Hello all.
Been lurking around for a few weeks and thought its about time to introduce my self.
I have been involved with music and audio gear since the very early 80's. Started out with a Sansui
receiver, Omega speakers and some form of turntable that I cant remember....I think it was a Thorens.
Ditched the Omegas for a pair of Haflers...yes he made speakers too. The Sansui was then replaced by
a Kenwood int. amp. I think I had a cheap HK tuner then too. Then came the Belles preamp and Belles
power amp with a Micro Seiki turntable. Excellent set up...I really wish I never sold that set. The Haflers went and in came some Fourier speakers. (Better Sound Concepts when Al had a store in Oakland). Then came TUBES !! The Belles setup was replaced by a Jolida int amp. Very sweet amp. I wish I still had it!!!Speakers are now Meadowlark Kestrels. Then the Jolida went bye bye a Rogue int amp took its place. The Kestrels were replaced by the Kestrel "HOTRODS". Then came a Rogue 66 preamp with Rogue M120 monoblocks. By far the best amplification I have ever owner!!!! The Kestrel hotrods left shortly after but have been replaced with...drum roll...Meadowlark Ketrel II's. Yes, I love Medowlark Ketrels.
Vandersteen sub found its way here too. Front end is a Pioneer Elite PD 65 with MSB DAC. Audio perfection....for me anyway. From head to toe all quality products. Very happy. Fast forward a few years. Wife v1.0 leaves. Single for a few years. Met and married wife v2.0. Now, 2 wonderful girls later, my audio hobby had to take a back seat. Fast forward a few more years. Pioneer/Meadowlark/Vandersteen/Rogue just sit...and sit...and sit. Convinced I would never have time for this hobby again I sell it all. All of it...too cheap too. A couple of more years go by and while playing around on the net I run across vintagehifipgh.com. Whats this I say. Hmmm, time to stop by. Well, after seeing all the neat stuff Tom had in his store I got hooked again. Time to rebuild. Got a few decent speakers ((ADS (x2), Scott, Mission, JBL, NHT's, HSU subwoofer)). Got a really cheap power amp off CL.
Looks like crap but sounds pretty darn good. Running CDP straight into amp..it has volume controls.
Sounds pretty good for a starter system. Got a new amp in the works but need a preamp (see my classified ad for a preamp). During all of this I have built several speakers. Small 2-ways, a few single driver full range systems, a couple of power amps...still have the DECWARE tube amp I built as a kit. It needs fixed though. A project for another day. Current front ends are: a couple of NAD cd players. A Denon 520 and 660 cd players. A Philips cd60, a Magnavox 492 (with Philips guts). So there you have it. Thats my audio biography since 1980 to present. Current hobbies are: my kids, my music and photography. I can talk about audio and photography all day long. I'm a pretty good DIYer too. I will post a few pics of some of the things I have built soon. I'm looking forward to meeting more of you guys at the next meeting. Take care till then.
-Augie
