Audio Fan's Cross Country Audio Adventure

[Hawkeye83]

Given the Krells were made later, that is the only logical assumption. Unfortunately, the former owner that really purchased the gear is deceased, so we will never know the actual rationale for any of the purchases or what may or may not have been in the setup over the years. The wife, who I dealt with, really was not sure about any of the history. Not unlike most all situations like this for any other gear.

I logged in to denote that I returned the U-Haul and added 2,564 miles to it from end to end when I picked it up.

Road warrior! And that's one way, I believe?! If so, your round-trip is 4 times my longest trip for audio gear (around 1,350 miles round trip for me). Definitely worth it though! Enjoy.

 

[Audio Fan]

Well, today is exactly one week from when I started this journey. I flew out of Denver last Wed morning to Boise after my business trip was completed, so yes, a one way drive.

At this point, I wanted to summarize all of the system in one list. Later, I will open separate threads under some other forum sections, primarily, Speakers, Turntables and Member Systems (to document the audio room and system install).

Complete System List:
(1) McIntosh MR-80 tuner
(1) Citation XXP preamp
(2) Nakamichi 1000ZXL cassette deck
(1) Nakamichi TX-1000 turntable
(1) Eagle 7a amplifier
(2) Krell FB-600 amplifier
(1) Wilson Audio Modular Monitor (WAMM) speakers

 

[soundmotor]

Complete System List:
(1) McIntosh MR-80 tuner
(1) Citation XXP preamp
(2) Nakamichi 1000ZXL cassette deck
(1) Nakamichi TX-1000 turntable
(1) Eagle 7a amplifier
(2) Krell FB-600 amplifier
(1) Wilson Audio Modular Monitor (WAMM) speakers

A freakin' Eagle 7A, amazing! With the exception of the Krells what a snapshot of the audio salon era and locked or escort only high-end rooms.

/i was never allowed in

Once that is all up & running it's going to be a fun night.

 

[nolasally]

What about the quad amps???

 

[Audio Fan]

A freakin' Eagle 7A, amazing! With the exception of the Krells what a snapshot of the audio salon era and locked or escort only high-end rooms.

/i was never allowed in

Once that is all up & running it's going to be a fun night.

That was exactly my initial thoughts. This is a tour de force of the best money could buy at a certain point in time (Krells denoted) and when I was figuring out what was in the whole system, each piece was an "OMG" type of moment. It actually took a couple of days before I received a picture of the speakers and components. At first, all the seller could recall was the speakers were "Wows", then it became "Whams", then finally, Wilson Audio WAMM. I have a small sticky on my computer I taped to it years ago listing the "12 most influential speakers" which came from a Stereophile article, I think. After she said "Wham", I happened to see in my list "WATT" and from there I figured out it could possibly be WAMMs from Wilson Audio, but I could not be sure until she sent me a picture. It was quite surreal.

Then, even after that, I did not know what was the turntable because in the initial picture I had, it was covered with a Nakamichi dust cloth and I did not even realize it was there. You can see it in the picture below to the right of the Citation preamp.

 

[Audio Fan]

What about the quad amps???

There were never any quad amps. What you are recalling is your guess as to what were the amps underneath from that January thread I created asking for help identifying the components. I knew what they were, but I did not want to let the cat out of the bag at that time.

This was the first pic I shared back in January, you could only barely make out the corners of one of the amps underneath which looks like the top of a large transformer.


For reference, below is the uncropped picture.

 

[nolasally]

So the amps below were the Krells?? what about the pieces on top of MR80? FYI dibs on MR80 if/when you let it loose...

 

[Audio Fan]

Yes, they were the Krells.

The top white piece is the crossover and the black piece on top of the MR80 is actually a BPC CD player.

 

[MudSlideSlim]

What a wonderful story and such a very interesting trip!

"What a long, strange trip it's been,"
Wow, Jerry Garcia's Mac 2300's. If their was one celebrity who loved audio it was Jerry Garcia.

I believe the Grateful Dead were also into Eagle amps and used them at some of their concerts.
John Iverson's life could of been the inspiration for many Grateful Dead songs but that's another story

Also I'm a bit bemused by the term quad amps.
There might of been quad amps and there are the real Quad Amps made in Huntington England.
Thank you, "Keep truckin', like the do-dah man"

Michael

 

[Pio1980]

What pains especially is that he had a fully dedicated auditioning studio for this ultimate system and never properly heard it.

 

[soundmig]

Those Krells are killer. I had a couple of FPB 600's for a while (on consignment when I had an audio store) and they made everything they were hooked up to sing like never before! Great amps. I also had an FPB 300 for a while and it was really good, but not quite as warm and BIG sounding as the 600's. I sincerely hope that all of the gear is in good shape and restorable to original - once running it will bring you many hours of bliss!

 

[Pio1980]

I've had an Eagle 2 for several years, a great amp overall for the money and a one time J. Gordon Holt reference amp.

 

[Blue Shadow]

If you need professional advice to clean these up you can call me. I have 37 year as a professional furniture finisher, restoration, custom furniture and architectural. All in homes that make that hanger look like subsidized housing.

This is a big turnaround from your first post on one of the threads for this gear. I guess pictures that finally worked for you made a big difference. Nice offer.

 

[Audio Fan]

Not sure to what you are referencing, but I certainly appreciate the assistance of someone with such skills. They are in very good shape overall, but need a little refreshing to bring them back to original condition and given their status in audio history, it needs to be done well and with his guidance, it should be fine.

 

[Ds2000]

AF, as a note, be very careful of the XXP, it's loaded with unobtainable potted modules. Keep it plugged into some kind of line protection, this will preserve it for as long as possible. I had one, the owner had run a 100v unit at 120v, and it killed a phono module, so no left channel. Sadly, all are in circuit, so if one goes, the effect travels globally.
Fortunately I had gotten it for a low price, and it had the wooden case.

 

[Audio Fan]

What pains especially is that he had a fully dedicated auditioning studio for this ultimate system and never properly heard it.

I would not make that assumption. Drugolf referenced earlier that the system was moved about 15 yrs ago, so when the system was purchased initially, it was setup somewhere else for many years. I don't assume he did not enjoy it for over a decade before moving it. Maybe his interests and focus changed later and he just no longer had the time. He added the Krells in the 90's, so he must have wanted the system to sing to go to that trouble.

 

[BilboBaggins]

I once did a 1000 mile round trip to pick up a pair of JBL4343's. Did the road trip with two mates, it was a great, fun, memorable trip, and have been enjoying the speakers for years since. Road trips for Audio gear is the best

My longest road trip specifically for audio gear was 2654 miles round trip to Winnipeg, where I traded a McIntosh MAC1900 for a BOSE 1801/4401 combination. It took 6 months to complate the deal! My wife doesn't know the road trip was for that. I hid it in a trip back to my roots, which was in Northern Ontario.

I also brought a Sony PS-X55 back from Vancouver, a trip of 2760 miles, but that was an add-on to put extra value into the road trip. I had promised my dad I would bring his car back when I got him and my mom to move back here. It was the only way he would get on the plane. So I searched the local kijiji in Vancouver and found the turntable. Seems the owner was looking for a Technics MC cartridge that I just happened to have, so I traded him the cartridge and some cash, and it was a done deal!

I love audio road trips and hope to continue them for a good long while. I am in a really good location between Montreal and Toronto, so many opportunities for more.

 

[Goldjazz]

My longest road trip specifically for audio gear was 2654 miles round trip to Winnipeg, where I traded a McIntosh MAC1900 for a BOSE 1801/4401 combination. It took 6 months to complate the deal! My wife doesn't know the road trip was for that. I hid it in a trip back to my roots, which was in Northern Ontario.

I also brought a Sony PS-X55 back from Vancouver, a trip of 2760 miles, but that was an add-on to put extra value into the road trip. I had promised my dad I would bring his car back when I got him and my mom to move back here. It was the only way he would get on the plane. So I searched the local kijiji in Vancouver and found the turntable. Seems the owner was looking for a Technics MC cartridge that I just happened to have, so I traded him the cartridge and some cash, and it was a done deal!

I love audio road trips and hope to continue them for a good long while. I am in a really good location between Montreal and Toronto, so many opportunities for more.

I think we need to start a thread on Audio Road Trips if one doesn't already exist.

 

[StimpyWan]

That was exactly my initial thoughts. This is a tour de force of the best money could buy at a certain point in time (Krells denoted) and when I was figuring out what was in the whole system, each piece was an "OMG" type of moment. It actually took a couple of days before I received a picture of the speakers and components. At first, all the seller could recall was the speakers were "Wows", then it became "Whams", then finally, Wilson Audio WAMM. I have a small sticky on my computer I taped to it years ago listing the "12 most influential speakers" which came from a Stereophile article, I think. After she said "Wham", I happened to see in my list "WATT" and from there I figured out it could possibly be WAMMs from Wilson Audio, but I could not be sure until she sent me a picture. It was quite surreal.

Then, even after that, I did not know what was the turntable because in the initial picture I had, it was covered with a Nakamichi dust cloth and I did not even realize it was there. You can see it in the picture below to the right of the Citation preamp.

Unless I missed it, how on earth did you find out about this sale??? Just a random search, Search Tempest, flat out good luck? Inquiring minds need to know???

 

[nolasally]

Well seeing as ad showed no pics of krell amp or whamms it was most likely a poorly written ad with probably a misspelled word namamichi. It's already been stated the wife didn't even know what to call the speakers. I'm now thinking AF got an even better deal. Original owner was deceased and spouse was trying to prep hanger for sale. Asking price of 625,000 this stereo was just a hassle especially given its location in the hanger. When you are selling half million dollar plus hangers& planes and six figure cars stereo values tend to get overlooked. I'm now reducing my guesstimate to somewhere in the sub 5,000.00 range for the lot. Hell for all we know the ad could have been placed in the free section of cl and AF wired money as good faith gesture and got the Mrs. To take down ad pronto. This is why I'm working towards one modest system before I meet my maker.