New Audiophile going crazy

Oh, I totally forgot to mention the pair of Martin Logan Sequels (that need work) and the two Crown 150 Amps.
I'm losing my mind!

Last P.S.
I'm looking to sell the Adcom, and the Sonic Frontiers pre.  Just in case anyone is interested.l

It happens. 

life is hard
then you die

:)

Welcome to the machine...

When you start using a bathroom for equipment storage because you have run out of room elsewhere you are hardcore!

It is a mad mad world .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJJy6VJvSCk

I know someone who bought seven HT receivers  in a year.
Bought them new and sold them on the used market , with big lost.
He even bought the same model twice.
A  dealer told him he was crazy.

Obsessive-compulsive behavior.
Do you have , in your home, an authority figure , to moderate you ?

The cure is to go "all in" and buy some really expensive gear so that you can't afford to buy any more stuff for about a year. 

@russ69 I like your theory, my wife would beg to differ though.

When you start using a bathroom for equipment storage because you have run out of room elsewhere you are hardcore!

been there.

It was the upstairs en suite bathroom. Two sinks, etc, big enough to hold a party in.

full to the door with equipment.

What about the rest of the house?

Don’t ask. If you need a visual, think "bomb goes off in an audio museum".

When I say I’ve owned at least 200 pairs of speakers, think exactly that. At least 200.

I remember nearly wrecking a set of Klipsch Kg2.2 speakers. I was trying to bring them into the house and tripped over the set of Boston a-70’s that were underfoot in the foyer.... as there was no other place to put them. The foyer was already full, you see... 

Like the man said in 'The Hunt for Red October': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-JA1ffd5Ms

What are you talking about?

Sounds like you are having fun. What’s the problem?  🤷‍♂️

Thanks everyone. I’m glad to see it isn’t just me.  That’s a very accurate quote from Red October. LOL

Yes. Fun, but guilty fun.  My wife just has no idea why there is so much great sound all over the house. I told her I had just changed a few things around. Sine my first post, I’m looking at some Monitor Audio Gold 200’s. Any opinion on those?  Thanks 

Makes me glad I never had unlimited discretionary income.

OP,

You are completely wrong. Only long-term audiophiles are truly crazy. It takes years of unfulfilled obsession and frustration to reach the level of experienced audiophile crazy. You’ve only entered the outer bands.

Sorry.  No known cure.

After all of these, you still have a wife?  

Hello, what is condition of adcom?  Price?

   I have full house audio. It's a Radio Shack boom box (circa 1980). As I walk around the house I can carry it with me. So, full house audio.
   Better to fulfill your obsessions with things that are constructive rather than ones that are not. Hats off to anyone who constantly wants to improve. Perfection may never be reached but it's fun trying to get there.

Sit back and listen to some music.
Be very Careful....................enjoy the ride or live with the consequences .

jj228 I had a system similar to yours when I started out Mac C28 pre, Mac 2205 stereo amp and Dalquist DQ-10 with a capacitor upgrade and a M&K sub.  Those DQ-10's do like a lot of current.  

Jj228,

I am currently in your position. Keep it up. Stay strong, never give in.... and I’ve got  some gear you should totally buy

Wow, that’s a crazy story indeed, OP.  Fun isn’t it?  You’ve got a lot more audio going on than, me though.  If I was modding 2+ systems instead of one, I’d lose it completely. For the love of god, clear out one or two rooms as next step, the focus on 1 with the proceeds.  You’ve got the audio virus, you just need to starve it a little.

jj228

Have fun and Enjoy the music!

I don’t see a problem here.

Time it to run out of money and breath at the same time. 

Kjohn,
I'm with you brother.  I've spent the budget for Audio for a minute.  Like it was said above - Enjoy the music, and that's just what I'm doing.  Nice glass of scotch, and listing to the Allman Brother Live from from Filmore East at the moment.  Maybe a little cash strapped temporarily, but totally worth it.

BTW - I've been pushing these Dalquist DQ-10's around looking for the sweet spot on placement.  What is the common belief on how far from the wall they should be?  Goose said above they're power hungry, and that's absolutely the truth. The Mac 2105 has to give it all she's got to really get them singing at 105 watts.  May have to move the 200+ Watt Adcom over to push them.
Any thoughts?

When you get the bug you get the bug and it is hard to stop buying, upgrading, and experimenting. I know what you mean because i have twenty three pairs of speakers and almost enough amplifiers to use on every one of them but when you develop your collection you can always find a magical combination that works in almost any situation.

Time for a bigger house. Have you ever heard stacked DQ-10s? 😅

I am interested in learning more about your sonic frontier pre amp. Is it working okay? Does it have tubes? Let me know. I am an audiogon member. Enjoy buying and playing your systems. Is fun!

I don’t consider myself and audiophile but I’ve been buying a lot of gear. 4 amps in 6 months. 3 sets of speakers, maybe 7 if I win the pair on eBay. I’m focusing more on listening now. 

I suggest you add whiskey aficionado, beer connoisseur or wine enthusiast to your list of hobbies....at least they are complimentary!  

Do you ever listen to music? Sounds like you just buy and test equipment. You will never be satisfied until you settle on a level and then maybe make single improvements to see how much better it sounds.

Making so many changes so often will leave your head spinning wondering what affected what. Just relax....

Welcome to the lunacy club called Musiholicism. The natural love of music gets us here and I haven’t been cured since I caugh the disease in 1966. I went  crazy for about 15 years sampling every type of ss equipment know to man. In 1982 my wife acquired a set of klipschorns (Blew my head off). Finally graduated to a mcintosh ma6900 in 2001. In 2018 I upgraded the khorns to a FULL volti audio upgrade. And then somebody introduced me to tubes!!I just acquired an accembled Thorsten Loeshe 300B build kit. Lets see. 78 years old, 55 years later, still got the sickness. Hope you get over it!! Helps if your wife starts it!!! Happy listening!!

I would imagine a lot of you will scoff at this idea, but here goes. I've had some pretty good systems over the last 40 plus years, and I still do. Here's the way it spreads out:

Garage: Sonos Moves (they also go wherever such as the driveway or back yard or anywhere else).

Kitchen: Sonos Play 5's.

Living Room: Sonos Port, Lexicon Amp, B&W bookshelves, 2 REL subs and about 6K in wires.

Studio A: Sonos Amp, KEF LS-50's, Martin Logan sub, Furman 20, 2K in wires.

Master: Sonos Amp, KEF-LS 50's, $800 in wires

Master bath: Sonos Amp, old DCM bookshelves, old AQ wires

TV room: Sonos ARC, Sonos Sub, Sonos Play 1's. 

Office- Sonos Beam- used to be in TV room.

I can walk from room-to-room with mid-fi sound streaming from Pandora. If I want to shuffle things around, it's easy. When I move, it will pack up neatly. I think a lot of you will end up where I am. You get to a point where getting the last ounce of sound is not so much worth the effort.  I'm in Atlanta and wouldn't mind parting company with the Lexicon amp and the REL subs if anyone is interested. I think I'm going to replace the LR system with a couple of powered LS-50's. So what do you think, audiophiles, could you live with my set up?

Its imperative to have enough gear lying around, like a couple or more amps and preamps to get a good idea how things measure up, to mix and match.

What the hell are you going to do when you get to heaven!
You need to trade one of your nicer old pieces to a young audio freak in exchange for his labor as your shipping clerk. If she's really good she'll be able to handle monitoring the ads too.Drugs will help the shaking.

My first true audiophile speakers were those B&W 802 series80's, and I loved them!!  Very inefficient, but very smooth, neutral, and incredible imaging.... I actually bought them used in college in '86.  Even today, I think they still can be a great value, in in nice condition.  Crossovers could use some new caps though! 
Then in '89, I bought some brand new Sequels.   

OK, ok....Submit to your dark side, go lease a warehouse of apropos size to fit what you've got And whatever you might consider adding in the future and recreate something like this:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/wnnayb/the-wall-of-sound

Make sure the locks work and there's no windows.  Buy the biggest spools of cables you might think you'll need for the project.

Coffee is a given.  Alcohol will likely be applied.  Drugs optional.
Have one of those "I've fallen, and I can't get up!" buttons just in case you shatter your eardrums and brain has turned to the liquidity of wallpaper paste.

Let me know on Day One, Selection One occurs so I can set up some remote cameras.....

Audiophile Commits Sonic Suicide, Section A, page one, above the fold.
(Oh, that's right.....no one looks at newsprint anymore....)

....there used to be an eBay entry where someone was selling an enormous quantity of JBL monitors....like 4 high, and spanning the pic.....(amps NIC, tho'...)

Some great advice here.  I’ve come to the realization that for a minute I’m good on equipment, although, I’m in Atlanta and would like to see the Lexicon amp (Audiobill1).   I did go ahead and finish out the system my wife and daughter watch with a B&W HTM2 center channel speaker and B&W 300W sub to go with the 805 Nautilus for a really nice 3.1 system. Got them one of the LG OLED 65” tv’s. I got to tell you, the picture is awesome. In HT I swapped out the equipment for a Mac MX135 and MC 7108. The 7108 is great bridged at 100W / ch, but only four channels so I think I need one more to run 7.1. But that’s it!!  I’m going to take someone’s advice from up above an just listen for a while.
iagree with all here who were nice enough to tell their own audio-fever stories. I don’t see it going away,and I can’t help but look through all the online markets for the “Great deals”. Hey WYF, you only live once, it’s not a dressed rehearsal. 🤒

I am going through the same thing as OP, but maybe on a shorter budget. I bought a set of Polk SDA-2s and was amazed at how much better they sound than anything else I have had in my house. And once you start looking, it is hard to turn that spigot off...  I found a bargain on a set of Polk 10b, and than I looked closely at my pretty nice sounding basement speakers I saw they are Polk 7. Then I dusted off my Marantz 2015 and found it needs some love, so I am getting that cleaned up.  So now I am trying to get a few systems to make each of my speakers sound great. One of the amps that gets mentioned as a good match for the Polk SDA-2s is the OP's Adcom- I'd be interested in that. I'm currently running off a Yamaha AV RX-679. It advertises 100W/channel but it sounds muddy. I'm still looking, and the spigot still seems to be on...

I’m really at a loss for words. There’s so much nonsense here. Old B&W ‘s really? 

Everybody finds their own gateway drug...

I like the 802’s. They sound great.  Choice of equipment is purely subjective I think.  Someone once told me that good wine was wine you enjoyed drinking.  I think the same think applies to audio - a good system is one that sounds good to you. Specs and manufacturers matter, but at the end of the day, if it sounds good it is good.

i'm an 84 year old maggie addict. i work out, strength train, etc, i have no able bodied friends and i will never suffer the indignity of paying people.so,after i got the 1.7i pair up the stairs,i knew this was a good place to stop.

You’ve got the cold. Many of us here had it, and have now gotten well. Meaning stopped buying gear years ago. What you have is the disease. And it will keep you disabled, continually buying up new gear. Until the day that you don’t. Enjoy the ride. 

One of the amps that gets mentioned as a good match for the Polk SDA-2s is the OP's Adcom- I'd be interested in that. I'm currently running off a Yamaha AV RX-679. It advertises 100W/channel but it sounds muddy. I'm still looking, and the spigot still seems to be on...



I have a pair of polk sda2A's that I've owned for over 30 years, I just upgraded them a few years ago new caps, resistors and tweeters. I had an adc gfa555 paired with them for years until it blew up twice, not a bad amp though for the money. I bought a krell ksa 300s a few years ago and it's way better sound than the adcom. I bought a pair of apogee duetta 2 a few years ago also very good sound. It's an addiction for sure.