Your personal, in home stereo system

[Eyeball]

I know that most of the tech talk on here is 'on the job' oriented, but what do you guys have at home to listen to your music?

Most of my stereo gear is about 15 years old. Several turntables including a couple that have never been put into action, including a linear, programmable turntable, along with a conventional belt driven DUAL. I have an 20 band equalizer, an RCA CD player, a combination BSR CD/casette unit, a Kenwood receiver, 2 sets of floor model speakers (manufacturer forgotten at the moment) and an excellent dual cassette deck that is not functioning due to lack of use which is also programmable with controls so confusing that I never could remember them if i had not used them recently.

From the "Golden Age of Stereo Equipment" as the 70s are now termed, I still have my Sansui 1000X receiver (2 of them actually having found a duplicate copy for 14 dollars a few years ago. Still have my Benjamin-Miracord turntable (50H), IIRC, which play 3 speeds, maybe 4 - the idiotic "Talking Book" speed of 16 rpm. I have a reel to reel machine that I got a decade ago to replace my 'wonderful' Panasonic 3 speed with multi-channel recording and automatic reversing unit which bit the dust early.

And I still have my original KLH 6 speakers. Turns out that these are very highly regarded. Some guy was over here recently and saw them and said "KLH 6s". He recognized them. To me they just looked like old school big-ass wooden speakers almost 2 feet high.

My most unusual item is a BIC 2 speed multi-track recordable cassette player that came out sometime in the 70s. I had seen the full page ad in Playboy and had a craving for a cassette deck that you could record at 3 3/4 ips instead of just the common 1 7/8 ips speed on all other recorders. I couldn't afford it at the time, but 30 years later when it turned up on eBay in mint condition for 20 dollars, I bought it.

Vintage stereo gear is fascinating and many audiophiles swear buy it. Many items can be had for a song on eBay as the buyer demand is limited.

One old item I am looking for is the first amplifier I ever bought when I was a young teen in the 60s. This was one basic machine from the then world famous Lafayette Radio Electronics. I'd like to have one again just for the sake of nostalgia. This is it :



I wouldn't mind updating some of my stuff. And I still do not own a recordable DVD machine!

So I am interested in reading about what you have and need for home listening pleasure.

Here's my turntable - what beauty, eh?



The Sansui 1000X - lurking and 'on fire'!

[Toon Town Dave]

I just listen through my computer, it has an older Soundblaster Live audio card. Usually I'll use my Sennheiser HD457 headphones to listen when I care about audio quality. I'll use my crappy computer speakers if it's just for background noise.

I don't really have the space or ability to make use of a big stereo system.

[Eyeball]

I just listen through my computer, it has an older Soundblaster Live audio card. Usually I'll use my Sennheiser HD457 headphones to listen when I care about audio quality. I'll use my crappy computer speakers if it's just for background noise.

I don't really have the space or ability to make use of a big stereo system.

I was wondering how many people on here might say that.

Stereo equipment doesn't have to take up a lot of room. When I was a kid living at home, all my stuff had to fit in one room. All I had was a turntable, amp, speakers to begin with, then a tape deck and a receiver, I guess..plus headphones.

[Toon Town Dave]

The computer occupies that space. It also performs the role of television.

[Eyeball]

Slightly off topic -

I think my room was maybe 10x12. I had a twin bed in the corner, a night stand, a chair next to it, a wall lined with records in a cabinet, a home made 'entertainment center' that was maybe 2x3 that held all my stereo gear, speakers on the floor and a desk and chair somewhere. I had a small tv on a shelf on the wall.

Haha - earlier room - I had a small phonograph and I could put my entire LP collection - covers face out - on the shelf on the wall that used to or still did hold my monster models.

One day I took my mighty toy bazooka and blew the models apart one by one. (Ow - hurts to even read that!) All that work and glue and allowance money - blown away!

Hahahaha!!!

Even when I got my lil amplifier from LRE, I still didnt have real speakers. I had some simple, unbaffled replacement speakers that I put in small boxes...after a while.

Somewhere or other, I think I am forgetting a tuner or receiver I had prior to my Sansui 1000X.

[Mr Awesomer]

I stream 256kbps MP3 files from my MBP 3,1 to my Xbox360 via Connect360. It's then sent as a 5.1 DD signal to my Onkyo TX-SR504 (which I need to upgrade) that drives Infinity FL, FR, RL & RR speakers, a JBL CC speaker and a JBL sub (though with most files it's only driving the FL, FR and sub.)

[Surreal]

At this point, all my home stuff is my portable stuff with the exception of my computer speakers.

I recently installed a 400 sq.ft. dance floor in my basement, so whenever I throw parties I'll set up either my Yamaha Stagepas 300 or my Cambridge Soundworks Model Twelve. For just portable listening, I have a Boomtube Ex or Logitech Pure-Fi that I can cart around.

With the exception of the Stagepas, I got all my other toys through ebay or similar.

[CafeSavoy]

I have an old stereo system that i use. It was originally a Sony rack system but the Sony receiver died years ago so i'm using this old TV receiver. I have an airport plugged into one of channels and use that primarily. But I have some other peripherals plugged into it too. I still have the turntables, tuner, and cassette decks that came with it, but don't have them installed. I also have some macke speakers, a couple of mixers, and a cd rack player but I don't use them much.

[Eyeball]

These guys upped the ante -

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/ ... phaen.html

[Eyeball]

So is it 'fairly fair' to see that most people in their current teens and 20s do not have the once traditional 'stereo systems' and listen to their music on iPods and their PCs?

[Mr Awesomer]

So is it 'fairly fair' to see that most people in their current teens and 20s do not have the once traditional 'stereo systems' and listen to their music on iPods and their PCs?

I think it's always been typical that most people play their music on what most of us here would define as crappy equipment.

iPods and computers are just the player... what you hook them up to makes all the difference in the world.

[Eyeball]

So is it 'fairly fair' to see that most people in their current teens and 20s do not have the once traditional 'stereo systems' and listen to their music on iPods and their PCs?

I think it's always been typical that most people play their music on what most of us here would define as crappy equipment.

iPods and computers are just the player... what you hook them up to makes all the difference in the world.

Thx. I misunderstood. I thought that people were listening to iPods only with headphones and listening to their pc just using the speakers that come with it.

So then - the hard drives in these units are just really being used for music storage. For more advanced listening, they need to be connected to something, correct?

So if I wanted to, I could fill a hard drive with all my tunes and simply connect it to my current 'Hi-Fi' (haha) system, yes?

[Surreal]

The only people I know around my age who even own "stereo systems" are the ones who have the home theatres set up, which is mostly for movies.

I don't know anyone my age who has a nice home system just to listen to music. I know a few who spend a hundred or two on headphones though.

So if I wanted to, I could fill a hard drive with all my tunes and simply connect it to my current 'Hi-Fi' (haha) system, yes?

Pretty much, just as long as you ripped the files at a reasonably high quality.

I even run a cable from the computer in my room to the sound system in my living room so I can play music there if I wanted to (and a video cable too, for movies )

[Eyeball]

Thx!

This is very generational for the most part, it seems. I'll have to ask some people my age or older if they if they are still rooted to their old school 'Hi-Fi'.

Now - with some clarity - I think it is a great idea to have a hard drive filled with stuff.

The only down side is - what happens if your HD fries? Do you lose thousands of tunes? Without a back up, you die, right?

I'll add that moving tons of records has always been a hassle, not to mention the space factor in storing them.

OTOH - Records! Beautiful albums! Box sets! Art! Rare collectibles! Bragging rights! Investment! (all other topics entirely!)

Plus the pleasure of having owned an LP for decades and re-playing it. It's nice. You remember where you bought it and who you were with and how much it cost. The school lunch money you saved by not eating for a week to buy an album. I always recall saving up (haha) $9.45 to buy the 5 LP box set on RCA of the GM AAF band on sale at Sam Goody's. Sale price was $1.79 per disc that week if you brought in the ad from the NY Times.

OK - maybe I will move some of this to the 'nostalgia section' of the forum.

[Mr Awesomer]

Thx. I misunderstood. I thought that people were listening to iPods only with headphones and listening to their pc just using the speakers that come with it.

So then - the hard drives in these units are just really being used for music storage. For more advanced listening, they need to be connected to something, correct?

So if I wanted to, I could fill a hard drive with all my tunes and simply connect it to my current 'Hi-Fi' (haha) system, yes?

Many people just use headphones... though many HiFi folks have often argued that "advanced listening" requires a good set of headphones... not a stereo system.

Regardless, many people also hooks these up to any number sound systems... from clock radios to sound docks to car stereos to complete home theater setups.

But in terms of how someone like myself would use them, yes, think of it like the hard drive (and the device it's in) is a record player you're hooking up to a nice HiFi system.

Oh, and there is also any number of ways to "hook up" your device to your HiFi.