Hello, World!

vinylphilemag

WBF Founding Member
Apr 30, 2010
810
1
328
56
Kelowna, BC
www.vinylphilemag.com
Hi all,

I've been a music lover my whole life--I blame my dad--and I listen almost exclusively to vinyl. I live in Kelowna, BC, with my wife, Jenny (who tolerates my audio "habit").

I got the hifi bug years ago although my system wasn't that good. As I got more into the gear side of things, I bought a CD player (a Marantz CD73 if memory serves) but thankfully hung on to my vinyl. I thought the CD sounded a bit bright but chalked it up to being "correct". It was digital, right?

Later that year I went to my first hifi show, at Heathrow in England. In the Absolute Sounds room they were demoing Krell reference amplification, Apogee Divas, a Goldmund Studio TT, and a Krell CD player. At the time, I wondered why they were bothering with the TT--until I heard it. To my undisciplined ears, it sounded as good as the CD player. Maybe there was something in the madness I was reading in The Absolute Sound after all?

I went home and borrowed a Michell Syncro from a local dealer for a week. It sounded pretty good but what really convinced me was when I played Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. I heard details in the vinyl I hadn't heard in the CD! When I plugged my CD player back into the system, I listened again to verify: yep, I was getting more detail from the vinyl. I was sold: I had to buy a decent turntable.

I could've bought that Syncro there and then, but worked out that if I saved really hard for 6 months, I could go into the next level. I auditioned several TTs in this exalted price range: the Linn LP12, the Pink Triangle PT Too, and the Roksan Xerxes. It was the latter I eventually went for (although in retrospect, the PT Too was probably the better deck).

Several upgrades later, I now own a Forsell Air Reference Mk 2 TT, a Lyra Parnassus cartridge, an Audio Research SP-9 Mk 2, and a pair of MartinLogan Spires. Wiring is Nordost Frey. I have about 1,400 records; I'm adding as many as I can but funds are very limited as I write (due to long term unemployment), so I'm not adding to my collection as much as I'd like!

I decided to put my love of music and hifi and my writing skills (I have had a computer programming text book published) to work, the net result of which is a freely-downloadable, vinyl-centric audio mag called Vinylphile (the first issue will be published "RSN"). The mag will be free to read by all, and (hopefully) supported by advertisers.

I am looking forward to being an active participant in this new high-end audio community, and I'm honoured that Steve asked me to join the cadre of moderators. I hope I'm up to the job!
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Sometime you can tell a programmer a mile away.... That is, if you are also a programmer and get the phrase "Hello World!" :)

For those of you not lucky enough to be in our profession :D, "Hello World" was an example program in one of a book (by K&R) on the first modern programming language ("C"). Ever since, it has become the first program people are introduced to in new languages.

Welcome aboard Rich. Great to have you here! :)

What book did you write?
 

vinylphilemag

WBF Founding Member
Apr 30, 2010
810
1
328
56
Kelowna, BC
www.vinylphilemag.com
Sometime you can tell a programmer a mile away.... That is, if you are also a programmer and get the phrase "Hello World!" :)

Busted! I am (or perhaps more accurately, was) a C programmer and UNIX sysadmin!

Welcome aboard Rich. Great to have you here! :)

What book did you write?

Thanks for the welcome! The book I wrote is a C programming text called Solaris Systems Programming and was published an 2004 by Prentice Hall. I'm also the author of numerous programming and sysadmin articles.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Busted! I am (or perhaps more accurately, was) a C programmer and UNIX sysadmin!

Thanks for the welcome! The book I wrote is a C programming text called Solaris Systems Programming and was published an 2004 by Prentice Hall.
You don't say... I also wrote a book for PTR (http://www.amazon.com/Optimizing-UN...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272770958&sr=8-2). Wow, they raised the price to $65. It was $20 when first published. My luck, no one wants to buy 15 year old computer books anymore :p.

What a great world we used to have with Unix. My first job was a kernel developer. And can't say I have ever had as much fun as I did doing that work. At the time, it was 250,000 lines of code and I had it printed and would keep it next to me desk. Fast forward 20 years later and I am managing Windows Media player at >1 million lines!
 

kach22i

WBF Founding Member
Apr 21, 2010
1,591
210
1,635
Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.kachadoorian.com
Wow, Rich I'm learning so much more about you than in that other forum. Don't know what that really means, just an observation.

I learned a little Basic C+ back in 1981-82-83. About the only thing I remember is the "if-then-else" part.

In 1983 I dropped Fortran in the first week and took something else. The punch cards and I just did not get along.
 

vinylphilemag

WBF Founding Member
Apr 30, 2010
810
1
328
56
Kelowna, BC
www.vinylphilemag.com
Wow, Rich I'm learning so much more about you than in that other forum. Don't know what that really means, just an observation.

I learned a little Basic C+ back in 1981-82-83. About the only thing I remember is the "if-then-else" part.

In 1983 I dropped Fortran in the first week and took something else. The punch cards and I just did not get along.

They were still teaching FORTRAN back in 1983?! 8-O
 

RBFC

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
5,158
46
1,225
Albuquerque, NM
www.fightingconcepts.com
I had to use Algol for the math/computer lab at Case Western Reserve University in 1974. One of my punch cards developed a slight dogear, and when it arrived at the exit collection point, it formed a ramp. The remainder of the cards shot all over the floor in an I Love Lucy moment!

Lee
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
I had to use Algol for the math/computer lab at Case Western Reserve University in 1974. One of my punch cards developed a slight dogear, and when it arrived at the exit collection point, it formed a ramp. The remainder of the cards shot all over the floor in an I Love Lucy moment!

Lee

That happened with the paychecks many years ago when I worked at Columbia Univ. Someone put the cards in and went home; the next day they came in and all the cards were scattered like 52 pickup. Took them a week to straighten out the paychecks! (Of course this was in the days when cash machines ran out of money on Saturday nights.)
 

Wardsweb

Well-Known Member
May 8, 2010
411
62
935
66
San Antonio, TX
wardswebllc.com
Do you think there is any correlation between programming and an enthusiasm for audio or we just geeks at heart? I go back far enough to have taken Fortan on key punch cards.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
There is probably more correlation than not. If you are engineer, you tend to like hobbies which involve some amount of engineering. Photography is the same.
 

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