Soundocity

Here's the link to the nice folks who made the outriggers that I am using with the Dynaudio Focus 220s, an absolute must on thick carpet. 

 http://www.soundocity.com/

They are very well built and look quite impressive without detracting from the wood of the speaker enclosure.  I found that I needed to use metric hardware to install them in the pre-drilled holes on the Dynaudios.  Let me know if you need the size as the card I jotted the measurement down on is around here somewhere.  I can't really comment on any change in sound- there was none that I noticed.  I am very far behind in writing about some sound changes I HAVE heard (new amp, new CD player, and so on), so that should be next.  I think we will start with the speakers, and work our way from there.

The LIST

I'm 43.

Doesn't seem too old, now that I'm here, even though I know better.  I think, gradually, I am becoming an adult.  Perhaps my current employment is forcing it on me, but we won't get into that now. As a result, I am starting to realize that money has some purpose other than being exchanged for beer, and stereo equipment.  So the natural question one asks oneself is:

"Over twenty five years, how much could I have POSSIBLY spent on stereo stuff?  I mean, it's not that much, is it?"

Well I decided to try and find out.  I sat down over the weekend with a box of receipts and manuals, and put together an Excel sheet that tries to document all of the gear I have owned at one time or another.  The only rules:  To make the list, an item has to have been hooked up at least once and listened to with the intent to keep it, and speaker pairs count as one entry.  We now know how long that intent lasts.  Could I be successful at compiling such a list?  So far, so good.  It helps that I have a strong obsessive-compulsive streak.    I've got 102 entries dating back as far as 1987, and the total cost is $21,172.88.  I still need to find prices that I paid for 22 items, so that total is going up.  I figure a safe bet is that I have been averaging $1000 spent annually over the last 25 years. What would a golf habit have cost me over that time?  Put that way, it doesn't sound so bad. Ultimately I have sold off most of the things I've had in the past, so I ought to try to figure out what I actually paid for the period I owned a particular piece.

I was able to include columns for MSRP (need a lot of work there) and place of purchase, which includes a lot of places some of which no longer exist, like Silo and Lechmere in Western New York, or Square Deal on long Island.  Some places are still in business like Audio Den, Speaker Shop, Chips Unlimited, Stereo Chamber and the online folks like Music Direct.  I'm also going to try to account for repairs or upgrades done at In House Stereo Repair in Setauket.  More work to do, but the next step is to get the PDF uploaded so that it can be seen here on the blog.  I'll have to look into that.  In the mean time, if anyone is interested I'd be glad to send it via e-mail.

Right place, right time

If I had a superpower, it would be finding nice stereo equipment at crazy prices.  A good example would be the brand new, in box, with remote Yamaha CD-S700 I bought at Best Buy for, wait for it- $99.  Yup.  They stopped carrying this line and blew it right out the door for almost nothing.  Crutchfield carries this player for $799.  I thought I'd re-sell it, but the proprietary loading mechanism is so nice and the overall sound so surprisingly good, it is hooked up and sharing duties with the XA-5400ES.  Put it on the ever-increasing list to review.

Thank you, Fed Ex

Well done. 

Some hasty shots

A few more quick pictures to provide an idea of how the system has changed.  One close up of the outriggers by Soundocity- I see their site is down, so I will sort through my e-mail and see if they forwarded a link.  These are a must on thick carpet for narrow speakers like the 220s.  I will also edit my full review of the A-S2000 as there is not a lot on the web about this amp.  It's appeal to me should be obvious- but it has some interesting quirks worth mentioning. 

Bad picture from last summer

Much has changed, but here is a grainy shot of the monster Yamaha A-S2000 integrated now running the show.  I have also switched over to all Kimber cable and as you can see, there are outriggers on the Focus 220s to protect them from cats that leap like mountain goats.  More on the outriggers later- they are a super nice piece of kit by an outfit called: Soundocity.

Let's try this again

Okay, I think I'm over it (my rant over what Sony has become, that is).  it only took a few months.  So I think it's time to give this blog a chance again, albeit with a name change.  The whole system has changed anyway- I'll have to write about the addition of a Yamaha A-S2000 integrated amp, along with modifications to the home theater set up including a new Oppo Blu Ray player and a brilliant pair of Dynaudio DM 2/7 speakers.  I think I'll even take some pictures. . .

Unbelievable

Not that it matters to Sir Howard Stringer http://www.sony.com/SCA/bios/stringer.shtml, but for the past month or so I have been fighting to get Sony to honor an extended warranty for a television set.  My advice to readers is:

1.) Do not buy Sony.
2.) If you must buy Sony ( I cannot think of any good reasons to do so), do not buy an extended warranty.

I have always felt that extended warranties were a way to bilk customers out of money.  The warranty sold to my Mother (which I recommended because the TV she was purchasing has an integral bluray player- a combo I would generally oppose) for over $150 by the Sony representatives at the Sony store in Riverhead NY is just that- a way for Sony to gouge more money from you at time of purchase while abdicating all responsibility for supporting the product they have sold you.  There are even discrepancies between what is printed on the contract of insurance and what the RECORDING that the underwriter says once you call them as to the nature of your coverage.  Basic business law 101 nonsense.  I am disgusted.  I will not buy Sony again and am considering ways to offload the vintage stuff I have worked so hard to maintain.  As a result this blog's existence is in question at the moment.  I will forward this link to  the hacks and know-nothings that manage the company now and think about where I will go from here as far as gear is concerned.  Another nice story- popped into magnolia which is carrying Marantz now, and saw they had a new ES multichannel receiver.  The sales guy quickly came up to me as I looked at it and said:

"Don't buy that one.  A lot have come back.  In fact our 1st floor sample didn't work when we tried to set it up."

Sad.

A use for my DVD-A discs?

http://www.acura.com/ELSSoundSystem.aspx

Hm.  The system plays DVD-A.  We're picking up a 2010 TSX later this week- so I'll have to bring my Brain Salad Surgery and Fragile DVD-As with me.  A full report is called for, I suppose!  Haven't bothered much with car stereo for years.  I buy manual cars (the TSX has what I think is the best 6spd you can get for anything mear the money) and like to hear the engine- mechanical musc.

1.875 inches per second

D. played the "Immortal Beloved" soundtrack which he had dubbed onto a Maxell Chromium Dioxide tape last night, and darned if it didn't sound super, super close to the CD.  Makes you wonder about stratospheric S/N ratings and Dynamic range- how much can the 40 year-old ear hear?  For kicks I put a thrift store ninety-nine cent CrO2 pre-recorded copy of the Rolling Stones "Dirty Work" into my old Sony KA1ESA deck and I was also impressed.  Who knows what that tape has been through?  Apparently, tape made some real strides as a recording medium technology that found their way into relatively inexpensive consumer decks by the late eighties.  At that time I never had the money to invest in a quality deck.  It's a limited format for me now- can't even use it in the car- but as D. pointed out while we were listening, the process of sorting through the discs, adjusting the record level and pausing or fading between tracks all has a wonderful nostalgic feel that ripping files to a hard drive just can't capture.

Meep

Nova

Well, here is why there has been no stereo use for the past couple of weeks- a 2 pound tornado named Nova.  She's a ferocious little beast, don't let the picture fool you.  Everyone is in an uproar.  We kept her in the stereo room as it was the most calm, until I noticed her chewing on my Mapleshade speaker cable- so now she's mixed in with the general population.  It's been so hot the past few days the listening room is uninhabitable anyway.  Maybe next week we'll get a break and I can get around to doing some posting on tape decks.