Who R U?

Ok, my turn I guess (great thread by the way!) I'm 28 years old, originally from Dublin, Ireland. I emigrated to the States - New York to be exact when I was 22, after graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, in business and economics. I lived in NY for four years as a banker. I didn't enjoy it much and so went back to college - MBA at Kellogg, Chicago. Now I've moved to California, working in high tech and love it. I first got into audio when I was about 18, combining pocket money and summer job money to get what I thougth was a great system - Denon PMA350 amp, Aiwa cd player and Mission speakers. The sound was great, but couldn't touch my present system (although still humble compared to the stuff you guys own!) I just discovered this site about 4 months ago - luckily coinciding with my graduation from college, and the associated reversal of money flow - I've switched from paying college fees to cashing paychecks :-) I have a girlfriend, Vivien, for the last two years. She's awesome - so awesome in fact that I am minding HER B&W Nautilus 805s and Arcam 7 CD player- yes, she is very much on-board with hi-end audio. My frineds are not surprised at my interest in high-end audio as I always seem to fall into the trap of focusing on hobbies that are very expensive and very technical. My best friend tells me that next step for me is pro photography - he could be right. Well, that's enough from me I guess. Cheers.

I'm 33 years old and have been at this for a LONG time. My father was into the old British gear and I've played with everything under the sun. From HUGE B&Ws, Krells, Linn LP-12, etc. I moved to a tiny appartment when we moved into the Big City (Toronto--that's as big as it gets in the Great White North) and changed to a correspondingly tiny system. The system was based around a Naim Nait integrated and Linn SARA Isobariks. With this system, I have been in a 10 year hiatus. I've since moved into larger place and recently, I lusted after more sound... Rayhall sold me his Plinius SA-100 Mark III (GREAT GREAT amp, if you're looking) for a good price and I'm now off to the races. Listening to better sound and more music. Next on the list is a good pre. On the personal front, I'm married and run a consultancy business that provides technology based business solutions to mostly larger companies.

Hi, My name is Mark Johnson and I'm just starting to re-visit my amateur audiophile days (I'm now 40 years old) I still have my ESS satellite system with sub (mid-seventies) but I've lost the preamp/crossover that powered them (see wtb ad) they didn't make too many of these speaker systems and ESS has not been any help so I'm hoping someone in here may help. Thanx, MJ

I'm 43, single, one (3) year old boy. Artist living in the midwest. Just completerd the Columbus marathon on sunday (I'm enjoying some down time now). Been an audiophile seen I was 18, music lover since 65'. Other hobbies I enjoy when not listening to music, fumbling with the stereo or training, include mountain biking, flyfishing and of course revisiting my childhood-spending time with my son. Mike

I am a 50 year old environmental contractor, married living in the South and raised in the Northeast who has loved music since I can remember. There was my great Aunt Hilda and her husband Rudy who always played piano duets when we visited. But it was Rudy who captivated me at 5 or 6 years old with his most engrossing (to me) rendition of List's Hungarian Raphsody #2. Everytime we visited I requested that he play it and it was the beginning of my love affair with Classical music in general and the piano in particular. I played various instruments throughout primary and secondary school starting at age 9 including clarinet, flute and saxophone. The school system had a fantastic music program which ended for me when I attended a parochial high school. My interest in playing waned at that point because it was like starting over again. My parents both loved music. Dad was an amateur singer that always sang at our big family get togethers. He was involved in local musical theatre and charity events and was always in the church choir often as a soloist. I wasn’t blessed with his voice, unfortunately. Musical tastes have expanded through the years. I really enjoy all types of music from rock to blues to jazz and of course classical. I have been to numerous concerts over the years and still enjoy them. Even attended Woodstock for 1 day in 1969. My wife doesn’t share my enthusiasm for rock so most concerts these days are classical only. Got my first system for college, a Scott integrated, dynaco speakers, garrard turntable. It was warm and wonderful, I couldn’t have wanted for more at the time. I stumbled into the high end in 1984. Heard about a shop that sold good stereo that was better than McIntosh, WOW! It was an eye opener for me. More importantly it brought back to me the beauty of music reproduction through tube electronics after a hiatus from the Scott days. Since that time I have owned for a brief time solid state electronics before going to tubes for good in the early 1990’s. I have always considered myself a music enthusiast more than an audiophile. I think I have over the past few years made the transition to audiophile through my relentless upgrading that has realized a quantum improvement in well reproduced audio in my home. I am living the good life and the music has NEVER sounded better. Thanks to Audiogon and all you great audio enthusiasts for helping me with the journey. This site makes it that much more fun. Best to you all!