AdamAnt316

[AdamAnt316]

Not brand new to AK, but relatively new, so what the hell...

My name's Adam. Mostly a lurker, though I'll throw something into a conversation from time to time. I have several hobbies, but audio has always been a major hobby of mine. Have more gear than I know what to do with, which seems to be a common malady around here... :thmbsp:

My search for the perfect audio setup stretches back to much of my life, starting with a crappy Emerson tabletop AM/FM/phono/8-track stereo, quickly moving into the receiver/component realm, then eventually to integrated amps, and later separates. Built a simple tube amplifier as a high school science fair project, which later lead to me buying a Dynaco ST-70, which I've gotten much enjoyment out of. Currently, I've been experimenting with high-end solid-state stereo equipment, though I'd like to find a way to get the ST-70 back into action.

As far as other collections go, I have several examples of classic (and otherwise) obsolete computers (ranging from the Commodore 64 to the Apple Lisa), antique radios (ranging from simple transistor sets to the mighty R-390A/URR receiver seen in my avatar, the crown jewel of my collection :D), vintage telephones (mostly Western Electric rotary dial phones), electric clocks, vinyl records, and too many other things to mention. Check out my (seldom updated) website listed below for a cataloged history of my case of OCD (Obsessive Collector Disorder)... :banana:
-Adam

[ozmoid]

Thanks for the Intro, Adam! I also have some examples of older computers - that Lisa is a good score, they are seldom seen these days. Have more gear than I know what to do with, which seems to be a common malady around here... :thmbsp: :naughty: Yeah... I had exactly 0 pieces of gear when I joined... it now spills out of my "work room" into the hall sometimes, much to my wife's displeasure. Thankfully she is a loving and tolerant woman. :)

[radioactive]

hi adam and welcome to ak.dont worry bout/ the ocd i think alot of us have that here.:yes:. i too like the old vintage tube receivers and have collected a few myself throughout the yrs.they were what led me to the vintage tube hi fi gear about 20yrs ago and i havnt been the same since:Di don't have a r390 yet but hope to someday.theres a guy here named sandy who like me just love these old boatanchors as well as a few others.


chris

[AdamAnt316]

Ozmoid: The Lisa is in with my best finds of all time (a list including the R-390A, naturally, as well as a few other choice items), most of which I somehow got for free. It was left sitting in front of a small computer surplus store not too far from where I live by a guy who knew that it had some sort of value, but didn't really care, and wanted to get rid of it and a bunch of other computer stuff. Being in the right place at the right time, I loaded it in the back of my car as fast as I possibly could. :D Unfortunately, it has some issues with it's internal hard drive (it'd been converted into the equivalent of a Mac Plus by a refurbisher sometime in the mid-late '80s, when Apple was unloading them), so it waits for a time when I can restore it to perfect health. Anyway, at this point, I have pieces of my gear in nearly every room of the house, as well as the garage...

radioactive: You could say that I, too, got into vintage audio through vintage receivers; my very first tube radio was a Hallicrafters S-118 mini-boatanchor, which got me interested in other vintage radios, and it served as a tube amp with my portable CD player plugged into it's input/output. ;) I have spoken with Sandy G several times. He shares my love of heavy radios, and also of heavy cars! :lmao: Nice National in your sig! What is that, a NC173? Cool half-moon dials. Keep on heftin'... :tresbon:
-Adam

[ozmoid]

Ozmoid: The Lisa ... which I somehow got for free. :yikes:

Yes, that certainly counts as a "score". :D Cool story too, so.. bonus points! :banana:

[radioactive]

hi adam,

the radio in my sig is a national nc183d.it's not too bad for weight (60lbs) i do however have a old rca ar88lf that tops the scale at about 100lbs.my first real boatanchor was a sx 62a followed by a drake 2b.my main receiver right now is a drake r8 in conjuntion with the national .i use a alpha delta dx ultra fora antenna.

[onepixel]

Hey Adam,

Some very cool stuff and website. I had a MAC collection not because I wanted one but because I went through them over the years. Most have been recycled but I still have a MAC Plus in a softcase. Had to keep that one just because.

Anyways welcome to AK and have fun!
Carl

[cableguy]

Welcome aboard....



Bill

[merrylander]

Welcome to AK

[Mark B]

Welcome to AK Adam. I think you'll like it here.

[ozmoid]

I still have a MAC Plus in a softcase. Had to keep that one just because. :lmao: Me too, Carl. :D

AMybe we need a new "Macaholics Anonymous" forum?... naw, it would just confuse the amp guys.

I used to joke that I joined AK because I saw there was a "Macintosh" forum... :smoke:

[AdamAnt316]

Thanks for all the replies thus far, everyone! I've had a thoroughly great time while here; audio has always been a passion of mine, and it's great to see so many other people who are also afflicted... :music:

ozmoid: Every once in awhile, or so it seems, I happen upon something which would normally be light-years beyond my typical price range for either free, or far less than market value (the blind-squirrel-finding-acorns syndrome, you could call it). One shining example of the former would be my R-390A; found it, along with an R-392 (mobile version of the R-390A's predecessor, the R-390) and another heavy boatanchor sitting in the back room of the electronics shop at the technical high school I attended. I was told that they were non-working, and that they were to stay where they were. Eventually, the entire shop was being prepped to be moved to a different part of the building; I showed up a few months before the move was to take place, and immediately after walking in my old shop, one of my old instructors said, "Hey, Adam, you want these old radios?" The rest, as they say, is history... :banana:

radioactive: Nice collection of rigs! National and Hallicrafters both made lots of neat stuff, as has Drake. Apart from the S-118, I also have a Halli SX-42, which is currently a rustbucket; perhaps I'll be able to restore it one day, but it's gonna take some major surgery for sure.

onepixel: I have numerous compact Macs, but strangely enough, haven't found myself a Mac Plus (or older) as of yet. Wouldn't mind having one someday, preferably with an external hard drive to go along with it. I got much enjoyment from an example of the Plus's successor, the Mac SE. With a cavernous 20MB internal HD, a whole 4MB of RAM, and a high-capacity 1.44MB floppy drive, it worked quite well for simple tasks.

ozmoid pt. 2: Would be cool to have some sort of computer forum or forums on here. If there were one for Macintoshes, perhaps it could be titled "The Other Mac" to differentiate it from the McIntosh forum... :lmao: On more than one occasion, by the way, I have used a Mac to feed a Mac; that is to say, piped the audio output from my Intel-based iMac into my McIntosh MC2120 power amp... ;)
-Adam

[ozmoid]

Every once in awhile, or so it seems, I happen upon something which would normally be light-years beyond my typical price range for either free, or far less than market value (the blind-squirrel-finding-acorns syndrome, you could call it).
I cannot stress the patience factor of finding gear enough. I was guilty of jumping on marginal or over-priced purchases just get some gear when I first started here, but quickly learned to just wait ... and have also been well rewarded.

I don't often post what I paid for stuff anymore, but I'll be keeping this one so it's a moot point: Best score to date IMO: MAC~1900 (working, but with a beat-up wood case) at a yardsale for...

$5. :banana:

[AdamAnt316]

I cannot stress the patience factor of finding gear enough. I was guilty of jumping on marginal or over-priced purchases just get some gear when I first started here, but quickly learned to just wait ... and have also been well rewarded.

I don't often post what I paid for stuff anymore, but I'll be keeping this one so it's a moot point: Best score to date IMO: MAC~1900 (working, but with a beat-up wood case) at a yardsale for...

$5. :banana:

Very nicely done! :tresbon: For me, patience has been a huge factor, since I've never had enough money to spring for the big stuff at the full market value, so I've learned to do the best with what I've got until something finds me for a price I'm able to pay.

As you can probably infer from my previous posts in this thread, probably the biggest factor in my search for stuff has been sheer luck. For example, the only reason I have my McIntosh MC2120 is that I happened to find someone selling one locally, and since he knew me, he was willing to sell it to me for $200. Similarly, I got my Dynaco ST-70 for $150 because I knew someone who knew someone who had had one collecting dust on a shelf for years, and offered to sell it to me for that price. Finally, I bought my Pioneer SPEC-1/SPEC-4 combination for $300 after finding them sitting in a small record store, where they'd been languishing for several months at that price; I'm guessing that the people who bought records there couldn't afford them because the records themselves were so overpriced. ;)
-Adam

[lordfoo]

Hi adam,

Nice computer collection sir. What the heck i did some programming on some of those, old units. The apple, TRS, hahah. I was kinda looking for an ABACUS and a Monroe calculator though. heheh.:D Sometimes I see really old manual calculating machines in the thrift shops i visit. I thought they look neat but my pocket is not deep enough to start another hobby. :D My hands are full and pockets empty with audio gear alone.

Nice meeting you Sir AdamAnt. May your collections be bountiful and beautiful.

Foo

[ozmoid]

Sometimes I see really old manual calculating machines in the thrift shops i visit. I thought they look neat but my pocket is not deep enough to start another hobby. :D
Foo, I'm in the same boat, but I don't want a whole collection - I just want a Curta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta_calculator). :drool: