Any audiophiles out there?

[lihpster]

My grandfather was a lover of classical music. He enjoyed it very much. He had a very high end setup with a turntable and a reel to reel. This was back in the '70s, and I often wonder if he would have liked CDs. he was a traditionalist in all things. He was a boat builder and refused to even work on a fiberglass boat. "Boats should be made of wood and ships of steel." He had maybe 75-100 reel to reel tapes of classical music and maybe the same amount of albums. I remember vividly sleeping on the floor in the living room when we would visit and being awakened by the thunderous sounds of The Planets, his favorite piece, at earthshaking volume. It always made him laugh and laugh. We didn't think it was so funny.
When he retired, they had their dream house built and he had them build the stereo into the house, with a dedicated cabinet for the equipment and media and the speakers built into the walls. Eventually he passed and several years later, my grandmother was selling the house and moving into an assisted living facility near us. As she was downsizing everything, she asked us grandkids if there was anything of theirs that we particularly wanted. I had 3 things. A photo of their yacht my grandfather had taken, a painting my aunt had done, and the stereo. The photo had been claimed by my oldest brother, my middle brother had chosen the painting. The stereo? Since it was built in and they'd have to tear out some things to get it out and then remodel, she had included it in the sale of the house and had included all the tapes and the albums with it. It was actually spelled out in the paperwork. I did manage to get a copy of the photo by scanning it and printing one, and the painting I inherited when my brother passed. But I still wish I could have gotten that stereo, just so I could blast The Planets in the morning and wake up Goose the same way. And then I'd laugh and laugh.

 

[rwsmith]

My grandfather was a lover of classical music. He enjoyed it very much. He had a very high end setup with a turntable and a reel to reel. This was back in the '70s, and I often wonder if he would have liked CDs. he was a traditionalist in all things. He was a boat builder and refused to even work on a fiberglass boat. "Boats should be made of wood and ships of steel." He had maybe 75-100 reel to reel tapes of classical music and maybe the same amount of albums. I remember vividly sleeping on the floor in the living room when we would visit and being awakened by the thunderous sounds of The Planets, his favorite piece, at earthshaking volume. It always made him laugh and laugh. We didn't think it was so funny.
When he retired, they had their dream house built and he had them build the stereo into the house, with a dedicated cabinet for the equipment and media and the speakers built into the walls. Eventually he passed and several years later, my grandmother was selling the house and moving into an assisted living facility near us. As she was downsizing everything, she asked us grandkids if there was anything of theirs that we particularly wanted. I had 3 things. A photo of their yacht my grandfather had taken, a painting my aunt had done, and the stereo. The photo had been claimed by my oldest brother, my middle brother had chosen the painting. The stereo? Since it was built in and they'd have to tear out some things to get it out and then remodel, she had included it in the sale of the house and had included all the tapes and the albums with it. It was actually spelled out in the paperwork. I did manage to get a copy of the photo by scanning it and printing one, and the painting I inherited when my brother passed. But I still wish I could have gotten that stereo, just so I could blast The Planets in the morning and wake up Goose the same way. And then I'd laugh and laugh.

The 'You Are There' effect.

 

[lihpster]

The 'You Are There' effect.

You know it was an interesting thing. He had had a stroke and, like some stroke victims, had that thing where if one hand is doing something, the other does it too. He would be screwing in a screw with his right hand and his left would move too. But music could make that go away. I remember him standing in the living room, "conducting" the phantom orchestra and his hands would move independently of one another, freely and easily. Put a toothbrush in his hand right after and both hands would brush. The music took him somewhere the stroke hadn't happened.

 

[javbike]

I'm envious. My hearing is so bad that I can't even hear the ringing in my ears anymore.

I right there with you

 

[Smoke]

The sound of unzipping Velcro costs lives!

IDK about that but Velcro is a PiTA.

I mean I only had to sew on my US Army tapes and my name tapes once. I had To Sew On new rank insignia every year or so and new unit patches every time I PCS'd

I didn't see that as a huge inconvenience and it didn't cost all that much to have it done at the post tailor shop

 

[Smoke]

I like the convenience of streaming. No need to chase down LPs, tapes or CDs, organize and store them. City of Gold, the almost impossible to find, 28 year-old CD posted above, is on YouTube Music, for example. I realize audiophiles can hear the difference between analog and digital music, but I don't think I can.

I don't think I can either but I like having a physical CD as opposed to digital music that only exists in the ether.

If worse comes to worse I can still fire up my 30-year-old Kenwood and play the CDs

 

[gdnagle]

Bought mine in SEA IN 1971 Sansui 7000 receiver, Perpetuum Ebner PE 2040 Turntable, TEAC 4010s Reel-Reel,8 Track tape player (still in use then), Sansui SP-X6900 speakers, Sansui SP 30 speakers, Coral bookshelf speakers, just bought a used Sony 200 disk cd player (who has time to change cd’s anymore), a TEAC duel cassette deck, don’t hardly ever use that, the Sansui 7000 receiver is on 50% output limiter but still can’t turn volume up past 5 because the SPX-6900 can’t handle the power others are too small only about 30w. I keep saying I’m gonna get SPX 8700 or SPX 8900 or bigger when I can find them at a good price, I like vintage. Now the sad part let a friend use the PE turntable he committed suicide never got it back, when moving put the R-R 4010s in storage at in-laws at the time, they sold it at yard sale the grills for the SP speakers got destroyed by cat scratching while at ex’s house but luckily didn’t hurt the speakers themselves. Still listen to this setup all the time in the basement wife complains it’s too loud while she’s at the other end of the house on a different floor. Gotta love goodol' rock music.

 

[Onomea]

One of the generational changes that has occurred in the last several decades, since the introduction of small, portable digital devices — Sony Walkman, portable CD olayers, mini CD players, iPods and similar, and now smartphones with audio capability — is many young people rarely use speakers at all. Music is experienced through earbuds.

 

[UFGator]

My HF hearing is shot. Jet engines, firearms, good seats at a Who concerts. I have McIntosh tuner, preamp and power amp, JBL L100 speakers, original, 1973, Denon table and Nakamichi XR-5 deck as well as McIntosh CD player. I prefer vinyl and have a lot of old records.

 

[JohnRippert]

Quite frankly, my ears are not good enough to really enjoy high end audio equipment. Too much unprotected shooting in my younger days. I have some Bose Companion 20 speakers on my main computer and like Rusty I tend to listen to wireless headphones when moving around. The Jabra set I use most was under $100 IIRC. My plan now that I am starting to turn Mom's house into mine is to find a old '70s console entertainment system and upgrade it with modern wifi capable electronics, modern speakers, and my old turntable. I want to listen to my 1977 Star Wars soundtrack records again.

 

[Stewboy]

Once I could finally afford good gear, I went the restored classics route, concentrating on particular lines of amps, preamps, and tuners from the 70s. My current systems consist of Kenwood Supremes, carefully restored over the last decade or so, as well as some revamped Dynaco mkIII monoblocs. My main system has Von Schweikert VR5s from the early 2000s. Unfortunately, as others have experienced, my hearing has deteriorated over the years, from what I don't exactly know. Anyway, here are a few pictures.

 

[James K]

My HF hearing is shot. Jet engines, firearms, good seats at a Who concerts. I have McIntosh tuner, preamp and power amp, JBL L100 speakers, original, 1973, Denon table and Nakamichi XR-5 deck as well as McIntosh CD player. I prefer vinyl and have a lot of old records.

Just scored tix to The Who's final North America tour at the Hollywood Bowl. Seen them many times and 4th time at The Bowl. I think a John Entwistle show at the Sunset Blvd. House of Blues finally did my ears in.

Was a pretty big audiophile back in the day using Audio Research amp and pre-amp and a Gyro Dec turntable. Still have some older JSE speakers made in the 1980s using Dynaudio drivers plus some Focal and Bose speakers for 7.1 surround. Carver subwoofer with its own 1100-watt amp tied to an Anthem A/V receiver. Over 1 tb of digital music on a tiny external hard drive makes life easier. Sounds very good but not Audio Research levels. No complaints though.

 

[rwsmith]

You know it was an interesting thing. He had had a stroke and, like some stroke victims, had that thing where if one hand is doing something, the other does it too. He would be screwing in a screw with his right hand and his left would move too. But music could make that go away. I remember him standing in the living room, "conducting" the phantom orchestra and his hands would move independently of one another, freely and easily. Put a toothbrush in his hand right after and both hands would brush. The music took him somewhere the stroke hadn't happened.

Cool! Music uses alternate wiring.

IDK about that but Velcro is a PiTA.

I mean I only had to sew on my US Army tapes and my name tapes once. I had someone new rank insignia every year or so and new unit patches every time I PCS'd

I didn't see that as a huge inconvenience and it didn't cost all that much to have it done at the post tailor shop

Kinda like the M1 Garand clip 'ping'. But you mean they put velcro on shirts to attach patches!?!? Man if that's not 'woke'.

 

[pharris]

Nothing too high tech, old Sony dvd/cd player from a surround sound system, Polk audio speakers, Yamaha tuner and Orbit turntable. 200+ vinyl albums and 200+ cd’s. Oh yeah about forgot, Sennheiser cordless headphones.

 

[TLFR]

I still have my Pioneer system from the 70s. Has AM/FM, 8 track, reverb, AR speakers. Will set it up in my garage one day minus the turntable.

 

[blackdeuce]

Once I could finally afford good gear, I went the restored classics route, concentrating on particular lines of amps, preamps, and tuners from the 70s. My current systems consist of Kenwood Supremes, carefully restored over the last decade or so, as well as some revamped Dynaco mkIII monoblocs. My main system has Von Schweikert VR5s from the early 2000s. Unfortunately, as others have experienced, my hearing has deteriorated over the years, from what I don't exactly know. Anyway, here are a few pictures.View attachment 758708View attachment 758709View attachment 758712

Nice gear. I have a pair of original Von Schweikert VR-4 that I'm saving for my son. I'm currently using Von Schweikert Model One with two REL S/510 subs.

 

[Stewboy]

Nice gear. I have a pair of original Von Schweikert VR-4 that I'm saving for my son. I'm currently using Von Schweikert Model One with two REL S/510 subs.

Thanks. I had a pair of the VR-4 Gen ii or iii for a while, and they were fabulous. Best bass response I've ever heard in a loudspeaker, and no need for a subwoofer.

 

[blackdeuce]

Thanks. I had a pair of the VR-4 Gen ii or iii for a while, and they were fabulous. Best bass response I've ever heard in a loudspeaker, and no need for a subwoofer.

The Model One is rated down to 29 Hz with a flat response. Tighter bass than the VR-4, but not as deep. The REL subwoofers run in stereo and the gain and crossover are set really low. They just add some of the lowest frequencies. I'm not boosting the bass for more boom, just a more accurate reproduction of the original material. The real high dollar Von Schweikert have active bass modules. Some of them cost $150k+.

 

[Model19man]

I was unable to afford the system I wanted in the 1970's. It was very expensive and being a high school student I had no money.

Fast forward to about 2003 - I was surfing on eBay and noticed the cost of everything was pretty reasonable. So I bought my system that I couldn't afford as a teenager. I now have a Sony amp / receiver that puts out 100 watts per channel, a pair of Akai 80D 8 track players, and a foursome of Sansui speakers that will handle 80 watts each.

Oh - and roughly 1200 8 track tapes with no duplication.

I guess the speakers take more than 100 Watts......

 

[boykinlp]

I definitely wouldn’t consider myself an audiophile. In fact, as far as audiophiles go, I probably did the stupidest thing many years ago when I bought a Technics CD player. After I bought it, I gave my Marantz turntable to my college roommate. Of course he said that I could have it back whenever I wanted it. I would guess an audiophile would consider that blasphemy! I still use the CD player today with my Onkyo TX-RV47 receiver. I don’t know if either is considered nice now. I do still use my Bose 501 speakers that I believe are fairly highly regarded.
Larry