How far have you come in Audio/Video?

Knucklehead

After looking through the System Showcase im just blown away by some of the systems and time and effort in building them.

What was your first real H/T or Stereo system, and how long have you been into this hobby?

My first was a HTiB JVC system, Prologic only i think. Prolly 12 years ago.

Currently: Although my system is entry level it rocks!

Pioneer AVR VSX 411D
Mains: R50's
Rears: RM150's
Subs: 2 PSW10's
Center: CV VE5C
Xbox 360
Wii
Magnavox Blu Ray
Panasonic 42" Plasma

muncybob

I wish I had the $$ to put into this project...but too many other projects requiring my dough to get real serious. My first system was back in the 70's with a Sony intergarted amp, Pioneer tuner, Denon tt and (the weakest link) a pair of Cizek speakers. Fairly good set up for the time. I'm looking forward to replacing my current Yammy avr with seperates again some day but it will have to do for now. Most recently added some Vandersteens for the fronts and a Mirage 12" sub. Glad I did both. Looking at having the Denon tt repaired(yep, still have it) or maybe picking up a used one. Wish I could afford one of the newer LED televisions...maybe at Xmas!

Knucklehead

yes, the LED's seem to be the new thing. i agree with you on the $$, Married with Children..lol.

Knucklehead

i wouldnt do that to your thread, if thats the best youve got, please add me to your ignore list......

steveinaz

I caught the hi-fi bug at about age 10 (1972). Bought my first decent stereo (a Fischer receiver/turnatble combo) from a good neighbor for 50 bucks, at around age 15. I've been addicted ever since. I have owned hundreds of pieces of equipment between then and now, more than I can even remember.

My current system is the best system I have owned (as a whole, though I've owned better speakers), but is really pretty generic/plain vanilla. I DO need some new speakers, some that will really show the capabilities of the rest of the system...coming soon.

I could spend alot more on audio, but I have other priorities and I'm a "bang-for-my-buck" kinda guy. I want to maximize my dollars and get the most I can for the money. I recently lowered my speaker budget to the $2500/pr limit--I was looking at $5G's, but I'm not gonna spend that kind of money. Bev & I have a "ranch" to buy (our dream).

treitz3

Knucklehead wrote: »

i wouldnt do that to your thread, if thats the best youve got, please add me to your ignore list......

Knucklehead, I think he was answering your question in a direct, humorous way. I don't think he was trying to di(k up your thread. Sal is funny like that.

Knucklehead

really....the first!:D Im honored!

treitz3

To answer your OT question, I started with a Scott setup, 2 channel. Went on to HT. Gave up on HT and went back to 2 channel to make a VERY long story short. Countless thousands later, I am still on my audio journey and loving every minute of it. My latest venture is dabbling with tubes. Oh, and my audio journey has taken me many more miles and states than Sal.

Knucklehead

i take it your into music much more than movies?

treitz3

Much more. I still enjoy movies but my passion is audio.

66chevyIISS

My "home theater" was pretty sad haha. I started out with a Denon HTIB that actually served me very well. I still use the sub as my 2nd behind the couch and the small bookshelves are still my surrounds. It's slowly been upgraded over the past couple years. Starting with the receiver (now have preouts so I can add an amp) then the 3 front speakers. I got the RTI4's from DKG999 on an awesome deal (thanks again!) with the intentions of moving them to the rears eventually. That hasn't happened yet, but only in time!

This is how I started:

doctor r

It all started in 1975 when I built a Dynaco PAT4 and Dyanaco Stereo 80. I bought a Rotel TT and then the floor models of some Synergistic Brand 3 way speakers that had lifetime warranties on the drivers (all blown) and the company sent me all new drivers:D. At college someone decided they wanted my system more than I and stole the entire setup.:mad: Luckily my fathers homeowners insurance paid for the entire system at full fatory built retail and I had funds to buy something new. The summer of '79 in Cambridge Mass I picked up a set of Monitor 7Bs with perrless tweeters. The store also set me up the marvelous NAD 3020 integrated and an Optonica RP 3636 TT. I still have the Polks and the TT. Two years ago I decided that I wanted back into a 2 channel system so I got out 7Bs and with guidance from posts on this forum I rebuilt the crossovers. I then bought a set of tube amps and a new cartridge for the Optonica table. Then I needed some new interconnects, then I needed some new speaker wires, then I needed tubes to roll and a tube tester, then I needed a new audio rack, then I needed a record cleaning machine, then I needed more LPs, then I needed power conditioning, then I needed a better cartridge, then I needed a better TT...... and oh yea, I still have both an unbuilt Dynaco PAT4 and Stereo 80 in thier boxs in my closet (bought two and the very start of this journey when Dynaco was closing their doors.) I guess if I build those I will have come full circle.:cool:

Rick

Knucklehead

Nice....you guys must be loaded...and I dont mean from alcohol.:p

treitz3

......and whose fault is that?

At least you don't have someone living 6" away from you anymore. Rock on bro'!

Knucklehead

I know exactly where your coming from my friend...wife & 3 kids, mortgage etc...Im trying to talk my wife into letting me buy her a new AVR for mothers day. LOL!

muncybob

Good luck on that Mother's day idea..although I think it's brilliant! I could stand being called a **** to get some new audio equipment~! Much to my surprise my wife agreed on our new speakers for our Xmas present last year...so maybe there's hope for you yet!

reeltrouble1

my first audio system was a transistor radio, I am not sure how far I have come since them as I can't recall how I got here or what cooridor of the rabbit hole I am presently lost in, but I can tell you the trip has been fantastic.

RT1

Knucklehead

Actually it was probably the crystal radio kits from radio shack......such fond memories!

reeltrouble1

I dont think Radio Shack sells Radio's anymore, I think it's Cell Phone Shack now.

The stuff I have now is better than the stuff I had before, I enjoy the ride and the tunes.

RT1

megasat16

Well, the sad thing is that RatShack no longer sells breadboard (prototype board) in the area I live. I asked the seemingly 50 years old sales guy and he had no idea what the breadboard or prototype board is. The dude has no clue what the 22AWG single strand breadboarding wire is.

I should have shot my brains out before I spend 10 minutes trying to put some sense into him.

oifvet0608

I started with a ghetto blaster in my bedroom when I was 7. Slowly upgrading till I was 21. In 2001 I bought my first true system, a HK AVR 3 series with Infinity floorstandings, center and bookshelves. Not to mention my Velo 15, I liked bass at the time. That setup is currently in the states with my father and I will build my new setup in my house in Germany when I get home on R&R in August, I can't wait. Plus, wifey told me she would keep her flap shut when she sees the price on the new stuff so that makes me even happier...since I have a very large room to fill.

Serendipity

I still have the same speakers/receiver/CDP that I started out with when I joined Club Polk.

renowilliams

About a year out of high school (1979), I bought a pair of JBL-4311's and a Hitachi amp which I had till three years ago. Just recently, I bought a pair of RTIA5's and a Yamaha AVR, then I bought a pair of RTI6's and a sub. It has been fun getting back into audio but I am more into H/T than music. When my daughter heads off to college next year, I am going to make a home theater.

cfrizz

I started in 1982 with a Sony outfit that came with speakers, turntable, receiver & a cabinet. To that I added a tape deck. On 2/6/1990 I gave myself a birthday present of Polk RTA-8T's, Rotel prepro, 50wpc amp, & CD player, and an Onkyo tape deck.

Around 2002 I wanted in on the HT front so I gave the Rotel pre & amp to my brother & got a Denon receiver. The following year I added my Boston center channel, & Subwoofer, and my Pioneer dvd player.

In 2004 I joined CP & all hell broke loose! I got a Parasound amp, then a Outlaw monoblock. Then I bought my FXi speakers. Then I got my Sunfire amp, then my Rotel RCD1072 a little later my Sunfire prepro. My latest aquisition has been the DSW400.

My only 2 original peices of gear from 1990 are my RTA's & my tape deck.

So there you have it!

George Grand

In the late 60's I bought a Lafayette Radio Electronics integrated amp that was 7wpc, an AR-XA turntable, and a cheesy pair of HH Scott one-way speakers. Sounded great.

Knucklehead

WOW, i was only 3 in the late 60's.....

Face

It started out with some soundesign all in one unit around the age of 12. I then moved into Kenwood and Yamaha separates at the age of 16. It's almost been a constant turnover since I bought my own house 5 years ago.

BlueFox

My first real stereo was in the early 70s. It was a Sansui receiver, AR manual turntable, Sony reel-to-reel, and a pair of Pioneer CS-A700 3 way speakers. I loved those speakers. Everyone always commented how good the music sounded.

Anyway, as the years went by pieces were changed, I lost interest in music, gave everything, and all my records, to an ex-girlfriend, regained interest in the late 80s, bought a Denon integrated amp, Sony CD player, and a pair of Polk SDA-2s. By the late 90s I had again lost interest in music, but HT came along. I started out slow, but was soon up to a 57" TV, 4 LSi15s, LSiC, and a PSW1000. One night I put a CD in the DVD player (at the time a Sony 3100ES) and thought "This sounds pretty good." So, I started listening to music again, but this time classical (versus rock, rap). In a rapid succession I upgraded the DVD player to a Sony 9100ES DVD/SACD player, bought a Sunfire TGA5400 amp, and used my Sony 7100ES AVR as a pre-amp. This works great for HT and music, and is the current setup.

About a year ago, I cleaned up my living room and decided to bring the SDAs back to life. That worked so well I ended up replacing the entire living room stereo with my best system yet, and I listen to it all the time. My HT use has greatly decreased as my music use has increased, but I still like the HT. I can't wait for Star Trek and Terminator to be released on DVD this fall, and at some point I will go to Blu-Ray.

The living room 2 channel system is a Panamax power conditioner, Parasound tuner (only used for hockey games not on TV), 120GB iPod with a Wadia iTransport, Benchmark Dac1, a Sony 5400ES SACD player, Cambridge-Audio 840E pre-amp, 2 Cambridge-Audio 840W amps in mono mode, 2 PSB Synchrony One towers, Kimber Kable Hero XLR interconnects, Mapleshade Zephyr Digital IC between Wadia and Dac1, Mapleshade Double Golden Helix Plus speaker cables, 4 inch Mapleshade maple speaker platforms, and some Auralex acoustic foam behind the speakers.

At this point I am reasonably content, and am just spending money on new CDs to import into the iPod.

Which reminds me, for work I purchased another 120GB iPod, Wadia, Dac1, and a pair of Sennheiser HD650 headphones. This actually sounds pretty good, makes the day easier, and helps my thinking.

Knucklehead

Im really blown away by the fact you use $400.00 headphones with your ipod. Does the ipod really have enough to make them sound good? I couldnt even afford the case for the headphones!:p

BlueFox

Knucklehead wrote: »

Im really blown away by the fact you use $400.00 headphones with your ipod. Does the ipod really have enough to make them sound good? I couldnt even afford the case for the headphones!:p

That is funny. An iPod is a digital music server that can store CD quality songs on its harddrive as either uncompressed data, or by using lossless compression, which saves space and gives the same result as uncompressed data. Using the Wadia iTransport to extract the bit-for-bit identical CD quality data from the iPod, and feeding it into the Benchmark Dac1, you have a CD playback system surpassed by few stand alone CD players.

Knucklehead

I lost ya at the transport, but it sounds pretty cool. So you feed the ipod into your home system? soory for the ignorance.