With all the posts we get around here with questions about what to get for their first HT setup, I'm curious to hear everyone's story on how they started with the HT bug.

Here's mine...

I remember being, hmm, I dunno, 13/14 years old, still in Junior High, wanting my own stereo system. My father told me to buy just a receiver and speakers at first. Buy what I could afford now, and add pieces as I saved money. I'd end up with a better system.

So I bought a Yorx all-in-one stereo system for $99.99. Similar to this one, only not as nice.


What do dad's know, right? I had it all! DUAL cassette deck, record player, tuner, seven band EQ, and two big tower speakers! I enjoyed that system for quite some time, and then started asking questions..."how do I get it to sound better?"

Then one christmas I got a CD player! A sharp single-disc player. I ran upstairs to my room and hooked it up to the Yorx. (Unbelievably it had a single aux input that could accept the cd player!)

I was BLOWN away at how much better cd's sounded than cassettes. (Even then I rarely listened to records. I was a child of the cassette age.) That had to have been about 1988, because I remember listening to David Lee Roth's "Skyscraper" over and over and over again in my bedroom.

But now the bug was set. Now I knew things could sound ever better! So I talked to my dad and he suggested he head to Radio Shack and see what they had. (Back then they actually had a nice listening room, and sold some decent equipment!) I found a nice Onkyo reciever that I wanted, and saved up my money and eventually bought it, along with a pair of very inexpensive Radio Shack "Optimus" bookshelf speakers.

That receiver paired with the cd player and "real" speakers blew me away once again. The disease had really set in by this point. There was no turning back now.

Next into the fray would be a "stereo" VCR. Much to my delight they actually had VCR's with stereo input and output jacks on the back that you could play through your receiver! Wow! Movies in STEREO! A massive collection of video tapes began to be bought. (Thanks in part to a local store which sold used vhs tapes for $5/each or 3/$10) With the collection of videos, it was only natural for me to want a nicer tv. Thanks to SEARS and this magical invention called the credit card, I could own a brand new 27" panasonic "superflat" tv for only $15/month! (I'm likely still paying for that tv)

While in our local mall's "Suncoast Motion Picture Company" looking for new videos to add to my collection I came across what I thought was movie soundtracks on vinyl. Upon asking, I was told they were this new thing called "laser discs". CD quality sound AND picture. Light years ahead of vhs. I had to have one. Not only was the quality better, but new titles only cost between $25 and $40, as opposed to the $100 they wanted for the same thing on VHS! What a bargain!

So now I've got a nice 27" tv, onkyo receiver, optimus speakers, pioneer ld player and stereo vcr. It's obviosly time for upgraditus. The weak link is obviously my speakers. I listened to a bunch of speakers, at a bunch of differnt stores before making my final decision. I was entering the big time now. These speakers would be with me for the next decade, and I wanted to get it right. I ultimately bought a pair of Snell Accoustics Type K/II bookshelf speakers. Crystal clear highs, and the cleanest mid-range I heard. They were the crown jewels of my system. By this time I was curious what this "Dolby Surround" was all about too. So I of course had to get a center channel to go with my new Snell's. Then I was talked into a subwoofer. Probably the biggest stinker purchase I'd made since that Yorx system, I got a yamaha YST-60 subwoofer. (Once again, I got what I could afford at the time, rather than wait and get something good.)

That current setup, the tv, the onkyo receiver, the snells, the center channel, ld player, cd player and the yamaha sub stayed with me for about 2-3 years unchanged.

When I moved to Los Angeles, I got the itch again, and went looking at more powerful receivers. Got myself talked into an Onkyo Integra SV-919THX receiver. The unit was a monster. Again, slapped down the plastic and went home with the mother of all receivers. Quite possibly the top of the line receiver in it's day.

Not long after that I walked through a local Good Guys, and they had some surround speakers from Polk on sale. Open box. Cheap. I of course bought them.

So with the added surrounds and monster receiver I was all set for another two years.

Then came DVD. Unlike many nay-sayers that said dvd would die on the vine, I knew it would be huge. It promised the quality (if not better) than laser disc with the convienience of the cd. I had to have one! That was 1996.

2003. Yep...seven years without an upgrade! I discovered audioreview.com and hopped on their boards. I was a bit disapointed in the intelligiblity of dialog in movies. A new center channel was suggested, and a company called Axiom was highly recommended. During the time I was preparring to purchase the VP150, I took the grills off my beloved Snells and discovered the foam surrounds had completely dry rotted. They were falling apart! Shocked and terrified I looked into buying some new bookshelf speakers, and put the center channel idea on hold. After a lengthy process of research I boiled it down to the Energy C-3 or the Axiom M22ti. I bought a pair of both, and listend to each in my own living room. (The A/B switch on my onkyo came in very handy!) The Axiom's won, hands down. Both my brother, and Roger agreed. The Energy's were returned and the Axioms replaced the Snells in my living room. The Snells were moved to my bedroom and only played at very low volumes.

I then ordered the VP150, and was immediately shocked at how much better dialog was. I could actually understand what people were saying without having to crank the center channel volume up!

For now the Polk surrounds would have to do. The QS8's just seemed too pricey.

All the research into new speakers sparked my interest in home audio again though. I kept reading. I kept visiting hi-fi shops...my disease, though dormant for many years was flaring up again.

That old Onkyo had to go. It couldn't even decode Dolby Digital or DTS! Now the question was do I go with another top-of-the-line receiver, or go the separates route? Financially it actually made sense for me to get separates. Flagship receivers were $2000+. I found the Rotel RSP-1066 processor (having read numerous positive reviews on it) for under $1000 (used), and the RMB-1075 amp (also highly rated) for about $800. Thinking ahead, I realized I'd want to upgrade again some day, and the amp could still be kept, and I'd only have to upgrade the processor. Seemed like a no brainer to me.

It's now 2003. I have Rotel separates Axiom M22ti mains, the VP150 center and the Polk LS/fx surrounds. We're currently using Roger's sony dvd player. (which would soon die)

Then one day I was playing some music rather loudly and the M22's sounded a little strained. (Granted it was quite loud, but it got me wondering about M60ti's.) As luck would have it, our very own Curtis had a pair as an in-home demo!



I bought a pair two weeks later.




But that's only 5.1. The hip thing these days is 7.1! Bring in the RB-1070 amp, and a pair of M2i's for rear duty. While you're at it Amie, throw in a pair of QS8 surrounds. Long story short (well, it's a little late for that...) 7.1 didn't float my boat, but the QS8's dazzled. M2i's are now on my computer and I sold the RB-1070. Need I even mention the Odyssey Audio Stratos amp that lived with me for a short time? Or the, nah...

4/18/05 - awaiting the arrival of a Denon dvd-2900S. Still trying to figure out the best way to break it to Roger that I just bought a $500 dvd player when the one we have works perfectly fine.

Next stop...giant tv.

I'm sick. Please help me.

Yup...I take pride in knowing I contibuted to his madness.

I am very good at spending other people's money.

Spiff,

No way! I had two Yorx stereos. Received the second one for high school graduation present. Instead of the record player on top, the new one had a 5 disc cd changer. Best part of all was the little tray that popped out to hold the remote control. That way I could walk up to the machine, get the remote, go sit back down, and then turn it on. Way cool. . .
Man, thinking about all the stuff I've bought over the years--I'm gonna need more time to write this.

The record player on mine was on the bottom in a nifty tray that would automatically slide out with the touch of a botton. Yorx preys on young, easily impressed, yet dumb teenagers. I fell for it.

I thought the more buttons and flashing lights and pop-open compartments something had the better it was! Never mind how bad the music sounded, it looked awesome. I mean radical. Or whatever. . .

Oh well. My parents were members of the Price Club, and that's where Yorx stereos dwelled.

I think the stereo still lives, somewhere out in depths of the garage. You don't want to go in there after dark, might get attacked.

Actually I stsrted out good, over the years I somehow went downhill untill just recently!

While in the Army I bought a Pioneer SX-1080 reciever (120 watts per channel, I think), Technics turntable, Teac cassete deck and two pair of big 'ol Pioneer speakers that really and truely kicked out some very nice tunes.
Just as I was telling Rick a few minutes ago, I sure would love to have the ole SX-1080. I sold it at a garage sale just a year and a half or so ago.

I purchased an admiral portable stereo with a fold down turntable back in . . . well let's just say Rod Serling was still alive then. I thought the hinged speakers were pretty good. They ended up in the back seat of my '61 Catalina when I installed that kick ass under dash 8 track player. I later purchased a Harman Kardon receiver which came with some cheap ultralinear speakers. The HK went poof in a couple years. I was without tunes for about a year. I couldn't stand it any longer, went into Team electronics and picked up a Technics stereo receiver, and replaced the speakers with some Ultralinear 5 way towers. This all took place before 1980. In the mid 80s, the Technics receiver, which was showing signs of age went to son #1 along with the towers. I picked up a cheap Pioneer receiver at BB paired with some Technics floorstanders which I thought sounded better than the Ultralinears. The Pio was an early dpl receiver, but I ran it 2 channel. Another decade went by and son #1 talked me into purchasing a Yamaha receiver, which I ordered from J&R. He also told me that the Technics just didn't cut it, since he had purchased PSBs. He had also added a PSB sub, from that time on I have been itching to upgrade. HE DID THIS TO ME. I ordered a JBL sub to go with the Yamaha, so, of course I needed some quality speakers to complete the scenario. I tried a pair of B&W 602s3 bookshelves feeling certain they would be my dream mains. That was a big oops! I was down in the dumps and all set to live the rest of my natural life listening to a pair of paper coned Technics(ca 1978} I entertained PSBs for awhile, but didn't want to purchase from the same store that had sold me those awful B&Ws. I found this crazy website with looking wedge shaped speakers, which I though were really cute, found a message board and received some good advice from the likes of Spiff, Cheeseroo, and Alan. I slowly, but surely, was hauled in and now I own a 5.1 setup for the first time in my life. Oh yeah, I forgot about those Yamaha NS-555s I had for 3 weeks before I ordered the m22s. I still get a chuckle everytime I read an online message detailing the strengths of the 555s.

I started getting interested while I was getting replacement needles for the record player off of the tree in the back yard out by the barn-the needles on this tree were about an inch long and sharp as a real "needle". They would play 78s for quite a while til they finally got dull. Then I got into Hi-Fi with one of those consoles the size of a coffin on legs. Followed by a "Stereo" that was a near-cardboard box with two speakers that looked like "ears" on either side.

Then I discovered "Separates" in the mid 60s. I had a Teak 7010(I think)reel to reel with tin foil auto-reverse. A Sony PL3000 turntable with a tone arm that reminded one of a Bofors anti-aircraft gun. And a matched Sony tuner and amp that looked like it was hand made by Japanese Doctors in a clean room-it was an immaculate set. Also a glorious set of...um...uh..Ja...Ja..er...speakers.

Guess I'll get married now-back in '67

Let's jump ahead some thirty years or so to "Home Theater"(in a box) A fabulous Aiwa Z-VR55 with 5-disc cd changer and dual(noisy)tape drives, real 5.1 with Dolby pro-logic! Teency rears and a tiny center with good sized mains that produce a soundstage like orchestral soup.

I thought I'd replace the speakers first-let's see, who's on-line making good speakers these days?

I was in college and I had an old (funny, we still have it stored away in our basement) 19" TV that my parents got for me from some hotel that was getting new TVs.

I had a sinple 2-head VCR. Then came the upgrades. I got a 4-head VCR. Woohoo. What a better picture!
Then I got my first "receiver." OK, so it was a "boom box" with detachable speakers that I used instead of the single TV speaker. The boombox has an "aux" in that used RCA jacks from the VCR. Wow. Stereo....

Then I added a CD player. Don't recall the brand. It was cheap, that is all I know.

After college, I got some good graduation money, so what did I do, I bought a cheap Pioneer surround receiver, and some massive (with 15" woofers) KLH speakers. Bigger speakers are better, right?
Wow. Now I can watch movies really loud... (Still on a 19" TV)...

Then I added a cheap KLH "surround" package with a little center channel, and the two surrounds. A little while later, I added a passive subwoofer, and a second center channel. They were cheap, and two is better than one, right?
Then I added some crazy single unit rear surround speaker that was shaped like a trapezoid and had one speaker on the right and one on the left with seperate inputs. The idea was that the single speaker could replace the normal two surround speakers.

Oddly enough, though, these speakers made it into my first home theater. I just kept throwing more speakers into the mix. I had the thing wired for the 2 center channels, the two fronts, two surrounds, and then did my own "matrixing" of the rear surround trapezoid speaker (I had rear surround before there was such a thing). Oh, then I added a Front Left/Center and Front Right/Center as a matrix of the center channel and front channels. smoother front sound field, right?

Oh, don't forget the 150 watt 10" KLH powered sub. Bass, yippy!

My TV was now a 48" RCA rear projection, and I had a nice Pioneer Dolby Digital/DTS receiver, and my first DVD player (a good Pioneer player). I fell in love with DVDs. I still had the old Pioneer receiver too that I was using to power my bass shakers. I also swapped out the single disc CD player for a 25 disc Pioneer CD player.

It was the DVD player (any DVD player would do) that really got me thinking about the purchasing decisions I had made over the years. I looked for what was cheap, and spent a ton of time tuning and tweaking to get things to sound as good as cheap speakers could sound.

So I have a whole horde of KLH (I came to later call them Krappy Like Hell) speakrs. Once I learned more about home theater, I was ashamed of what I had. I told myself that my next home theater would be better. I wouldn't go nuts and spend $30,000 or something on it, but I wanted good, respectible gear.

SO that home theater was built some 6 years ago, and we moved from that house 2 years ago. Now here I am with nice Axiom speakers, Pioneer (did I mention that I like Pioneer?) THX receiver, Panasonic S97 DVD player, Sanyo Z3 projector, Carada 104" screen, SVS 20-39 PCi sub, etc.

It is about time. I can't imagine going back to those crappy KLH speakers.

So that is the story.

Check out my cheesy web site, and you can see both photos of my new home theater and the old one...

I first purchased a G-something minisystem--similar to that Yorx, but with record player, tape decks, bookshelf speakers, and a CD player--at a church rummage sale when I was a teenager. Hadn't really thought about it before then, but boy was I thrilled to get it. A few months later, I got some "tower" speakers from the same source-8" woofer+tweeter.

A little later, some family friends were getting rid of a Marantz 2252B, and I jumped at it. I remember being afraid I might blow it up if I wired the speakers out of phase... It was dying, so I eventually supplemented it (somehow or other; I can't remember) with my Dad's old Marantz 2220B, which was also dying in a different fashion. I hooked up the minisystem speaker outs (RCAs) to the AUX input.

Somewhere along the line, I got some Fisher speakers (10" woofer, 4" mid, 3" tweeter) from another family friend, then a Technics SA770 receiver which was actually fully functional (the novelty!). I set up the Fishers and the old towers to play at the same time. This in a bedroom the size of a postage stamp.

I bought a 5 disc JVC CD changer as a graduation present to myself after high school. I've still got it--and I still use it!

Somewhere in there, I decided to replace the woofers on the bookshelf speakers (I was still using them in the dorms), and discovered how much better that sounded. When Peter and I started rooming together, we quickly blew the tweeters (probably annoying the hell out of our dorm neighbors), so I replaced those with Radio Shack tweeters, and I replaced the 18 gauge cable I had been splicing together for ages. Wow. That sounded better!

Briefly in there I had a Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble 3 setup (and that was the most amazing thing I'd ever heard) but I had to return it so I could get a new computer.

Anyway, I ended up buying the Cambridge Soundworks Subwoofer 1 I'm still using after getting somewhat drunk (and without having a job), and ended up paying back various people (Peter included) for awhile on that one. Bought the Ensemble 1 sub/sat system off of eBay a year or so later.

A few years later (after getting married), I convinced my lovely bride that the Toshiba was pretty much dead. Which is was. So I bought the H/K 525 (I had a pretty good handle on what I was doing by then). Still using the CS speakers and sub.

I had heard Peter's M22s before doing this, so I knew I wanted Axioms at some point, but my wife told me that I had to build her an entertainment center before I bought the speakers. That only took me a year... And here we are!

Note: if you made it all the way through this, you have a much longer attention span than I do...

I remember for christmas my dad got a 500$ 4 head VCR - Hitachi if memory serves; and it was HIFI Not that it made much difference on our 15 year old Zenith 20" mono TV hahah, man that tv brings back memories, the tube would go every so often so wed have to slap the side of the tv to get the picture back into focus. For some reason I really enjoyed playing with the remote on the vcr (probably because it illuminated the buttons in red and green) and had a ton of buttons. I think i ended up getting into the whole audio/video thing was because I enjoyed playing with all the wires behind the tv and the fact that my dad couldnt figure them out while i was hooking it all up at 9 years old (finally, something my dad couldnt do) I think a year or two later I saw Jurassic Park in the movie plex, and I was stunned, wasnt it the first movie with DTS? Again, years later, a friend of the family gave me a ride to work in his souped up Jimmy SUV, and he was a big audio nut, he had subwoofers, amplifiers, component speakers, and it all looked really cool to me - but before that day I had never knew a stereo could sound anything like that, i just wanted to take the day off work and go crusing with him all day - im pretty sure thats the exact moment i really started to want a good system.
Being a broke student and never having a decent paying job is a curse for me, because I have good taste but no money (like that horrible tv show). So what I have took a VERY long time to put together, and its still not even all that good - which is why i drool when i read that people have rotel driven systems and such (I love ROTEL). When I was 15 my mother and I were at some liquidation center place where they sell equipment that has fallen off trucks and whatnot, when I spotted a Sony system with a subwoofer - the guys wanted 75$ for it - Deal. Took it home, didnt work, spent another 75$ on some stupid cable that only Sony makes to hookup the sub to the receiver and give power to the sub. Spent another 50$ on a friend of the family to repair the volume pot. Finally, a little home theatre, mind you I only had some garage speakers to hook up to it, and it was only dolby pro logic 1 My aunt gave me some speakers when I was about 16, because she was moving up to some bose tiny speakers (go figure) to fit in her apartment without being in the way. She gave me a pair of Mordaunt-Short 3.0 Bookshelves, an Axiom Ax 1.6 Center and I still use them today. On boxing day last year I went to futureshop and grabbed up a pair of Athena AS-B2 bookshelves for my fronts and got some stands for fifty bucks at some audio shop. It sounded better, but only in stereo. About a week ago, I finally scraped enough cash together to get a HK AVR225 receiver (yes its two years old, but I could only afford used) and i am ecstatic. Finally, True Dolby Digital in all of its 5.1 glory. And DTS, its so delicious. I waited so long for something like that i almost cried when i cranked up U571. And as of this morning at 10 am, i received my home theater master mx-500 remote, like i said near the beginning of this long winded post, i must have a thing for fancy remotes.

I got into HT totally by accident. We didn't watch much TV when I was a kid so I came up the "audio" side... made my first speaker about 13 -- a single 2 way Philips with 5" woofer/mid and 1" tweeter. Only made one speaker because (a) it cost half as much and (b) my sound source was a beautiful furniture grade wooden "hi fi", the centerpiece of our living room, with a vacuum tube amplifier, two "full range" speakers, AM tuner and a turntable that could play those newfangled LPs. Frequency response of the hi fi speakers was what you would expect from two 12" speakers with light cones.

So... crawl inside with the diagonal cutters, cut out the wires for the 12" speakers, and wire in my little acoustic suspension speaker. Even my parents were surprised. Not only could we hear some totally new sounds (high notes ), but the bass was actually better than the big hi fi speakers even with a single 5" woofer and a good cabinet.

OK, I was hooked. Next set of speakers were 3 ways with 10" woofer, same tweeter, and the Philips "midrange in a can" with its own sealed enclosure. Pretty nice, although in hindsight they had the same bass peak I would come to complain about with Paradigm Atoms many years later.

Didn't have much money myself but had friends with too much money so was able to pick up some nice used equipment at great prices. First electronics purchase was an Advent receiver, cast off by someone who wanted lots of power and big boomy bass. I loved it -- maybe 15 watts per channel but very clean and I liked the styling. Next was some kind of high end turntable (way out of my price range) whose brand I have not been able to remember with whatever the second from the top of the line Shure cartridge was. Final addition was a Southwest Technical Products power amplifier kit -- I did something wrong during the assembly so occasionally the power supply would short across some resistors used to tie the case to ground (no idea why they used resistors)... smoke and flame would come out of the amp while playing from time to time but you had to watch for it because it still sounded great. Turned out that there were supposed to be some insulating bushings on the output jacks and I was missing a few.

University brought (among other things) moving away from home and discovery of more speaker brands, notably KEF, and discovery of transmission line cabinets. Five of us rented a house downtown, with a sound room holding a LOT of equipment, probably 3500 LPs, and a cast-in concrete pillar going down to the basement which held the turntable stable even when 80 drunken people were dancing up and down on the floor. Don't think the landlord liked the pillar...

Fast forward through 20 years of domestic bliss but crappy sound systems. Had a DVD player but never used it. Picked up a set of M2s and a sub (hey, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on the internet so didn't get M60s) to start putting together a nice audio system again. Hooked the DVD player and TV up to the receiver and was astounded how good the sound was with modern DVDs. All my friends have nice TVs and crappy sound systems so I never knew...

Anyways, the rest is history. M60s, VP100, QS8s, HK 630, new DVD player... you know how it goes.

Craig:
Excellent post! I hope others won't be offended if I copy and paste from a posting (one of my first long-winded ones!!!) I made last September:

Some of you may enjoy this VERY long post, others may not. If you really make it to the end of this ramble and did NOT enjoy it, please write me and I will refund what you paid to read it. For the others, I hope this sparks a thread of other stories about how you came into this hobby and how you arrived where you are… as well as where you’d like to go from here. Pretty lofty/arrogant considering I’m a newbie, here, huh??

As many of you have likely seen as well, there just aren’t the “stereo” stores around like there used to be in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. That makes it tougher for me to audition speakers the way I’d like. Although Concord, NH is not exactly in the “sticks”, it’s also not a major metropolis teeming with independent brick and mortar showrooms. This is why I’m doing much of my preliminary research on speakers on the net; I’m hoping to weed through the many choices out there so if I have to do a little driving to audition speakers, I can know that I’ve at least narrowed the choices a little beforehand.

Getting back into this hobby and deciding to fund it after being away from it for several years has caused me to do some reflecting as to how I first started enjoying it and how I’ve gotten to where I am. Like many of you, frequently my lifestyle is far too busy to ever allow me to sit and think, and this introspection really brought back some nice memories for me.

I remember around the time that I was in high school and for several years after that, the immense enjoyment I received from music and my stereo system. While many in high school were spending their money on new Chrome wheels for their Nova or putting side pipes on their Camaros, I spent $300 on a direct drive Pioneer turntable and a nice Shure cartridge. An old Ampex cassette “all-in-one” system that my dad gave me served as my amp; a Realistic clock radio served as tuner through it’s little headphone jack. The speakers were basically small boxes, much as you can find today, with 6x9 cutouts. They came with the Ampex and had some pretty mediocre paper cones and featured the infamous “whizzer cone” technology. I replaced them with some off-brand 3-way 6x9s I got at Bradlees and the sound improved a little bit.

There was some pride of ownership in that turntable. It wasn’t the best, or most expensive, but it was pretty good; a heckuva lot better than the turntables that came with the console stereos and better than the equipment I hooked it up to. As a matter of fact, if I borrowed my dad’s Koss headphones (I think they weighed about 9lbs!!) the sound was really not bad at all.

I spent many, many hours listening to Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd. I later bought some el-cheapo speakers that were way too big for bookshelves, but not really designed for floor use either. (Remember the old Radio Shack Mach-2 speakers? Kinda like those!) Knowing I could improve my bass by getting them off the floor, I built some really ugly speaker stands out of 2x4s. Also knowing that the treble sucked, I promptly bought some accessory, standalone Radio Shack piezo supertweeters and put them on top. I like to think that someone from B&W saw them and was later inspired to create the Nautilus line!

The following year, I built an “entertainment center” in wood shop. It featured storage for all my equipment in a vertical rack atop a “base unit” that made it “L” shaped when you looked at it head-on. It held my new Technics integrated amp, all shiny silver with it’s fluorescent meters and 55/wpc. It held all my albums below, and had a row of cassette holders as well. What made it cool, though, are the two toggle switches I mounted on the front panel: the first switched on a small muffin fan that I mounted atop the unit to draw air past the integrated amp which I had in the uppermost position of the rack (it really had no recourse for air otherwise, and I must have done something right because I still use the amp today in another setup!). The second switch controlled a hidden, soft 15 watt light that I had mounted hidden above that shining jewel of a turntable. It allowed me to play music in a dimmed room, yet still turn an album over and check for dust. The dimmed lights were essential for some music…like Pink Floyd… that just didn’t sound the same in a well-lit room.

Probably five years after high school, I bought what was, to me, my “dream” electronics: An NAD system consisting of the 2200 amp, 1155 preamp and a tuner, the model number of which I don’t remember. The amp could put out 1400 watts per channel on peaks due to it’s high headroom, and it weighed a ton. There was a lot of pride of ownership then as well. When I turned on that system, I knew that I was going to be treated to something special. The NAD stuff was built like tanks, with well-thought out controls, flexible ins and outs, and nice, understated aesthetics.

I was driving a small pair of Design Acoustic speakers mated with something many had not heard of: a subwoofer (made by Cerwin Vega). At the time, the only company that was actually doing anything on the satellite/subwoofer front was Atlantic Technology, and I liked the idea and value that this route offered.

My musical tastes started changing as well: CDs were now available, and I started listening to many GRP releases and the like: Dave Grusin, Michael Hedges, Diane Schuur. I’m not so sure that I was into the music as much as the sound quality of the recordings though and after awhile, they all seemed to not inspire the passion I felt with other types of music in my younger years…. Stevie Ray Vaughn a noted exception in that time period.

I started my own Photography/Video Production business and was working longer and longer days. I was not finding the time to lose myself in music anymore; it was something I just put on in the background while I was working and paid so little attention to that I often wasn’t aware when the CD ended.

After several years, realizing that I was much more likely to watch a movie (VHS Hi-Fi) than sit down and critically listen to music, I sold all the great NAD stuff and bought a mediocre but inexpensive Technics Pro-Logic receiver and some DCM TimeFrame speakers at a going out of business sale that I got for a great price because they only had two left… Literally, two LEFTS. Someone else must have accidentally taken home two RIGHTS. It didn’t matter; as I said, I never listened critically or intently anymore. I DID enjoy the movies, though, and now, so heavily involved in video production, certainly appreciated DVDs’ better picture quality and sound.

There was never any “pride of ownership” with this setup, though. It all sounded “OK”, but never really gave me that “wow” experience. It was just there and served a purpose in an “acceptable” fashion.

I’m looking to change that now. After years of working 15-18 hour days seven days a week (mostly, I still do), I’m looking to get off the treadmill and enjoy life a little more. I’m trying to golf more than the three times a year I had been getting out in the past, and I’m looking to enjoy music and my home theater more. I can’t lie and say I don’t enjoy the process; researching and choosing equipment for my revamped system is part of the fun and a little distraction from work…especially when I had been “out of it” for a few years and now am trying to learn more about Bass Management, higher-resolution audio discs and dipoles vs. bipoles.

I purchased a Denon 3805 last month and am once again feeling that “pride of ownership”. I like the build quality and design. Though not esoteric (fine by me!), it’s a huge step above what I had and so far I’m very pleased. I would like to get the Denon 3910 universal player to match it as well, but not being able to justify an extra thousand dollars, bought a pioneer 578 universal player instead. Someday, I’d like to get the Denon and I’ll make use of this Pioneer somewhere else. The Pioneer doesn’t offer that “pride of ownership” I’ve mentioned several times. It sounds good and offers pretty good picture quality, but it’s built like the $59 VCRs that are out there… you lift it and it feels like a paperback and not an encyclopedia. Value? A. Pride of ownership? D.

My last two steps will be to replace all six of my speakers and step up from my 32” analog TV to (likely) a DLP or LCOS ~45” HDTV.

I also purchased a nice Bell’O audio rack to hold the stuff, which I got at a steal as it was a Tweeter floor model.

Maybe you’ve sensed a theme here. I do enjoy that “pride of ownership” thing. I’ve never gone for the esoteric stuff. Never bought a Stereophile magazine or wired my speakers with more than 12 gauge zip cord. Many of my connects are Radio Shack, though I’m replacing more and more of them with A-T cables from Best Buy…. still don’t spend the extra money on Monster. But I think most mid-range products offer a good value that models above and below them don’t frequently offer…. A big step above the entry stuff but well below the diminishing returns of “hi-end” equipment. In my eyes, this “pride of ownership” is not audio snobbery, but I realize that my honesty regarding this might be perceived that way by others.

I remember going into those stereo stores when I was young and hearing some really nice speakers from Ohm, B&W, Canton, Polk and, yes, at the time, Bose. To me, they were the Holy Grail. A level of sound that I could aspire to, without feeling like I was going overboard and spending much more to only gain a bit more in fidelity. Now that I’m researching replacements for my current speakers, I truly had the idea that I would likely spend $3~5,000 on all six speakers and was looking for local dealers of Canton’s and B&W and KEF. But in my internet research I started seeing forums such as this one. And people weren’t really talking about European or American speaker manufacturer’s as much. Instead, much of the talk seemed to be about speakers such as Axiom, Mission and Energy (all Canadian if I’m correct?). Things have changed when I wasn’t looking! The British sound, Boston sound and California sound has been replaced with the Canadian Sound!

I’ve actually only auditioned two brands of speakers so far in my initial searching. I recently heard some Paradigms in a not-so-great test (no A/B setup) and wasn’t really impressed. I’m not sure if it was the setup, my rushed schedule, or they were really only “OK” to my ears. A couple of months ago I heard some Definitives though (I think the 7002s) that really impressed me and that was what got me started on this whole quest of upgrading. With my own (“regular”) CDs I heard detail that I had not heard (“Hmmm, I never noticed that acoustic guitar in the background before”). Those particular speakers would have really overwhelmed my small room, though I’d still like to listen to some smaller Definitives and see if they have that same transparency…. I also wonder how good they would have sounded with a DVD-Audio or SACD source.

So, when some of you have warned me that my old Aerosmith recordings won’t sound as impressive on Axioms, but a great recording DOES shine with them, it makes me think that they might offer that same transparency I heard with the Definitives that I’m lusting after. I’m still unsure if they would compete with some Canton Karats, but for the price difference I’m willing to try them in my home and see. It’s hard for me to think I’d likely feel that same pride of ownership though with Axiom over Cantons; maybe in some way I do have a hang up with price vs. quality. Maybe it’s simply because I haven’t heard the Axioms yet. Hell, I haven’t heard the Cantons in 20 years either! Really, until I audition several I won’t know.

I’m looking forward to getting back into this hobby and I’m looking forward to this particular community. I’m also looking forward to re-experiencing what I heard in that Definitive audition and hearing that “veil” being lifted from the sound of my current DCMs. This introspection I’ve been doing the past couple of weeks has really reminded me how much I miss good, passionate music played on a nice system. And yes, one that offers “pride of ownership”.

That sure is a lot of “forward-looking” for someone whose been spending so much time of late looking back…!

Whew.

Next??

You will of course remember my response to your dissertation.

I REALLY enjoyed that, Mark (of course, I'm old and have a LOT of time on my hands ). You're to be commended for your openness, honesty, and articulation.

Your journey reminds me of my own, though slightly different, road to aural happiness and abject poverty. I came back from Viet Nam in 1970 with some pretty heady equipment for that day: top of the line Pioneer stereo receiver; AR-5 speakers; AR turntable with Shure V15 cartridge; Teac top of the line reel to reel tape deck, and Koss Pro4AA headphones. Believe it or not that stuff lasted me 30 years. And, if I were interested in music alone, and if one of the AR speakers hadn't given up the ghost, and if the knobs on the Pioneer receiver hadn't pooped out, I'd probably STILL be using it.

About the time this equipment was heading for the big stereo trash heap in the sky, I began noticing how good movies in a theater were sounding, and particularly how good the MUSIC in those movies sounded. I can remember my reaction to the soundtrack of Sleepless In Seattle which utilized a lot of great old songs that I loved. That reaction was "Gee, my stereo at home doesn't sound like that." DUH! So, like you, I bought a Technics Pro Logic receiver and some new speakers, and from then on I was dead meat.

I know what you mean by "pride of ownership." I tend to express it as "pleasure of ownership" just to avoid the possibility of others interpreting it as "snobbery." But, I believe we are talking about the same thing. For me the wonderful thing is, having reached the age I have, the "pride" has little or nothing to do with what others think. The only opinion that really counts is the man in the mirror's. Folks who have lesser systems would listen and be impressed with my stuff, and "audiophiles" (I have come to loathe that word and all it implies) would just smile and politely say "gee, that's very nice." So, since reactions, by others, to my system would run the gamut from "AH" to "UGH," I think it prudent to listen to the little man inside. Quite liberating!

In the 70's it was Radio Shack Mach mains like MarkSJohnson and Realistic recievers.

In the 80's it was Pioneer receivers, equilizers, and 4-way CS60 mains with 12" Turbo woofers (still gottem and they are still like new)

In the 90's it was Pro Logic baaaaaaby and my JVC AV receiver and Tape Deck. For speakers I was still using my 80's Pioneer 4-ways, Advent center, and Infinity bookshelf's for the surround.

You know the rest of the story.....

Randy


m60's vp150 ep350 4-Qs8's
Denon 2805
Sanyo Z2 WXGA projector
Toshiba P.S. DVD player
Samsung HD receiver

ps (still have a lot of the equipment in storage listed above)

i actually started with all hand-me-down stuff from my dad. he gave me the equip that he had bought when he got back from vietnam.. apparenlty, he saved up a bunch of money while risking his life for freedom, and then splurged on himself once he got back..

i scoured the web to try and find examples of what he gave me. the COOLEST part was a TEAC reel to reel, that looked REAL close to this

the receiver was an old pioneer tube amp, that looked real close to this. but, it had the fake wood on the sides instead of the metal, and a BIGGER dial to move the tuner bar.

and last, he gave me his old sony floor stander speakers.. the old school kind that had the diamond weave fence pattern on the front. i cant find any pictures of those?

anyway, i had all that thru high school, then moved away from home and joined the army. once i got to my first duty station, i went and bought a complete kenwood rack, with the vega tower speakers.. which i still have all that still today. just looking for a place to put it all.

bigjohn

Great topic for my first post.

I got my first all in one (record player, tape deck, radio and speakers) Emerson stereo system for Christmas in the early 80's. The stereo pushed out a steady diet of hits like Weird Al Yankovic, Kiss Alive II, Twisted Sister, Survivor, Vixen, Winger, and Samantha Fox on tape and vinyl until 1988, when I was given a Sony Walkman with car adaptor that was shaped like a tape as a Confirmation gift. Being a little inventive, I put the "tape" from the Walkman into my stereo's tape deck and slammed the deck's door real hard so the wire would not prevent the deck from closing.

My new hi-fidelity machine was cranking along until the Summer of 1989, when my left speaker blew while listening to Lita Ford's "Kiss Me Deadly." Luckily, I had a summer job and some money saved up and bought a floor model Yamaha system at Macy's (at the time the only stereo store in the neighborhood). The system had a seperate receiver, dual tape player, radio tuner, and floor standing speakers. The next summer, I saved up some money for a separate CD player and retired the Walkman. The system served me through college and then some.

In the Summer of 1999, thanks in part to my Qualcomm stock going up 160 points in one day, I decided to take the plunge into DVD. All I knew about it was the PQ on DVD was much better than on VCR tapes and there were some cool extras. I went to my local Best Buy and looked at their selection. I was ready to pick up a Sony player when one of the sales people recommended a cheaper Phillips model. He also told me that the real selling point of DVD was the "5.1 surround sound" and that I needed a receiver. I told him I already had a receiver. After some back and forth, I realized that my receiver was not 5.1 capable. This was the first and only time an employee at Best Buy knew more about home theater than I did. Luckily for me, Best Buy had a deal where you got 18 months financing if you bought a reciever and DVD player at the same time. I picked up a Pioneer DD/DTS player and the DVD "Ronin" to demo my system. I set up the new receiver and player the same day and hooked them up to my 27" TV. I pick the disk in the player, chose Dolby Digital as my sound format, and sat back to enjoy the fun. Every thing was great until Robert Deniro's mouth opened up and I could not hear what he was saying. Re-reading the directions, I found out that sice I did not have a center or surround channel, I couldn't enjoy 5.1 sound. I knew then home theater had me in its expensive grasp

Since the Best Buy I bought my player at was over an hour away, I decided to shop around the local J & R Music World for a center and surround. They had a special for a Yamaha center and surround for $125. I jumped on it and immediately integrated them into my system. I watched "Blade" and was in nirvana. Next up, replace those chessy floor standers, they were so 1989.

A couple of months later, I was at another Best Buy and started looking at their floor standers. The salesman actually told me stay away from BOSE - because they were way overpriced! Can you believe it, a BB employee who knew what he was talking about. I mentioned that I had a Yamaha center and surrounds and he pointed me to a set of Yamaha mains that had subwoofers in them. Living in an apartment, I knew getting a real sub was out of the question, so I bought these speakers for about $400.

The obsession didn't end there, as I now wanted to replace my TV so I could take advantage of composite video. I knew I had to do this quick because I was getting married in a year. I settled on a 36" Sony XBR250. J&R had a great deal on it and had it shipped to my apartment.

This setup held me until 2003. With my 2002 bonus, I upgraded my DVD player to a Panny CP-72 and really wanted to get rid of the Yamaha center to really enhance the dialogue of my DVDs. At this point, I started researching on the web and my home theater obsession really began to heatup. I came upon the website "Audioholics.com" and went to their system recommendations list. It was there I discovered Axioms. I started lurking on this site around the July 2003 and ordered the VP-100 around that time. In August, my wife and I sold our apartment and moved on to the NJ suburbs. Our house had a fully finished basement, which I dubbed my "Man-Room" and started designing my new home theater setup. We made really good money on the apartment and the buyer offered to buy my Sony for $800. With some of the proceeds, I upgraded my Pioneer receiver (horrible for CD music and incapable of DVD-A, which I really started to get into) to a Harman Kardon AVR-525. I also picked up a Velodyne VX-10 subwoofer ($199 entry level) I replaced my Sony 36" with a Panasonic 47" RPTV (got a $50 discount at BB since service was awful and my very pregnant wife started yelling at the floor manager). My overhaul was nearly complete. The only thing I needed to do was replace those low-grade Yamaha speakers. I figured I would have to wait a while with a baby on the way. On December 12, 2003, I got some good news/bad news from home: our basement had flooded (bad) and my Yamaha speakers were destoyed (good). My insurance covered the full purchase value of the electonics destroyed. I took the $400 reimbursement for the speakers and bought some Axiom M-22s!! World of difference, I couldn't believe what I was missing. My subwoofer and PS2 were also ruined, but I replaced them with a HSU STF-2 subwoofer and got another PS2 (didn't have time for PS2 witha brand new baby). My Panny TV had to be repaired due to flood damage and the insurance company even paid for a professional calibration. So, the flood was actually a win for me. I have been in Axiom bliss for about a year now.

Recently, I upgraded my Yamaha surrounds with a the QS-4s and moved the Yammy's to the back for rear surrounds and added an Outlaw ICBM which really enhanced my DVD-A experience. I think I am done for a while - but I am just kidding myself.

Indeed, a very nice first post, Royce. I enjoyed, very much, reading about your journey.

I believe the good advice you recieved at BB. I used to work at one.

Yes, your story was very entertaining! Yay for basement flooding lol - I would flip out if our basement flooded - only thing I have on the floor is a NES system, but its still the best console Ive ever owned

Thanks. I flipped out for a bit and then realized that we had a baby coming in 3 days and it put things into perspective. When the basement was refinished, my wife and I made sure nothing was left on the ground.