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Any other lone audiophiles here?

By "Lone" I mean you have no other local audiophile buddies. That describes my experience. My wife and I usually listen together. I have no other friends to borrow equipment or to audition theirs. In spite of that I believe I've done a pretty good job of putting together a system which is very good. I've done it strictly by reading reviews, etc and lots of research. I see the situation as both an advantage and maybe a curse. The advantage is that Maybe I don't know what I'm missing. The curse is may be that I often wonder IF I need to upgrade? Or am m missing something.? Like right now. I just bought a CJ CT5 preamp which is silly good.So now I wonder about my amp? The CJ retails for 8x more than my silly little tube amp...a Bob Latino ST-70. Yet I believe that amp is fully pulling its weight while hooked to a preamp which is silly good. Surely, this amp can't be the be all end all. However It did replace an amp which retails for 4x its price. Who knows? maybe its the ST-70 which needed a better preamp to show off its stuff. Nonetheless, I enjoy the music  immensely. and all the advice I've gotten from people on the forums over the years. FWIW, I also play drums  and have played live. So I DO know what live music sounds like. So, maybe I'm not shooting totally in the dark.
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uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
Today very glad not a lone wolf any longer.

My good friend Rick came round to assist with service and realignment of my Notts TT.
He had all the right gear to clean all the old bearing oil out and I had some of the original Notts bearing oil so we got that situated. Spun the platter and after couple minutes it really had not shown any indication of slowing down never mind stopping so I think we can say the bearing is good....

Next he broke out the SmartTractor to align. Well with arm set at 210mm per Notts from pivot to spindle center it was not possible to align to any alignment by a couple mm. Our thoughts were that it can only be that the actual arm was short compared to spec. We reduced pivot to spindle to 208mm and were now able to align cart just!
Put it back in the rig and I can tell the difference as it gets closer to the center on last track. I had noticed on some albums some slight distortion at times, well not now, Rough Mix by Pete Townsend played beautifully all the way to the last note.

Good to have someone to assist and bounce ideas of, thx again Rick!
hipocrates
3 posts
 
Loner, but I'm OK with it, usually others enthusiast just look to me to fix or sells me stuff, to a point that audio related activities stopped being fun.

Since I'm not taking more projects from people and left the hobby for a while... I'm starting again to enjoy my music and gear.
soundermn's avatar
soundermn
344 posts
 
Somewhat of a loner here. But, through AG, I’ve met a few good people, and we are occasionally getting together to talk systems and get to know each other. Hopefully they will become better friends over time... but Minnesota is a funny place for meeting people.

On the other hand, I do have many friends who like to listen to the music, and appreciate the nice system. That’s pretty cool. So, when they feel like a cocktail, a game of pool, conversations, and good music, this is where they come. And, I like that... I can have some drinks, and not have to worry about driving! At the same time, I get to enjoy the system and feel a little proud of the entertainment space in our home!
tomcarr
1,473 posts
 
Another lone wolf here, but since I'm not much of a people person it doesn't really bother me. Some of my friends like to come listen from time to time, but only one has a (barely) decent system and he only streams. None of the family members have any interest in sitting and listening. No one talks about music or gear. Even Michael Fremer (Stereophile) mentioned nobody in his family cared to listen to his system when they all come over for holiday get-togethers. My wife can't fathom the idea of just listening to music without DOING SOMETHING. It really seems to be a solo activity, but I'm perfectly happy with a good cup of coffee, a free Saturday morning, and listening to whatever strikes my fancy in a dedicated listening room, sometimes with our two dachshunds. 
I still bugs me when someone comes over and expresses zero interest in my treated room, gear and setup. My wife's response is always "Regular people don't care, they have too many other things to think about than a stereo system". I know she's right, but I I'll never understand, sigh...
mtrot
804 posts
 
Lol, I'm in East Texas, and I'm not aware of even one other audio guy around here!  My one audio friend from the 1980s now lives in Colorado.  I may get to see him at RMAF.
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