Hello all and thanks for accepting me to the Forum.
I'm 59 years old and live on the east Coast of Australia , below is my story so far ....
I started out on my hifi journey when I was 17 , my parents bought me a Sanyo 3 in one record player
with 2 plastic speaker enclosures for $50 , after I had this unit for about 2 months I
started to hanker for something better and with the proceeds of my Saturday morning job at
Woolworths I bought a pair of Mullard Magnavox 6 plus 3 speakers , after that I picked up an old
Labcraft belt drive turntable for $30 and finally a Monarch SA 800 20 WPC integrated amp , by the time
I had my 18th Birthday , in 1972 , I was off on my lifelong journey on the quest for better sound .
Things progressed at a steady and sometimes hectic pace over the next ten years , I progressed through
a series of turntables from JH , Acoustic Research , Dual , Thorens , Technics , Luxman and Rega Planar ,
amp wise I progressed from my Monarch to an Acoustic Research Amp , various Marantz models to a 3600/240
Combo , when the 240 power amp blew up I bought a Phase Linear 400 and after that progressed further to a
GAS Thaedra Preamp/Ampzilla power amp , speakerwise during these early years I have lost track , but I recall
at various times owning Wharfedale Super Lintons , Leak 600 sandwich speakers , various AR models including
the AR4xa , AR6 , AR5 , AR3A improved and AR MST , Bose 901's , JBL L100's and the original Advent speaker ,
eventually I was introduced to planar speakers and at one time had a very nice combo of Magneplanars , Rega Planar ,
GAS Thaedra & Ampzilla . Following this I bought Acoustat 3A's and traded the Ampzilla for a Perreaux 2150B Power Amp ,
which didn't look as good as Ampzilla but could drive the Acoustats much better . I thought I had finally found audio nirvana
with this set up until I made the mistake of visiting the newly appointed Australian distributor of Audio Research equipment .............
The Thaedra was eventually superceded by an ARC SP8 and I can still remember how entranced I was at the sound , this raised
my now obsessive compulsion with HiFi to undreamed of new levels , I struggled to buy a D70 power amp and then upgraded to a D115 ,
my turntable was an early Oracle Delphi and my speakers were Infinity RS2B's , later on I was offered a used pair of Infinity RS1A's ,
which I eventually bi amped with my D115 and VTL 225 watt monoblocs on the bass towers and traded the Delphi on a VPI turntable fitted with an SME tonearm .
My Sp8 was traded on a used SP10 and then a new SP11 . Finally I though my audio journey was complete , even if most of the living room was
taken over with cables , amps , speakers etc etc . Then disaster struck , I lost my job and 12 months later had to sell my hifi to try and keep my house ,
which I eventually had to sell anyway , along with my Harley Davidson , I managed to keep my VPI Turntable but wound up with a vintage marantz
integrated amp and an old pair of AR MST's . Eventually things improved somewhat and I bought an older SP9 and a used Conrad Johnson MV50 amp
and a brand new pair of the then new Thiel SCS bookshelf speakers , freed of the need to constantly listen to hear the benefit of a new item in the system
chain I actually began to listen just to solely enjoy the music .................. I was quite happy with this modest rig for several years and did much listening
to my constantly expanding vinyl collection , eventually I purchased an ARC Phono One and a CA 50 integrated , sold my Thiels ( against my better judgement )
and bought a pair of Birdseye Maple Silverline Sonatinas , which I also kept for several years . As my situation allowed I progressed to an ARC LS17 and a Vs110 power amp ... this system I happily enjoyed and was determined not to get back on the upgrade merry-go-round , alas , one day my local dealer , who I had bought my Infinity RS1a's from decades earlier , told my he could do a really good deal on a demo pair of Wilson Audio Sophia 2's , I had always admired Wilson speakers from a distance but considered them to be way beyond my means , alas , with the sale of my Rolex GMT Master2 and a few other items , plus a maxed out credit card ,
the Wilsons arrived , at the same time as a pair of ARC VTM 220 monoblocs , 4 years later the Wilson's started to develop some hairline cracks ( apparently due to a faulty batch of glue ) and after some negotiating with the dealer i paid a price differential and obtained a demo pair of Sophia3's , my turntable during this time had progressed from my original VPI , to a TNT Junior and then a traded in TNT4 , I upgraded my LS17 to an LS27 and my monoblocs to a reference 150 , surely I thought this must be the journey's end and my system to see me into old age , then my Dealer contacted me and said he found in his warehouse a superceded pair of Sasha series ones in Karousel Orange , apparently these were a special order but the guy cancelled and bought Alexias instead , the Sashas arrived in my living room about 3 months ago ,so now I hope my journey has finally come full circle , I'm sure I have missed some things , and I can't remember what CD players I have owned over the years , nor the succession of tonearms , cartridges and tuners , but I have a nice collection of vinyl and CD's and DVD's to relax to after a day in the garden , thanks for reading this far -
. Regards .
I'm 59 years old and live on the east Coast of Australia , below is my story so far ....
I started out on my hifi journey when I was 17 , my parents bought me a Sanyo 3 in one record player
with 2 plastic speaker enclosures for $50 , after I had this unit for about 2 months I
started to hanker for something better and with the proceeds of my Saturday morning job at
Woolworths I bought a pair of Mullard Magnavox 6 plus 3 speakers , after that I picked up an old
Labcraft belt drive turntable for $30 and finally a Monarch SA 800 20 WPC integrated amp , by the time
I had my 18th Birthday , in 1972 , I was off on my lifelong journey on the quest for better sound .
Things progressed at a steady and sometimes hectic pace over the next ten years , I progressed through
a series of turntables from JH , Acoustic Research , Dual , Thorens , Technics , Luxman and Rega Planar ,
amp wise I progressed from my Monarch to an Acoustic Research Amp , various Marantz models to a 3600/240
Combo , when the 240 power amp blew up I bought a Phase Linear 400 and after that progressed further to a
GAS Thaedra Preamp/Ampzilla power amp , speakerwise during these early years I have lost track , but I recall
at various times owning Wharfedale Super Lintons , Leak 600 sandwich speakers , various AR models including
the AR4xa , AR6 , AR5 , AR3A improved and AR MST , Bose 901's , JBL L100's and the original Advent speaker ,
eventually I was introduced to planar speakers and at one time had a very nice combo of Magneplanars , Rega Planar ,
GAS Thaedra & Ampzilla . Following this I bought Acoustat 3A's and traded the Ampzilla for a Perreaux 2150B Power Amp ,
which didn't look as good as Ampzilla but could drive the Acoustats much better . I thought I had finally found audio nirvana
with this set up until I made the mistake of visiting the newly appointed Australian distributor of Audio Research equipment .............
The Thaedra was eventually superceded by an ARC SP8 and I can still remember how entranced I was at the sound , this raised
my now obsessive compulsion with HiFi to undreamed of new levels , I struggled to buy a D70 power amp and then upgraded to a D115 ,
my turntable was an early Oracle Delphi and my speakers were Infinity RS2B's , later on I was offered a used pair of Infinity RS1A's ,
which I eventually bi amped with my D115 and VTL 225 watt monoblocs on the bass towers and traded the Delphi on a VPI turntable fitted with an SME tonearm .
My Sp8 was traded on a used SP10 and then a new SP11 . Finally I though my audio journey was complete , even if most of the living room was
taken over with cables , amps , speakers etc etc . Then disaster struck , I lost my job and 12 months later had to sell my hifi to try and keep my house ,
which I eventually had to sell anyway , along with my Harley Davidson , I managed to keep my VPI Turntable but wound up with a vintage marantz
integrated amp and an old pair of AR MST's . Eventually things improved somewhat and I bought an older SP9 and a used Conrad Johnson MV50 amp
and a brand new pair of the then new Thiel SCS bookshelf speakers , freed of the need to constantly listen to hear the benefit of a new item in the system
chain I actually began to listen just to solely enjoy the music .................. I was quite happy with this modest rig for several years and did much listening
to my constantly expanding vinyl collection , eventually I purchased an ARC Phono One and a CA 50 integrated , sold my Thiels ( against my better judgement )
and bought a pair of Birdseye Maple Silverline Sonatinas , which I also kept for several years . As my situation allowed I progressed to an ARC LS17 and a Vs110 power amp ... this system I happily enjoyed and was determined not to get back on the upgrade merry-go-round , alas , one day my local dealer , who I had bought my Infinity RS1a's from decades earlier , told my he could do a really good deal on a demo pair of Wilson Audio Sophia 2's , I had always admired Wilson speakers from a distance but considered them to be way beyond my means , alas , with the sale of my Rolex GMT Master2 and a few other items , plus a maxed out credit card ,
the Wilsons arrived , at the same time as a pair of ARC VTM 220 monoblocs , 4 years later the Wilson's started to develop some hairline cracks ( apparently due to a faulty batch of glue ) and after some negotiating with the dealer i paid a price differential and obtained a demo pair of Sophia3's , my turntable during this time had progressed from my original VPI , to a TNT Junior and then a traded in TNT4 , I upgraded my LS17 to an LS27 and my monoblocs to a reference 150 , surely I thought this must be the journey's end and my system to see me into old age , then my Dealer contacted me and said he found in his warehouse a superceded pair of Sasha series ones in Karousel Orange , apparently these were a special order but the guy cancelled and bought Alexias instead , the Sashas arrived in my living room about 3 months ago ,so now I hope my journey has finally come full circle , I'm sure I have missed some things , and I can't remember what CD players I have owned over the years , nor the succession of tonearms , cartridges and tuners , but I have a nice collection of vinyl and CD's and DVD's to relax to after a day in the garden , thanks for reading this far -
. Regards .
