Author Topic: My Brother In-Law  (Read 6110 times)

Offline richidoo

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My Brother In-Law
« on: July 06, 2008, 09:44:54 AM »
My dear bro-in-law came to visit this week for the 4th. When he first saw the system consuming the living room, his interest was piqued. He was cool at first but on the second day he started asking more about it. Turns out he has a couple sets of vintage British Wharfdales that he bought when stationed in Europe in the 60s. Small pair upstairs for rock and the full rangers downstairs for classical. He listens to Beethoven every Sunday. He was curious about all the audio system machinations going on through the week, so we had some nice conversations. He studied electronics in high school where it was still all tube gear then. At his vocational high school RCA and Raytheon were local mfgs and donated test equipment and educational samples to the school so they had lots of hands on.

This morning I was biasing up the snappers for his Beethoven dose when he asked what I was doing. I told him about biasing to reduce distortion and extend tube life, he said back when he was doing tubes, they cost a buck a piece for tubes for which we would now pay $100 NOS. Bias was set at the factory in consumer audio gear back then, you just chuck the tubes and replace.

So he asked to hear Beethoven 5th for his morning concert, and enjoyed the sweet spot as much as possible with "Uncle Rick" being screamed every 3 minutes. When it was done, he asked me to load up 6, 7, 8, and 9. So I guess he likes it... haha    I said Yeah! Let's do it!! My wife grabbed her keys and ran off to work leaving me and her brother in peace to enjoy our 100dB crescendos.

I did play a new Prokofiev piano concerto CD yesterday at my version of normal volume (live from 10th row) just to blow some dust out of the carbs. hehe  But he has spent a lot of time in the sweet spot all week listening to the tuner and reading.  It is nice to have others enjoy the stereo system after all the hard work goes into getting it just right.

What do your inlaws or relatives think of your stereo system, and/or your stereo obsession?
Rich

Offline stereofool

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Re: My Brother In-Law
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2008, 01:11:54 PM »
No in-laws here, and none of my family has been to my house in years...at least for the current iteration of the system(s).

My mom thinks anything slightly above a whisper...either audio or video...is too LOUD. I think my brother would enjoy it, but who knows when he'll be back in the part of the country  :roll:.

I guess it would be nice to have family that 'gets' our audio fascinaiton  :lol:.
Steve
Have you ever noticed.... Anyone going slower than you is an idiot...and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

Phil

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Re: My Brother In-Law
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2008, 05:09:01 PM »
A visit from my in-laws a few years started me down the simplification path.

When we all sat in the living room I could see the looks of incomprehension.  Finally, they asked, "What does all that stuff do?"  It was difficult to explain that to play a CD, it required a transport, fed by a balanced power unit, into a Perpetual Technologies 2-box system, itself fed by an external power supply.  In other words, 5 boxes to just play the CD.  But wait, there's more.  The PT system fed a 2-box preamp (we are now up to 7 boxes).  Luckily, I only had room for one stereo amp.  So, 8 pieces of gear to play what my niece and nephew were playing with one ipod.  :rofl:

When I started to think about adding SACD, I started looking at the APLHifi stuff.  One re-designed universal player took the place of 6 pieces of gear.  Whew!



Offline richidoo

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Re: My Brother In-Law
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2008, 06:47:20 AM »
That's funny! In all honesty we have listened as much on the porch with the Sonos remote as inside. I had the same conversation about the Sonos into the DAC into the preamp, etc... At least he is technical so he knows what a DAC is from his experience in other electronic disciplines. Yesterday he told me that he liked the Prokofiev that I played at richidoo volume levels the best. But he was upstairs...   haha :rofl:

Offline Carlman

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Re: My Brother In-Law
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2008, 07:21:38 AM »
My family gets an explanation if they beg for it.. but generally I very nicely say 'just shut up and listen to the music'... which is a good reminder for myself... ;) haha.
I really enjoy listening to music.

Offline spudco

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Re: My Brother In-Law
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2008, 02:29:08 PM »
My mom and dad used to love listening to my system.  They both knew music well and had heard loads of live tunes.  My mother especially loved listening to piano on the rig (it helped her remember my playing). 

My little brother loves music and I gave him a very nice rig.  He doesn't dwell on the sound, but looses himself in the energy.  Sometimes when he's listening to my system, he weeps like a child.

My inlaws couldn't care less about my music.  The only ones that even notice the rig and my music collection are thinking about the value at the pawn shop...

Offline Inscrutable

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Re: My Brother In-Law
« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2008, 02:19:16 PM »
For the most part, with my music system I get those patronizing looks of incredulity - sort of a boy and his toys.  Having three working turntables is perhaps a bit over the top, even for our standards.

HOWEVER,  when we switch to movies it's a different story. Everyone is much more accepting of a quality HT - and admit that the quality of the sound system is almost as big a draw as the size of the screen. 

I think some of my friends may miss my old HT as much as I do.  Gotta get my butt in gear, if it ever drops below 120 degrees upstairs.