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Greetings from Southwest Florida

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Sluggo4511

New Member
Hi Everyone -
I've always believed that the difference between a Serious Music Fan and an Audiophile is...a Budget. Since I can not possibly invest in proportion to my love for gear (or, at least not if I want to remain married...), I have made a pretty serious hobby out of locating and combining used / esoteric / bargain / bartered audio gear into an ever-changing (and hopefully ever-improving) home setup.

Yeah, I have a turntable. No, I don't use it much.

Here's the current state of my rag-tag system:

>410 gig iTunes library on an iMac wired through a ground loop dongle to an Arcam amp, decoupled for just the pre- outs, which are split between a Polk PSW505 sub and an 8-channel SpeakerCraft power amp, bridged to 4 channels (for 2-channel stereo). I just swapped the Monitor Audio bookshelf speakers in front for a pair of MB Quart QL C204s with better (to me...) all-around imaging. The back channel is a pair of B&W 600i's. I have a pair of Heil AMT tweeters salvaged from vintage ESS cabinets running in parallel with the B&Ws. The Heils are great because I love the super-crisp highs and because they backfill the end of the frequency spectrum where I've damaged my hearing the most.

Looking forward to picking the brains of smarter and more experienced members, and to offering whatever assistance my oddball audio hobby may qualify me to provide.

Thank you -

Sluggo4511
 
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Welcome Sluggo. Where in SWFL? I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one down here.

I'm also running a pair of Heil tweets (on top of Hornshoppe Horns). Managed to stay married so far . . . :)
 
Sluggo4511 said:
Hi Everyone -
I've always believed that the difference between a Serious Music Fan and an Audiophile is...a Budget. Since I can not possibly invest in proportion to my love for gear (or, at least not if I want to remain married...), I have made a pretty serious hobby out of locating and combining used / esoteric / bargain / bartered audio gear into an ever-changing (and hopefully ever-improving) home setup.
Click to expand...
Welcome, Sluggo!

I think the trick is to make your "hobby" an important "vocation." That way, you can justify just about anything. I mean, I got into REAL audio arcana because I "needed to be able" to play acoustic field recordings and audio sources from the 1960s and 1970s. So, of COURSE, I needed the reel-to-reel, and even a (somewhat functional) wire recorder. After that, since my work NECESSITATES that I listen to avant-garde music from the 60s -- little of which is on CD -- I needed a turntable, then a BETTER turntable, and then an amp with a phono stage. It's all for SERIOUS WORK, mind you, and not AT ALL for mere diversion! ;)

Actually... My partner is totally onboard with all of this, and surprised me with a cassette deck from her dad. But yeah... I know what you mean. We are limited by circumstance, but with no budget ceiling, and all the time in the world... Just imagine!
 
Welcome from Snowland to Lotus Land.

And Slug, keep in mind that "serious" is but an arbitrary word. By the sounds of it, you ARE getting caught up and aware of both constraints and reality.

Q2
 
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