As I take a short break from my role as moderator I thought I'd tell you a little bit about my audio journey.
I got my first exposure to music when my teen age sister was awarded a hi-fi console for her birthday. My mom was single handled raising eight children. She wanted my sister to stay at home because she was going to her girlfriends house to listen to music. She also had seven sisters and brothers to babysit. You might imagine that was no small expense. It was the golden age of Motown and other greats like Atlantic. It was more about the music then. I spent my money buying records.
Later own that same sister got married and her husband got his hands on a used Eico tube amp. In exchange for babysitting I got to listen. I had no idea why it sounded so much better than anything I ever heard before. Most notably was it seemed to play louder and louder. I did not know what dynamic range was.
The raining stereo store in Metro DC was Meyer Emco. I guess we would call it mid-fi. I hung out there all the time. All the stores where in the suburbs. I got my first car out of college and would drive around what is now the infamous beltway. By pure serendipity I found a small boutique that carried the legendary Audio Research. I think it was the SP-6, D79, Kenwood turntable and mini JR speakers. I sat there with my mouth open.
While in college I had purchased AR speakers, AR turntable and Sony receiver. Needless to say the sound was no where the EIco integrated. While in college I discovered AUDIO magazine. In the back there was an ad for something called the absolute sound.Some weird geek called Harry Pearson was trying to get me to buy tubes and pay ridiculous amounts of money that I did not have any way.
It was strange because i always visited stores, persons selling out of their house and the like. I finished law school and started to save a little money. I still would not buy.
My brother and best friend died. I just figured life was to short. It just made no sense for someone who loved hi-fi as much as I did, to not have a top notch stereo.
I just could not commit to tubes. As luck would have it NYAL had just gone out of business and Myer- Emco was looking to dump their demo Moscode 300. A hybrid tube amp made by another weirdo Harvey Rosenberg. I got a real bargain. At the time the CJ Pv5 was dominating the market. I went down the now defunct Excaliber in Alexandria, Va. That's where I first saw and heard the CLS. I then traveled to Rockville Maryland to hear the SOTA turntable. This guy was selling out of his house. He had this huge talking bird. He was the ultimate hobbyist and frequently forgot to collect the money. He sold me a Sota on credit! Not credit card but on my promise to pay. Those were the days.
I took it all home and it sounded like crap. Boy was I was depressed. I wrote Harry Pearson about how bad it sounded. He sent me a post card and talked about something called break in. One night I came home and put on my favorite record. It was as though the storm had passed. It was magic. The rest is history and I've been addicted ever since.
I got my first exposure to music when my teen age sister was awarded a hi-fi console for her birthday. My mom was single handled raising eight children. She wanted my sister to stay at home because she was going to her girlfriends house to listen to music. She also had seven sisters and brothers to babysit. You might imagine that was no small expense. It was the golden age of Motown and other greats like Atlantic. It was more about the music then. I spent my money buying records.
Later own that same sister got married and her husband got his hands on a used Eico tube amp. In exchange for babysitting I got to listen. I had no idea why it sounded so much better than anything I ever heard before. Most notably was it seemed to play louder and louder. I did not know what dynamic range was.
The raining stereo store in Metro DC was Meyer Emco. I guess we would call it mid-fi. I hung out there all the time. All the stores where in the suburbs. I got my first car out of college and would drive around what is now the infamous beltway. By pure serendipity I found a small boutique that carried the legendary Audio Research. I think it was the SP-6, D79, Kenwood turntable and mini JR speakers. I sat there with my mouth open.
While in college I had purchased AR speakers, AR turntable and Sony receiver. Needless to say the sound was no where the EIco integrated. While in college I discovered AUDIO magazine. In the back there was an ad for something called the absolute sound.Some weird geek called Harry Pearson was trying to get me to buy tubes and pay ridiculous amounts of money that I did not have any way.
It was strange because i always visited stores, persons selling out of their house and the like. I finished law school and started to save a little money. I still would not buy.
My brother and best friend died. I just figured life was to short. It just made no sense for someone who loved hi-fi as much as I did, to not have a top notch stereo.
I just could not commit to tubes. As luck would have it NYAL had just gone out of business and Myer- Emco was looking to dump their demo Moscode 300. A hybrid tube amp made by another weirdo Harvey Rosenberg. I got a real bargain. At the time the CJ Pv5 was dominating the market. I went down the now defunct Excaliber in Alexandria, Va. That's where I first saw and heard the CLS. I then traveled to Rockville Maryland to hear the SOTA turntable. This guy was selling out of his house. He had this huge talking bird. He was the ultimate hobbyist and frequently forgot to collect the money. He sold me a Sota on credit! Not credit card but on my promise to pay. Those were the days.
I took it all home and it sounded like crap. Boy was I was depressed. I wrote Harry Pearson about how bad it sounded. He sent me a post card and talked about something called break in. One night I came home and put on my favorite record. It was as though the storm had passed. It was magic. The rest is history and I've been addicted ever since.
