Pls.post abt your journey to HiFi world

As i write this, iam at the fag end of my on trot 2.5 hrs of listening session on my day off with Jennifer warnes singing very much in my room playing "First
we take manhattan". In retrospective, i have spent about 175 hours on my Norge + Wharfedale setup. All this within six months of my purchase.
Never was music so addictive. Well, i have been listening to music from the days i was a child like every body else. My first exposure to music was a national panasonic radio that my father bought when i was probably 7, in my native town coimbatore. This used to be our setup for few years. Then when i was in class 9, i urged my father to buy a good music system. We ended up buying a BPL 2in1 system which was my system for the next few years. They say that there is no satiation for human desire. This thing led me into buying another system.
I clearly remember it was year 1999 then and Aiwa music systems were given numerous ads occupying full pages in The Hindu. Bitten by the "2000W" PMPO bug, i ended up buying a Aiwa CD player with so-called surrounds for Rs.16000. I didn't realise what a big mistake i had made then. Two-three years in the running and few CDs and plenty of cassettes later, i started believing that something was wrong with my system. By then lens cleaner had went off and i took it for a repair in Authorised service centre of Aiwa!!. Spent about Rs. 700 for repairs and the system was back in home only to fail in another 2-3 months. Ooph! What a waste of money. I took an oath within myself that my next system has to be a good one.
Then times changed. Not my system. Got married in 2002 (Read: so forget about the music system for another few years). To top it i went for my PhD in Bangalore (and also did Permanent Head Damage in the process: lost hair) for a scholarship of Rs. 9500. No real music for rest 5-6 years except for occasional MP3 playbacks on computer, meanwhile sold of my aiwa for a paltry Rs. 750 just to clear my debris. Come 2008, i completed my PhD on for a job. That's when the inner demon and the craving for a good music system gave me a wake-up call. By then i had already auditioned few systems like ProfX, Polk, Sonodyne,
Bose and of course Onkyo. Unfortunately, i didn't have a single acquaintance with anybody who had a decent music system to guide me. But I was hell-bent on building a home theatre system which also doubles as Music system.
Few more auditions here and there but nothing satisyfing and then to chennai for job change. My internet searches led to this wonderful site and helpful fellow members. End result: A happy stereo setup of Norge + Wharfedale sitting on my recently completed Rs. 1500 DIY stands(complete with sand damping) in 240 Sqft hall with DVDp as source. Still haven' changed my source, i know its still a culprit. But even with my poor source but good audiophile quality recordings (like donald fagen, steely dan, jennifer warnes (recall my first line?), dire straits) the soundstage (fills my entire room), the dynamics, the midrange clarity everything could be felt and heard (which makes me doubt claims like 9.2 midrange is not as good as 9.1 or usher and so on). Gosch, how much was i missing till now? The setup is so addictive that nowadays i end up listening for hours together (with no ear fatigue in the end) and missing up on my pending works of late. My setup may not be the ultimate (he he i can see some of u thinkin about ur ushers, dyns, lyritas, marantz, nad, epos etc)but i don't care about this. Life is always full of Ifs and Buts. We have to put full stop somewhere. I only need to change my source now (may be a CA DV99 or used Marantz CDP). May not be spending any more on my system other than my current source. Think iam on verge of reaching upto my holy grail!. Hopefully...
 
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I also used a BPL 2 in one and an Aiwa set in yesteryears, Rams! Good to hear you settling down with your audio system. The only person you need to please in this whole endeavour is yourself.
 
please see post 40 of this thread. Audio engineer is very much active and deleted his post today afternoon. Why he is not coming out clean to answer the doubts raised by Rajiv in the other threads.
 
Mahi, they are his threads, and he has every right to delete/edit his posts. As long as you follow the rules, you would not like to be denied the right to edit/delete your own posts, would you?

Cheers
 
Mahi, they are his threads, and he has every right to delete/edit his posts. As long as you follow the rules, you would not like to be denied the right to edit/delete your own posts, would you?

Cheers

Hi Venkat,
I see your point. He approached me referring to this particular post as his credential and had a very long coversation telling me various things. So I am doubting is he himself confused about his credentials that he deletes this post first. Just a question from noob.
Thanks.
 
great account dinyaar!!

Hi
Some lovely posts in this thread. Interesting to read & tells a little bit more about the member.

My Musical journey began right from as far back as I can remember. Both my parents were doctors. My mom gave up practice when I was born and decided to be a homemaker. My dad was then working for the Tata s (Tata Chem) and was posted in Mithapur, Gujarat. We had a huge home and a Grundig TT with electronics that I cant recall. Both my parents were heavily into music (NOT HIFI like me) I can see the gear & me enjoying the music in many of the pictures that I have managed to preserve. This was in 1969 and this bliss continued till my Dad suddenly passed away & we had to move to my maternal grand parents home in Bombay.

Here too there was a nice audio set up as my grand dad was heavily into Opera/classical & had a Quad set up (Yes the old ESLs with the monos that he had bought third hand). By the time I was about 10 my Grand dad(who was working in the CBI which was a transferable job) was nearing retirement and even with my mum restarting her practice, the finances were poor. Meanwhile my mum fell ill things just nose dived till she too passed away and things were hell. I dont think the stereo was even turned on for those years.
I think I was about 14 when I sold the quad speakers & bought myself a SONY ORSON deck,amp & speakers while retaining my TT.

Whatever the set up the music I inherited was a balm. I almost never went to college and days were spent in music, sports & in bad Co. By the time I was about 16 I was way off the straight & narrow and my Dads sister took me with her to Oxford where she was a neuro as it was impossible for old grand parents to 'control' me.
Those 2 years in UK were an eye opener as far as HIFI learning goes. Was exposed to loads of electronics. Worked part time at the local HIFI dealer and the old man was too kind.

Returned to bbay with marantz electronics and B&W speakers (everything was bought pre owned) and a sane mind! Completed my education and started work (at a large Brokerage firm at the BSE that belonged to my dads dad)and my HIFI journey resumed once again. Maternal Grand parents(who I was living with) were able to support themselves and I spent most of my money on HIFI, music & cricket/tennis gear. Would hire records( from melody & Vibrations) all thru the week and copy them on tapes.

Times were good financially and I could buy three audio set ups and place them in all the rooms of my home. Had a huge collections of inherited LPs and my own tapes. Meanwhile was gifted a Sony CDP and a few CDs by my aunt. Music was such an addiction that there were days when the set up was played for over 12 hours. Was enamoured by good tapedecks and had a lovely three head technics machine & the matching amp & speaker. Capitol electronics became a second home as some gear of mine was always there for repair.
I never spent on the big names then & almost always bought stuff pre owned. Would buy all sorts of cables and try out the wierdest of tweaks in order to get better sound.
Saved up a bit and bought the B&W 804s with a Bryston 4BST and moved into my own home alongwith my wife. Grand parents had moved on and the old flat and all my gear was left behind for my cousins to enjoy.

Have almost all the music even today between these two homes (actually a few Godrej cupboards!!) though the gear has been changing ever so often. Apart from a few LPS that I have retained for sentimental reasons all the rest are given off to friends, relatives and I have really concentrated on Cds.

Whatever set up I had or the frame of mind that I was in MUSIC was/ is always a huge part of my life.

Just last evening I went over to an old parsi widowers home as it was Navroze and I had been putting it off for a while. The old man (86!!!) shocked me with his passion for music, his massive collection of LPS/CDS and the icing on th cake was him playing the violin for my wife & me.

Best Rgds
 
Thank U George,Anm and Malvai.

Am more than happy to meet up and talk audio or anything really.

Best Rgds
 
My audio journey...

As a little kid, I remember my folks had a small reel-to-reel tape player (Uher? maybe). They had lots of spools of music taped off the radio and recordings of family, neighbours and friends singing at parties, kids performing poetry and such, recordings to remember people by and sometimes poke fun at. Also, transistor radios; I remember a big Sanyo and a little Grundig that had worldwide station names on the dial, a fake-wood fascia and ran off a big flat 9-volt battery. There was also my grandmom's hand-wound gramophone with a stack of 78s up on the loft, but I don't remember ever hearing it play.

In the 60s, 33s and 45s were played on one of those Philips record players that opened up with the speaker in the lid and a ceramic cartridge with a flip-over stylus. Cassettes were played on one of those little portable cassette players. Then my mum bought a Sanyo cassette player with speakers that opened out and were detachable. It also had line-outs, which were connected to a stereo amp & single-driver speakers made by a local guy named Rui.

Early 70s, my godfather, for his own reasons, decided to sell his gear, and my dad (bless him) bought it all. There was a Garrard 401 with SME3009 arm & Shure M75E cart (still running), 5-driver Pioneer CS-88 floorstanders (need fixing), and, my favourite, an Akai X-360 reel-to-reel. Man, I loved that monster. She weighed a ton, had 4 speeds(1-7/8 to 15 ips), 4 heads, overdubbing, programmable auto-reverse, automatic record level (the pot was motorized, you could see it move on its own), 1/4" sockets for everything and even a brake control. Also had a "clean head" indicator light. By the late 80's she began to give trouble though, local guys couldn't repair her (made things worse in fact), and one day I came home to find that my folks had junked her. After the storm (mine) had passed, I figured that she had in all probability been bricked already anyway, so I murmured an elegy and moved on.

Early 80s, I bought a Sansui AU-4400 second-hand to replace the local-made amp. It still works, but needs servicing; a local guy replaced the scratchy balance pot with one that I'm pretty sure doesn't match right. To go with it, my mum bought a Toshiba front-loading cassette deck that I only really appreciated after I heard it side-by-side with a friend's more expensive, also new, Sony, which sounded muffled in comparison.

This is also when AV came in with a National VCR I picked up in Hong Kong, which was promptly hooked up to our dinky 14" Panasonic CTV. Movies were rented, enjoyed and late fees cheerfully paid.

This setup stayed through the 80s and 90s (well, CTVs changed, BPL & Onida 21-inchers), till 2005, when I picked up a Pioneer DV-373 DVDp & VSX-D514 AVR with a 5.1 Jamo A310PDD Sat/Sub set on sale in Singapore, to make my first HT, with an LG 37" LCD added in 2008.

The quest continues for a new stereo amp & speakers... all the folk at this forum have helped me a lot, and I'll probably be taking the plunge in another couple of months, wallet willing.

Thanks!
 
Thanks, sqvare for writing & all d best for further journey.

And thank you, spirovious, for starting this most absorbing thread. I've found these diverse journeys most fascinating, even the odd fictional one! Sorry, couldn't resist :D
 
Just posting in old thread to know how our new members started their Hifi Journey. Pls. do reply.:)
 
From EP (Extended play, remember?) of Johny Mera Naam on HMV Calypso connected to our old GEC radio, to TKR Cassette Player to National Panasonic 2 in 1, It was a long journey for getting introduced to the Sound of Music. I always wanted to have heavy systems after seeing & listening to my uncle's Telefunken Stereo System which were having speakers taller than me. My 1st buy was my prized BPL Sanyo CWX-69. The piece is good and troublefree and still playing regularly. And those cassettes! Dan seals to Aretha Franklin, CSNY to Bob Marley, we used to pick up from the streets of Kolkata, Banglore, Chennai Etc. Later I bought a Philips DVDP for audio/video, but most of the time it was attached to the Stereo playing my CDs. But Hi-Fi journey is endless .You get some surplus, you look for the goodies they keep on introducing, and then you get yr new toy. Soooo what? After all I don't want a Necklace or a Diamond Ring for me! Currently assembling a new setup for my den. Bought AVR,LCD, another DVDP and some speakers. The journey continues.
 
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