sick system blues

[julesd68]

Have been without my power amp for a couple of weeks now and am doing cold turkey. Sent it off for repair but don't even know what's wrong with it yet.

Does anyone else get really depressed / physically sick when their system is crocked?

I find that listening to my system relieves stress so when it's not available I feel jittery and anxious. I need to find another way to shed that stress but aside from drinking lots of cider, I haven't found an alternative yet!

[Macca]

Can't you lash up a stop-gap system from spare kit you have lying around?

[DSJR]

This is where a Mini-T may come in handy. Very cheap to buy and works ok at low volumes. Whether you could really live with them as main amps is really up to the speakers, and Chario's are too insensitive for long term listening with one I fear. For temporary use, great I reckon :)

Oh, yeah, I do agree about lack of regular music making one ill - absolutely!

[Puffin]

Have been without my power amp for a couple of weeks now and am doing cold turkey. Sent it off for repair but don't even know what's wrong with it yet.

Does anyone else get really depressed / physically sick when their system is crocked?

I find that listening to my system relieves stress so when it's not available I feel jittery and anxious. I need to find another way to shed that stress but aside from drinking lots of cider, I haven't found an alternative yet!

Oh yes. I can totally indentify with that. However over the years I have amassed so much kit that I could press some other stuff into service to give me my "fix". You have to future proof and get lots!:D

[Wakefield Turntables]

Have been without my power amp for a couple of weeks now and am doing cold turkey. Sent it off for repair but don't even know what's wrong with it yet.

Does anyone else get really depressed / physically sick when their system is crocked?

I find that listening to my system relieves stress so when it's not available I feel jittery and anxious. I need to find another way to shed that stress but aside from drinking lots of cider, I haven't found an alternative yet!

Yes you may have seen some of my posts when i tried to install some internal power regs on my 1210, I managed fuck the PCB up big style so I'm now left with CD's :steam: BUT, it is only an amp! Its not life or death mate. ;)

[walpurgis]

I know the problem. I now have at least one back-up of every back-up piece of equipment and some of these have back-ups too. Yes, I know, that's three or more of each item (including cables and they don't really go wrong)!

[julesd68]

What I'm interested in is the psychology of it all.

I think we invest in a lot more than just boxes and electronics. The money is irrelevant. We spend days, months, years building up a system; fine tuning and experimenting. The dark arts of system matching. It's about capturing a sound that is in your head that you know you can achieve with the right combination of kit.

I know that I absolutely love my 405-2. But losing it made me even more aware of what it does for me in my system. I was so distraught about being systemless for a while that I rushed out and bought a 909. In the back of my mind I was thinking "what if it's even better than the 405-2!". You might think I am crazy and probably am, but hi-fi does this to you - it plays with your emotions and tempts you to make decisions good and bad. I listened to the 909 for three hours but after about 10 mins realised that it wasn't for me. It was then that I realised that it wasn't just about not having music; I didn't want to be without music, the way it was being played in my system. It creates a magic that is simply addictive for me. When I listen to Ravel, Rachmaninov or Rush on my system everything melts away and transports me to another world. You actually forget about the gear and get lost in the music. For me, all our best kit is a portal that opens up a world of emotions and inspiration.

And that's why being without it can be a pain in the backside ... My amp could come back to me better or worse than when it left and that makes me nervous!!

[MikeMusic]

Does anyone else get really depressed / physically sick when their system is crocked?

I find that listening to my system relieves stress so when it's not available I feel jittery and anxious. I need to find another way to shed that stress but aside from drinking lots of cider, I haven't found an alternative yet!

Not prepared to risk it
I have 5 systems in various places plus loads of spare kit I really ought to move on
To keep me sane I need good food at regular intervals, yoga in the morning, cycling to work and back (when I do cold turkey for 40 miniuts each way !)
Music everywhere all the time
My darling other half said to me the other day that I listened to music all the time
Yes, more or less I do. That is how it must be:D

[walpurgis]

Mike, how would you have coped in pre-electricity times without Hi-Fi? Would you have been a wandering minstrel, playing and singing? I might have been, can't go without some music of some sort. Trouble is I was a classical pianist in my teens and a grand piano is bloody heavy to cart about!

[dantheman91]

Hi

I always have back up amplifiers i have 5 at the moment though using 3 :rolleyes: sometimes its nice to have a break etc besst of luck with the repair

[MikeMusic]

Mike, how would you have coped in pre-electricity times without Hi-Fi? Would you have been a wandering minstrel, playing and singing? I might have been, can't go without some music of some sort. Trouble is I was a classical pianist in my teens and a grand piano is bloody heavy to cart about!
Dunno.
I've thought about it many times
The main thing is I wouldn't have know any better, but assume I would have been very keen to go and see performances
<later>
I'd probably play in a band, maybe even sing :)

[realysm42]

I feel your pain mate, had a couple of days without not so long ago, I didn't enjoy that one bit.

[walpurgis]

Holidays can be a sounds free situation, although I used to take a decent minidisc player and Sennheiser phones with me. Never found an MP3 that sounds quite my cup of tea though.

[technobear]

Jules, you have my sympathy. My beloved Audiolab 8200CDQ has been despatched to the menders to determine why it has suddenly died. It's blowing its fuse so probably a transformer short or something closely related.

I still have the Arcam rPAC but it's not quite the same - good but not as good :(

[julesd68]

Thanks for the messages of sympathy for my sick Quad - I am hoping to have the old chap back next week sounding better than ever!! :)