My (limited) hi fi journey

[Marc B]

Started with the usual Aiwa, Marantz, Pioneer stuff and then quickly moved on to a complete MF Elektra system.

Then I won a Hifi choice comp in about 1994, and won an Arcam Alpha System - which I kept for years and years and years. Until I decided to get into writing music.



I got bored of writing stuff after a few years and just wanted to sit back and relax listening to music. I sold up and bought a Dussun V8i, Esound E5, Michell Syncro and TDL Studio 0.75m



After an unfortunate acciedent of my speakers (which involved sending 250 watts of feedback from my turntable and firing the bass cones out of them) I moved on to a pair of Monitor Audio GR20s



Then I got really bored of Hifi and wanted to write music again.. so I sold up the lot and bought ....



After realising that I couldn't afford £10k mixing desks , £3k compressors and didn't have the time to sit and actually write anything I sold that up (while taking a huge loss again)

Next was something I rushed buying, I was impatient and bought based on pure looks. It sounded quite nice to be honest but the speakers never give me enough bottom welly.

Primare I30, CD21 with Quad 22L2 speakers.



The urge to get better speakers took hold, after 4 months I moved on to the Dali Helicon 400s which I love



But, the Dalis drove my poor I30 amp to temps which I thought where a bit high.. so out went the Primare amp and CD and in came back another Dussun V8i and a MHDT Havana DAC - which sounded wonderful but a bit too forward for me.

So I've just bought a Classe CA-201 which drives them great, along with a Modwright preamp which is about to be delivered tomorrow

pics to be added later.

To be continued..

[please note: ye olde faithfull rug has stood the test of time]

[Alex_UK]

Wow - you've either got a very understanding partner, or you must be single!

Very impressive, thanks!

[Marc B]

ha ha , the divorce came through just before I bought the Dussun and Esound gear

it was the lack of scented candles in the room that gave it away wasn't it ?

[Alex_UK]

it was the lack of scented candles in the room that gave it away wasn't it ?

That was it!

BTW, if you get back into writing music you will be able to recreate most of what you had in software, I suspect. With a relatively cheap old laptop, I've got Propellerhead's Reason, a Digidesign M-Box, and an external M-Audio midi keyboard - and I've never even scratched the surface of what it can do.

[Marc B]

Each to their own, I couldn't get along with soft synths and I did try. I could just about mix in cubase to be honest and even then I was wanting a control surface.

My music writing is put on hold until i meet a nice rich old dear, in the final stages of a terminal illness to marry. Until then I'll just play air guitar

[DSJR]

Yeah, why not do both - have a good system and a software based composition setup, either feeding the HiFi, with care on uncompressed peaks, or some good but cheap desktop monitors - what were the Behringers like?

[Marc B]

Behringers were bad, not much detail and one blew an amp after a couple of months . I replaced them with JBL LSR28Ps (old solid metal type, not the new fangled things) which were much better.

I can't do both the hi fi and pro audio stuff. As I've said, I prefer hardware to softsynths and would eventually start longing for more upmarket equipment.

Some of us have a hifi/beer habbit which has already stretched funding to its limits, without having urges to try the next new synth/drumbox/compressor

[Griffster]

Mmmm TR909.... Yummy! Ooh, look! a TB303! I'd love one of those. Hope you didn't sell yours, they're worth a fortune.

It looks like you have lots of fun with your music and audio gear.

[Marc B]

I bought the 303 for £75 with a crack down the circuit board, cost £70 to fix.

I bought the 909 off ebay for £400 (he advertised with no picture). It was broke when it arrived and cost me £300 to get sorted.

And yes , I sold them along with everything else. You can only twiddle 303 knobs for so long before you get really bored of them.

I did a few faff about tracks with the stuff on the first pic (I also had a bit more gear not on picture).. if you fancy a listen they are stored on :

http://www.mp3.com.au/Player/artistP...ofileId=238584

please remember though , this is 1996-1999 we're talking here, and they go in order of when I first started out to the more recent stuff when I got more gear.

have fun

[aquapiranha]

a man can travel any of lifes paths with a good rug.

Hi, I hope you enjoy your time here! I have has a quick listen, very good.

Now, where did I put my glowsticks??