bbqjoe
Void where prohibited
Hi all from the NW high desert of Arizona.
Call me Joe, call me BBQ, just don't call me late for lunch.
I'm obviously new here, but not to forums in general.
A tad about me, I live totally off grid powered by a hefty solar set up, and generator backup if needed.
I owned and operated a BBQ joint for 10 years until I retired 2 years ago, hence the moniker.
I am currently getting back into the realm of hi-fi, and it's been many years since I was there.
My best rig was from back in the old Radio shack days when they used to make some pretty decent stuff.
I had a Realistic STA-90 and some Optimus 8 speakers, with other goodies ie techics turntable, EQ etc.
My vinyl collection was quite extensive, and many feet long.
I was also into R2R, and had many miles of tape.
Of course it wasn't top of the line, but it sounded good to me, and was all I needed for a long time, until someone (not me) decided to burn their house down for the insurance with all my stuff stored in the basement.
It's taken me years to get over, but I now have the bug again.
Things have come a long way since then, and I feel like a noob in the Hi-fi world.
I do know I prefer the old school stuff, but I'll probably never be able to get into the high end audiophile gear like many here have, but I sure love drooling over and dreaming about some Mcintosh.
Anyways, I'm also a musician, and I think I have a pretty good ear.
Just for fun I took the harmon listen test, and did quite well, so I know my ears of 57 years are still doing OK.
I began my research about two months ago, and many things I looked at and researched led me back here. There is a vast collection of knowledge and experience here, and so far I've learned a whole lot, but yet know I've just scratched the surface.
For $100 used, I found what might be the most undocumented amp on the internet.
It's an Onkyo A-RV401. It's rated at 100wpc, and appears to be an OK amp, and only gets better after it's been on an hour or two. The sound stage seems to really open up after it warms up.
But there's almost no record of its existence anywhere, with maybe one or two passing mentions here.
I can find the manual, but that's it, nary a review to be found.
From my restaurant I took with me (4) Bose 301's which I just pulled out of storage and had to refoam.
Surprisingly, they don't sound as good for a home system as they did for background music.
I did some speaker shopping online, but unless you know from many different brands and models, it's real easy to get lost at sea, especially because you can't hear them.
I ended up going to an old school stereo shop down in Phx, called Western Audio, and spent a number of hours listening to speakers hooked up to my amp.
I listened to Klipsch, JBL, Sony, Panasonic and on down the line.
He had a nice looking pair of big Advents, but they had yet to be serviced.
Anyways, I ended up settling on what I thought were the best sounding speakers in the shop, a pair of Dahlquist DQ-8's. They sound really nice, and don't leave me feeling fatigued, although there's something missing, possibly a punchy low mid-range speaker.
I have them coupled with one set of the Bose's on the B channel, and I'm happy. Not tickled pink and giddy, but happy for a start. I also added in a passive subwoofer that came from some crappy surround system.
It's not killer, but it does add something to the bottom end.
I don't know if I have what it takes to get back into great cartridges, turntable and vinyl again. I'll never be able to replace even a fraction of what used to be.
For now, everything I own is digital, stored on my macbook pro, played via bluetooth or direct to the Onkyo.
I hope I'm headed in the right direction.
I have many questions, and so much to learn, and I hope you'll bear with me and my new rekindled love for audio.
Thanks for reading, if you made it this far.
Joe
Call me Joe, call me BBQ, just don't call me late for lunch.
I'm obviously new here, but not to forums in general.
A tad about me, I live totally off grid powered by a hefty solar set up, and generator backup if needed.
I owned and operated a BBQ joint for 10 years until I retired 2 years ago, hence the moniker.
I am currently getting back into the realm of hi-fi, and it's been many years since I was there.
My best rig was from back in the old Radio shack days when they used to make some pretty decent stuff.
I had a Realistic STA-90 and some Optimus 8 speakers, with other goodies ie techics turntable, EQ etc.
My vinyl collection was quite extensive, and many feet long.
I was also into R2R, and had many miles of tape.
Of course it wasn't top of the line, but it sounded good to me, and was all I needed for a long time, until someone (not me) decided to burn their house down for the insurance with all my stuff stored in the basement.
It's taken me years to get over, but I now have the bug again.
Things have come a long way since then, and I feel like a noob in the Hi-fi world.
I do know I prefer the old school stuff, but I'll probably never be able to get into the high end audiophile gear like many here have, but I sure love drooling over and dreaming about some Mcintosh.
Anyways, I'm also a musician, and I think I have a pretty good ear.
Just for fun I took the harmon listen test, and did quite well, so I know my ears of 57 years are still doing OK.
I began my research about two months ago, and many things I looked at and researched led me back here. There is a vast collection of knowledge and experience here, and so far I've learned a whole lot, but yet know I've just scratched the surface.
For $100 used, I found what might be the most undocumented amp on the internet.
It's an Onkyo A-RV401. It's rated at 100wpc, and appears to be an OK amp, and only gets better after it's been on an hour or two. The sound stage seems to really open up after it warms up.
But there's almost no record of its existence anywhere, with maybe one or two passing mentions here.
I can find the manual, but that's it, nary a review to be found.
From my restaurant I took with me (4) Bose 301's which I just pulled out of storage and had to refoam.
Surprisingly, they don't sound as good for a home system as they did for background music.
I did some speaker shopping online, but unless you know from many different brands and models, it's real easy to get lost at sea, especially because you can't hear them.
I ended up going to an old school stereo shop down in Phx, called Western Audio, and spent a number of hours listening to speakers hooked up to my amp.
I listened to Klipsch, JBL, Sony, Panasonic and on down the line.
He had a nice looking pair of big Advents, but they had yet to be serviced.
Anyways, I ended up settling on what I thought were the best sounding speakers in the shop, a pair of Dahlquist DQ-8's. They sound really nice, and don't leave me feeling fatigued, although there's something missing, possibly a punchy low mid-range speaker.
I have them coupled with one set of the Bose's on the B channel, and I'm happy. Not tickled pink and giddy, but happy for a start. I also added in a passive subwoofer that came from some crappy surround system.
It's not killer, but it does add something to the bottom end.
I don't know if I have what it takes to get back into great cartridges, turntable and vinyl again. I'll never be able to replace even a fraction of what used to be.
For now, everything I own is digital, stored on my macbook pro, played via bluetooth or direct to the Onkyo.
I hope I'm headed in the right direction.
I have many questions, and so much to learn, and I hope you'll bear with me and my new rekindled love for audio.
Thanks for reading, if you made it this far.
Joe
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