I am in the process of learning that success in my life is based on my ability to compromise. I am blessed with my wife and two children ages 4 and 2 1/2. These relationships require time and effort. The payoff is well worth it. Still, there was a time not too long ago that I was single.
If I were single and childless I would have three systems. I would have a digital system, an analog system, and a home theatre system. I would listen all day and all night, constantly changing equipment until I found harmony. Then I would continue to constantly change equipment because I would not realize that I had found the perfect system until I lost it. I would be on a first name basis with the FedEx and UPS people.
I would be the first person in the record store every Tuesday to purchase new releases. I would go to garage sales in search of vinyl bargains. I would go to live performances of classical, jazz, and rock music all the time.
I now listen to a wonderful system at lower volumes then I would normally choose. I have B&W 803's because of a compromise surrounding the aesthetics of the Magnepan 1.6's and Sunfire Signature subwoofer. I am limited to 6 components due to wall unit constraints. I can live with this. My poor wife and children have to put up with me. |
Nothing (fortunately). I'm in Avguy's "haves" category -- but lucky: my partner loves music and we go to many live concerts. So, resolution, clarity & natural timbres are a must. She loves the likes of Rachmaninoff, Orff, Brahms or Jamiroquai (quite a combination!) so, dynamics & rythm are sine qua non. Hence, when the ref, mega$ amplifier hits the wall socket, & it does the above & more well enough, I'm half-way to purchase (the other half being the banker<)).
Shouldn't complain, seems like... but then, I only have ONE TT. |
Wow! Sarah you're one of a kind. I've had girlfriends who loved great music but never gave a hoot for how it's reproduced. My wife, who is from Trinidad Tobago is in that category but also has gotten so used to the great reproduction with my systems (I have an upstairs and downstairs sys.) She says if I die she's keeping it all. Also she can tell immediately when we visit someone's house how crappy their tv speakers or music system sounds.
Since I was single until age 33 I've been on both sides of the fence and what of course was nice is that when you're single you can buy whatever you want and not answer to anyone. And believe me, you cannot sneak new cables or a new component past my wife.. "what's that new box? that wasn't there before! how much did that one cost? WHAT? you paid WHAT? no presents for you this Christmas! |
Hi Dave, thanks for the offer for my hand, but as Justlisten pointed out, I'd better stay single so there's never any occasion for dividing up the property! As far as listening to the 1SC's on all the different amps, I've only owned them since I've had my tube amps, so I never heard them on solid state. I love them on the ARC CA-50, but I had to give them a good two weeks of all-day radio playing before they came to life. They really sound spectacular now, and I am okay w/having sold the Beethovens and Ayres to downsize to the Proacs and CA-50 (plus my Rel sub, of course; there'd be no bass without it). I am still really curious about the SET low watt sound, esp. with these speakers, but I'm through messing around for now. |
I think you guys forgot to mention the kids as well, in addition to the wife. Although I love them all so dearly, I would definitely be in audio nirvana with the money that comes out of the monthly paycheck to support the family. I guess the world really is divided into the haves and the have nots, that is, those with wife and those without, those with kids and those without, which are probably highly correlated with those with super audio systems and those without..... :) |
Kelly,
A friend once described owning a big sailboat akin to sitting on a block of ice in the shower and throwing 20's in the toilet. I don't think of owning one of those and a pony as a cheaper alternative to this hobby ;-)
Although my marriage is NOT something I'd do differently ... absent it, I certainly would divert some landscaping and furnishings expenses over to the audio side. I'd become more of an early adopter of new technology rather than waiting for it to hit mainstream pricing levels. I'd do a lot more DIY experimenting, which of course would leave a lot of unfinished trial-and-error prototypes in highly visible listening positions much of the time. And I'm much more of a live music junkie than she, so actually I'd spend less time listening in the house and more in front of a band.
Sarah,
I'd be interested in your impressions of the 1SC's mated with some of your different pre/amp combo's - has this appeared in any threads to which you've contributed?
Tim |
Sarah:
Will you marry me?
Dave |
Bob, In order to ease some of the clutter around your place, i'll come by and pick your "extra" stuff up. Glad to be of help and service to you... : ) Sean
>
PS Multiple systems can give you multiple headaches at times : ) |
Instead of boxing & selling off all the surplus leftover gear (from tweaking the main rig) I'd use some of those pieces to build 'second' & 'third' systems, each optimized for somewhat different charactaristics. As it is, the boxed up castoffs that I haven't sold as yet are occupying significant floor space which I really should put to some better use. |
NOTHING, nothing at all. and, BTW, i've been happily married for 37 years and at this hobby for 35+ years. like swampwalker implies don't need to be single and/or lonely to label yourself an "audiophile." indeed, you'd probably be better off (and certainly more financially healthy) were you to acquire a dog, or a pony and a boat.
-cfb |
Sarah
I think it would be best if you stayed single, imagine marrying and becoming one of the 54% who divorce. What a wicked time you'd have spitting up all that audio gear!! |
Good thread Kirk. I enjoyed reading both the above posts, especially Sarah's-- thanks for sharing your experiences.
I'm married and have "my own" semi-dedicated listening room in which I make all the decisions, and I consider myself lucky in this regard. But WAF prevents me from getting into HT to the extent I'd like. I do have a widescreen TV and DVD player, and can pipe the sound through a good outboard pre-amp/amp/speaker system, but my wife will seldom let me play this system at realistic levels and so I watch many movies with headphones, and I do not have surround speakers-- no point in it as wife refuses to listen to bomb blasts, shooting etc. I like a broad range of movies, and occassionally she will join me in a good Drama. But she is so used to listening to the compressed sound of regular TV and radio, that the dynamics of good quality DVDs bug the hell out of her, and she refuses to tolerate a WIDE dynamic audio range.
So, what would I do differently if not constrained by WAF? I'd have a full blown HT system, a second very good stereo system in the living room, and when the mood stuck me I'd play ZZ Top at "disturbing the peace" levels. Still, on balance, I wouldn't like living alone, and I feel that we've made good compromises under the circumstances. We each have our "own space", and I hardly feel deprived. Cheers. Craig |
Hi, I'm a woman and I'm single and so I have done and can do whatever I like w/my house and systems and experimenting etc. Though I do take a LOT of flack from significant others, family, and friends with a sharp enough eye or attention span that they can tell when something in one of my two listening rooms is "different" or new. I once made the mistake of telling one of my dearest friends, Joanne, the cost of these Transparent Ultra speaker cables I had just purchased for, I think it was, $2000 back then. She was absolutely flabbergasted and started talking about how much food that would buy for a poor family in China . . . And she's the one who kept asking and asking "how much?" I learned my lesson and now NEVER disclose prices, only that I traded for something, or bought it used, or as a demo from my dealer. Anyway, because I answer to no one I have two excellent systems (both are in the Virtual Systems on this site, one as "My first tube system" and the other as "Small (?) system for living room." I put these together after a LOT of trial and error, including boxing and shipping off mega-heavy Vienna Acoustics Beethovens that I traded for an ARC integrated amp and Proac Response 1SC's. A few years ago I also sold my B&W 801 Matrixes bolted onto Sound Anchor stands, but the buyer came to my house and picked them up so I didn't have to break my back moving them thank heavens. I have had more UPS and Fed Ex boxes coming and going out of my townhouse than a small business. My neighbors think I am running a small business--and maybe my hobby and my desire to try new gear and perfect what I've settled on DO constitute a small business! A constant financial drain of a business, but as time consuming as any job. Also, I have boxed and shipped and received at my door tons of different very heavy power amps, including the Goldmund Mimesis 29 that I bought new from my dealer then had to ship back to Switzerland twice for repairs and then finally to Colorado when I sold it. Lately, I've received and then sold again my Ayre V3, and received and kept Acurus 5x125 and Act 3 processor, and received and kept ARC VT 100 Mk III and ARC CA-50 integrated. If I were married, my husband would probably be thrilled w/all this activity, unlike your wife. My male cousin Paul thinks some guy would marry me SOLELY for the audio gear in my house. He is awed whenever he visits from New Mexico!
I spend a lot of time in these forums and on this site because I have so few to share my passion and insanity with. I am always so relieved and gratified when I hear from all the rest of you, young and old (though almost all male, for some reason), who mirror my views, habits, and quest for good sound.
Hope you can continue your experiments, even w/speakers,
Sarah |
Well, I guess there IS an advantage of being single after all! :-) I own 5 sets of speakers, 5 CD players, 14 turntables, 7 power amps, well, you get the point. I also have a dedicated room with zillion $$ outlets, 1,000s of LPs and CDs, nothing but audio gear as furniture and I play it LOUD whenever I want! But, then again, you have somebody in bed next to you at night (although this may not ALWAYS be a good thing - particularly if you have too many speakers on a given day!! LOL!) whereas I only have a cat - well, again, this may not be a bad thing.
I agree though, if I were married with all of this stuff, I'd probably have been served with divorce papers or be a lot poorer from having to equalize purchases all these years!!
Hooray for bachelorhood!!!!
Let me see, what do I wanna buy next!! |
