I never thought I would be asking myself this question. For as long as I can remember I have always liked listening to music and have always wanted decent hardware to play it on. Finally, about four years ago, I got a respectable set of separates from a mate who was moving abroad. Maybe it is not top of the range, but it is good enough – maybe too good for me because I don’t think my hearing is as acute as it could be.

The other day I realised that now I have copied all the tapes worth copying onto my PC I do not use the Kenwood tape deck any more. Also, now that I have an iRiver I don’t use my MiniDisc Walkman any more, so don’t need the Sony MiniDisc deck to make up discs any more. I do use the tuner, but could just as easily use the Sky Digital box for the main radio stations – and can use that or the broadband link to get radio stations which the tuner could not receive.

That just leaves the amplifier, CD deck and turntable. Although the Sony CD deck is high quality reference deck and would have cost a fortune new, there have been lots of advances since then and my DVD player will sound just as good to me. The real advantage of the CD deck was the way it synched with the MiniDisc for recording, which I don’t do anymore.

So really I have this whole huge stack of equipment, with a mass of cables at the back, just so I can have the turntable available. Although the turntable does have a lovely sound, I do not use it very often. I could easily put the Yamaha surround amplifier under the TV and still be able to play radio and CD through it, but then what to do with everything else? It is too good to throw away, and far too good to let the kids have it, but too old for anyone else to want. The Linn Sondek LP12 turntable is the only piece there would be any demand for, though it would break my heart to see it go. If I had a spare room there would be no problem: I could set it all up with the Technics stereo amp from the loft and go there when I wanted to just listen to music. But we have no spare room.

I think I shall have to box it all up and put it up in the loft for now. Maybe when the kids grow up and leave home either they would appreciate some decent hi-fi, or I would then have a spare room… I will have to get my vinyl transferred to the computer first though. One added benefit is that I could box up all my vinyl and cassettes and put them in the loft too, and get some valuable space in the storage cupboard, and of course Jayne will be happy. She always thought my stereo was making the room untidy.