highdudgeon;158363 Wrote: > 1. You post about your music experience, your audio experience, what > drives you in this hobby, what brings you to Slim Devices, etc. I hope I'm allowed to post here even if my stereo is uh...well, somewhat less than high end. I guess I take the word audiophile at face value: lover of sound, and if I had more to spend on equipment I would, but I don't, so I can't. I do love listening music. I have varied tastes. I liked a lot of college/alternative rock when I was younger, but now that I am geezing at 48, much of that sort of music now I find either immature or negative. I don't need any extra negativity right now. So lately, I've been expanding my jazz and classical collections. I've ripped about 450 CDs. I use EAC and AccurateRip and a Plextor CD drive that I sought out on eBay that supports overreads on the first and last tracks. I tag with Tag&Rename.
highdudgeon;158363 Wrote: > 2. You post about your current, past, and future (hopefully!) rigs. > Discuss your room, speaker placement, cables, whatever. Before I learned about the Squeezebox, I had my own custom streaming system that consisted of: - A serial device called a Slink-e that routed control messages to and from two Sony 300-disk jukeboxes and the computer. - Two M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound cards (one for each jukebox) - A VB6 ActiveX EXE that I wrote that ran in IIS and processed messages to and from the Slink-e. - An Access database containing the disc metadata. - An ASP front-end for interfacing the database and the ActiveX EXE - Windows Media Encoder broadcasting a 760kbps stream through the network 99% of the time, it worked great, but it had limitations. First, I needed a computer near the stereo to pick and play stuff. Second, it played real CDs, so my mp3s were out of the loop. Third, it relied on mechanical devices, the CD jukeboxes, which I knew one day would fail, and then I'd be screwed. After I learned about the Squeezebox, I hemmed and hawed. I had put hundreds and hundreds of hours into my custom system, and it was very difficult to let go, but finally, I did, and so far, I haven't looked back! I've always been interested in hi-fi, but I've been restricted by a lack of serious cash to blow on really nice stuff. I build several speaker sets in college, but my first "decent" speakers were a pair of Spica TC-50s I bought about 17 years ago. 8 years ago, I traded up to a pair of PSB Status Bronzes. A few months ago, I added an Outlaw Audio LFM-2. I also built custom bases for the PSBs. When I bought the Spicas, I also bought an ADCOM GFA-535 amp and a GTP-400 preamp/tuner. Recently, I "downgraded" by selling the amp and buying a DENON DRA-535 receiver. I'm afraid that the ADCOM amp sounded better, but I needed a low-level subwoofer output and I wanted a remote to control volume. I made my speaker cables with Carol Cable wire from Parts Express and MonsterCable overpriced, but nice, banana plugs. I'm using Dayton Audio interconnects from Parts Express. I guess I would like a better amp/receiver, but that will have to wait a while. highdudgeon;158363 Wrote: > 3. Say something about your audio philosophy. For example, do you > believe in blind testing or not? Why? Lately, I've been wondering if there's really that much special about an "audiophile"'s ear. I mean obviously, on an objective level, some people hear better than others and a hearing test can determine that, but I'm wondering if it's not so much that one person hears something that someone else doesn't, but that the other person simply doesn't care. I think I am a pretty discerning listener, and I want things to sound a certain way. Little bits of distortion, boominess, etc. grate on me and drive me nuts. But I'll notice something objectionable and play it for my wife a few times and finally she'll say, "Yeah, okay, I hear it ... so what." highdudgeon;158363 Wrote: 4. Say something about what brings you to the forum and what you hope to get out of it. Mostly, I get a vicarious thrill out of hearing about and seeing pictures of others' much nicer systems. Reading the banter on some of the tweaks can be entertaining. highdudgeon;158363 Wrote: 5. No one -- absolutely NO ONE -- is allowed to flame, diss, nag, or anything of this sort in this thread. This is NEUTRAL GROUND. Okay? If you don't like what somebody says, that is fine; feel free to take it up on ANOTHER thread. We will ask SD to make this a sticky. I can be a bit of a smartass, but I don't like hurting other people's feelings. -- jonheal Jon Heal says: Have a nice day! http://www.theheals.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ jonheal's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2133 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=30141 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
