Jac Hawk
13-11-2010, 00:58
Ok to start with my name is Mike, but I do answer to Jac, I live just outside Durham in the north east of England.
Like most guys i like my gadgets, and a good stereo is right up there as a must have in my books.
In the past i've had my share of what would now be considered classic stereo equipment and up until i met my last wife it comprised of the following
Thorens TD160 mk2 with SME 3009 arm
mission cyrus 2 amp
kef reference 101 speakers
Rogers sub
However like most blokes I suppose keeping the little lady and the kids happy tended to come before sitting down on the sofa with a glass of something nice, while Led Zep was pumped out of the little Kef's, anyway one day I came in from work and sort of felt there was something missing in the lounge, I couldn't put my finger on it so after a week or so with this niggling in the back of my mind I said to my Misus "have you changed the lounge around or something, while I was at work", "ohh yes" she says, "I threw out all of that old stereo junk that was taking up space" AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH she didn't even try to sell it, just dumped pristeen equipment in a skip the next door neighbour had rented, including ALL my records, she kept the CD'S though cos she played them on the crappy boom box in the kitchen.
Anyway years past we split up and now i'm back on my tod, my best mate is a bit of a vintage hifi nut and he got me interested again, unfortunately due to bills etc i'm not in a possition to be extravagant and buy new shiney gear so ebay has had to suffice, all of my music is stored in wav format on my hard drive so that I will never loose it again.Now i know that most die hards here will mock me for playing my collection from the PC but it means that i can choose from nearly 1Tb of music without getting up out of my chair. anyway I have 2 system now a 5.1 system in the lounge and an amp and speakers upstairs connected to my ipod through a dock with phono plugs, they are as follows
Lounge
Marantz SR5400 Reciever £40 ebay
Polk Audio Reference center speaker £10 ebay
Mordaunt Short MS45ti front speakers £35 ebay
Mordaunt Short MS10 rear speakers £10 ebay
Yamaha YST-SW80 sub £1 ebay
Bedroom
Cambridge Audio A1 amp £12 ebay
Wharfedale Linton XP3 speakers £6.50 ebay
Atacama stands £15 ebay
QED cable throughout and banana plugs where possible, ohh and I use the optical output from my PC to the amp.
My music taste is very wide, from John Lee Hooker to Juan Luis Guerra, anyway that's me, I am always looking through the ads on ebay for bargins and at last i'm putting my BEng in electronic engineering to use refurbing crossovers in the speakers i get off ebay, i've also become a dab hand at shellacing and my Wharfedales are testomony to how good a set of 35 year old speakers can look and sound with a bit of time and patience and TLC.
Like most guys i like my gadgets, and a good stereo is right up there as a must have in my books.
In the past i've had my share of what would now be considered classic stereo equipment and up until i met my last wife it comprised of the following
Thorens TD160 mk2 with SME 3009 arm
mission cyrus 2 amp
kef reference 101 speakers
Rogers sub
However like most blokes I suppose keeping the little lady and the kids happy tended to come before sitting down on the sofa with a glass of something nice, while Led Zep was pumped out of the little Kef's, anyway one day I came in from work and sort of felt there was something missing in the lounge, I couldn't put my finger on it so after a week or so with this niggling in the back of my mind I said to my Misus "have you changed the lounge around or something, while I was at work", "ohh yes" she says, "I threw out all of that old stereo junk that was taking up space" AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH she didn't even try to sell it, just dumped pristeen equipment in a skip the next door neighbour had rented, including ALL my records, she kept the CD'S though cos she played them on the crappy boom box in the kitchen.
Anyway years past we split up and now i'm back on my tod, my best mate is a bit of a vintage hifi nut and he got me interested again, unfortunately due to bills etc i'm not in a possition to be extravagant and buy new shiney gear so ebay has had to suffice, all of my music is stored in wav format on my hard drive so that I will never loose it again.Now i know that most die hards here will mock me for playing my collection from the PC but it means that i can choose from nearly 1Tb of music without getting up out of my chair. anyway I have 2 system now a 5.1 system in the lounge and an amp and speakers upstairs connected to my ipod through a dock with phono plugs, they are as follows
Lounge
Marantz SR5400 Reciever £40 ebay
Polk Audio Reference center speaker £10 ebay
Mordaunt Short MS45ti front speakers £35 ebay
Mordaunt Short MS10 rear speakers £10 ebay
Yamaha YST-SW80 sub £1 ebay
Bedroom
Cambridge Audio A1 amp £12 ebay
Wharfedale Linton XP3 speakers £6.50 ebay
Atacama stands £15 ebay
QED cable throughout and banana plugs where possible, ohh and I use the optical output from my PC to the amp.
My music taste is very wide, from John Lee Hooker to Juan Luis Guerra, anyway that's me, I am always looking through the ads on ebay for bargins and at last i'm putting my BEng in electronic engineering to use refurbing crossovers in the speakers i get off ebay, i've also become a dab hand at shellacing and my Wharfedales are testomony to how good a set of 35 year old speakers can look and sound with a bit of time and patience and TLC.