Howdy

[sazeracrye]

Hi Y'all,

American:yay:, working in investment banking:ner:, living in the UK :doh: and an off the leash audio nut:smoking:.

Looking forward to being part of the forum.

[John]

Hi Steve
Tell us a bit about your system and musical tastes

[MartinT]

Hi Steve, minimal but effective. Do tell us more...

[sazeracrye]

As more has been requested here is another helping/heaping...

Moved to the UK from NYC 9 years ago and despite the face-palm really do enjoy it here. The past 4 years have been especially good since I don't have to listen to y'all telling me what you think about George Dubyah. Originally settled in London as I am in investment banking technology delivery, but now live in Seaford and loving it.

I have been an audio geek since I was 12 (1972) when I lusted after a Marantz 4400 Quadrophonic receiver with JBL monitors and a Dual turntable. My first system was a Sherwood receiver, BIC turntable and a pair of I can't remembers. I was 16 years old and had saved the money from delivering Chinese takeaway at the weekends on my bicycle.

In the 80s and 90s I owned various bits and bobs which were functional but unmemorable consumer grade stuff. Embraced the new CD format and chucked my vinyl, silly silly boy.

It was not until 2000 that I took the plunge into mid-fi with the following kit:
- Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CD player, VTL 2.5 pre, big NAD SS amp with biwired Maggie 1.6s. All bought second hand or as demos for under $2k.
This was a very sweet sounding setup, the tubes in the CD and pre took the etched edges off the SS amp and the maggies entrenched my love of panels. Unfortunately I had to sell the system when I moved to the UK for work.

I am now 5 months into my return to audiodum but have built out a couple of systems in that short time. To give you some context to the systems below my sound preferences are; a well defined 3d soundstage, non flabby/boomy bass, stellar midrange and grain free highs. This all has to be wrapped up into a fatigue free presentation. Or simply, I like the geekiness of our shared passion but love music, so in my instance a musical component is > an audiophile one.

System 1 My main is in the sitting room and is basically built around the Maggies and their temperament, that is to say that magnepans are very tetchy when it comes to upstream components and room positioning.
Sources - Project RPM 5.1/Ortofon Alpha/Project Phono Box SE II, Marantz CD6004, Win 7 laptop with JRiver 18, Sonos Connect, Rega DAC and Musical Fidelity V-Link192 USB to SPDIF converter.
Amplification - Primaluna Prologue 3 pre, Rogue Audio Titan Atlas Magnum power with KT120s and Little Dot mkIII headphone amp.
Speakers - Magnepan 1.7s

System 2 Is in the office and a work in progress but so far consists of:
Sources - Win 7 PC running JRiver 18 connected to a Micromega MyDac via USB.
Amplification - Icon Audio Stereo 20 PP integrated. I am picking up a Leak Stereo 20 at Scalford this weekend and will give it a go with the Quads once I find a passive pre.
Speakers - Quad ESL 57s, probably going to get One Thing Audio Rupert stands for these as the soundstage is only about 3 feet high on most recordings. Amp may be contributing to this as well.

So what do I actually listen to with all this tosh? 5khz test tones? My musical tastes are all over the shop but to give you an idea...

Jazz - Patricia Barber, Miles Davis, Mingus, Jacques Loussier, Bill Evans.
Classic Rock - Floyd, Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater, Bad Company.
Blues - Stevie Ray, Buddy Guy, BB King.
Bluegrass - Rory Block, Lucinda Williams, Alison Krauss and Union Station.
Classical - Yoyo Ma, Jean Pierre Rampal, Winton Marsalis, Handel, Bach.
Opera - Turandot, Tosca, La Traviata, Un Ballo In Maschera.
Funk - Parliament, Sly and the Family Stone, Wild Cherry, Sun Ra
Metal - Metallica (still qualifies? dunno), Rammstein, Ministry, Deftones

Plus loads of other stuff which I will spare you the detail as I am beginning to bore myself.

You can wake up now or scroll past this point as it's the end.

Looking forward to boring you all to tears in the coming months :zzz:.

[julesd68]

Originally settled in London as I am in investment banking technology delivery, but now live in Seaford and loving it.

OMG - I LOVE Seaford. My grandmother used to live there and we had all of our summer holidays there back in the 70's and early 80's. I think Seaford might have lost a bit of its charm since then, but still a fine place. Might be going there in a couple of weeks to visit some relatives who still live there. And then there will be a little trip to Eastbourne to collect my latest hi-fi investment. ;)

[MartinT]

Nice, Steve. I've never been a panel man myself but I can appreciate why those who do, have them. Quad ESL 57s in the office sounds like yours is grander than mine :eek:

[sazeracrye]

OMG - I LOVE Seaford. My grandmother used to live there and we had all of our summer holidays there back in the 70's and early 80's. I think Seaford might have lost a bit of its charm since then, but still a fine place. Might be going there in a couple of weeks to visit some relatives who still live there. And then there will be a little trip to Eastbourne to collect my latest hi-fi investment. ;)

Yes it is lovely down here, I can't imagine living in London again. If you are in town and want to drop in for a listen to my gear feel free to PM.

[sazeracrye]

Nice, Steve. I've never been a panel man myself but I can appreciate why those who do, have them. Quad ESL 57s in the office sounds like yours is grander than mine :eek:

Not that grand Martin, once complete the office will be 11'9'' x 16'3''. The Quads are to be placed 2 foot away from, but along the short wall. Not ideal but I believe workable. I will have to play with the distance to the left and right side walls but should be ok with a combination of slight shifts away from the walls and toeing in.

[daytona600]

welcome steve - had family that used to live in seaford up near the downs

[julesd68]

Yes it is lovely down here, I can't imagine living in London again. If you are in town and want to drop in for a listen to my gear feel free to PM.

That would be cool, thanks for the offer - sadly my relatives in Seaford are going to be away when we're going to Eastbourne but if we see them later in the year I'll drop u a line - would particularly like to hear your Maggies!