Your biggest box

[Alison]

I wonder who has the biggest CD collection?

My money would be on Nethersage (Bryn)

[cloughie]

I wonder who has the biggest CD collection?

My money would be on Nethersage (Bryn)

Probably - he even lays down big boxed sets as an investment!

[Alison]

Probably - he even lays down big boxed sets as an investment!

He could be onto something as deleted big boxes fetch huge prices. My Brendel set going for about £700 now.

Solti/Chicago nla.

[Pulcinella]

I'm not in the starting league here!


Sony Boulez (67 CDs) and Sony Stravinsky (56 CDs) sets, but in each case there are really only so many as in general the CDs reflect the original releases, so are of fairly short length in terms of playing time; I'm not sure if the other megaboxes mentioned here are original-issue style or with new couplings.

[Petrushka]

He could be onto something as deleted big boxes fetch huge prices. My Brendel set going for about £700 now.

Solti/Chicago nla.

Laying down these big boxes as an investment depends on finding a buyer willing to pay the asking price. Who in their right mind would pay £700 for your Brendel box? Great box, fantastic artist, but £700? I've seen some of my boxes, eg 'The NYPO Mahler Broadcasts', Haitink Radio Recordings' going for over £1000 on either e-bay or Amazon. It's madness!

Not content with inflicting so many duplicates with these boxes, I'm now finding that big boxes are duplicating items in previous big boxes! This means that in some cases I've purchased the same recording, over a period of many years, four or five times! The stack of duplicates stored away upstairs is growing faster than the coronavirus and I'm having real problems in sorting out what to do with them. Charity shops don't want them (and are disappearing from here anyway) while Music Magpie offer derisory pennies for your unwanted discs

[Bryn]

Probably - he even lays down big boxed sets as an investment!

I wish. The only ones that fit that bill are the two Mozart 225 boxes. They appeared to be too good to neglect at the price I paid. I wish I had done the same with the Karajan DG/Decca box but buying is more my thing than selling. However, due to buying my one copy of that set, I have a spare 1960's box, should anyone want to pay over the odds for it. I'm not at all sure what the best way of selling it (i.e. with the lowest go-between fees) might be. Then there are all the duplicates due to getting boxes containing some items I already had.

[richardfinegold]

Any updates in last two years?

Or any boxes you’re eyeing up?

The Bruno Walter box was my most recent real estate occupying endeavor. It made me revisit the notion of adding a few more (what the heck, there is nothing else these days to do with time and money), but I was dismayed to see that the ones that I was interested in have been sold out and then largely only remain available as mp3 downloads.

[richardfinegold]

How, and where, do people find the time to listen to all these CDs and the space to keep them? Do some Forum members live in mansions?

We’re you not aware that Forum Membership was only available to those of us that each have a wing of Windsor Castle to ourselves? How did you manage to slip in?
The storage issue is one that has kept me from further big box purchases. Most of my CDs are kept on a custom shelving unit that occupies a full wall of my listening room. Several of the boxes are stacked on the topmost area, about 9 feet off the ground. My Bruno Walter box has the Brendel box mentioned in the opening post of this thread on top of it. A few days ago I was straining on tippy toes to remove Brendel to get at Bruno, losing my grip on A.B., whose 100 CD or so box with hard cover book hit me square in the face and knocked me to the floor. I could have literally died for love of music. Fortunately the Wife wasn’t home to witness the latest domestic mishap. And speaking of the Good Woman, she represents another break on purchasing; she is supportive of my music addiction but when the number of complete Beethoven sets climbs towards three digits then she begins to wonder

[Bryn]

. . . Not content with inflicting so many duplicates with these boxes, I'm now finding that big boxes are duplicating items in previous big boxes! . . .

One of the worst examples of this was/is the Hogwood Haydn box, followed by the HIPP complete Haydn Symphonies box (Hogwood, Brüggen, Dantone).

[LHC]

I can't begin to compete with some of the others here. The biggest box I have is the Claudio Abbado Symphony Edition (41), closely followed by the Karajan Decca box set and the Brilliant Classics Haydn Symphonies (both 33). I think the next biggest is the Thielemann DG collection (21), and then various Ring cycles.

I was tempted by the Barbirolli box, but in the end decided I couldn't justify it as I was unlikely ever to be able to listen to it all, and don't have the space for multiple large boxes.

[Dave2002]

The Bruno Walter box was my most recent real estate occupying endeavor. It made me revisit the notion of adding a few more (what the heck, there is nothing else these days to do with time and money), but I was dismayed to see that the ones that I was interested in have been sold out and then largely only remain available as mp3 downloads.

Do you think that the situation re physical discs is greater in the US than the UK? It's difficult to assess from here, but the shift to downloads is a problem. Large boxes do seem to present a (possibly short term) solution, as some companies are issuing otherwise difficult to obtain discs in these large boxes. Maybe invest in self storage! (a phrase which I've always thought was odd - I am "stored" wherever I happen to be )

Some problems with downloads and streaming are: (a) audio quality - which in some case might be higher than CD - but often isn't, and (b) worthwhile performances can become unavailable overnight, and there may be others which I've not listed.

[Petrushka]

How are people storing these big boxes? I found adequate space on top of CD cabinets to keep the RCO125 and Karajan boxes without any risk of them falling off. However, the others, the Solti, Szell, Walter, Bernstein, Böhm Operas, Kubelik and Barbirolli sets have to go on the floor!

[Bryn]

How are people storing these big boxes? I found adequate space on top of CD cabinets to keep the RCO125 and Karajan boxes without any risk of them falling off. However, the others, the Solti, Szell, Walter, Bernstein, Böhm Operas, Kubelik and Barbirolli sets have to go on the floor!

As mentioned elsewhere on this forum, my big Karajan box sits on a lazy Susan. The Bach 333 and Mozart 225 are placed on top of what was a computer desk when I used a desktop computer. Other boxes of depths closer to that of jewel CD cases take their place on shelves or interior window sills. LP-sized boxes at housed in an old glass-fronted LP cabinet, along with the book-style Sequentia Hildegard box and a few prized LP boxed sets (Rev's Saga Debussy, etc.).

[silvestrione]

How are people storing these big boxes? I found adequate space on top of CD cabinets to keep the RCO125 and Karajan boxes without any risk of them falling off. However, the others, the Solti, Szell, Walter, Bernstein, Böhm Operas, Kubelik and Barbirolli sets have to go on the floor!

Disappointingly, I moved too slowly on the recent Szell box reviewed by RO in Gramophone. Not now available, unless any of the experts-in-finding on this forum have any tips?

[Leinster Lass]

I'm pleased to say that all of my CDs can be reached without stretching or bending down, and occupy less than one wall of one room. Even so, I'm sure there are some that I haven't played for far too long!