My first hi-end system was in the early 80's and I didn't know what to do with it. An older neighbor with family problems very unexpectedly brought over a McIntosh C-22 preamp, MR-71 tuner, a Dyna Mk 2 amp, and a Thorens TD-124 TT w/SME tonearm all in pristine quality. (He had a pr of Marantz 9's still in the house that he didn't grab) He had boxes to all this stuff but didn't have time to box it all up. Instead, the IC's were hanging out of all the gear like he just unplugged it. He said use it, enjoy it, I'll be back in 6 months, maybe a year, maybe never to get it back from you...
I didn't even know what tube equipment was as I had a HK 330C receiver, Dual 1225 TT and Advent speakers. I plugged in all his stuff and turned it all on. Didn't know you had to let tube gear warm up.
1st Impression: What's wrong with this stuff? The music doesn't even come on when you turn the power on.
2nd Impression: This stuff sounds like crap (I expected it to sound great in the first 5 seconds after it was on)
3rd Impression: (after 10 minutes) This stuff runs so hot, I'm going to burn my house down.
...so I unplugged it and never used it again....how dumb was I? Don't answer that :)
I didn't even know what tube equipment was as I had a HK 330C receiver, Dual 1225 TT and Advent speakers. I plugged in all his stuff and turned it all on. Didn't know you had to let tube gear warm up.
1st Impression: What's wrong with this stuff? The music doesn't even come on when you turn the power on.
2nd Impression: This stuff sounds like crap (I expected it to sound great in the first 5 seconds after it was on)
3rd Impression: (after 10 minutes) This stuff runs so hot, I'm going to burn my house down.
...so I unplugged it and never used it again....how dumb was I? Don't answer that :)