A belated hello..

[nat8808]

Hello I am Nat.

I just had this sudden urge to introduce myself on here!

Hey, I joined on 08-08-08 which was a brilliant coincidental date cos of my name on here, Nat8808 - I have never ever noticed that before until now and I'm amazed!

Let me explain my moniker: Nat8808 refers to wiggling my index and ring finger on some number keys after typing my name.. hence my amazement of discovering my join date.

I'm a bit shy on forums and not actually one to get into conversations I must admit - I compose posts pretty slowly as I consider my thoughts and so the idea of quick responses or writing post after post in a thread is a bit alien to my nature - certainly lack the organisation to check for replies before the thread has moved too far on!

Anyway, about me and hifi.. I'm in central London and a bit of a collector I suppose - I'm fascinated by unusual hifi designs or expensive retro gear whilst also trying to follow a path to the most realistic audio in my home I can get (notice I say "realistic" rather than musical and "audio" rather than talking of music only). I'm into most music really but also love.. well, just great sounds; field recordings, studio sounds, synths etc.

I read on a forum an anecdote of a guy with £25,000 Audio Note Ongaku amps and just the one record, a recording of steam trains! That is my dream too, haha. When I close my eyes and that train is about to run me over I'll know I've arrived at my hifi destination.

Resonance FM (an arts based radio station in london and on the net HERE (www.resonancefm.com) is also a.. well, passion is too strong, but what is heard through my hifi the most, probably.

And on to my hifi:

As someone who is addicted to Ebay and all my savings pretty much go into hifi (hifi IS my savings - have to sell items when I need the money, if you buy at good prices it's better than a savings account) my hifi is often not set up or changes often as I try the new thing (or old thing I never got around to trying).

Currently it is:

Celestion SL700s

Primare 928 monoblocks

Tandberg 3002 pre (928 pre has popped something!)

Tandberg 3001A tuner (sometimes connected direct to the 928s via variable outs)

Tascam CD701 studio CD player with RC601 wired remote - took a long while to find both bits at a good price and well chuffed. Going to mod it to hilt - have trichord bits ready and a collection of found 12V lead acid batteries to use later.

Wadia 1000 DAC - late 80s expensive beasty that was an Ebay risk purchase (the type I often make and come off very well!). Was down on one channel when I bought it but fixed itself with a miniature puff of smoke and a click an hour after I plugged it in - must have been a stuck output relay.

PT Anniversary turntable with an arm I've yet to choose to set up!

Hush Tech ATX silent PC - again not yet set it up but a nice ebay purchase, completely fan-free small PC, ready for streaming through an old semi-pro digital audio card.

I'm always chopping and changing and have a strong desire to ditch lot of my collected gear and start getting into DIY .. but Im too addicted to ever do that! I don't have a tv either cos there's just not enough time for it.

See you all around the forum!

[Reid Malenfant]

Hi Nat, welcome aboard even though it's 58 posts later :lol:

You got some nice stuff off of ebay, i have done the very same myself & also regard some of my purchases as extremely lucky indeed. I haven't found a single fault with anything i have purchased :scratch:

Not much point in saying i hope you enjoy your stay now is there or you wouldn't still be here :eyebrows:

All the best to you anyway, just carry on enjoying it :lol:

[Alex_UK]

Hello Nat, you're obviously a hopeless case, so embrace the madness! I fear (on a much lower scale) I have the ebay-hifi virus as stuff keeps entering my home, sometimes without the better half realising! (I can't believe she really doesn't notice - does she? :lol:) I guess she's just happy I'm not spending all our money in lap dancing clubs (I can't believe she really doesn't notice - does she? :lol:)

One of my earlier hi-fi memories was of a friend's dad who had really annoying neighboirs playing rock music on a squawkbox at unearthly hours - the response was "time for the trains" - he literally used to put his speakers face-first to the adjoining wall (I don't remember what they were - but they were big and loud!) and then played recordings of steam train whistles etc, at full pelt. It didn't kake long for the volume to go down on the other side!

Anyway, enjoy the forum - you might see from another thread that there's a party round mine on 12-12-12 to celebrate the end of the world (due 31-12-12) so keep the date free! ;)

[nat8808]

Thanks for all your welcomes (even if 58 posts in..).

I am a bit of a hopeless case I have to admit (my therapist says I have to). I just can't sit idly by while some rare or interesting bit of kit passes under my nose on Ebay. It's the auction format that gets me - a buy it now I can ponder on till it's too late but auction sniping tools are too dangerous, place the bid automatically and face the consequences later. Consequences normally are desperately trying to sell on current equipment to pay for the new.. Some studio gear is tempting me at the moment and I don't think I have the money so will be placing some ads for unused kit very soon!

Speakers are purchased from a forum - SL600s amazed me when I first got some a year or so ago (had to sell them to pay for other stuff, bought another pair later, had to sell them for other stuff..) but oddly I've got used to the sound so now my SL700s are just being good speakers rather than amazing me.

Look forward to your end of the world party although I suspect it will actually be full of sceptics else they would be off desperately trying to do things they always wanted to, ditching their families in search of childhood sweethearts etc.