OK, so let's give this a try. This is my first actual post (can you tell yet?), but my profile says that I've been a member since early 2014. Actually, I was a member before but either lost/forgot my ID, was deleted by accident, something...
First off, I really truly hate to type. That's the primary reason I haven't posted before. My wife types 60-70 wpm while carrying on side conversations and not even looking at the screen. I, on the other hand, am a "hunt-and-pecker" (not talking about my private life here!).
I'm in central Michigan. Back in the 70's and very early 80's I had truly golden ears and was heavily into audio, especially ProAudio. I experimented a lot with bi-amping and tri-amping in home environments when most (or at least much) of the Pro stuff was still passive. We'll save those discussions for future posts. That all came to a screeching halt when I met my first wife. Everything ended up going down the road, and then she did. There's something dreadfully wrong in that order of events, but it's ancient history now and I've started back into the audio thing over the last five years or so. Unfortunately, a certain couple of concerts, age, working in industrial environments, and shooting have given me tinnitus, and much of the purist pleasures aren't what they used to be.
More interesting stuff, as well as my questions, are yet to come. You're welcome to ask me questions; I'll answer them as I figure out how to...one letter at a time.
Thanks for posting - I imagine it took some effort to type that out when you are not accustomed to a QWERTY keyboard.
Though I don't plan on divorcing my wife any time soon (after 28 years we have a nice happy coexistence thing going, why mess with a good thing?), I would see a separation of assets as simply a way to refresh my equipment, if my ex decided to take my audio stuff with her and somehow my lawyer were not able to stop her.
Please post a list of your current equipment in your signature by populating your profile (http://vintagehifi.audio/index.php?action=profile;area=forumprofile). Do not be shy - if all you have is a Tivoli table radio, that is fine, it reproduces music (if you have Bose equipment it may be best to keep that in the down low).
On forum access issues - I will post sticky note in the Welcome Forum to remind folks that we can easily reset their passwords or remind them of their user id is they contact a moderator.
Have fun...
OBG
Please forgive me for the way I am responding to your request; the reason will become self-evident shortly….and the short answer to the question as to what I’m listening to is it varies too much to answer.
First off, QWERTY layout doesn’t really bother me, and I can type perhaps 20wpm but only if the lettering hasn’t worn off the keys yet…my problem is not just how painfully slow I type, it’s also all the corrections once I do create the message. That and I seem to have less patience to type than the amount of thoughts I want to present....
If I actually showed you what I’ve accumulated in the last 5 years you’d likely label me as a hoarder. I am not; I just haven’t sorted through and figured out exactly what I’m going to keep and what is going down the road (please, no requests yet…) To compound things, I currently have relatively little space to work with. It would probably be more appropriate to use “near field” gear, but we plan to be moving next year and I’m politicking for as much “my space” as I can possibly get. Right now, much of the stuff is stored in two locations, and the path in each is short and narrow.
Ironically, about half of the gear I own now didn't even exist when I got out of it in the early 80's. That's due in large part to Bob Carver. I played with and owned some of the first (post-Phase Linear) Carver gear to appear in southern Michigan, and loved it. Hence, a large percentage of my stuff is 80's and early 90's Carver. There is also a fair amount of 70's silver face stuff, but the local audio market here isn't very good at all. Very little surviving esoteric stuff compared to many other areas of the country.
Besides the Carver gear, I seem to be developing an interest in high-powered (100+wpc) “super receivers”, vintage pre’82. Back in the day, I wouldn’t have been caught dead with a receiver—I was strictly a component guy. Today, I’ve lighted up a bunch, and frankly, they’re easier to find than trying to match separates. I’m sure that will change back in time…
All that said, here’s a highly abbreviated list of highlights. Keep in mind that some of this stuff is near mint with original boxes, and some items may end up as parts…As to what I am listening to, it literally varies by the hour some days, I just haven’t sorted it all out. Last combo I listened to was a Harman-Kardon 330B--excellent physically, but just a bit muddy sounding--hooked up to a decent pair of Pioneer CS-F51’s. I picked up the whole combo at a local yard sale about three months ago for $15 total—one of my (very rare) better finds.
Carver stuff:
Tuners: TX-11, TX-11a, TX-2
Pre: C-1's(2), c-11 (2) , C-4000 (2), 4000t, C-16, C-19, and probably some I forgot
Amps: TFM-15 (3), TFM25, TFM-45 (2) , TFM-55, M400t (3), M1.0t (3), M500t, M1.5, pm-1200, and likewise some I probably forgot
Speakers: AL-III (2 pair)
Misc: HR-732, MXR130, 900 Receiver, C-9, TL-3300, CM-1090, CT-3, CT-17, CT-24 and likewise probably more…
Just some silver face:
Pioneers: SX receivers up through SX-980, plus a couple of older, like SX-737, etc.
Lafayette LR-120db (3 or 4)
Some assorted 70’s Radio Shack (Realistic) and Kenwoods whose numbers I can’t recall
The HK 330B mentioned above
Definitely plenty more I can’t think of off the top of my head. I have a bunch of 80’s vintage black-faced Kenwood separates also—nothing exotic but one preamp has been modded.
Misc amps:
Assorted. The two most significant s/s amps are probably the Denon POA-2400A and the Yamaha M-2. Have a couple juke box tube amps I’d like to rebuild into something a bit more special.
Speakers (non-Carver):
Polk 5’s and RTA 12c’s. Assorted Pioneers, KLH, RTR’s, etc. Most of them not particularly valuable but some interesting odds and ends (will soon be offing a pair of EV TRX-15B drivers, for instance). LOTS of various small 2-ways, typically 6-8” woofers, and a bunch of the RadioShack/Optimus/RCA linaeum bookshelf speakers Much of the smaller stuff is NIB.
Regarding Bose, I was never a Bose fan. The direct/reflected thing wasn’t what I felt things should sound like, and it annoyed me greatly that he typically would boost his bottom available octave to create a false sensation of extended bass. That’s not what it sounds like in real life! That said , I do own a set of 802’s, but allow me to explain: they were given to me (free), complete with the special equalizer (or whatever it was called on that model). It came out of a very small local theater company and the foams were all rotted. I need to refoam the drivers, recap the eq and peddle it off…just one of dozens of such projects in front of me…
Turntables:
Technics SL-1600 MKII, SL-DL1, Panasonic SL-N15, Pioneer PL-117D, Mitsubishi LT-5v (2), and more…
There’s plenty more I haven’t recalled. Please realize I’m not bragging about anything here. I have simply acquired a bunch of stuff and haven’t had the time to sort through it all to decide what I’m going to do with each piece. I’m guessing I’ll be keeping about 2/3 to ¾ of the Carver, and about half of the rest. I’m sure my wife figures that’s 5 times too much to keep. Reality will probably be somewhere in between. I’m hoping that much of my “offing” will indirectly be trading up. I’m planning on modding much of the Carver (ala BillD, MK II Opt2, etc.) I was REALLY hoping to get Tom into my C-19 (it is noisy, among other things), but it sounds like that’s not looking very feasible right now…that’s actually why I finally started posting on this site, but that is yet another post for another day. Creating this one has taken me a couple of hours (honest!)
Have a great day!
