I find it quite hilarious that in one message the term "audiophile" was mentioned, then shortly afterwards a dialog of car stereo systems broke out. :laughing: I *whole heartedly* agree that car stereo and audiophile just don't go together.
That being said; you can surely, SURELY spend stupid amounts of hard earned money in car audio. And.... that audio can sound pretty darned good, or at least loud, but NOWHERE NEAR accurate, open, well imaged, articulate, and all the other "audiophilia" words that are tossed around.
I have been guilty for decades of spending untold tens of thousands on both car and home audio.
I built out a DBX tape system back in the 80's, with morel mids and tweets with Kicker competition drivers in a TOW TRUCK of all things. :laughing:
In the 70's I found my first love, discreet multi-channel in the form that some here will remember, "quad". I had a stereo in my room at home with 2 large speakers 2-12's, 2-5½'s & 2 dome tweeters in EACH box. Then I found "quad"! Kept the first system then put speakers in each corner, Radio Shack Nova 7's, 10" 3-ways and never looked back.
Later on those speakers were either rebuilt, or replaced by the likes of JBL, (early) Bose 301, 601, even 901's, and have spent time with Klipsch as well in the 70's and 80's. Way too many transistor amps and receivers to remember, although some were Denon, Realistic, Teac, Onkyo, Yamaha, SAE (which was an AWESOME brand for power, not to mention their rack mounted parametric equalizers). :dblthumb2:
I have been an enjoyer of audio since the late 60's
Now I have too much gear to all have hooked up at once. Klispchorns, Polk SDS-SRS, Polk SRT, ex theater JBL and Altec, Magnepan etc. Powered by a variety of stuff from transistor Yamaha and Crown, to Dynaco and Quicksilver tube stuff.
For a couple of years I was so involved with the stuff that I just became an audio hermit.
Then I learned moderation and put a lot of gear into my storage house until the future.
Now those names bring back good memories brother!
My current, (longstanding) system is Sunfire Cinema Grands for power, Yamaha RX-A3010 (for switching and processing) 2 rack mount battery backups, rack mount Panamax power regenerator/conditioner, Sony DVP S7700 CD transport, Denon (regular DVD) & Panasonic (Blu-Ray) players with (of course) a DTV Genie. All connected to Paradigm Studio 100 v.2 speakers with other Studio's around the room, 7.2 for now. Oh, also twin Paradigm subs,
The 'cheapest' as in old, but certainly no inexpensive part of my system is the Mitsubishi 73" RPTV with 9" guns. This one was at the top of the pile in 2004 with a MSRP of $6995 street price of $6495. I was buying wholesale though at the time (still can) and got out with only spending $4465.
She's been a good old dog, has been calibrated more than once... and I really love the film like quality. But by todays standards it just doesn't keep up. Next on the horizon will be at least 81" of full 4k glory!
This was said by John Atkinson on the V.2's some while back.
"
The Studio/100 v.2's bass performance was also first-rate: extended and powerful, the quality of the bass approaching that of the $7995/pair Dunlavy SC-IV/A, which has dual 10" woofers in a much larger cabinet. The Studio/100 v.2 had no trouble coping with my usual bass test pieces. The synthesizer note at the beginning of track 7 of Mickey Hart's Planet Drum (Rykodisc RC-10206) energized the air most convincingly, and bass drums had proper weight."
Back in 98~2004 I was very active going to CES, dealing with vendors, manufacturers, rep for some products, and sold plenty more. You want to talk about audiophiles.... OMG... go to CES, but not for CES. Oh no.... at the same time there is a show in town called T.H.E. Show (for Total Home Entertainment) and THOSE PUPPIES are into all the geek and wonder of high end audiophillia.
Want a pair of hand carved loudspeakers that are 7'3" tall and look like hand carved wooden canoes standing on end that sell for ONLY $180,000 (in 2002 dollars) then they are there! Want a $40K turntable WITH A $15K tone-arm that needs to be added.... then they are there as well. Want special "trestles" that you elevate your wiring and cables on so they do not interact with the static electricity that is being generated in your carpet as you walk, or god forbid... to keep your wiring from picking up foot falls as you walk... then you need to rush right out and get a few dozen of those suckers. :laughing:
I've been in audition rooms with incense burning, lights out, and the demonstrator asked in a hush voice as he touched my shoulder and leaned into me as if we were making a clandestine drug deal.... "
You want to hear some original Blue Note?"
To which my only reply, (so as not to enrage him, although I could care less for Blue Note jazz) was "
Well absolutely Brian, I thought you might have some."
Shortly after that he closed the door to the suite, we sat as he fired up what I reckoned to be $175,000 worth of 2-channel stereo (about $30K just in cables and interconnects) and was treated to all the splendor of the pops and crackles of a 50+ year old piece of vinyl yet as lifelike of an experience as I might have ever had.... EVER! That was Brian Cheney of VMPS, and is no longer with us.... but Brian was a true master of loudspeaker design. I still drool and dream of having a pair of his famed monsters in a dedicated listening room, but alas... haven't yet sold a kidney.
Another, albeit young designer that I know from when he first started building loudspeakers is Ty Lashbrook in Owenboro KY. I both sold and rep'd his products here in Ga back then. He never got away from selling "factory direct", and honestly... he could get FAR MORE for his products than he does, IF he only chose to sell in those dimly lit, analog tube glowing rooms of the ever hard to find high end stereo shop. :dunno: You can find Ty on the web, or on Audiogon where he sells his stuff regularly.
And of course for one that makes it you'll find plenty that don't. One such fellow was Rick Reimer of Cody WY that I had the pleasure to meet in 1999 my first trip to CES/THE Show. The next year I spent more time with him, and honestly.... his stuff simply blew Ty's out of the water. Both in looks and sound! I have a pair of his McCullough Monitors in natural Hickory in my bedroom connected to a pair of solid state HCA-1201 amplifiers and an absolutely amazing dual-mono preamp designed by John Curl, the P/LD-2000 from Parasound. Inside the is a masterpiece. Gold plated boards, silver internal wiring. Relays, twenty, are gold plated! Vishay and Caddock resistors. S/N >120db! Arguably one of the best preamps ever made under $2K.
Still like anything John Curl does for that matter, as well as one of my all time hero's, Bob Carver! Those two guys are Gods when it comes to design and cutting edge performance.
Yes I have decent balanced interconnects on it, and Analysis Plus speaker wiring. But... did I bother to upgrade to a $1000 hunk of wire from the wall to the preamp, or power amps?
Pfffft are you freaking kidding me!!!!!!! Unless the power company is going to upgrade all the wires from the dam to the transformer plant, from there to the local substation, from there to my subdivision, then to my home... and THEN upgrade to high count stranded copper inside the friggin walls, hospital grade, gold plated outlets... THEN and ONLY THEN would I even consider such a foolish move as high end power cords.
But if you want, I can direct you to a whole host of guys that are willing to sell you just those accoutrements.
(
And I'll just take my 100% markup off the top, thank you mam'.) :laughing:
Ahhh... moving to the lesser thought of stuff. I have an older Yamaha DSP-A1 into Paradigm floor sitters in the basement room. That along with a couple of Adcom GFA-555's just for snits-n-giggles.
Doesn't mean I've not spent some moola on car audio in the last couple of years. Outfitted my kid's 4Runner with all things Alpine/Pioneer/Dynamat to the tune of $2400. Then went out and picked up (at the pawn shop) a Kicker Solo-Baric S12-L7 for a schweet deal of only $150.
If anything.... it'll thump jus' a bit.
