Welcome to the Rock and Roll Garage.

It all started about six years ago the place was a disaster area. I had moved my brother out and my girlfriend in and with it, came more furniture, clothing, pictures, bicycles, pots, pans and junk than I thought could fit in a garage. The battle raged on for three years. Yard sales, donations, Goodwill trips and threats but finally the space was cleared and I claimed it like a Viking on a new piece of land. The actual transformation from empty space to Rock and Roll Garage came by accident. My best friend from high school came out for a visit and my girlfriend kicked us out to the garage where we could make as much noise as we wished. We drug my old high school system from sleepy storage to the garage, all silver Pioneer gear from a classic era: Spec 1 pre, Spec 2 amplifier, TX-9500 II tuner along with EQ’s, range expanders, reverb units and a CTF 1250 cassette deck. To cap it off I had a set of HPM-100’s in mint shape and a sub or two. We spent the better part of a day getting it all moved in and hooked up. I even had an old Pioneer turntable (gulp) and a box of albums. I have to say, I was sad to see Doug go at the end of that week, but when he left he dared me to make it better for his next visit. From that day forward it’s been project after project. I’m not a rich man; far from it. Everything you see was a culmination of spare parts, recycled material and help from most of my friends. The Pioneer system has now been racked and for the most part moth balled until Doug’s next visit. The speakers, amplifiers, pre, phono stage, turntable, front end DAC, CD player have all been switched in and out. What I have now is somewhat of a smorgasbord of equipment capable of several different styles of listening. My goal is to bring gear in and out and learn to appreciate and understand more about combinations and permutations of systems. Reading only takes you so far; experience takes you all the way. I realize the subjectivity of music and what we hear makes the scientific approach and the “theory of absolute” impossible, but its fun to experiment. I never claimed to know much of anything; I just have lots of opinions. I hate to say it but Craigslist, Audiogon and a good local audio shop have allowed me to try out gear that as a young adult, I never thought I would be able to own. The garage system is pretty much “catch and release”, if I really like something it might hang around for a couple years and then onto the next combo. My local used gear dealer lets me try out almost anything I want with the drop of a credit card. So much gear, so little time.