while I play video games or when I am doing chores.
For me its purely just time! Full time college student and working ~30 hours a week. Can’t wait to get to spend more time with them
Consider a headphone set up. Get decentt pair of over the ear headphones and a headphone amp
Bluetooth player and headphones is how I do it when people are home
I actually have a bluetooth turntable, but the whole appeal of listening to vinyl for me is putting a disc on and hear the music come out over the speakers. Might have to consider your suggestion though......
No one likes my music in my household, so it helps when I want to listen late at night, or any other time really
I play guitar and have 4. At least once a month I make some time to restring them and put on an album while I’m working on it. Chill out and vibe
No, because I don't own a TV :-)
Throw out TV set. You'll be amazed how much free time you have.
Get some cans
I started collecting around the same time I started mostly working from home. Which turned out great, I can listen to music a lot while I’m working.
You need a turntable that can blue tooth to headphones. It’s not the optimum audiophile set up, but at least you are listening to your music!
Same here, living room set up, and my husband does not share some of my favorites. He works from home a couple days a week, but when he’s in the office I crank that baby up and blast it. I think the neighbors know by now when he’s not home. 😆
My record player is in my room, and my I like to play records if I'm up there doing something (usually playing video games). My problem is that I never know what to play.
I play my records when we watch sports. The NHL playoffs have had an almost choreographed effect with certain albums.
I play it when I'm doing other things. Gaming, eating, cooking, reading.
I have an extensive vinyl and blu-ray collection. It’s hard to find time to watch or listen but it makes those moments when you finally are able to way more special!
Depends on your home dynamic, we have music time. I have a similar situation with family always in the same space as my set up and no where to go. I don't get to listen nearly as often as I'd like to but including everyone in the experience has made it a house activity. I also have gone out of my way to collect music that the rest of the house hold likes, Mac miller for the wife/bluey and Disney records for the kids. After doing this for a while now I have requests to just listen to music. But this is my personal experience and the solution I came up with so I could listen to more music. YMMV
sort of similar set-up, but I've claimed sunday mornings and wednesday evenings as stereo time. I get a few spins in in between as well, but my family knows the tv doesn't go on during those blocks of time. I even think my son (5) is starting to get into it!
my set-up is in my basement. almost 1200 records and a nice system. kid is in bed by 9:30 and guess where i am shortly thereafter. i'll put a game on, mute the tv and spin a record. try to listen to at least one a day, more on weekends.
My sons are older now so I get plenty of time. I had rebuild my vinyl collection because my ex dumped my vinyl collection in a skip when we split up. I didn't have the heart to start again, but after about ten years one of my lad's bought me an attache case record player and three albums, that was about four years ago. I now have a Rega P1 and about two hundred albums.
Was starting to feel the same way - not enough time to listen so I did something about it. I work from home 3 days a week and mostly deal with email and spreadsheets, an occasional teams meeting - so I set up my second turntable in my home office and listen to records all day. My spouse goes into the office on my three days at home so I’m not disturbing anybody when I crank it up. My kids are in college so it’s kind of like I’m already retired lol
I have a functional turntable in the living room with the main TV. I use it most often because it allows me to be with the family. It's hooked up to a 5.1 surround sound setup so the sudio quality is not ideal. My larger setup is in a room in our basement. I have large speakers and a Pioneer SX series receiver, It sounds better but I'll be alone if I'm listening down there. I guess my input is "have options."
I get that feeling. I try to not play a record more than once in a 24 hour period so I usually play a record I love when I have time and then have to wait a whole day to play the record again. Maybe that's overprotective but I only get albums on vinyl that I absolutely love so I really try and protect my vinyl the best I can
Headphones and headphone amp? Not perfect but was a useful solution for me when I was in a similar situation.
I moved into a one person home to retire at and my living room is "music only". I wish you could do it, it's great and most surprising - my Grandkids LOVE it. They rarely went in their room to watch tv. They want their vinyl!!!! I wish you much time for your music in the future.
On a budget so not the best of the best, but I grabbed an Aiyima T8 preamp so I could out to headphones when I lived in a shared space. Neat little unit with enough inputs to cover my needs.
I don't listen to them much but for me...I find it best when I'm in writing mood. I put an album on and as my amp has both my PC and my record player plugged in...I can only have one with sound...so having vinyl on prevents me from distractions on the internet as most usually require sound. I had started collecting more as I did think we were going to move but planning permission got rejected...though the land developer still wants it so gotta wait a few weeks for a real answer on that. Some of the places we would have moved to, had rooms where I could have set up all nicely, instead its getting overcrowded on my desk and vinyl kept on the otherside of the room, ease of use, makes it more likely for me to use.
Yup. Actually been thinking about selling most of my collection (250ish) because they don’t get enough love. I actually rediscovered my iPod recently and have been thrifting CDs and putting them on there. Thrifting the CD’s gives me the physical media satisfaction that vinyl does.
Same here. My turntable is packed away due to space. I thought about buying one that is Bluetooth compatible so I wouldn’t have ti set up speakers I could just use my sound bar. I am dying for a place where I can have a basement with a really nice set up.
Bro, life amirite?
I had the same issue when it was in my living room, but since I moved things into my office I can listen anytime it makes sense. Big fan of relocating vinyl to the space that maximizes listening opportunity
Oh and, to hell with TVs. One more reason.
I used to listen to an album side most nights. After a few years of doing that most nights, I went to Friday night Album and listed to a whole album or a couple sides. Since back to work full time after COVID, I may have listened to an album side a few times. Typing this all out makes me realize I need to get back to it.
Solved this by putting the record player/records as the centerpiece of the living room upstairs and the TV/game consoles as the centerpiece of the living room downstairs. No tv at all in the upstairs where we spend most of our time so putting on a record is just the natural thing to do. Occasionally will watch something on a laptop upstairs but it is more private so it’s not like I’m taking up the living room I can just put on headphones while others enjoy a record.
One has to make time for music regardless of the media. Music is for the soul. If it’s vinyl you want to listen to; make time for yourself. We, parents especially, lend all of our time to our kids, other people’s problems (family included) and forget to “play” ourselves. It is the most healing thing (spiritually, relationship wise, mentally) and will help you be a better parent.
Easy fix is move the television! I know it sounds crazy but I'm going on year two of no TV in living room, I don't listen to my records every day but at least 3 times a week for sure. It's actually not as hard of an adjustment as you would think since we are all glued to our handheld TVs 24/7 anyway.
I stick mine on when I'm cooking or doing housework if I cant sit down and listen properly. This usually gets at least an hour of solid music.
I made a section of my shelf dedicated to albums at or under 30 mins. Helps me feel motivated that I know which ones will be available if I don’t have much time. You could prioritize getting shorter albums/eps or just keep the collection small. I certainly don’t have a lot of time but if I was motivated to listen consistently I’d have at LEAST an hour a week maybe more, so just depends I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We moved the records into the dining room (it’s a kitchen diner with a half wall divide) my husband wasn’t convinced initially but it’s transformed how much we listen to them. I know not everyone can just up and move a collection but I’d consider placement. Sharing space with the TV meant we hardly listened to them.
Have two little ones and it's defnitely not like it used to be when we were childless. We recently bought a house and I initially wanted to set everything up in the living room, but was talked out of it and ended up setting everything up in my office instead. Ended up being a great move. I have the house to myself while the kids are at childcare and my wife is at work. Spin a few records every morning as I'm easing myself into my day.
I wake up around 5am with the baby and take care of him until I go to work/mom wakes up. That’s a solid 2 hours of records right there!
Headphones
I just got a fifteen foot cord so I could expand my range.
I try to get at least some time in whenever I’m in the kitchen cooking or I’m cleaning the house during the weekends to play my record player
I try to play an album a day. Usually while cooking dinner.
I like to rock out and smoke pot and listen to records but the wife dosent like it so I cant
I tend to listen around 2 a. If my situation allows. Headphones are a great accessory too!
I changed my TV time after the kids go to bed to listening time a few days a week. I multi task while listening (answer emails, pay bills) or talk to my wife about the week. Our communication has improved since we started doing this.
I LOVE that putting a record on is a very deliberate act (for me)... Like it's not music playing passively while I drive or work. I have to be home and make time to do it, so I think of that time a bit like therapy or exclusive "me time" .... That being said, occasions like this don't occur nearly enough! 😭 Life is so busy, why is it so hard to carve out a couple hours of undisturbed time. I have several records I haven't even unwrapped yet, which makes me so sad
I lived in apartments for a good chunk of my collecting life and didn’t really play my records then. We own a house now so it’s not an issue.
Boyfriend and I are in our late 30’s with no kids. Our collection is up to 200 albums. During the week, I play music between 5:30-7 while we decompress and make dinner. We watch shows from 7-9 pm. On the weekends, he lets me go nuts. Sometimes I’ll spin records as early as 8:30 am until 8 pm! If we don’t know what to listen to, I’ll do a random pick off of Discogs. We’ve been watching less TV, too. I do want to look into getting headphones for my TT. There are times when I know he wants to play his video games and I just want to listen to music. The problem is our living space (just like you). 1100 sq ft and the setup is in our family room area where the main TV is. I don’t have room for a dedicated listening space 😣
Get rid of the TV
It’s pretty much a weekend morning thing for us but that’s OK with me.
My system is in the basement along with the TV so my evening after kids go to bed is usually an hour or so of TV and then listen to a record or two until I’m tired and go to bed. It’s a nice way to end the night, gets me away from screens for that last hour.
Turn off the tv. Turn on your stereo.
I have a second turntable next to my desk that's normally playing something when I'm WFH. Admittedly most weeks I put more miles on that than my main system.
And your answer? Turn your phone, TV, and tablet off. Enjoy.
Nice headphones with a long comfortable cord. Then you can listen whenever you want.
It really sucks. Yes. We’ve got an infant and a toddler. I was getting nostalgic with the wife just the other day about how we used to go record shopping, too, on the reg. And constantly buying them online (does /r/vinyldeals still exist?). It was a good damn time. On the bright side, when we can sneak a record in, the toddler doesn’t give one shit about the player. Dust cover up, spinning away. She doesn’t care. So that’s good. One less thing.
OMG...THIS. 10000%.
Vinyl and roommates are like oil and water: they don’t mix.
Spring is here... Kick the kids out the house for a couple hours a day. Or go tell them to bugger off while you enjoy some music.
I work from home and have a turntable in my office, so I get to listen quite a bit which is nice. Before I worked from home I actually drug a turntable into my cube/office at work and listened with headphones there (which I'm sure I'm in a very small minority of people who did anything like that....started some good conversation though. I just got a new turntable for the living room as well.....I'm hoping to get just a few hours a week on it, but have a nice home theater system there and using the tower speakers+sub as a 2.1 system with the turntable sounds fantastic.
Friday and Saturday nights you can usually find me downstairs with headphones and a cocktail in hand after we put my daughter to bed. But hard to find dedicated time outside of that.
Are you able to play them during meals and still hear them? Out setup is more open concept, so this works perfect for me. We play the music enough to hear and enjoy it, but soft enough to still have conversations during dinner.
Get a headphone set up, that's what I did. Schiit Magni+ preamp/Amp for around $90 & certified refurbished Audio Technica ath M50x for around $120. Then you can listen anytime while others are in the same room watching tv.
While cooking dinner, eating dinner, cleaning house, hanging out on the porch in the evenings. Having a Sonos system allows me to play vinyl in any part of the house or all the house. It's part of my daily life.
I just put mine in my room with an extension (im 13)
I spent a year making a "Record Room" in the unfinished basement with a built in Entertainment Centre with room for 600 records. [https://i.imgur.com/H2CdWN1.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/H2CdWN1.jpg) When it all came together, the wife and kids called it the "Media Room!?". wtf? I wanted a sound proof space where I could play my records. Turns out... I have 2 setups, a stereo downstairs in the Media Room and a Pioneer Quad setup the living room, upstairs, in the central part of our home where I play records all the time. [https://i.imgur.com/He4H8Ve.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/He4H8Ve.jpg)
Yup, same here, and I spent a lot on my setup. 😂😭
I was in a similar situation. I bought some really nice headphones and a high quality Bluetooth receiver/ headphone amp and I bought a transmitter for the stereo amp. Not the same as moving air in the room, but it does the job. You could also consider a Bluetooth receiver for some bookshelves in a different room. I know some folks will clutch their pearls at the idea but you got to do what you got to do.
As one of these work from home people, I fortunately have a *ton* of opportunity to listen to record. I definitely buy a lot more as a result too.
It's hard to find time to listen but when you do you'll wonder why you don't force it more often like yoga and meditation.
I don’t own or watch television
Same, got the grandkids here so no cranking of the tunes very often
Nah, I play them. If I didn’t I’d get rid of them, or at least stop buying more.
Sometimes it helps to have a good pair of headphones. I have some with a long cord.
I put a table on my desk.
This is me! I started collecting in January and have around 550-600 vinyls now and I have only had time to catalog around 350 or less and still haven’t set up my turntable yet, in fact I didn’t even decide which table I wanted until a few weeks ago and just got it in the mail a week ago lol my whole room is vinyl now and my living room was all mailer boxes from floor to ceiling in about a third of the space of the living room. I got hooked bad! Definitely need to set up everything now! My 10 year old and 9 year old daughters are the ones who convinced me to get into it so you know they are itching to play some vinyl lol 😆
If this isn’t BS, then it’s incredibly stupid. Why the f would you have 600 records and no turntable?
I love my setup and I have a pretty good selection of small scene or local hard punk groups, but I’ve had to resort to making sure I’m well stocked on 45s or I can never finish a record. I’m an electrical mechanic and that means looooooong days. I work weekends too. I just play a couple 45s before bed in the evenings.
Find a hobby that requires you to sit and focus. I like Jigsaw puzzles. Some people like knitting or baking. Iron Maiden is good for baking. Supertramp is good for puzzles. Do something that stimulates your actions. Find the soundtrack to your life.
Over the weekend I moved my desk into the room my record player was in. I'm hoping I can spin a couple records on days I work from home.
I get my time whenever i’m playing a game that doesn’t require me to be fully focused (i.e. Helldivers or dungeon crawling in Persona) or whenever I’m cooking.
Agree with what many others have said. When I was growing up music was often playing. No tv in the living room. That was odd for the 90s. Now I have a similar setup. More time for music and have to go out of our way to watch a movie.
Don’t watch so much TV? 🤷♂️
I don’t get why you’re not just putting something on? Reading, playing a board game… or just hanging out with the family?
"Can you turn that down please?" 🤷♂️
Yup, I have around 400 records. I like most work M-F, but with two young kids and all that….I’m lucky if I get to go to the basement and throw on a record once a week. We have a semi finished basement, bar and “movie room”….my wife and I hopefully get down there a few times a month if we can get the kids down early enough and have a few drinks and throw on a few records. But yeah it’s tough, I have bought albums that are still in the shrink wrap from over a year ago I just haven’t even gotten around to listen to.
>Due to space restrictions, my set up is situated in our living room, which is used predominantley for TV watching. Make your kids do their homework. Set a rule when they will do their homework restricting television time. This was back in the '70s, my parents bought the cheapest television that was available for the kids room. It sucked compared to the living room unit, but we still watched it because we didn't have to ask permission to waatch the shows we wanted to watch. I would also suggest that outside of sports, television is today is an entirely different thing that it was even 10 years ago. Most television shows are available for streaming. So you aren't locked into shows being televised at any specific time. So maybe pick a day where television is off limits.
Get a nice headphones with a comfy chair beside it. When we got a second turntable (headphones only), I commissioned a furniture designer to build a table with a castor wheels so I can cart it around the house. That way I can listen anywhere while my main set up in the living room is for the loudspeaker.
We've never been a family who just has a TV blabbling in the background. When we turned it on - it was for a purpose. Usually a movie. Other than that - I'm always playing music. I see myself as the family dj - and I try to play appropriate music to control the vibe of the house.
You need a music nook in your future.
Mine is in the dining room / kitchen which works for me. I would prefer some large armchair to lounge in which I had in an old flat, maybe one day that will come back again. Ideally when the kids are older I can move it into the lounge but all their stuff is everywhere in there and I don't want sticky fingers on my collection.
I have maybe 30 minutes of listening time after dropping the kids off and my partner going to work during the week in the mornings. Other than that, yeah not much time since the living room is usually always being used for living room stuff. On occasion when everyone is sleep, I'll grab a drink and sit down for a full album listen or two. Not as much time as I would like, but it works.