Post your audio system...

[bassybill]

...and tell us how much you love it.

I'm not an audiophile nut who spends ££££ on cables and the like, but when I was a kid I loved 70s hi-fi and the system I've got now is miles better than anything I thought I'd ever own back then, when I was a broke teenager.

Main source - my Dell laptop (exclusively used for music playing and home studio stuff) running Winamp, through a Teac interface. I tried listening to a CD tonight to compare it to the mp3s ripped from it, and honestly couldn't hear a lot of difference except for some really slight extra compression on the mp3s. I guess that's what years of gigs will do to your hearing.

The rest:

Rotel RA-970BX amp - what a classic!
JBL S26 monitors
Misson 100W 10" sub.

I also have a Sony CD player (basic, but good quality), a very rarely used Pioneer cassette deck and some nice AKG K240S phones, plus some Sennehiser radio phones that aren't too bad.

I've been gassing for a turntable recently for playing some old vinyl stuff, but I have very nearly all of it on CD anyway and I'm sure that I wouldn't really notice much difference in the sound, it's purely a nostalgia driven impulse.

So, what about you guys?

[Deacon_Blues]

I have a separate sound system for my computer and a standard system. The former gets naturally much more used as I have more music on it than I have CD:s, and I usually rip all CD:s I buy into the library on my computer. That one consists of a TC electronic soundcard (Konnekt 8) that I have had a lot of problems with (hardware-related), and a couple of Alesis M1 Active 620's. I wish the speakers were a bit better, but that costs money...

The other home system consists of a Harman Kardon AVR 130 receiver, a Harman Kardon DVD player (DVD22) and two Jamo speakers with 2x6" + tweeter. Again the speakers could be better. They're not bad, just not good enough to bring the full potential out of the other components.

That's about it.

Well actually I have a third "system" - my alarm clock that has an iPod docking station, radio and aux in. It sounds amazing for the size. It cost me 110 €, but I think it was worth it.

[Joe Gress]

Here goes:


I have a Panasonic SU-CH7 multi deck stereo and tuner hooked up to a pair of Sony and a pair of KLH speakers. The CD played is an original Sony Playstation with a original, non dual shock, controller.

Here's the Panasonic:


Duuustaaaay! The cooling fan is louder than the entire system itself. The tuner and the CD player do not work.

Here's the speakers:

Kraaaapppay! The Sony's came from an old ghetto blaster from my uncle, and the KLH I got with the playstation at a garage sale for free. (I think I moved a couple of bags of leaves to the front for them.)

And the Playstation:

Ziiiing! All original with an origional controller. Had beaten many Gran Turismo races before it was retired to the doom of which my bedroom dwells in. Dunno if it still plays games. Some newer CD's skip, but all play ok.


Sorry if this wasn't what you were thinkin of bassybill.

[tycobb73]

Denon surround sound reciever, Onkyo CD player, B&W sub and speakers

[iamlowsound]

Ipod plus a pair of Sony MDR-V150. I want to get better headphones and all my songs on my Ipod are ripped at 320kbs, so cd quality. I like listening to music through headphones more.

lowsound

[The Golden Boy]

When I was a kid, I wanted a monster stereo.

When I was in the Army, I ordered stuff when I was stationed overseas and had it sent to my parents' house.

What I ordered was a whole bunch of Yamaha stuff-

Power amp-
CD Player
Duel Cassette Deck
EQ
Bose 501 speakers
Kenwood LINEAR TRACKING turntable.

It came out to $1588.67. That was a tremendous sum of money for me in 1989. That's why I still remember it.

The CD player sucked- the drawer mechanism was flawed- and I heard everyone that model had pretty much the same experience. I replaced it with a Yamaha 5 disc changer around 1995.

In the early 90s I traded the amp for a Sansui 9090 DB. I hated it. Nowhere near the same percieved volume or clarity that the Yamaha had. Around that time Surround Sound was getting to be big- so I sold the Sansui and forked out BIG bucks for a Yamaha surround sound unit. I think it's got 5 "rooms." I don't really like the way the concept works on this unit- and I think there are WAY better units available for less than 1/4 the cost nowadays.

Someday I'll look into replacing the turntable- that Linear Tracking thing was going to be the way of the future in vinyl... duh. It sucks of an order that is barely comprehensible to me.

In the picture there's a Sony CD Burner/DVD player. It's fried and not on the stack any longer. There's also a set of Bose 301s that I got in 1988 as well, and those have travelled over the country with me. There's also some Infinity bookshelf speakers- those were the rear channel speakers for my surround sound unit.

Someday I'll get a laptop or something like that hooked up and load the CDs in there- until then, I just have an 1/8" to RCA adaptor for the iPod.

[nad]

DVD and CD player = PS2

Sounds great, cost under $700 (friend bought me the PS2), I'm happy with it.

[Thor]

Let's wax nostalgic about old stereo equipment

[Kevbroce]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

...all my songs on my Ipod are ripped at 320kbs, so cd quality.

That's still far from CD quality...

[WyrmDL]

This was just some stuff that wasnt used in the garage, so I had them set up a while ago.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by Thor

Let's wax nostalgic about old stereo equipment

Wow - some of the pics in that thread take me back a bit. Nice link.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by bassybill

...and tell us how much you love it.

I'm not an audiophile nut who spends ££££ on cables and the like, but when I was a kid I loved 70s hi-fi and the system I've got now is miles better than anything I thought I'd ever own back then, when I was a broke teenager.

Main source - my Dell laptop (exclusively used for music playing and home studio stuff) running Winamp, through a Teac interface. I tried listening to a CD tonight to compare it to the mp3s ripped from it, and honestly couldn't hear a lot of difference except for some really slight extra compression on the mp3s. I guess that's what years of gigs will do to your hearing.

The rest:

Rotel RA-970BX amp - what a classic!
JBL S26 monitors
Misson 100W 10" sub.

I also have a Sony CD player (basic, but good quality), a very rarely used Pioneer cassette deck and some nice AKG K240S phones, plus some Sennehiser radio phones that aren't too bad.

I've been gassing for a turntable recently for playing some old vinyl stuff, but I have very nearly all of it on CD anyway and I'm sure that I wouldn't really notice much difference in the sound, it's purely a nostalgia driven impulse.

So, what about you guys?

And there's more...

Picked up a Dual CS505 -4 turntable on ebay in nice condition and got a new Audio Technica AT95e to go with it, along with an NAD PP2 phono pre-amp. Also bought, for next to nothing, an Ariston tuner. I don't listen to radio a lot out of the car but this will complete the setup nicely.

I need to reorganise my music room to make the most of my space and get everything integrated. Might take me a few weeks to get round to this as I'll need some new shelving, but I'll post pics of the mini-studio setup when I'm done.

[bassybill]

Okay, just spent a couple of hours thinking this through and making some measurements. I think I’m going to attempt to sort my audio and studio set-up out, including the new gear - possibly this weekend if I don’t get interrupted by anything else.

At the moment more or less everything is just piled up on a big old table I inherited with the house, except for my main keyboard, an SY85 on a stand next to the rest of the stuff. It’s all been like this pretty much since I moved here (so please forgive the décor ). It works, but it’s a mess and not a good use of space.



I’m thinking of putting two six or seven foot shelves along the wall shown in the above pic. I've also just ordered some decent speaker wall mounts. The bass rack will move to the wall to the left where my electric piano currently is (out of pic) and the piano then will go under the bottom shelf. Here’s the way I’m thinking – what do you say? Any comments or suggestions welcome.

[iamlowsound]

I just bought a pair of Grado SR-80's off of ebay. Can't wait for them to get here.

lowsound

[bassybill]

The Dual TT from ebay turned out to be a crock - good overall condition, but in transit some mechanical problem had occurred which is interfering with the freedom of movement for the tonearm; the thing is currently unusable. The seller had packed it as well as he could, but clearly doesn't understand what transit screws are for. Now I remember why I dislike auto mechanisms on turntables.

Oh well, live and learn. I don't suppose I've got much chance of getting anything back from the deal, but I'll try. I might keep it and see if I can get it repaired in the future as they're supposed to be excellent when they ******* work! In the meantime, I've got an old Pioneer PL12-D that will do for now.

[thetawaves]

TEAC CD/Tuner/Aux mini system with mission speakers

150 watts of crystal clear sound, I'm not complaining!

[thumpbass1]

I used to be into the audiophile thing back in the 70's to some degree, but my current setup is a JVC 5 disc CD player and the receiver and dual cassette deck are Technics, along with some old Acutek speakers,and a JVC turntable. I think a lot of today's average priced sound system packages do a very good job for the money. As for the best home system I've ever heard that was back in the 70's.

I once dated a girl whose grandfather was a retired classical concert pianist. He lived in a very nice older neighborhood in Omaha,and the hood still is today. His large basement had been finished off to feature his Steinway Grand, but the killer part was the old duffer's home sound system for the day! He had two large McIntosh all tube power amps, a pair of the big Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater speakers, a Teac reel to reel, and some fancy tuner /preamp that I can't remember the brand of, along with a very nice turntable that I can't remember the brand of either. This girl and I would listen to our fave albums on her grandpa's system and it was the lushest and most glorious sounding system outside of a recording studio that I've ever heard. It was loud,warm and clean, with incredible balance across all frequencies. It didn't seem to invite ear fatigue as quickly as a lot of today's systems do. I have to say that system still impresses me to this day in a world full of prepackaged digital surround sound goodies.

[James Hart]

Source: WinXP pro on a P4 with 2GB of ram and 4 drives totaling 1.1TB.
Interface: M-Audio Delta-44

Input: Tascam 106


Output: Sony STR-6800CD


Speakers: Koss M80 and MK Goliath II

[rogueman]

Yamaha RX V793 receiver
Yamaha YST 755 towers X4 [Woofers replaced with Carvin 8" drivers]
Yamaha YST SW 100 sub
Pioneer DVD
Sony Dat Recorder

[thobbinghotrod]

B & O everything
Belle Klipsch ( made by Paul back in the day)