conrod
29-08-2011, 17:42
First, to respond to the "sticky" re user names ....
My real name is Alan, but I gained the Conrod moniker in a bike club I was a member of some time ago. Basically, my bike suffered a hydraulic lock when I started it up with one of the cylinders full of fuel from a leaking float needle valve. When I stripped the engine down the conrod in that cylinder was banana-shaped. It became a standard feature and talking point on the club's stand at bike shows, and I was henceforth known as Conrod.
My love affair with big sportsbikes took a bit of a knock a few years ago when I had a front tyre blowout at 90mph on a (fortunately traffic-free) German Autobahn. After the mother of all tankslappers (any bikers out there will know what I mean!) I managed to bring the bike to a halt without dropping it. After kissing the tank several times, I began to contemplate what might have been had this happened a few minutes earlier when I'd been doing 165 mph flat out ......
That episode literally changed my life - from that point I decided to take each day as it comes. Within a year, I decided to quit the rat race and took early retirement.
And now on to hi-fi. I've never owned any top-end equipment, but I've always tried to buy the best sounding kit that my budget would stretch to.
Over recent years I've ripped all my CDs to FLAC files stored on my PC, and I now play them via various Squeezebox devices around the house. I have a Squeezebox Radio next to the bed, an SB3 in the lounge hooked up to a Denon AVR-1603 receiver and an ELAC surround speaker system, and a Squeezebox Boom as my "portable" player.
But my main audio system is in my home cinema, comprising a Squeezebox Touch hooked up to a Technics SU-V450 Class AA amp and a pair of Monitor Audio R452/MD speakers that I've owned for 25 years.
About a year ago I bought a Gale 3090 12" active subwoofer for my cinema system. I decided to experiment with it, and blocked off the rear facing port to make it a sealed unit. This tightened up the bass significantly, which persuaded me to try it in my audio system.
I discovered that blocking the front facing ports in the R452s and connecting the Gale subwoofer to the amp's second speaker outlets resulted in a system that sounds absolutely fantastic. I've always liked the treble performance from the metal dome tweeters in the MAs, and I now have really tight punchy bass to go with it.
I'm not that into classical music or jazz - but I love just about everything else (except the really modern stuff, that is!). I find myself listening to a lot of female vocal these days. Recent discoveries and current favourites are Dawn Langstroth, Carla Lother, Maeve O'Boyle, Beth Rowley, Bettye Lavette, Lisbeth Scott, Stephanie Dosen and Zaz (Isabelle Geffroy).
My pet hate is the growing trend for over-compressed CDs - the ridiculous "CD loudness wars". Two albums in particular (Clare Maguire's "Light After Dark" and Duffy's "Endlessly") are unbearable to listen to.
Anway, before I go into "grumpy old man" mode, that's probably more than enough about me! :)
Alan
My real name is Alan, but I gained the Conrod moniker in a bike club I was a member of some time ago. Basically, my bike suffered a hydraulic lock when I started it up with one of the cylinders full of fuel from a leaking float needle valve. When I stripped the engine down the conrod in that cylinder was banana-shaped. It became a standard feature and talking point on the club's stand at bike shows, and I was henceforth known as Conrod.
My love affair with big sportsbikes took a bit of a knock a few years ago when I had a front tyre blowout at 90mph on a (fortunately traffic-free) German Autobahn. After the mother of all tankslappers (any bikers out there will know what I mean!) I managed to bring the bike to a halt without dropping it. After kissing the tank several times, I began to contemplate what might have been had this happened a few minutes earlier when I'd been doing 165 mph flat out ......
That episode literally changed my life - from that point I decided to take each day as it comes. Within a year, I decided to quit the rat race and took early retirement.
And now on to hi-fi. I've never owned any top-end equipment, but I've always tried to buy the best sounding kit that my budget would stretch to.
Over recent years I've ripped all my CDs to FLAC files stored on my PC, and I now play them via various Squeezebox devices around the house. I have a Squeezebox Radio next to the bed, an SB3 in the lounge hooked up to a Denon AVR-1603 receiver and an ELAC surround speaker system, and a Squeezebox Boom as my "portable" player.
But my main audio system is in my home cinema, comprising a Squeezebox Touch hooked up to a Technics SU-V450 Class AA amp and a pair of Monitor Audio R452/MD speakers that I've owned for 25 years.
About a year ago I bought a Gale 3090 12" active subwoofer for my cinema system. I decided to experiment with it, and blocked off the rear facing port to make it a sealed unit. This tightened up the bass significantly, which persuaded me to try it in my audio system.
I discovered that blocking the front facing ports in the R452s and connecting the Gale subwoofer to the amp's second speaker outlets resulted in a system that sounds absolutely fantastic. I've always liked the treble performance from the metal dome tweeters in the MAs, and I now have really tight punchy bass to go with it.
I'm not that into classical music or jazz - but I love just about everything else (except the really modern stuff, that is!). I find myself listening to a lot of female vocal these days. Recent discoveries and current favourites are Dawn Langstroth, Carla Lother, Maeve O'Boyle, Beth Rowley, Bettye Lavette, Lisbeth Scott, Stephanie Dosen and Zaz (Isabelle Geffroy).
My pet hate is the growing trend for over-compressed CDs - the ridiculous "CD loudness wars". Two albums in particular (Clare Maguire's "Light After Dark" and Duffy's "Endlessly") are unbearable to listen to.
Anway, before I go into "grumpy old man" mode, that's probably more than enough about me! :)
Alan