Greeting to TAoS

Hi everyone, my name is David and I'm a longtime audio nut and record collector living in the US. I joined the Art of Sound a while ago but am just now getting around to posting my first post. (I confess I've taken advantage of the forums as an information source for a few years now.)

Musical tastes: I'm an 80s kid, a punk rock kid at heart, though I'm now pushing 60. By this I mean Dinosaur (Jr.), the Minutemen, Pavement, Bardo Pond, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Dream Syndicate... not exactly 'punk,' but this is what I listened to when I was growing up. Jazz is the majority of what I listen to now: I love the classic 1958-1969 style of jazz (Coltrane, Miles, Monk, etc), but I have an affinity for the thornier stuff of the late 60s through the 70s: Steve Lacy, Andrew Hill, Mal Waldron, Anthony Braxton, etc... and I listen to plenty of contemporary jazz as well, small label stuff that most people don't seem to know. Also lots of free jazz, experimental, some classical, some electronic...

Stereo(s): Thirty years of buying, sometimes selling, and often hoarding equipment has left me with a lot of gear--some in various states of disrepair.

Main system:
McIntosh 240 power amp
Wright Sound WPL10V preamp/phono stage
Audio Note E speakers
Thorens 520 turntable
Denon 103 re-tip cartridge (currently)
Cables: Discovery, Morrow; I have a long run of speaker cables (21') and can't recall the brand...
Tascam cd player used as transport
Denafrips Ares DAC

Downstairs system:
(I have a space on the lowest level of my house where I work on equipment and do some diy, etc.)
Pass diy Amp Camp amp
Pass diy Korg B preamp
Schitt audio DAC
Yamaha cd player used as transport
Tannoy Eaton speakers

I also have an office system is Naim-based, with a Cambridge DAC and Spendor SP2's.

My rather embarrassing list of stuff I'm hoarding, and either need to unload and/or repair: Thorens 320, Dynaco ST-70 amp, Snell original K's (2 pairs), Snell J2's, another Wright WPL10V, NYAL phono stage...

I am currently fascinated with Nelson Pass' diy and am partway through a F5 amp build... I am essentially a tube guy who is very taken with class A solid state, and would love to build some of his other designs. The Amp Camp amp I used downstairs is a mere 8 watts, compared to 25 watts from the F5.

I am also a longtime Linn Guy, having used a LP12/Ittok as my main turntable for 20+ years. However, I brought my LP12 downstairs to install a new plinth, and, hopefully, a Kore subchassis at some point, and it is sitting silent.

David

Hi David, welcome to the forum

Certainly an impressive list of equipment- lots of it too! I like that doesn't make my own hoard seem too bad.

Funny how we start out with music like Dinosaur Jr and end up liking jazz...I suppose it's partly an age thing but it's no bad thing.

Welcome to AoS David.

Don't feel too bad about the amount of equipment you have amassed, there are some here who have more.

Admire your choice of jazz music - did you see any of them perform?

Welcome again
Barry

Welcome aboard David from one hoarder to another! Not enough rooms to set everything up, but all part of the fun! Enjoy the forum.

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Originally Posted by Alex_UK

Welcome aboard David from one hoarder to another! Not enough rooms to set everything up, but all part of the fun! Enjoy the forum.

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We need basements, like the Americans have. Then we could go properly off the rails.

I have two systems set up, and have enough gear (apart from speakers) for three or four more. But I don't have the room to set up other systems.

Generally Americans are blessed with having larger homes than we have in the UK, and many do have a basement which is often used as a games room: large enough for a pool table and thus easily large enough for an audio system.

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Originally Posted by Barry

Admire your choice of jazz music - did you see any of them perform?

Welcome again
Barry

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Hi Barry, thanks for the welcome. I've seen a handful, to be honest, I'll happily go hear jazz live if the opportunity presents itself, but the amplification in most jazz clubs, in my experience, is pretty awful, dreadfully loud and distorted. I saw Lacy in Boston not long before he died, and in the last couple of years I went to see Vijay Iyer and Mary Halvorson, among others--it's fun and I'll keep doing it, but there is a lot to dislike about live jazz in 2025. I did see Peter Brotzmann before he passed away, and that guy had force that went far beyond any known amplification.

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Originally Posted by Macca

We need basements, like the Americans have. Then we could go properly off the rails.

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Yes, I have to confess, I live in a pretty big house at the moment: I moved to the country from a more populated area, and my daughter is in college, so old enough to be gone a good part of the year, but not so old that we could get away with turning her room to other purposes. Basements are a mixed bag--a lot are so gross that one wouldn't want to spend any time there--but my current one is pretty swell.