Introduced my friends to the audio world

tom1066

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
For about the last 20 years, I have had a weekend at my parent's lake house for buddies from college and my hometown to get together and hang out. It normally is just a bunch of sitting around, having a few beers, and retelling of old stories while catching up with each other since we are now scattered all over the country. I have been in charge of the music since the beginning since I had a multigigabyte collection of mp3s from my high school napster and ripping CD days. That's where my interest in this hobby first started and when I saw my first silver faced marantz I was hooked.

This year for the first time I brought an amp and speakers that wasn't currently in my main rig rotation. I loaded up my beloved marantz 8 (I just got a SET amp I have been listening to) and a pair of Dynaco A-25s in the car with a Schiit Bifrost Multibit DAC and a Schiit Saga pre-amp. The A-25s I had rebuilt a few years back with new caps and replaced the tweeters with some that were recommended in several threads here on AK.

Well it took forever to get it all hooked up since we don't have wifi at the lake but with a verizon hotspot and some technical wrangling I was finally able to get a google chromecast to play lossless Tidal via an optical link into the Bifrost and then onto the Marantz. Of course I was worried about the synergy, how would the Dynacos do with the 30 wpc, etc but the sound I felt was really actually quite good. I was worried about the size of the room as well (you can see from the pics which make it look even bigger than it actually is) but the Dyancos held there own and I was impressed with them overall.

The interesting thing to me was everyone's response. Most if not all were intrigued by the "glass things" on the marantz and had lots of questions about the setup, what each box or piece did, etc. All were impressed by the sound and remarked how much better it was than the in wall speakers at the lake house and at some of their own houses but some people were really blown away and controlled the playlist for hours. This is the first time I have ever really done this with a crowd and the positive response was more than I had hoped for. Next year with some planning maybe I could bring a whole different setup and keep it going. It was fun stuff and I thought AK might be interested in the response.

MVIMG_20180818_215635_exported_5141732262148302182.jpg MVIMG_20180818_215720.jpg
 
That sounds like a treat for everyone. I wonder if any of your friends will explore vintage when they get home.
 
Amazing!! Something I think a lot of us would love to have happen. But, probably won't. :dunno:
 
That sounds like a treat for everyone. I wonder if any of your friends will explore vintage when they get home.

I hope they do. I had several of them ask about where to find it, refurbishing it, cost, etc. And I mainly pointed them in the direction of AK and the various forums including the member's barter town. I know I have learned (and bought) so much from all the people in all the forums here. Hopefully a couple of them get hooked and in a few years maybe they will begin to bring things.
 
I would love to have a group of people that would hang around and listen to music.

It was fun but different. This was the first time I have really listened with a group and it was different. Some of the guys kind of thought it was weird that they would sit in a "sweet spot". But after a nudge to change positions but even they agreed the sound changed for the better. And then some didn't leave the spot for a while. The song queue was extremely varied and it was interesting to watch the various responses to the same song.
 
Marantz 8? :thumbsup: Awfully nice gear to haul to the lake. Well worth it too judging from the response. :banana:

It's my favorite by far of all the amps I have right now. But I just got a decware zen from BT and it thru my cornwalls is really good.
 
I love it!

It sounds like the first time I heard my friends Pioneer SX-450 in 1976.....Then another's Sansui 771.....A revelation.

BTW....I tried to paste in the quote from above....How do you use "multi quote" ?
 
Great story and great move on your part. I’d probably pass on the turntable next year - too much opportunity for damage to records and gear. (In my head I’m hearing the soundtrack to
The Big Chill:eek:)
 
Good story!

This summer at the lake I did a little audio upgrade of my own consisting of my brother's 1978 Akai 1130, 30wpc receiver, a Chromecast audio playing Tidal hifi through the simple AUX out. For speakers I located a nice pair of refoamed Tannoy C-10s from Kijiji for $100. These speakers are a large bookshelf 24x12x12 two-way design from the late 80's with a Vifa tweeter and a 10" woofer with excellent bass output and solid highs. I bought some new "audiophiler" brand poly caps from Hong Kong to replace the old caps which cleaned up the vocals nicely. I also made an FM antenna out of some ancient salvaged 300ohm flat wire. I then hooked up the TV audio out to the old Akai for watching Netflix. The result is some excellent sounding music and great sound for the TV as well. FM reception was strong and there was even some decent content from the small town FM station located about 20 miles away.

Listened to a few recommendations from the Audiokarma folks. Boz Scaggs, Loan Me A Dime became the vacation song for 2018. Also Royals by Lorde was the demo for the excellent bass capabilities of the rig. It could be easily heard down on the dock 125' from the cottage with the volume set at 4. Seems the combo of efficient speakers and a relatively low powered vintage receiver did really well together.

The teenagers all appreciated the sound upgrade. My 85 year old mother even put up with the big black monkey coffins. Dad even noticed the improvements. The neighbours from across the bay who usually blast country music on their dock may not have liked the new upgrade. The cottage and vacation make a fantastic listening environment with supplements of whiskey and IPA. All good can't wait until next year.
 
Back
Top Bottom