Who R U?

hi again, mohamed. craig may have saved ewe some money, but he steered ya away from a *lot* better sound! ;~) regards, doug ps - whan ya purge the *last* piece of 110v gear - *that's* when yule get transferred back to the usa!!! :>)

hi mohamed, if anyone posting is an audiogon member, then they can be emailed directly, by yust looking up their user id in audiogon's list. if *not* a member, then ya have to post yer email address to get your comments posted. regards, [email protected]

hi all, i dunno how i got started in this hobby - musta been that li'l transistor radio i got for my 6th b-d, back in 1962! i played it to *death*! then, when 11, i had saved up enuff allowance & paper-route money to buy my 1st stereo - a panasonic receiver w/matching speakers, cassette deck & turntable, all for $129 (my cheapskate tendencies also took hold early - i remember selling this set-up in a garage sale four years later, for $100!). then, back in '69, at age 13, i bought my 1st *serious* stereo - bose 901's, a dual 1229, & a pioneer sx828 60wpc receiver. this system got me thru college. dunno where i got this music-bug - no one in my fambly gives a hoot about music. i'm also into cars-n-motorcycles in a big way, & no one in my fambly understands *that*, either. oh well... i was born-n-raised in washington, dc; which may explain my *political* tendencies - i was handing out leaflets for eugene mccarthy's presidential bid back in '68! ;~) my liberal arts degree was obtained in ann-arbor, mi (8hrs from a forestry degree, garfish - i refused to take woody plants 1, & organic chemistry!) moved to portland oregon back in late '79, to go to lie...uh, i mean law school. when lie-skool confirmed all my expectations, i quit in the middle of my 2nd year. i wanted to remain in oregon (god's gift to n. america, imho), but reaganomics forced me back east in '83. i'm currently residing in a bucolic setting west of frederick, md, wery close to harper's ferry, wva. i commute down some lovely back-roads in/on one of my alfas/pantera/buell/ducati, (*no* toons in the cars, btw!) to the nih in bethesda, md to practice arch'l/engineering/construction project management, keeping all the dr's & researchers in their *sota* research labs. (no, i'm *not* loaded, the cost of *all* my wehicles combined woodn't be enuff for *one* m5 bmw!) enjoyin' life, listenin' to toons in the 25x38 living room, w/the wife, 9-yr-old daughter, & 5-yr-old son. the daughter likes to sing along w/me on my poor renditions of the likes of neil young, frank zappa, doc watson, & ??? :>) regards from doug in fredneck county, maryland

hi swampwalker, there are more & more preamps that offer dedicated h-t proccessor outputs - when ewe select this output, your main preamp defaults all its controls to the processor, so ewe can use the processor's volume control, etc, to run *all* the speakers. the rest of the time, the two main audio speakers don't see any of the processor electronics - ewe have the two main speakers driven by the preamp, & the surround speakers connected to the processor. preamps i knoew about that do this are made by linn, sonic-frontiers, vtl. i'm sure there are others. doug

hey lakefrontroad, tell yer son - i'm into car-audio too - nuttin' like the wail of the 3-litre alfa v6 in my daily-driver at 6.5k rpms! and, w/a commute of 45 miles each way, there's lotsa time for music! :>)

regards, doug

ps-no radio in my daily-driver - *that* kinda music can wait 'til i get home... ;~)

hi bill,

sounds like ya got *yer* musical priorities in order, so mebbe there's hope for yer son! ;~)

even a used wiper is beyond my budget, so i yust have to make-do w/a pantera. :>) its p.o. had a 6-cd changer & decent super-tuner fm-cassette head-unit installed. i still don't know how to use it! that ol' cleveland yust behind yer head makes pretty-decent music of its own - perhaps not like the symphony of eyetalian power - more like good southern rock? ;~)

regards, doug

dave, what kind of question is *that* to ask of a lady?!? ;~)

detlof, yes, i really *do* feel lucky, happy, blessed... i have a wonderful family, & i am able to enjoy things to their fullest, on a middle-class income, by being choosy, patient, & cheap! :>)

dug seed in

hey dave99, i always loved bluegrass, but never country. then i heard lyle lovett was country, & i have all his albums - does that make me a country fan? ;~)

and, re: rogue - i am *not* a rogue basher. i've just heard better, is all... ;~)

regards, doug s.

hi detlof,

the hotrodded lawnmower sits in the garage awaiting spring, & greener pastures... ;~)

but, the 24f tempurature didn't stop me from taking the relatively stock pantera to work this a.m.! :>) the msd electronic ignition santa brought it for x-mas means it starts up almost before ya touch the key, even when cold. ah yes, another kind of sweet music, inches away from the back of my head! i don't even know how to turn on the stereo or 6-disc cd-changer it came with, & i've had the car 3 years, now... ;~) mebbe next year, it, too, will be hotrodded, as i have almost all the parts needed for my 475hp motor. it will cost less than a tune-up on those *other* mid-engined italian beasts, too!

regards, doug s., ever the cheapskate...

sandra, i can understand your reluctance to jump in to the digital world, wanting to wait for the format wars to settle out. but, you may end up tuneless for a lot of years! ;~)

meanwhile i suggest you pick up an art di/o dac for ~$122 from fullcompass.com, ship it to wayne at boldercables.com, where he'll tweak it for ~$200. then, pair it w/any cheap cd-player of your choice - i like my nad 515 5-disc changer, retailed for $500, i got it a lot less as a demo. do a search on a-gon & on the audio asylum's digital forum for di/o (or dio), for info. while i can't speak for those who have dumped their $20k digital rigs in favor of the di/o, i *can* say i'd rather listen to my set-up than a $3k resolution audio cd-50 that has received so much positive press...

also, while my experience w/solid-state amps is that digital sounds better w/a tubed preamp than run straight-in to amps, w/tubed amps, your results may be different. but, w/o a preamp, ya miss out on all the good vinyl & fm available. a quality tuner w/good stations will *really* amaze you, thru your system, if you have never heard it. and even a half-decent vinyl set-up will blow almost *any* digital set-up away, imho...

doug s.