Just talked to a guy who was ashamed to tell me what his stereo system was!

my profile is already up to date - a Pioneer receiver ?! - you should be ashamed!

what do you have now then Steve?

Tim

 

Thanks, Steve!

When this forum first started up, I also did not list my equipment because a lot of you guys had mega-buck rigs, and some tended to look down on, or dismiss us other guys because of what we had. But, I went ahaed and listed mine anyway.

It does make me feel much better that you had that set-up all that time. Your mastering is no less because of it. If fact, your old gear is somewhat on the same level as my current one, and that of many members here. Knowing you aren't a snob makes me feel better, and I do hope it encourages a lot of other longtime members to list what they have. I just know that one day, I am going to have the same mega-buck stuff some of the members have.

I just PM'd a member who has basically the same system I have, barring manufacturer differences. It helped to know what he has so I could tell him that we should hear the exact same things on a cd-r that I'm sending him.

And, FWIW, I have shown in posts that I do, indeed, hear what you hear. That should put me into the sonic ballpark.

 

I'm working a new HT type Pioneer reciever right now, Tim! It was what I could afford, and still sounds better than my old one.

THis is the kind of snob attitude that makes some people not want to post their equipment. Note that I did not call you a snob.

 

Was it Me???
Joking, however since I work in an A/V store, I get that everyday.
People are blown away when they find out were into their old equipment.
My fave is when they come in for HT, and apologies for having a small room!!!
Then I jump up & down. Excited that they can spend less money to achieve the HT experience. Blows their mind.

 

I was being cheeky I know - but I'd hope a mastering engineer, and our favourite one at that would have the best money could buy

Nothing wrong with Pioneer at all - a fine brand - A400 was a classic as is the PDR609 and their plasmas are to die for. But for me it's like finding out M Schumacher drives a Ford Fiesta at the weekend.

Tim

 

Even M, has to go to the grocery store!

 

To tell you the truth, I have more respect for someone who can appreciate music on an ol' boombox than someone who needs tens of thousands of dollars worth of gear before they can listen and enjoy "properly." I know this is a hobby and a passion for a lot of us here - and with that comes a certain obsession with forever improving out playback systems - but it ain't necessary to enjoy music. Steve's acceptance of anyone's audio gear is one of the things I dig about the guy...

 

Yes Steve, I remember Pacific Stereo well. I was living in Newport Beach in the mid 80s, and bought a ton of stuff from the Costa Mesa store. Always lots of great sale prices.

JVC cassette deck, best sounding $99 deck you ever heard, and the tapes sounded good on other decks too. wow/flutter at .025 if memory serves me correctly.

Koss M-80 small bookshelf speakers that had better sound dispersion than any $49.99 speaker should. I bought four of them and used them for 10 years. Beautiful real walnut wood, and clean sound at fairly loud levels. Now I think I will be using them again to mix Dolby 5.1 surround sound on video/film projects, since I have 4 matching ones.

Jeff

 

Yeah! He's been there. He understands! That's why I like Steve.

I pity a person who cannot enjoy the sound of music without his/her mega-buck, suck half the power grid, hahhah-see-what-I-got-and-you-don't-so-bow-down rig.

 

This reminds me of a old joke cartoon I saw in Melody Maker back in the mid 70's. Two guys are looking at a wall FILLED with stereo equipment..speakers as large as cars etc etc etc.

The one guy turns to his friends and say" Let me get this right..you spent 25,000 to play ROCK AND ROLL"

 

And sometimes the mega-buck systems sound worse than the cheap stuff. All the $$$$$ I poured into my modern audiophile system and I could never get it to sound as good or dig it as much as I remembered my vintage Pioneer or Realistic receiver sounding with my 1990 Sony cd player and my parents old '60s Sony speakers. If you enjoy the music you hear on whatever system you happen to have....you're that much better off than 75% of these guys who spend $50,000 on their stereos. Most of them aren't listening to music...they're listening to their gear or they're totally focused on what they think their gear is adding or subtracting to the equation. I know....I've been there.

I remember reading once that Jerry Wexler prefers to do his listening on a cheap boom-box. When questioned as to why, he said "Because I want to hear music the way the people hear it".

 

Okay, I am not proud of my system, but I like how it sounds.

Amplifier: Technics SU-V7220, made in 1991. This has some (electronic) problems recently. I will replace it with a Yamaha AX 396.
CD: Pioneer PD 6700, also from 1991. No problems in the last 13 years.
Speakers: MB Quart 1, also from 1991. I have a feeling that they are not optimal, but don't know if I can improve within that prize range (< $400).

 

John Lee Hooker listened to a Technics amplifier at home and he loved the sound.

 

I took the bait and filled out my profile, have a look...

Jason

 

You should be ashamed. What a miserable system you have! How can you hear anything at all?

 

For the last half year or so I did all my listening on the GE Superadio III mono portable radio that I posted about here due to moving and renovations. I spent many hours a day listening to music that I hadn't heard in years. I listened mainly to a station that played stuff from the 1930's to early 1960's. I'll tell you I really enjoyed this experience. Am I happy that I have my system "up and running" again? sure, its a whole different experience. Even though I can easily listen to my "main system" from my kitchen I still enjoy the "old" music on the mono portable. It's mainly the music, that's what its all about.

 

Exactly. Recently I was contacted by one of our forum members who wanted to purchase a new cd player from me. We spoke over the phone and he happened to mention that he loves the sound of his current cd player....even though it's a much older model with "outdated" technology....audiophile sacrilege. It turns out that he lives about two hours from me. I told him that I'd be happier helping him fix his older player than selling him a new one and that it's probably just a dirty laser(from his description of the symptoms). The bottom line is that when he said he loves the sound of his current setup, I stopped cold. Why mess with that? The battle is already won. He's enjoying his music and he's happy. No further tweaking necessary as far as I'm concerned.

 

Also, don't be fooled into thinking you can't have a **** system on a budget. If you can't afford it now, be happy with what you have. Spend your extra cash on rare cds and vinyl. Then one day, you'll find your dream setup at a garage sale, flea market, in a classified ad, or in a thrift store. Heck, I'm pretty sure Steve paid $50 for his Tannoys at a thrift store. Pdenny bought his Fisher 800C at a yard sale for one dollar. This stuff happens to me all the time. I wouldn't be able to make a living at it if I didn't find the deals. All you've got to do is put the vibe out and start looking. I just bought a pair of Tannoy Berkeley a week ago for $400. The last pair on ebay went for $1375. Usually I'll pick up tube amps for a couple of bucks....stuff for free salvaged from the garbage....at the dump....on the street...giveaways that people are tossing out, etc. I just bought a truckload of speakers....ten pairs...for $200. Among this collection was an early unfinished blonde pair of AR2s, a giant JBL corner cabinet with 15" D130 and horn tweeter, an AWESOME sounding giant pair of '60s Knight horn speakers, and a bunch of other good stuff. The point is.....get out there and start scavenging. The stuff is out there by the ton and it's all over the place. You just have to use a little imagination and find out where it's hiding.

 

I was using my college stereo for years. When I finally started making some money, I upgraded everything. After one of my speaker drivers blew, I pulled out the old Dynaco A25s and was amazed how good they sounded. I'm sure I could still be happy with that old system.

 

Yeah, its a bit much for my ears to suffer through. The music collection suffers just as much, some of the lps are from this company called DCC. They were all I could afford back in the day, Oh well...

Jason

 

Steve,
We share similar beginnings. My first stereo system also had a Pioneer SX-1010 receiver. The turntable was a Philips GA-212 with a MicroAcoustics cartridge and the speakers were Ohm F's. Can you guess where I bought it?


(Tech HiFi)

 

People shouldn't sell "older equipment" short. I still believe that my "older" system a huge JBL 3 way pro horn system with curved bass horns and actively bi-amped with McIntosh amps was the most "musically & emotionally involving" system I have ever owned. Of course it was new when I owned it back in the seventies. There must be lots of great used stuff out there. New in many cases doesn't necessarily mean its gonna be better.

 

My father has a great story; for his 21st birthday (in 1954!) he got a Dansette record player - a portable one-box 'suitcase' thing, lift-up lid, bakelite 'tonearm' with flipover stylus to play 78s and 33/45s, oval speaker on the front, carrying handle on the side (it was carted round parties for many years!) I know all this cos my brother and I used it when we were kids, and he still has it to this day in perfect working order - he uses it now and again to spin 78s (He DOES have a 'proper' stereo system aswell!) At the time he knew a bloke who had a bit of money - he'd always have expensive clothes, and drove a sports car back when having ANY car was a real novelty, that sort of thing; what the two had in common was a taste for trad jazz/blues music so they used to swap records, attend concerts etc. Another attraction was that this guy had a brand new 'hi-fi' system - hugely expensive, stereo, with separate amp and turntable components; my Dad says this sort of equipment was quite unlike anything he'd ever heard, or even seen, at the time.
But one day he invited his friend round to hear a few records.... and the bloke was stunned at how good they sounded on the Dansette! He was really impressed and would tell everyone how he'd spent a fortune on his stereo system yet my Dad had the better-sounding record player...