Long before I gave a hoot about computers my passion was stereo equipment. A youth spent taking piano lessons for one year, drum lessons for three, and a miserable experience involving a trumpet and a school music teacher who loved to show off with his cigarette habit imparted on my mouth piece, left me with a wonderful appreciation for the soliloquy of sound. Like most teenage boys car stereo was my first passion. The car I usually drove belonged to my father’s pharmacy, a beautiful 1977 Chevy Nova coupe. I installed a Sanyo am/fm cassette deck, Jensen 6×9 triax speakers on the back deck, and 6 inch rounds in the doors (which I almost lost driving privileges over).
Of course, once I had the car stereo installed, the next step was a home setup with a quality cassette desk. But, the car stereo had drained my wallet. So, I continued to buy records and use my brother’s system to record them on cassette. Slowly, I began to build a basic system. Then came my high school graduation and $$$ from relatives. I had my eye on a specific bookshelf speaker from a ‘true’ stereo manufacturer, Infinity, the RSa, with its advanced ribbon tweeter and real oak veneer finish. I plunked down the $425 even though my ears told me to spend the extra c-note and buy a much better sounding Polk Audio 10. My passion as an audio aficionado had begun.
Over the next ten years I would become a fan of Harman/Kardon, by way of a brother-in-law’s introduction. First, by purchasing their flagship receiver of the time, the 680i from my entire Christmas earnings of working at Labelle’s catalogue showroom (later became Best Products). That receiver allowed me to discover one of America’s great radio stations, KBCO. Which led me into the world of buying used audio equipment with the help of Recycled Audio, one of the first true second-hand stereo stores in the country. Not long after, I traded in my Infinity’s for the Polk Audio 10B’s. My addiction was in full swing.
Over the years, especially after college, I swapped pieces every few months, using generous trade-up policies offered by the now half dozen or so new/used shops in and around the Denver area. At one time, I even managed to have a true audiophile preamplifier, the Conrad-Johnson PV-7. To this day I could kick myself for trading it in, what a sweet sound it provided. Finally, after a few years I settled on a set of Harman/Kardon separates. After getting married, I knew my days of wild audio swapping were over. To make room, I sold my Polk speakers to a close friend, eventually ending up with the now classic Celestion SL6si.
Fast-forward fifteen years. In May of this year, my wife discovered Ebay. Within a few days I was trolling thru the home audio equipment, reminiscing about pieces I had both owned and sold while working for various retailers. I began to realize how little I now used my stereo system, maybe once a week (usually a Sunday), or on rare occasion when I played a DVD with great audio, such as The Right Stuff.
My wife, who has been starting up her own professional organizer business (plug time: www.straightenupandfileright.com for those of you in the Portland, OR area), encouraged me to get rid of the some of the excess stereo and video equipment up in our rafters thru Ebay. In selling the pieces, my long-lost passion was reborn. I acquired the itch to change my audio system. For one thing, I wanted to enjoy home theater sound. My wife and I have a nice, small collection of DVD’s. However, we were always frustrated with having to turn the sound up and down constantly between wanting to hear dialogue, and avoid losing our hearing from the sound effects. I knew that by going to a Dolby Pro-Logic setup with a dedicated center channel we could achieve a sense of movie audio nirvana. That meant selling off my Harman/Kardon separates on Ebay.
For a couple of weeks I studied the ups and downs of Ebay audio auctions. In the meantime, through my initial sales I managed to earn enough to win on auction a new H/K home theater receiver. My high goal was to earn $300, and after a nervous week I ended up at $293. Not bad, considering after 18 years, I had only lost $307 dollars of the initial purchase price.
Not only had I rekindled an old passion, I now became an avid Ebay watcher and mild seller. I spent a half a Saturday cruising a giant community garage sale event (some 60+ homes participate) in an attempt to buy low and auction high. I found a 3-piece Technics stereo system, the receiver I kept to use in my classroom hooked up to an Ebay- purchased Polk speaker set. The 60-disc CD player I auctioned off for enough to pay for the receiver. The cassette deck has issues and sits in my classroom awaiting a fate yet to be determined.
In the two months since my rediscovery, I have rebuilt my stereo system in our family room into a home theater setup. In addition, I have added a set of speakers to my living room making it my music listening room. For the first time in six and a half years this room has a true purpose. Due to our home’s layout, it allows me to listen to music without driving my wife nuts. I’m actually looking forward, in some sense, to grading papers this coming school year.
In listening to music again, I have found my concentration has improved. I can sit and read non-fiction books for longer periods, and remember with more detail what was said. My current selection, Orphans Preferred, the story of the Pony Express (highly recommended!), I am reading in longer segments than what I am used to. Secondly, I have found myself listening to music with an additional purpose, recognizing what songs and artists have held up, quality-wise over time.
I have one problem though; I want to hear more of the music. My wonderful little Celestions sound old. Unlike the current, top-of-the-line small bookcase speakers by Paradigm (Studio Reference) and Polk (LSi), my SL6si’s lack any low end whatsoever. They still image extremely well, but I have the itch for something new. So, I have put them on Audiogon.com, an audio-only auction site for mid and high-end audio equipment.
As my wife put it so well the other day, ‘Ebay has created a monster!’
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.