Posted on 01/31/2011 10:43:38 AM PST by Malone LaVeigh
Guys like things. We often work very hard to acquire these things. Guys shop with purpose. We go shopping for items that make our living space more comfortable and more importantly, we are shopping for things that will make other guys envious. However, sometimes we have a tendency to buy items that make it more difficult for us to leave or places of residence. For men, it’s not shoes, stylish dresses and new purses we are shopping for. We need “man” stuff. Things like popular electronic devices, a new driver, or a sex robot. Wait, a sex robot?
(Excerpt) Read more at guyism.com ...
It would take an indoor shooting range to keep me at home.
***I love buying used records... ***
Two years ago Our local thrift shop got in some clasical LPs so new they had never been played, only opened to count the records. I bought about as many as I could for 25 cents each, about $17.00 worth.
I wished I had another $20 as I could have bought the same number on unplayed WAGNER Ring Cycle recordings. Not a pop or hiss anywhere on them!
I’m in hog heaven with what I got!
I’ve got a Pioneer PL-600 turntable, Yamaha CR-640 receiver, and Boston Acoustics CR-7 speakers. I like the old hifi gear because it was built to last and because I can buy stuff that was once top of the line for not much money. Plus vinyl albums are inexpensive and just inherently cool. My favorite period is from about ‘78 to ‘81 when all the gear had brushed aluminum faceplates and controls. Brushed aluminum + incandescent illumination (the lights in my Yamaha’s tuner bar are green) = ultimate retro-futuristic coolness.
OK. Your response has righted the world again.
When we play out in the clubs, not like we’re getting high quality audio out to the folks. But our performances better be high quality.
I never had the audiophile impulse, never understood those who did (and I gather we are within a few years of each other), and I was around more than a few. None of them musicians, all most universally with tin ears. Almost like they were compensating (said the poster with a completely amateur psych degree).
same here. the radio dial on my “Harman-Kardon Twin Power 630” amp is that old 70s green color... I just love having that on, in the living room. My wife thinks I’m nuts..
“The sad thing is that a whole generation of kids are growing up believing that music is supposed to sound like it’s coming through a water pipe.”
As opposed to the whole generation of adults who believe that music is supposed to sound like it’s coming through a pillow.
While both technologies can be done right, most people haven’t heard it - only their own generation’s perfered version of wrong.
I have different equipment than you, but your post nails my attitude with one exception. For me it is the ‘72-80 time period. I built my Dynaco 400 in the early 70’s.
BTW, I started a thread on AudioKarma asking people to post their pre-1980 gear they bought new and still own. I was blown away by the response. The sheer quantity of pre-1980 gear still being used is amazing.
Here’s the thread:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=346996
Never leave home?
I can’t hunt, fish or camp at home.
I can’t shoot or build a fire in my living room.
I only stay there now because that’s where the wife lives...if I had my druthers, I’d be outside all the time!
In fact, my buddies and I went camping twice this winter...once in December, once in January. Nothing gets rid of cabin fever like sitting around a huge, roaring fire when it’s 17 degrees out!
Yep
The Yammie was $25, the TT and speakers were free.
I have a Nikko NR-800 in the garage with a Sansui TT, a pair of Sansui rack speakers and a pair of JBL L50’s waiting for a woofer refoam.
Looks like a crank shaft for a new age Jetson-type vehicle...
I have a pair of Infinity 5000 speakers I bought in the mid to late 70’s...that still look and sound great!!
Beer Delivery....Check!
That is, in fact, THE major reason in FAVOR of a "home theater"......with Netflix, you have available every movie ever made (or close to it) for eight bucks a month.
The first thing I noticed was that neither of those two guys was eating potato chips......
I’ve been a mamber of AK since 6/04.....all too familiar with the mods.
My system is posted over there:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=205235
I like PE. I live about 5 miles south of their store :) .....C
My father taught me about electronics from my grade school days. Also, I lived at a time when huge strides in audio quality were being made. When I first got into stereos, all my friends had 8-track in their cars. I opted for a Sony TC-30 Cassette deck for my 1963 Rambler Classic in 1971. I had to record all my tapes from a friend’s Radio Shack “stereo” cassette deck. I HATED that 8-tracks would switch tracks in the middle of a song.
Oh, and few Americans knew the concept of a needle beyond replacing the little plastic needle thingy when records started sounding bad, or the old needle broke.
In the early 1970’s I hung out at Stereo stores way too much and bought and built a Dynaco 400 amp kit. I didn’t even have a record player, pre-amp or any other source with which to listen to it, so I had to go to the store where I bought it and hook it up to see if it worked...
I became a salesman at a Hi-Fi store in the mid-1970’s and saw the quality of “standard consumer” turntables, cassette decks and even receivers and amplifiers see their biggest quality improvement cycle at that time. There is a huge difference in the sound quality of a cassette deck made in 1970 vs one from even 1976 or 1977. However, compare the average 1976 cassette deck to the average 1989 cassette deck and you will notice that the older deck is probably heavier, made of higher quality components, and sounds as good or even better.
I am saying all that to say that I got into Hi-Fi at a time it was really taking off. I loved the stuff, but completely separately from my feelings about music.
In the late 60’s and early 70’s, while my friends were into Cream, Hendrix, Foghat, the Stones, etc., I was into Herb alpert, Chicago and BS&T. I hated the contemporary rock because, believe it or not, it was “distorted”.
I’ve since gotten over that and even learned to really enjoy stuff from the early 60’s the 50’s and even the 40’s. A good performance is a good performance, and a well arranged song is just that. And a “one in a million” voice is to be appreciated
The last line is the key to why I enjoy Linda Ronstadt’s “Nelson Riddle” LP’s.
Bottom line, I can love music, but also be an audiophile to some degree. For me, they are really not mutually exclusive. It’s fun to listen to music I like. It’s even more fun when it is on vintage equipment, much as tooling down a winding road on a beautiful spring day is a blast in a restored MG TC with the top down. It will not handle as well as a modern Porsche, but then that is not the point. :)
You’re just going to have to face it: Audiophiles are going the way of dinosaurs. Portability has trumped quality, and the debate is essentially over.
And then there’s people like me who believe that while, in theory, the CD format’s sampling rate is too low, I like the lack of snap, crackle and pop (or tape hiss), and my 43 year-old ears apparently can no longer hear anything above 16 KHz, anyway. Heck, good quality MP3s generally sound just fine to me, assuming they were created in high quality mode and with a sufficiently high bit rate. Most of my music listening these days is done either in the car, where the noise level is usually too high for a really great listening experience, or from an MP3 player with in-ear phones while at the gym.
>>all too familiar with the mods.<<
I didn’t even read their rules when I started because I figured that common sense would rule. That is, don’t swear, be respectful, etc. Then one day I was just being funny and did what I do in all facets of my life: I quoted a bible scripture to amplify what I was trying to say.
Nope. That is absolutely forbidden.
Then I got into one of those “tube vs solid state” threads and tried to stay VERY objective and polite with my posts. Didn’t matter. Some guy that goes by “Grumpy” started warning people to knock it off. It was so over the top that I assumed he was joking and responded back with my own joking “over the top” remark. He was not amused, to say the least and I could almost see his face turning red and spittle coming out of his mouth as he gave dire warnings.
I was pissed at their response, but said to myself, “hey, it’s their site”, and didn’t post for a few months. Now I just go there every now and then. I keep it light and if anything controversial comes up (bose quality, for example), I’ll throw in a couple of zingers and links to make the point and move on. Mostly I’ve decided that if I want an “argument” I come here or, even better, go to Harmony-central.com., where I can argue with liberals in no-holds-barred cage matches.
(The Moltke residence is home to 1000s of LPs, tubes, sand-amps, QUAD ESLs, B&W and Sonus Faber dynamic LS's, Micro Seikis, a Goldmund Studio, Thorenses...ohh, the list goes on and on. Much fun and good listening. All that's missing is MORE TIME.)
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