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| In 7th grade most kids were
talking about Redline or
Diamond Back BMX bikes as I
quietly read my Stereo
Review and Audio magazines, lusting the new Phillips/Sony CD
player, CDP101. As the years went on, I added Car
Stereo Review to my subscription list and made speaker enclosures
for friends for extra cash. Back then everyone wanted a car that
went BOOM and I was the only one in my high school that could build
ported or sealed sub woofer boxes to the requirements of the given
speaker driver. I built custom push-pull and tunnel isobarik
enclosures as well as electronic passive crossover networks. At
that time my favorite components were from manufacturers such as SoundStream,
Nakamichi, MBQuart,
and Milbert. I liked to
install amps and speakers in such a way that no one would notice the
system. No neon or flashing lights; excellent audio reproduction
was the only requirement. Often I would hide tweeters in the AC
vents to so they would be invisible and to help facilitate frontal
imaging. As I gained more experience building and installing
systems, I learned that even with the finest electronics and speaker
drivers (and copious amounts of Dynamat)
one can never entirely eliminate road and engine noise.
This frustration led me to home high end audio. I started
subscribing to Sterophile
and frequenting Hollywood Sound.
There I met a guru of audio, Larry
Weinstein. While most audio specialty stores thought of me
as a poor punk kid who should not even be allowed in their store,
Larry sat me down and spent hours demo-ing his gear. I
think I learned more about audio from him then all the magazines I've
ever read, and I've made a great friend. I started out with a
tube preamp, a Cary
SLP-74. Later on, Larry sold me his very own turntable, a highly
modified VPI HW-19 IV with an Eminent
Technology ET2 tonearm and a Talisman Virtuoso cartridge. I
then upgraded the SLP-74 to include the phono. I had been bitten
by the audio bug. Next came Cary's
300se monoblock
single ended amps. My friend Matt wanted to get into tubed
gear so I sold him my SLP-74 and I upgraded to the SLP-98.
Very nice. I went through a million speaker upgrades, but
ultimately ended up with a pair of Soliloquy
5.2's. Next came cables. They are far more important then
one would think. I've chosen StraightWire's
Maestro and Virtuoso for all my interconnect and speaker cable.
AS far as the digital side goes, I currently use an inexpensive
Pioneer DVD player and a Nakamichi transport with a heavily modified
Audio Alchemy DAC in the box outboard D/A converter. I've
listened to and have owned Krell
and Levinson and other
high end manufactures gear, but tubes just do something for me that
solid state can not. I've also owned and enjoyed speakers form B&W
and KEF (among others) , but they
aren't particularly suited to tube gear. In fact, my home
theater system is all Denon and KEF,
but I wouldn't exactly consider it 'high end'. |
Cary CAD-300se
Cary SLP-98P
Soliloquy 5.3
VPI HW19 IV
ET 2
Straightwire
|
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