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Alexxus
19-08-2009, 21:53
Been lurking about for a while, but where did it all start? Well, it was Stan who pointed me to the forum, which btw it's quite a nice and friendly place to be in :respect: but then I got into a bit of a crazy stretch in my life, so no mo' time to read it, let alone get involved.

I hope in the near future I'll have more time to interact, not sure about how much I can contribute, but I'll have a go at it :)

Righty then, let's do this. My name's Eddie and I'm from Romania. Just pushed 40, hopefully doing a good job of it lol Music's always have been an important part of my life, although I had to struggle for a while back in the 80's when there was no hi-fi to talk about in my country. My first stereo was some Sharp cassette player, it could even rewind back to the start of the song. Back then that was the bee's knees around here :lol:

Things evolved to a reel-to-reel I had to fight hard to get, but the improvement was well worth it. I even started fiddling with it, all sorts of trial and error mods that eventually (against all odds) did make it sound better.

A while later, early 90s, I got into digital and for a while my Technics (hard earned) system seemed like the best thing around. You know, this is something I sometimes ponder about... you always seem to think there cannot be anything better sounding than your system. Until you hear a better sounding one :lol: Anyway... a few years down the road, I started looking for something better. Back then a Nakamichi AV7 (cracking AV receiver and stereo amp, if you asked me, a freakin' powerhouse too) plus a NAD CDP and Mission speakers made me chuck the nicely lit Technics into storage and forget about it.

That lasted a few more years, but then the unrest hit again. I was looking for more consumer gear, the likes of Cambridge Audio, when I happened to stumble onto a hi-fi forum and after extensive reading decided there's more to life than that and took the plunge with a Creek system. And that was the start of the disease. Out went my Missions, in came a pair of Spendors. The Creek amp hit the road too, soon. Naim followed it in. Not a bad combo, but the bug just started to bite. So out went the Creek CDP, replaced by an MF A5. Gee, the difference :eek:

Not content with that. So the Naim was the next to go, replaced by an AVI LSI. Now that's what I call music. :band:

I had to do something about all those boxes cluttering my living room, impressive as they were, so my whole 5.1 system was history once I found Stan's box (not easy that, I can tell you, I accidentally read a few of his posts at PFM, is how I found it). So this is where I now stand: satellite receiver, DVD player, laptop all playing through my amp via 7520. CDP to my Senns 580's via same, and CDP via amp direct.

My God, what's all this about? Are you even allowed to spout all this in an introductory thread? Well, it's all here, so might as well leave it, eh? :lol:

Anyways, nice to meet you guys, hope I'll be around more, I'll try to post some pics of my gear some time soon.

All the best :smoking:

DaveK
19-08-2009, 22:14
Welcome Alexxus,
Great intro and first post - your command of the Engish language is far better than many native English speakers - where and how did you become so fluent?
Your hi-fi history reads very similar to many other members here but with one great exception - we generally don't have to fight so hard to obtain our next piece of kit :lol: .
Hope you enjoy your membership, nice to have you aboard.
Cheers,

Alex_UK
19-08-2009, 22:18
Welcom Eddie, from another newbie with a similar handle! That's quite a hi-fi journey! Now, I guess the only other qustion is what are your musical tastes, please? Great English, BTW - I couldn't even type one Romanian word!

aquapiranha
19-08-2009, 22:31
Welcome Eddie.

Alexxus
19-08-2009, 23:08
I couldn't even type one Romanian word!
Yeah, well, it's easy, even kids speak it here :lol: 'tis an old one, innit? Hard to argue with it tho :)


where and how did you become so fluent?
That's another story in its own right. I learned it by myself, as it happens. Thing is, in school you did not have any options in choosing the foreign languages they taught you, so I had to bear with German and French, both of which I can speak to some extent (nothing impressive, really) and understand. But English was the language that said something to me. Back in the '80s there was quite difficult to find contemporary literature to read over here, unless you fancied some crap Russian writers (I'm not putting down Russian literature, just what was printed here back then), so I had this brilliant idea to go get a membership to the British Council Library. Quite a laugh that was... I was serving in the Army back then, as we had a compulsory National Service. As a soldier you were not meant to even set foot in the center of the capital; to go into a foreign embassy (back then the library was part of the UK Embassy) was unthinkable. Which is why the Secret Service people at the Embassy didn't think was worth going into detail with me. :lol: Psychology 101, eh?

Anyroads, there was where I really got my taste for English. It started slowly, but it didn't take long to be able to enjoy reading and they had a brilliant selection, so I had a great time while learning the language.

After a few years I started working in foreign trade with the UK, later on worked for an English company, so I had a bit of practice, you see. But first and foremost I DO like the language :)


I guess the only other qustion is what are your musical tastes
Ah yes, got carried away yapping... Well... I guess they cover a very wide range. I like electronica, from Kraftwerk to Infected Mushroom and Juno Reactor via JM Jarre and Vangelis.

I like world music, from Banco de Gaia to Bob Holroyd via Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Shpongle.

I like good old hard rock, Ted Nugent, AC/DC, Van Halen (the Dave Lee Roth years), Deep Purple (pre '81), Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, even a couple Scorpions albums.

I like progressive rock, the golden Rush years, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Alan Parson, Emerson Lake & Palmer.

'ang on, I forgot Led Zeppelin, didn't I? David Coverdale, too.

I like the '80s good pop. Ohh there was so much nice stuff...

Bit of jazz, R&B the likes of BB King and John Lee Hooker, the occasional chillout (yes, there IS some good stuff labelled chillout, if you have the patience to find it).

I've even tried some classical music, but I found it's so hard to find decent recordings...

I also like rap music, some of it it's really good (verbal abuse aside). Tupac, Eminem, Ice T to name a few.

Bottom line is, in my opinion, you got to try it ( a few times) before you say you don't like it.

OMG, another mile long post again! What is happening here?! :lol:

Spectral Morn
20-08-2009, 10:05
Hi Eddie

Welcome to AOS.


Great taste in music. Maybe you might like to post some pictures of your system/set up in the Gallery section of the forum.



Regards D S D L

Alexxus
20-08-2009, 13:47
Hi Neil,

Thanks for the kind words. Yep, will do, although most probably I'll post them tomorrow or over the week-end, I don't have any pics ready made, got to faff around a bit, I'm not what you'd call an accomplished photographer.

Look ma, I managed to keep this one short :lolsign:

Alex_UK
20-08-2009, 22:15
Thanks for the music taste update - I would hazard a guess your philosophy is not far from mine - I like anything that's good!

Alexxus
20-08-2009, 22:40
I like anything that's good!
Yep, that's about it. There's all this classifying and pigeonholing music types going 'round, but at the end of the day music appeals to the soul, so if it's good, it's good no matter the label.

However, I must stress this: a lot of the music I hold most dear was not love at first sight, so you need a bit of patience before you dismiss something. Give it a few spins, unless it's downright offensive to your ears, and you may find a few things that click with your feelings. If that happens, you just need a few more spins and you may have a keeper there. It happened to me more than once, so I can say it's worth the time.