after the purchase of my D1S, i tried going the home theater route for a couple/three years.

i put together a matched, early-2000s model JENSEN 5.1 speaker/sub suite, and did all my music listening/video gaming/video viewing in either PRO LOGIC with "THEATER" DSP enhancement, or in one of the D1S' six DSP modes.

it wasn't until years later, when we moved to our current house, and my mother met her boyfriend-come-new husband, that i discovered the joys of true high-fidelity.

i still had the 5.1 JENSEN system when, as an early courting gift, my mother's boyfriend bought an AKAI rack audio system for $100, at a local private thrift, that included a pair of VERY nice early-80's, three-way, ONKYO-OEMed "RCA DIMENSIA" stereo loudspeakers.

now, he bought that AKAI setup, solely because he knew that my mother loved RCA's 1980's era
"DIMENSIA" A/V system line, and that she owns the 27" MONITOR T.V. and S-VHS VCR that was part of that line, and knew that she'd very much appreciate those speakers.

(A/A/V geekery seems to run in my immediate family, don't you think?)

anyway, as i had my complete system fully operational at the time, and it was the only audio system in the house that actually was, my mother let me try those ONKYO/RCA's in my system until we had her living room system sorted out.

that was one of the most transcendent weeks of my life.

i could not believe what i was hearing. i was literally slack-jawed, as i was listening to some familiar material while busy setting up my walk-in closet.

i was instantly aware, in that moment, of the magic of true High-Fidelity audio,
and that i had never before experienced it in anything near the degree in which i was taking part in at that moment.

my system, quite literally, sung like never before. needless to say, the following rather busy week was an orgy of disc-pulling, any chance i got.

giving those speakers back to my mother the following week was one of the hardest things i had had to do.

i was forever changed. the JENSENs, even when using just the three-way, horn-tweeter and midrange bookshelves that served as the stereo mains, now sounded, for lack of a better fitting term, like S%&T.

they were shrill, shrieking harpies of low-fidelity agony that i was forced to endure until about a year later, when i was up in PORTLAND, at my grandmother's, for yet another of my many check-up visits at OHSU.

we stopped by a nearby Sally-Ann and i found what remain my current reference loudspeaker system .

there, surrounded by a mishmash of various A/A/V components,
(included among them, the DENON DCD-1500 CDP which ended up becoming my very first serious CDP)
was these beautiful (to my eyes) pair of oak-finished, FOUR-WAY loudspeakers.

a pair of PIONEER CS-G503.

they looked promising to me, VERY promising.

they were $40.00. i paid the $30 out of my pocket, and my very generous grandma
paid the remaining $10, plus another $13 for that aforementioned DENON CDP.

i was a VERY happy camper. i tested them out in my grandma's low-end system,
running them off a low-grade MAGNAVOX HT receiver, and you know what?

THEY SOUNDED MAGNIFICENT.

the next two weeks i was to be up there, until i went back home the day after the OHSU appt. were spent in baited anticipation.

i finally got back home, and within a half hour i had them in my system, along with that DENON.

oh my word, THE MAGIC WAS BACK, better than ever.

SOLID, fully articulated Bass, BEAUTIFUL angelic Treble, LOVELY full-bodied, minutely detailed Mid-Range.

i learned, real quick, that PIONEER knows full well how to craft a loudspeaker system.

(as well they should, the company's heritage of nearly a century being grounded in loudspeaker design)

that experience changed my whole perspective on Audio for Music and Audio for Video. from then on, i became, and remain to be to this day, an Audiophile...

I must admit that in my late teens and early 20s I was more fascinated by the equipment than the music. Later as the quality of my systems improved I "discovered" the music. This ultimately led to the pursuit of even better equipment and an appreciate of more diverse genres of music.

I am not one to declare sound quality to be the ONLY thing that matters. Appearance is important to me as well, which is one of the things that lead me to the silver colored Carver equipment that was part of my first "real" system. Build quality and appearance often go hand-in-hand, both qualities which attracted me to the PS Audio gear from the early 90's as well as my main Adcom system (the "gold-plated" series). I fully realize that there is a whole other level of gear above what I own, that would be an improvement in sound-quality, appearance and build (e.g. Krell, McIntosh, Classe, Mark Levinson, etc...), but I am simply not yet ready for that level of financial commitment.

Of all of the equipment that I currently own, I would have to say that the Infinity Modulus satellites are the pieces that I find the most appealing. They just scream quality and engineering excellence. They are solidly built and perfectly finished, with many well executed details (e.g. the way they interface with the stands, or the time-alignment of the tweeter and woofer). It is no surprise that they also sound fabulous and really let the musics shine through.

Rob

to paraphrase you a little there, RROOBBCC, if you don't mind;



I fully realize that there is a whole other level of gear above what I own, that would be an improvement in sound-quality and build.

(e.g. PIONEER ELITE M-90/C-90 AMP/PRE combo, etc...)

but I am simply very satisfied with the gear i currently own.

it roundly satisfies my ears and eyes, regardless of whether it is ON or OFF. to me personally, it is a thing of immense elegance, pride and beauty.

in sum, i am, by and large very, very content...

Why do I have my equipment?

Because I enjoy music. I would like to be able to hear it as well as I can... given the admittedly poor hearing I possess. I know that truly high-end equipment would be a waste of money because of my limitation.

I have no illusions that my system is anywhere near "world-class", but it is the best I have been able to comfortably pay for. I have truly been blessed with enough funds to pay for equipment that I consider to be more than good enough. Even if I had unlimited funds, I really have no wish or desire to upgrade. Maintenance is now the order of the day.

I think Jorge remembers that I briefly discussed this with him a year or two ago: music and the message it conveys is what is most important to me, not the gear I play it on. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if all I could afford to play my favorite music was a transistor pocket radio, I'd still be happy.

I do indeed, Tom, and I have always admired your level headedness and down-to-earth attitude regarding these issues.

Your system is no slouch, however, especially since you got a second pair of KEFs and stacked them. Are you still using them this way?

Which is why I don't say have a negative opinion on equipment. Only what I can personally evaluate. Your satisfaction is what matters.

That would make spinning vinyl a little difficult though.

I sure am, Jorge! I've stopped worrying about the 1 Ohm resistor added inline to make the amplifier "see" a minimum system impedance of 4 Ohms. I rarely push more than an indicated 5 Watts, anyway... at that rate, the Yamaha is just loafing.

Well, there's always a common pin amplified by an attached paper cone... but how to spin the record?

Rubber bands and thread spools?