I had bookmarked this site several years ago and had been anonymously lurking until recently. While some of the more prolific posters here appear to be residing in an entirely different "snack bracket" than I do, I find myself drawn to the respectful sharing of opinions on the WBF. Anyway it just seemed like I should stop lurking and out myself.
I'm the 55 year old father of tweens. The Missus and I are both self employed. I sell bicycles and she sells soap (She is actually a TV producer but as she often sez, she makes interesting filler to occupy the airtime between the commercial breaks.). I've been an audio knob/music enthusiast since my early teens. I owned an Oracle Delphi with a Koetsu Rosewood Sig, Spectral preamp, and Radford tube power amp before my first car! And truth be told I've owned a bunch of MTBs that cost more than most of the cars I owned in my younger days. Priorities right?!?
Anyway I fell off the hairshirt 2 channel audiophile wagon about a decade ago. Back then I replaced an Aesthetix Io and Callisto, Sonic Frontiers DAC, Arc Classic 150 monoblocks, and Merlin VSMs with a bunch of Meridian DSP loudspeakers and pre-processor along with a projector and screen in my dedicated room. Over the years I've found myself yearning for the deeper level of "musical immersion" that was made possible by great 2 channel gear vs the surround effects of good multi-channel again. Vinyl replay just didn't have the same magic when run through a digital pre-pro. I don't miss the waste heat from all those vacuum tubes in the summer though! Or the cost of replacing a monoblock worth of Andy Bauman's hand picked Tung Sol 6550s when they self destruct in a huge flash.
With a renewed interest in 2 channel has come a shopping list of 2 channel gear and new analog active loudspeakers to replace the DSP based Meridians. The plan is to have my cake and eat it too. We'll see... I've acquired new dedicated stereo digital and vinyl sources, tube phono and line preamps, and an analog subwoofer crossover to create an entire 2 channel front end. This will co-exist with our carry-over Meridian multi-channel pre-amp DVD-A player along with an Oppo SACD and cinema player, 5 new ATC actives, 4x Seaton Submersive HP subwoofers, and the Xilica processor used for sub parametric EQ and delays. Stereo playback will share one pair of ATCs and the Seaton Subwoofer array with the multi-channel system. Well its a work in progress. Here is hoping it lives up to my expectations!
I'm the 55 year old father of tweens. The Missus and I are both self employed. I sell bicycles and she sells soap (She is actually a TV producer but as she often sez, she makes interesting filler to occupy the airtime between the commercial breaks.). I've been an audio knob/music enthusiast since my early teens. I owned an Oracle Delphi with a Koetsu Rosewood Sig, Spectral preamp, and Radford tube power amp before my first car! And truth be told I've owned a bunch of MTBs that cost more than most of the cars I owned in my younger days. Priorities right?!?
Anyway I fell off the hairshirt 2 channel audiophile wagon about a decade ago. Back then I replaced an Aesthetix Io and Callisto, Sonic Frontiers DAC, Arc Classic 150 monoblocks, and Merlin VSMs with a bunch of Meridian DSP loudspeakers and pre-processor along with a projector and screen in my dedicated room. Over the years I've found myself yearning for the deeper level of "musical immersion" that was made possible by great 2 channel gear vs the surround effects of good multi-channel again. Vinyl replay just didn't have the same magic when run through a digital pre-pro. I don't miss the waste heat from all those vacuum tubes in the summer though! Or the cost of replacing a monoblock worth of Andy Bauman's hand picked Tung Sol 6550s when they self destruct in a huge flash.
With a renewed interest in 2 channel has come a shopping list of 2 channel gear and new analog active loudspeakers to replace the DSP based Meridians. The plan is to have my cake and eat it too. We'll see... I've acquired new dedicated stereo digital and vinyl sources, tube phono and line preamps, and an analog subwoofer crossover to create an entire 2 channel front end. This will co-exist with our carry-over Meridian multi-channel pre-amp DVD-A player along with an Oppo SACD and cinema player, 5 new ATC actives, 4x Seaton Submersive HP subwoofers, and the Xilica processor used for sub parametric EQ and delays. Stereo playback will share one pair of ATCs and the Seaton Subwoofer array with the multi-channel system. Well its a work in progress. Here is hoping it lives up to my expectations!
