2. home-theater
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Getting married, and I need to redo system.. ?'s..

Hello Everyone:

How is everyone doing today??? I hope everything is going all and well for each and every one of you. Now, I have something I to discuss with all of my fellow "Goners" here at "Audiogon", and I would appreciate any input or opinions that any one of you may/will provide to me.

Okay, now that the formalities are out of the way, I got something I want to share with all of you guys here at "Audiogon". The VERY thing that I want to share with each and every one of you is this. It has recently been discussed with my girlfriend of four plus years and it has been decided that we're going to be tying the knot. No date has been set as of this moment, but right now, we're shooting for the spring of 2004. And while some aspects of my life may (and in fact, will) change after I say "I DO" to what is going to be my "better half", the one thing that's NOT going to change, is that I am NOT going to stop being an audiophile. I say this because the way I see this is this. If I marry her, I am going to be marrying her for her. And that means I will have to put up with all of her. And that goes for all of the points she has about herself. Her good points and bad points. By the same token, she will have to put up with the same thing from me as well. And also, as part of the package, she has to know (in fact, she and I have already had that discussion) that she's marrying an audiophile as well. And if she is to be married to me, she's stuck with an audiophile for life. But now, with the intentions of getting a house together someday, I am hoping on getting a house in which either will have either a room that I can convert into an "audio/video room with a home office", or a basement that has a nice sized room that I can seal off from the utility room and the laundry area, and then what I will do after that is hire an acoustic technician and have some acoustic tile installed, and then hire an electrician to redo the electrical system of the whole house so that I can beef up the electrical capabilities of the room in question so that I can install the kind of system that I really want to install in the room that I have just so mentioned. What I am going to probably be doing after that is kind of redo my system up to the point of where it is going to have to be a consolidated and downsized version of the systems that I have right now. And those systems are as follows.

HOME THEATER (located in my bedroom):

Panasonic CT-27SF37 "SuperFlat" 27" Television/Monitor
Toshiba SD-2700 DVD/CD Player
Sony SLV-R5UC S-VHS Hi-Fi VCR
JVC HR-VP638U VHS Hi-Fi VCR
Harman/Kardon AVR-210 Dolby-Digital/DTS Audio/Video Receiver
Sennheiser HD-580 Headphones
Monster Cable Interconnects
Monster Cable HTS1000 Power Center Surge Suppressor

AUDIO SYSTEM (located in my living room):

KEF Reference 102 Speaker System w/KUBE Equalizer
Adcom GFA-545 MkII Power Amplifier (100 WPC)
Adcom GFP-750 Active/Passive Line Stage Preamplifier w/Remote Control
Magnum Dynalab FT-101 FM Tuner
Terk AM FM Q Amplified Antenna
Thorens TD-165 Belt-Drive Turntable (not yet hooked up)
Grado Prestige Gold Moving Magnet Phono Cartridge
Pioneer Elite DV-37 Progressive Scan DVD/CD Player (being used as a CD Player)
JVC XL-M509TN 6+1 CD Player/Changer
Nakamichi BX-300 Cassette Deck
MITerminator 2 and 3 Interconnects and MITerminator 2 Speaker Cables
Sanus SF-24 Speaker Stands
Monster Cable HTS2500 Power Center

And now, here's what I am proposing my system will look like after I become a married man.

AUDIO/VIDEO SYSTEM (to be located in either in a den, or in a room to be determined in a basement once we get our house):

KEF Q1 Speaker System (mains or fronts in a home theater system, or the main speakers in a stereo system)*
KEF Q9c Speaker System (center channel....... to be used in home theater only)
KEF Q8s Speaker System (surround channels...... to be used in home theater only)
REL Strata III Powered Subwoofer (in a finish that matches the KEF Q1 and Q9c)***
Rotel RMB-1075 5 Channel Power Amplifier (will eventually replace the Adcom GFA-545 MkII)*
Rotel RSP-1066 7.1 Surround Processor/Preamplifier (will eventually replace the Adcom GFP-750)*
Sennheiser HD-580 Headphones (retained from old system)
Creek Headphone Amplifier (Special Edition Version)
Magnum Dynalab FT-101 FM Tuner (retained from old system)
Magnum Dynalab Indoor/Outdoor Antenna (to replace the Terk AM FM Q Amplified Antenna)
Monolithic PS-1 + HC-1 Phono Stage with matching Power Supply
Rega Planar 25 Belt-Drive Turntable (the "table" I plan to own after I upgrade the Thorens TD-165)*
Grado Sonata Reference Moving Magnet Cartridge (the cartridge I will upgrade to after replacing the Prestige Gold)*
Sony DVP-NS999ES Progressive Scan DVD/SACD/CD Player (one player will have to do it all)*
Nakamichi BX-300 Cassette Deck (again.... retained from old system)
Panasonic PT-47WX52 or PT-53WX52 47" or 53" 16:9 HDTV RPTV (but not both)*
Sony TiVo and the JVC HR-VP638U VHS Hi-Fi VCR (to replace the Sony SLV-R5UC)*
Microsoft "X-BOX" Gaming System
MITerminator 2 Interconnects (retained from old system.... new ones will be added later on)**
MITerminator 3 Interconnects (retained from old system.... again, new ones will be added later on)**
MITerminator 2 Speaker Cables (retained from old system.... new ones will be added later on)**
Osiris Speaker Stands (if they can be found, they will be added to the system later on)*
Monster Cable Reference Power Center HTS3600 (will eventually replace the HTS2500)*

* means that these components will replace the ones that was previously in my system. For example:

The KEF Q1 will replace the KEF Reference 102's
The Rotel RMB-1075 will replace the Adcom GFA-545 MkII
The Rotel RSP-1066 will replace the Adcom GP-750
The Rega Planar 25 will replace the Thorens TD-165
The Grado Sonata Reference will replace the Grado Prestige Gold
The Sony DVP-NS999ES will replace both, the Pioneer Elite DV-37 and the JVC XL-M509TN
The Panasonic PT-47WX52 or PT-53WX52 will replace the Panasonic CT-27SF37 SuperFlat
The Sony TiVo and JVC HR-VP638U will replace the Sony SLV-R5UC S-VHS Hi-Fi VCR
The Osiris Speaker Stands (if found) will replace the Sanus SF-24 Speaker Stands
The Monster Cable HTS3600 will replace the Monster Cable HTS2500

** means that more cables will be purchased later on to accomodate the additional channels that the home theater is likely require/demand.

*** means that the REL Strata III Powered Subwoofer is going to be used both in stereo and in home theater

And finally, the rest of the components that I did not name or mention in my current home theater will either be sold, put on consignment, given away to charity, or any other means deemed necessary. But the given is, they will be eliminated.

But anyway, that's the way my new "combined" audio/video system will look after I am married. And when you stop and think about, my system won't be changed all that much. It'll just be changed enough out of necessity, but my new system will pretty much look the same as my current one(s) do now.

What do any of you think???? Do any of you have any questions????

Thanks in advance for your replies.......

--Charles--
128x128chaskelljr2001

Showing 4 responses by jmcgrogan2

jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
One thing you should know. Your explanation of how as part of the package she has to know she's marrying an audiophile, blah, blah, blah, is very logical and makes great sense to me. However, women are different from men. In general, women are more emotional and men are more logical. Sure there are exceptions, I got married because I thought I had me an exception. I didn't.
My advice: if there is anything that you want, any piece of gear, regardless of price, buy it now. Buy as much as you can now. The purse strings will tighten up after you say "I Do."
Good luck,
John
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Gthush1, when you've been married as long as I have (19 years) you'll know better than to tell her the cost of such products. I have a seperate credit card, and seperate my money. She might complain if she sees too many transactions, but she never knows the cost. Cables and power cords are easy, she doesn't see them, so as far as she knows, there hasn't been a transaction. She only notices new speakers, amps, cd players, etc.
Pat, you are lucky. I have a friend whose wife shares his audio hobby, but alas, mine thinks it 'silly'. She'd rather I invest the money in a 2003 Jaguar for her, so she doesn't have to trudge around in her 1998 Toyota Camry. Such a rough life.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Tsrart, I'm glad you are happily married. I've heard that there are folks out there that are. Just out of curiousity, how long have you been married? Do you and your wife have children? I ask because these generally are major factors in how happily married one is.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Tsrart, I not saying all women are evil, I'm saying they are different. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. We will never understand each other, even if we trick ourselves into thinking we do. I asked the questions, because in my life experiences there are 3 basic factors behind marital unhappiness and divorce. They are, in order determined by my experience:

1) Money
2) Children
3) Time

All three are tied together. They are the stress factors that are put on a marriage. The less money you have, the more children you have, the longer you've been together all place stress on a marriage. So in my experiences, it takes all 3 stress factors to really push a marriage to it's limits. For instance, if you have plenty of money, number 2 and 3 aren't as stressful. If you don't have children, number 1 and 3 aren't as stressful. The younger the relationship is, the less time you've had to grow apart. I wouldn't want to tell Charles not to get married, as I remember no one could tell me when I was 'in love'. I simply advised him to spend all that he wants to now, because it does change after marriage. He's been married before, so he understands that.
As for your cd player analogy, I kind of agree with you. Except that you have to figure in several stress factors that could cause the cd player to not perform as it did when it was new. Like you could say not taking proper care of your software is akin to lack of money. That would make the cd player not sound as good with age. Take your beautiful new cd player and plug it into a $5 K-mart multi-plug extension cord, could substitute for having children. Time can just represent time. I was married in 1983. $500 will buy you a much better sounding cd player today than it did in 1983 (I'm not sure if they were around then). So hopefully you can see how certain situations can put stress on a cd player/marriage. Does that mean you shouldn't buy a cd player? Not at all, just so you know that there is only one today. Tomorrow? Who knows? There is no gauranteed future. Most depends on how the 2 individuals can deal with the 3 major stress factors.

Regards,
John
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