Hello Everyone!
Just found this site and am eager to meet you all ftf!
I grew up in western PA and now live (Bloomfield) and work (UPMC) in the city.
Up through the mid-1980s, I thought "serious" audio was mass market Japanese and Bose 901s. Then a friend (audio mentor) got me reading TAS and Stereophile.
He got me started with modest Conrad-Johnson (PV5, MV50), then later ARC SP10-MkII and D90. He pointed out to me that Japan's FANATICS(!) went crazy over vintage American tube gear -- anyone with money can buy the latest/greatest, but FANATICS sought McIntosh/Marantz/etc.
So I started accumulating stray McIntosh (mc240/275), Dynaco's (pas, st70, mk3, mkiv), and the occasional Eico's, others.
The 90's were golden times for tubes; great quality tubes at "reasonable" prices -- NOS Mullards (!) were not scarce. Matched pairs/quads of el34, kt88s etc. today -- YEOW!
My house in Beaver County was different audio setups in each room -- mostly tubes, but my reference (living room) was solid state.
Got married (am getting divorced now), and sold most of my gear. Still have a pair of ST70's (1 with Sutherland's mosfet input replacing the 7199s), and what I call the '63 Stingray of American amps, an HK Cit II. I love that amp -- will bring it to your meeting if you'd like to hear -- she's a sweetie!
BTW- my house was burgled and they took my Levinson 12 preamp, and 23 amp. If you hear anything...
Have a pair of Calipers on CL:
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/ele/2153285850.htmlAnd a pair of maggie's:
http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/ele/2153258115.htmlI'm thrilled to find you who love audio!
Cheers!
Dan