Probably moving to Europe, how do I change my system?
- Thread starter LarryK
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Or flip it from a negative perspective, into a more positive one?
It allows the possibility of a change.
I would seriously suggest expanding the option range, to include active.
I have no experience here, but running active seems like it could work.
I.e. Genelec speakers or maybe Kii, or Dutch-n-dutch, etc.
Then all you need is the preamp or even a source directly into it.
I suspect that most rooms there would pre-exist stereos, and not be the greatest rooms that the good lord has ever bestowed mankind with.
So some version of room-EQ could count for something.
I have no experience with a Diablo, other than soul selling on a cross roads at night, but the Lyngdorf TDAI seems intriguing, if you were to stay with passive speakers.
Also having whatever you get to able able to run on 100-250v, means you are then future proof to go anywhere.
yeah…
We may also have a move to a place close by. I know more about this time tomorrow.
It would be a couple of year long relocation.
So I have at least been thinking similar thoughts.
Most of “the stack” is now a lot smaller, and can run on any voltage with a change of internal jumpers.
But I’d likely keep the AVR side of things in place at the house, and get a niece in here for a while.
And probably run a smaller set of speakers, like maybe a Dutch-n-Dutch etc.
The mrs is looking at properties, and puppy costs.
While I am looking at cars and thinking about stereos.
I think our differing perspectives (orthogonal) on the priorities, makes for covering the main points somewhat easy.
Or maybe just consider selling the piano as well, and get some nice 88 key weighted keyboard.
We have a kurzwell P3CX…but there many are others.”
It costed ~250 to get the 230v conversion.
It’s a bit heavy for moving, like show to show… but at least only needs a dolly.
And it is still overkill for beginners like us.
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Yes , stay and keep the system , visit Dublin for 3 months and you’re good.. Why spend the next decade in a cramped up apt listening to bad hifi ..
Just saying ….!
Yes, I think this is a time for change, and that change can be a good thing.
I love my piano. It plays better than I do. I can buy professional recordings and shock the neighbors, lol.
I just feel that there is something that distinguishes acoustic pianos from keyboards. There is a certain liveliness. By the way, it can also play silently. It puts up a bar to stop the hammers from hitting the strings and triggers samples instead. That will be useful for living in an apartment.
I like having an instrument that does not play through a speaker. I think my piano will be a good friend in my retirement. I will travel to a piano studio somewhere and keep working at it.
Active speakers are an interesting idea. I will look into that some more. Thanks.
Going the route I have chosen will replace about ten components with three components.
I think it will sound really good in a small apartment.
Oh, I don't plan on buying a car in Dublin. This way, I will save a lot of money. I will rent a car or take the train.
Where are you thinking of moving to?
I think it's time for me to have one last great adventure, and that that adventure should be set in Europe. I think Ireland is a good base.
I can probably swing an 80-100 square meter apartment which should work out pretty good, and won't be too cramped. I don't play really loud anyway.
Sometimes, we wind up being owned by the things we buy. I have loved my system and have listened to it every day for many years, but I'm willing to reconfigure it to make it easier to move to Ireland.
I am excited about listening to Irish radio. I believe I can get my Accuphase T-1000 FM tuner switched over so it will run on the voltage in Ireland.
I visited Dublin a few years ago to present some research at an AI conference, and loved the city and all of Ireland. I’d move there in a heartbeat if it weren’t the fact that the San Francisco Bay Area is the epicenter of the AI revolution where trillions of dollars are being wagered on a technology that is going to change all our lives, but doesn’t yet work like it should. So, I’m wedded to the place where I currently reside for a while yet.
Try to visit the Cliffs of Mohr. Mind blowing natural scenery that reminds me of the Pacific coast in Big Sur, near my house. I recall walking in the village of Hoath and was startled to find a sign on a house by the sea that said the famous composer Arnold Bax had lived there. As a science and math geek, I was thrilled to walk by the famous bridge where the great Irish mathematician Hamilton had a stroke of inspiration and wrote the famous equations for quaternions. I mean, Ireland is the dream of retirement. Would I go there if I had half a chance? You betcha. I envy those who can.
en.wikipedia.org
Try to visit the Cliffs of Mohr. Mind blowing natural scenery that reminds me of the Pacific coast in Big Sur, near my house. I recall walking in the village of Hoath and was startled to find a sign on a house by the sea that said the famous composer Arnold Bax had lived there. As a science and math geek, I was thrilled to walk by the famous bridge where the great Irish mathematician Hamilton had a stroke of inspiration and wrote the famous equations for quaternions. I mean, Ireland is the dream of retirement. Would I go there if I had half a chance? You betcha. I envy those who can.
Broom Bridge - Wikipedia
I visited Dublin a few years ago to present some research at an AI conference, and loved the city and all of Ireland. I’d move there in a heartbeat if it weren’t the fact that the San Francisco Bay Area is the epicenter of the AI revolution where trillions of dollars are being wagered on a technology that is going to change all our lives, but doesn’t yet work like it should. So, I’m wedded to the place where I currently reside for a while yet.
Try to visit the Cliffs of Mohr. Mind blowing natural scenery that reminds me of the Pacific coast in Big Sur, near my house. I recall walking in the village of Hoath and was startled to find a sign on a house by the sea that said the famous composer Arnold Bax had lived there. As a science and math geek, I was thrilled to walk by the famous bridge where the great Irish mathematician Hamilton had a stroke of inspiration and wrote the famous equations for quaternions. I mean, Ireland is the dream of retirement. Would I go there if I had half a chance? You betcha. I envy those who can.
Broom Bridge - Wikipedia
What a nice post. I had a forty year career in tech. I loved the Bay Area in my youth. I tried to move there in my 20s but couldn’t find a decent place to live at a good price.
I never made it rich but I made a decent living. I enjoyed programming computers. Now, at 61, I have declared myself retired and spend my days reading literary fiction and playing the piano.
Ireland is an ancient land. It is incredibly beautiful, as you said. We took a short trip out to Newgrange, a Neolithic site outside of Dublin. There is a massive passage tomb that contains a small room that indicates the winter solstice. It is 5000 years old.
Every year, they hold a national lottery to pick who will squeeze into the room on the winter solstice. If your luck holds, and it is sunny, you will see the sun creep up the passage to the little room in which you stand.
I think you mean Howth Head, the peninsula and fishing village in Dublin. We had a transcendent day on Howth. The day started out spitting rain. We almost abandoned but we pressed on. We were rewarded with amazing views and wonderful light. I have attached a picture of myself from that day. I am standing in the heather. That is a phrase meaning, all is well, I have it made.
I’ll be able to order fresh fish from Howth. They’ll deliver it to me.
If you want perfect weather, Ireland will disappoint you. I have never believed in perfect weather and so, I will adapt. There are no utopias.
At least, Ireland does not go below freezing or above 80F. It has a maritime climate.
You only get all that green vegetation if you have sufficient rain.
Every Tuesday, I spend an hour and a half on a Zoom call with mainly Irish folks listening to readings and analysis of James Joyce’s Ulysses. It is always fascinating. We are taking our time and reading the whole thing out loud.
Dublin is a small city that can be walked easily. It is not Manhattan or London but it is itself. What else could it be? I have found the people to be extraordinarily kind. They seem to get through traffic jams without using their horns. That’s something New Yorkers cannot do.
The theater scene in Dublin is strong, as is the music scene.
My wife pushed me hard to move to France, her homeland. In the end, I could not do it because I want to swim in the sea of the English language. I like to talk to people and trying to do that in French would be incredibly difficult and a daily frustration.
I love Irish authors and have to read more of their work. To name a few, Yeats, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, Flann O’Brien, Colum McCann, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, on and on. The Irish have a rich literary tradition.
After 25 years of speaking to my wife in English, and living in the states, I maintain that my wife’s primary language is English. She also loves Ireland.
Life is life everywhere. Build your life where you are, all places and lives are valid.
P.S. My Berkeley PhD linguist friend is causing quite a stir on LinkedIn by criticizing generative AI. DM me and I will give you his name.
Stochastic parrots are interesting but they have their limitations. I am kind of glad I got out of programming when I did so I don’t have to try to fix the legacy code being created by AI coding assistants.
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Here’s a picture I took in 2018 from the famous library at Trinity College, Dublin, a 600-year-old center for higher education. This is the kind of picture only a science geek would love. It shows the famous book titled “What is Life?” written by the legendary physicist Erwin Schrödinger who was one of the inventors of quantum physics. Well, if you didn’t have quantum physics, you wouldn’t have modern computers, which rely on solid state switching devices called transistors that Schrodinger’s theory made possible. He settled in Dublin and being bored with physics, wrote a book on molecular biology. This book inspired Watson and Crick who discovered the structure of DNA, ushering in the modern world of biology. Ireland may be a small country but it has a great past and a great future. If you have seen the movie “Waking Ned Devine”, you’ll know all about Irish humor. If you haven’t seen it, rent it or buy it or stream it today. That will tell you what Ireland is all about.
Another picture of the famous library at Trinity College, Dublin. I think it’s been used as a location shoot in lots of movies.
Yes, I have visited Trinity College. It is a special place. I have befriended a poet and translator who attended Trinity. I hope to meet him if we move to Ireland.
James Joyce and his poor student friends used to hang out on the steps of the National Library. This is also a must visit. People complained about Joyce and his friends smoking and talking on the steps.
They wrote to the head librarian. The head librarian wrote back and said, the library is for the students. I just love that defense of those who had so little.
That is a very cool picture of Schrodinger’s manuscript.
And yes, I have seen Waking Ned Devine. Of course, the Irish people contain good and bad, as all peoples do, after all, they are human. But, I will take my chances with them. At least, we can communicate, in a fashion.
Samuel Beckett said, "when you are in the last ditch there is nothing to do but to sing.” Beckett is actually talking about how the British and the Catholic Church formed the Irish identity, and how Irish authors helped do that.
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OOh, I haven't seen this, I lived in London for 10 years and also have a long list
. I lived in Cambridge for 6 years, which were amongst the best of my life.OOh, I haven't seen this, I lived in London for 10 years and also have a long list
It is my understanding that I do not have an easy path into England whereas I do with Ireland because my wife is an EU citizen.
I’m sure Cambridge is great, but not being a part of the EU is a serious concern for us. Were you studying in Cambridge?
I think it’s easy to make a list criticizing every place one lives. I could do one it for Manhattan, where I lived fo 20 years, but what would be the point? Every place is a mixture of good and bad. There are no utopias.
My ex-wife kept a list of every one of my failings. It was a physical list. The relationship couldn’t last under such scrutiny, and it didn’t.
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Ever read Jack Kerouac?
Having the current wife illiterate, means that she needs to keep it in memory
Hi Larry,
I was working as a Telecoms development engineer for Philips. I was young, paid well and Cambridge was a very stimulating place - history, culture, philosophy, learning, etc. Cambridge is a small city surrounded by countryside and small villages which also lends itself to cycling and walking. I never felt like leaving during my 6 year stay, whereas in London I never felt comfortable.
I did not live in the best part of London, so my opinion about it might be different if I had lived in Chelsea or Hampstead.
Yes, I read him in my 20s, but I have moved on from that period of my life, and my literary interests back then. Then, I even dated a girl from Lowell, Massachusetts, Kerouac’s hometown. I met her in Oakland, California.
Jack destroyed himself with drink. It was a sad ending.
I’m not sure why you’re referencing Kerouac.
I will say that every owner of a high fidelity system can compose a list of its faults. Won’t that detract from enjoying the music?
The beauty of memory over a written list is that memories are restructured and forgotten. The physical list will always maintain that I forgot to take out the garbage on August 19th, 1998.
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I’m sure it was wonderful. I don’t see a way to easily move to England. I think London is a bit too overwhelming for us now and Cambridge a bit too small.
Dublin is in the middle.
I worked as a programmer for 40 years. I have declared myself retired. I have had enough. I had a few jobs in telecom.
From my current read,
“‘I could have told you the country is the least peaceful and private place to live. The most peaceful and secluded place in the world is a flat in Kensington.’”
— The Sea, the Sea: Booker Prize Winner (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) by Iris Murdoch
I should tie this to audio and say that I am looking forward to building a smaller system and listening to Irish radio.
Well he had went to the butch shop get a roll of paper run through the bandsaw, so that he could type “On the Road” in a continuous fashion like a scroll.
Some people like to document everything (good and bad).
Wow, you only forgot once. That isn’t too bad.
Well he had went to the butch shop get a roll of paper run through the bandsaw, so that he could type “On the Road” in a continuous fashion like a scroll.
Some people like to document everything (good and bad).
Wow, you only forgot once. That isn’t too bad.
He'd feed the scroll thru his typewriter, and write that way. Truman Capote quipped, "that's not writing, that's typewriting."
Well he had went to the butch shop get a roll of paper run through the bandsaw, so that he could type “On the Road” in a continuous fashion like a scroll.
Some people like to document everything (good and bad).
Wow, you only forgot once. That isn’t too bad.
Another one from my current read,
“‘Mercifully one forgets one’s love affairs as one forgets one’s dreams.’”
— The Sea, the Sea: Booker Prize Winner (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) by Iris Murdoch
My ex had half a dozen file cabinets. She obsessively tracked everything. It was too much.
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