Perseverance (Man, I'm Lucky)
SkippyTheTubRat
Posts: 1
Wow. There are times when everything just comes together nicely and all I can say is "Holy Cow. I can't believe my luck sometimes."
This last couple of days has been like that.
First, a little background......
I'm 40 years old. Ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted a decent stereo. I married young, and divorced at 34, and somehow, during the last 20 years, there never was the money laying about to get anything worthwhile. There was a car that needed repair, children that needed shoes, repairs that needed to be done on a house, bills (and child support) that needed to be paid. There was always something that took priority.
Not that I'm complaining, of course. I figured that I was a lucky fellow to have what I did have. After all, I wasn't born on a sandbar in Bangladesh. My family and I had food in our bellies, a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs. We were in good health. I can't say that the fiscal demands of life always pleased me, but things could have been a whole lot worse.
Still, always in the back of my mind was the thought that someday, somehow, I'd like to have that sound system. I found myself lingering in the stereo section of the local electronics store, looking longingly at the high-end systems. I looked into building my own speakers. I checked out e-bay for good deals on used electronics. All I ever really accomplished was give myself a bad case of the "wants".
Bad JuJu, mano.
About 5 years ago, a friend of mine was upgrading his system, and he sold me his used reciever for $75. A Pioneer VSX-D457. He hadn't had it long, and he wasn't happy with it, but, I figured it beat the heck outta the boom box I'd been using for a long time. I bought it thinking that sooner or later I'd find a deal on some speakers. One day I checked out some reviews of the receiver and found (much to my dismay) that it was almost universally reviled by those that owned it.
Still, it beats a cheap boom box, or the cheap speakers on my computer.
Last Friday I was perusing the Frye's Electronics circular (imho - better than Playboy) in the Houston Chronicle. I nearly pooped all over myself when I saw a pair of Polk R30's advertised for $100. I had been saving my pennies for a while hoping to run across a deal on speakers, and there it was. Mindful of my receiver purchase, I went to e-pinions first for some reviews and saw that the speakers seemed to be well thought of.
"Kewl," I thought, "Frye's, here I come."
I drove down to Houston (1 hour away), bought the speakers, took them home, pulled the receiver out of the box where it had lived for 5 years, hooked everything up, brought up my .mp3 player and spent the evening listening to my new sound system. As the reviews had said, the speakers were a little weak in the bass, but I figured "sooner or later, I'll run across a good deal on a subwoofer."
Last night, I went to a meeting of an organization of which I'm a member. I was chatting with another member about my good fortune and I told him about looking for a subwoofer. He said "I've got a subwoofer in the attic in a box. I don't know what brand it is, but if I remember right, it was a pretty good one."
"Do you want to sell it?" I asked.
"I hadn't really thought about it," he said. "Tell ya what, I'll go home tonight, look at it, and think about it. Let's get together and have lunch tomorrow and talk some more about it then."
Kewl.
Today, at lunch the guy said "You wouldn't believe what I've got."
"What is it?"
"A Polk subwoofer." (it's a PSW120)
"Yeah? Do you want to sell it?"
"It's in the trunk of my car. Why don't you take it home, hook it up, listen to it, and get back to me on it?"
"OK. Sounds good. What do you want for it?"
"I paid $100 for it a couple of years ago," he said. "What do you think it's worth?"
"I don't know. Let me ponder on that we'll talk about that tonight."
I took the subwoofer home, plugged it in, and knew I had to have it. It gave the R30's the bass they lacked, and I figured that I could get the subwoofer for a reasonable price.
This evening, I went into town to talk to the fellow.
"How'd ya like it?" he asked.
"I want it. How much do you want for it?"
"I don't know, what do you think it's worth?" he asked.
"Well," I said, "You paid $100 for it a couple of years ago. How's $50 sound?"
"Sure," he said. I pulled out my wallet, money traded hands, and the PSW120 was officially mine.
Right now, I'm sitting here, grinning like the Chesire Cat, listening to a 200 song playlist on XMMS (my .mp3 player), amazed and grateful to God, Fate, The Great Pumpkin or whomever is responsible for my good fortune.
I know my system doesn't measure up to some of the systems I've seen. It's not really audiophile grade when measured against folks that have $5k amplifiers and $15k speakers. But ya know what? I don't care. It's mine (finally), and I'm extremely happy with it.
Two things I've learned. Perseverance works. And Good Sound doesn't have to be exhorbitantly expensive.
Sorry 'bout the length of the post. I'm just enthused.
This last couple of days has been like that.
First, a little background......
I'm 40 years old. Ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted a decent stereo. I married young, and divorced at 34, and somehow, during the last 20 years, there never was the money laying about to get anything worthwhile. There was a car that needed repair, children that needed shoes, repairs that needed to be done on a house, bills (and child support) that needed to be paid. There was always something that took priority.
Not that I'm complaining, of course. I figured that I was a lucky fellow to have what I did have. After all, I wasn't born on a sandbar in Bangladesh. My family and I had food in our bellies, a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs. We were in good health. I can't say that the fiscal demands of life always pleased me, but things could have been a whole lot worse.
Still, always in the back of my mind was the thought that someday, somehow, I'd like to have that sound system. I found myself lingering in the stereo section of the local electronics store, looking longingly at the high-end systems. I looked into building my own speakers. I checked out e-bay for good deals on used electronics. All I ever really accomplished was give myself a bad case of the "wants".
Bad JuJu, mano.
About 5 years ago, a friend of mine was upgrading his system, and he sold me his used reciever for $75. A Pioneer VSX-D457. He hadn't had it long, and he wasn't happy with it, but, I figured it beat the heck outta the boom box I'd been using for a long time. I bought it thinking that sooner or later I'd find a deal on some speakers. One day I checked out some reviews of the receiver and found (much to my dismay) that it was almost universally reviled by those that owned it.
Still, it beats a cheap boom box, or the cheap speakers on my computer.
Last Friday I was perusing the Frye's Electronics circular (imho - better than Playboy) in the Houston Chronicle. I nearly pooped all over myself when I saw a pair of Polk R30's advertised for $100. I had been saving my pennies for a while hoping to run across a deal on speakers, and there it was. Mindful of my receiver purchase, I went to e-pinions first for some reviews and saw that the speakers seemed to be well thought of.
"Kewl," I thought, "Frye's, here I come."
I drove down to Houston (1 hour away), bought the speakers, took them home, pulled the receiver out of the box where it had lived for 5 years, hooked everything up, brought up my .mp3 player and spent the evening listening to my new sound system. As the reviews had said, the speakers were a little weak in the bass, but I figured "sooner or later, I'll run across a good deal on a subwoofer."
Last night, I went to a meeting of an organization of which I'm a member. I was chatting with another member about my good fortune and I told him about looking for a subwoofer. He said "I've got a subwoofer in the attic in a box. I don't know what brand it is, but if I remember right, it was a pretty good one."
"Do you want to sell it?" I asked.
"I hadn't really thought about it," he said. "Tell ya what, I'll go home tonight, look at it, and think about it. Let's get together and have lunch tomorrow and talk some more about it then."
Kewl.
Today, at lunch the guy said "You wouldn't believe what I've got."
"What is it?"
"A Polk subwoofer." (it's a PSW120)
"Yeah? Do you want to sell it?"
"It's in the trunk of my car. Why don't you take it home, hook it up, listen to it, and get back to me on it?"
"OK. Sounds good. What do you want for it?"
"I paid $100 for it a couple of years ago," he said. "What do you think it's worth?"
"I don't know. Let me ponder on that we'll talk about that tonight."
I took the subwoofer home, plugged it in, and knew I had to have it. It gave the R30's the bass they lacked, and I figured that I could get the subwoofer for a reasonable price.
This evening, I went into town to talk to the fellow.
"How'd ya like it?" he asked.
"I want it. How much do you want for it?"
"I don't know, what do you think it's worth?" he asked.
"Well," I said, "You paid $100 for it a couple of years ago. How's $50 sound?"
"Sure," he said. I pulled out my wallet, money traded hands, and the PSW120 was officially mine.
Right now, I'm sitting here, grinning like the Chesire Cat, listening to a 200 song playlist on XMMS (my .mp3 player), amazed and grateful to God, Fate, The Great Pumpkin or whomever is responsible for my good fortune.
I know my system doesn't measure up to some of the systems I've seen. It's not really audiophile grade when measured against folks that have $5k amplifiers and $15k speakers. But ya know what? I don't care. It's mine (finally), and I'm extremely happy with it.
Two things I've learned. Perseverance works. And Good Sound doesn't have to be exhorbitantly expensive.
Sorry 'bout the length of the post. I'm just enthused.
Live Well, Be Well, Do Good Works
Selah
Selah
Post edited by RyanC_Masimo on
Comments
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Congrats on your good fortune, ENJOY!Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Your post really reminded me why I got into this hobby in 2002...
Stories like yours is what makes this hobby great! Glad to hear of your good fortune and hopefully much more will come to you in the near future! Congrats and enjoy your system!- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit. -
SkippyTheTubRat (if that is your real name...),
Ditto, F1's sentiments and Welcome to the Club...
Everything is relative, everyone starts somewhere... Glad you have started your journey is such a satisfactory way...
May each step of your journey be as satisfying as your first...More later,
Tour...
Vox Copuli
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. - Old English Proverb
"Death doesn't come with a Uhaul." - Dennis Gardner
"It's easy to get lost in price vs performance vs ego vs illusion." - doro
"There is a certain entertainment value in ripping the occaisonal (sic) buttmunch..." - TroyD -
Man! What is it with people always picking on kids born on sandbars in Bangladesh!?!
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What else if left? All the other minoriities have either:
- organized and developed the political clout to be sure it's known that picking on them is not PC; or
- own casinos on every clear hilltop from sea to shining sea... make fun if you like, but don't plan on playing...
So the Bangladesh Sand Bar people it is... More later,
Tour...
Vox Copuli
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. - Old English Proverb
"Death doesn't come with a Uhaul." - Dennis Gardner
"It's easy to get lost in price vs performance vs ego vs illusion." - doro
"There is a certain entertainment value in ripping the occaisonal (sic) buttmunch..." - TroyD -
Welcome to the club, hey, if it's yours and you dig it, what more can you ask??
Hmmmm, I dunno, I feel like being more aggressive, maybe I'll go test drive a Beemer today.
BDTI plan for the future. - F1Nut -
Cool deal!!! sounds good when someone finally gets what they deserve.. and everyone deserves some kind of pleasure thats not a need related item such as a house, car or what not..
I remember 8-10 years ago, i knew very little about audio besides car stuff.. Now ive grown and have some things i never thought i would have.. If your happy and you own it outright.. Nothing like that feeling..MY HT RIG:
Sherwood p-965
Sherwood sd871 dvd
Rotel 1075 amp x5
LSI15 mains
LsiC center
LSIfx surround backs
Lsi7 side surrounds
SVS pb12/plus2
2 Channel Rig:
nad 1020 Pre-amp
Rotel 1080 stereo amp
Polk sda 2B
kenwood grunt Tuner
realistic lab 450 TT
Signal cable IC -
The lucky laptop thread reminded me of one of our own lucky Polkies, the highly regarded SkippyTheTubRat. His contributions to the forum will be missed.
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Gotta admit, though, that's one hell of a first and only post."SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE" -
PolkThug wrote:The lucky laptop thread reminded me of one of our own lucky Polkies, the highly regarded SkippyTheTubRat. His contributions to the forum will be missed.
How in the hell did you remember this one post phenom?"Just because youre offended doesnt mean youre right." - Ricky Gervais
"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." - Stuart Chase
"Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." - Bernard Berenson -
Well, doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy:)I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
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Excellent....I love the past
CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint. -
Cool post!!!Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
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I think he wound up changing his screenname to "RussMan".>
>
>This message has been scanned by the NSA and found to be free of harmful intent.< -
My friend Jim Beam stopped by....CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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tonight will be either a Corona, or Harp evening. because thats what I got left over from Poker night.Living Room 2 Channel -
Schiit SYS Passive Pre. Jolida CD player. Songbird streamer. California Audio Labs Sigma II DAC, DIY 300as1/a1 Ice modules Class D amp. LSi15 with MM842 woofer upgrade, Nordost Blue Heaven and Unity interconnects.
Upstairs 2 Channel Rig -
Prometheus Ref. TVC passive pre, SAE A-205 Amp, Wiim pro streamer and Topping E50 DAC, California Audio Labs DX1 CD player, Von Schweikert VR3.5 speakers.
Studio Rig - Scarlett 18i20(Gen3) DAW, Mac Mini, Aiyma A07 Max (BridgedX2), Totem Mites -
Polkersince85 wrote:I think he wound up changing his screenname to "RussMan".
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPolitical Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
"Skippy the Tub Rat"......whadda monicker !
I had to google that and see if the Skipster was still around.
Looks like he's still living fast and furious and has the luck of .....well, I guess the luck of a tub rat.
http://twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4432&page=2
Hit a Ford F150 with his '90 VX800 5 months after his Club Polk post, and still has enough plug n' chug left to signature this other post with :
"Live Well, Be Well, Do Good Works" Sal Palooza -
We also must credit SkippyTheTubRat with predicting that Linux will take over Windows. The man is a true visionary.
http://www.newsgarden.org/columns/skippyttrcolumns.shtml -
Jager.....
intravenouslyI never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore -
We probably all remember his cousin, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.Sal Palooza
